Unit 2 Language Issues and Original and Critical Writing overview - WJEC AS English Language
A complete overview of WJEC AS English Language Unit 2: the three-part question on language issues, original writing and critical writing, the 2 hour exam, the key language debates, and how to revise for both analysis and craft.
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This overview maps WJEC AS English Language Unit 2, Language Issues and Original and Critical Writing. It is unusual in combining analytical and creative work in a single three-part question, so it tests both your understanding of language debates and your skill as a writer who can reflect on craft.
What Unit 2 tests
Unit 2 is a written examination of 2 hours. You answer one question (a choice of two) in three parts: an essay on a language issue, an original piece of writing, and a critical commentary on that piece. It rewards conceptual understanding of language debates, controlled writing for a brief, and the ability to analyse your own choices with linguistic terminology.
The three parts
This module covers all three parts, each with its own page.
- Part (a): Language issues. A discursive essay, argued from data, on standard and non-standard English, accent and dialect, language and power, language and gender, or language acquisition.
- Part (b): Original writing. A piece written for a specified genre, audience, purpose and mode, using deliberate, analysable language choices.
- Part (c): Critical writing. A reflective commentary analysing the choices in your part (b) piece and how they suit the brief.
How to study Unit 2
- Learn the issues. Build concepts and theorists for each debate, and practise applying them to data.
- Write across genres. Draft articles, travel writing, reviews and persuasive pieces for different audiences.
- Make conscious choices. In part (b), craft with intention so part (c) has real choices to analyse.
- Practise the commentary. Analyse your own writing with the language levels, linking choices to the brief.
- Work all three parts to time. They are one question, so rehearse them together within 2 hours.
Where this fits in the qualification
Unit 2 pairs with Unit 1 at AS and feeds the A2 units: its issues prepare the way for spoken-language analysis in Unit 4, and its writing and commentary skills underpin the creative re-casting task. For the official specification, past papers and mark schemes, see wjec.co.uk, and always revise from the current specification because question style is board-specific.