Language writing skills overview: the WJEC GCSE English Language writing tasks

The writing sections of WJEC GCSE English Language Units 2 and 3 test five task types plus the cross-cutting skills of matching the task and writing accurately. This guide maps them and the objectives they serve. The detail lives in the module dot points, linked at the end.

The five writing task types

The two writing units cover a deliberate spread of purposes.

• Description (Unit 2) - create a place, atmosphere or moment vividly, holding it still rather than telling a story.
• Narration (Unit 2) - tell a small, shaped story with structure, viewpoint and tension.
• Exposition (Unit 2) - explain or inform clearly and logically, organised for a purpose and audience.
• Argumentation (Unit 3) - build a reasoned, balanced case that engages with the other side.
• Persuasion (Unit 3) - use rhetorical techniques to drive the reader towards a viewpoint or action.

Unit 2 Section B is one extended task chosen from description, narration or exposition. Unit 3 Section B is two compulsory tasks, one argumentation and one persuasion. The instructional type is read in Unit 3 but not set as a writing task.

How the writing marks split

Every writing section splits its marks in half. AO5, communication and organisation, rewards clear, imaginative, well-structured writing matched to form, purpose and audience. AO6, technical accuracy, rewards accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar and a range of vocabulary and sentence structures. Because the halves are equal, planning your structure and proofreading your accuracy each matter as much as the ideas themselves.

The cross-cutting skills

Three skills run across every task. Matching form, purpose and audience means reading the task's three cues and adapting tone, register and conventions to suit. Communication and organisation means planning, paragraphing, cohesion and crafted openings and endings. Technical accuracy and proofreading means controlled, varied, correct writing, sustained to the end, plus the Unit 2 proofreading task.

How to revise

1. Rehearse every task type to time. Practise description, narration, exposition, argumentation and persuasion until each feels familiar.
2. Read the three cues. For every task, identify the form, purpose and audience and match them.
3. Plan the shape. A short plan fixes the structure and lifts the AO5 mark.
4. Use techniques purposefully. In persuasion especially, use rhetorical devices for effect, not for show.
5. Proofread. Reserve time to correct the whole piece, since accuracy is half the mark.

Where to go next

Work through the eight module dot points, then sit the language writing skills overview quiz.

For the official specification

WJEC publishes the full English Language specification (3700), past papers and mark schemes at wjec.co.uk. Always revise from the current specification, because task wording is board-specific.