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WalesEnglish Language & Literature

Literature drama (English Literature post-1914 and heritage drama)

6 dot points across 6 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you analyse a printed drama extract and open it out to the whole play?

Analysing the printed drama extract: reading the passage closely for dialogue, stage directions and dramatic method, selecting short quotations and reaching the effect on the audience, then using the extract as a springboard to trace the idea across the whole play (AO1 and AO2).
How to analyse a printed drama extract in WJEC GCSE English Literature: reading the passage closely for dialogue, stage directions and dramatic method, selecting short quotations and reaching the effect on the audience, then using the extract as a springboard to trace the idea across the whole play from memory (AO1 and AO2).
9 min answer →

How do you approach the WJEC Literature drama text and the kind of question it asks?

Approaching the WJEC Literature drama text: studying a post-1914 or literary heritage play, knowing it is examined by an extract question and a whole text question, and analysing the playwright's dramatic methods rather than retelling the action (AO1 and AO2).
How to approach the WJEC GCSE English Literature drama text: studying a post-1914 or literary heritage play, knowing it is examined by an extract question and a whole text question, and analysing the playwright's dramatic methods rather than retelling the action (AO1 and AO2, with AO4 context).
9 min answer →

How do you analyse character and theme across a WJEC drama text?

Analysing character and theme in drama: tracing how the playwright develops a character or a theme across the whole play through dramatic method, and arguing what the play suggests, supported by quotation from across the text (AO1 and AO2).
How to analyse character and theme across a WJEC GCSE English Literature drama text: tracing how the playwright develops a character or a theme through dramatic method, and arguing what the play suggests, supported by quotation from across the whole text (AO1 and AO2, with AO4 context).
9 min answer →

How do you use context in a WJEC drama answer?

Using context in drama answers: relating a play to the society, period and attitudes it engages or was written in, and embedding relevant context as a clause that explains how a moment would strike its audience, rather than as bolted-on background (AO4).
How to use context in WJEC GCSE English Literature drama answers: relating a play to the society, period and attitudes it engages or was written in, and embedding relevant context as a clause that explains how a moment would strike its audience, rather than as bolted-on background (AO4, woven with AO1 and AO2).
9 min answer →

How do you analyse dramatic method and staging in a WJEC drama answer?

Analysing dramatic method and staging: examining dialogue and subtext, stage directions (lighting, set, entrances, exits and silences), structure (act and scene shape, climaxes and dramatic irony) and stagecraft, always reaching the effect on the audience (AO2).
How to analyse dramatic method and staging in a WJEC GCSE English Literature drama answer: examining dialogue and subtext, stage directions (lighting, set, entrances, exits and silences), structure (act and scene shape, climaxes and dramatic irony) and stagecraft, always reaching the effect on the audience for AO2.
9 min answer →

How do you structure and time a WJEC drama answer for the top bands?

Writing the drama answer: structuring the extract question as close reading and the whole text question as an idea-led argument, opening from the extract where one is printed, budgeting time in proportion to the marks, using flexible quotations, reaching the effect on the audience and writing with accuracy (AO1, AO2 and AO4).
How to structure and time a WJEC GCSE English Literature drama answer: building the extract question as close reading and the whole text question as an idea-led argument, opening from the printed extract where one is given, budgeting time in proportion to the marks, using flexible quotations, reaching the effect on the audience and writing with accuracy (AO1, AO2 and AO4).
9 min answer →