GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE
J360
UNIT A663 – PROSE FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES
Preparing for the exam
Know your text – you will not have time in the exam to
keep referring to your clean copy of the text.
Revise pre-taught material but be prepared to adapt it to
focus on the question set.
DO: structure your answer
TASK
Understand, respond,
evaluate, personalise
LANGUAGE
TEXT
Analyse the detail
Consider context and
overview
A663 – Prose from Different Cultures
There are TWO Assessment Objectives:
AO2 Explain how language, structure and form contribute to
writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.
You must incorporate comments on how the playwright
uses language and structure to enhance/explore character,
themes and ideas in the play.
A663 – Prose from Different Cultures
• AO4 Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical
contexts; explain how texts have been influential and
significant to self and other readers in different contexts and
at different times.
• You must explore the cultural setting of the text. How
different readers may respond to the text over time, what the
writer’s attitude is, and how the setting of the text influences
the events and characters.
Weightings of AO2 & AO4
AO4 has a higher weighting in the mark scheme than AO2.
This means that you must make sure that you include many
references to the cultural context of the text in your exam
response.
We are now going to consider how you can do this effectively.
What is AO4?
AO4: relate texts to their social, cultural and historical
contexts; explain how texts have been influential and
significant to self and to other readers in different contexts
and at different times
Practicalities
• AO4 ‘quality’ is required, rather than just ‘coverage’ –
examiners don’t want ‘bolted on’ information.
• FOCUS and RELEVANCE are key – only include references
to cultural context in your comments on the question set, as
relevant to that question.
• AS APPROPRIATE TO TEXT AND TASK
• The key terms are ‘relate’ and ‘explain’ - not just ‘know
about’.
So what is ‘context’?
‘Context’ = exploring the SETTING of a text
• How is the setting significant in the narrative of the text?
• How does the setting relate to the ‘real world’?
• How do these things influence the way we respond to the
text?
SETTING and THE NARRATIVE
In the text, to what extent:
• do things happen as they do
• are characters like they are
because of when/where
the story takes place?
Consider (eg):
• Time / Period
• Place
• Culture / Community
In a ‘different cultures’ text,
any or all of these may be
unfamiliar to the reader
You couldn’t teach a Different Cultures text
without addressing this unfamiliarity:
the ‘context’.
Setting and the ‘real world’
Setting becomes ‘context’:
• when we link the setting in the text and a setting in
the ‘real’ world
• when we start to explore the relationship between
them.
To do this, we need some knowledge from outside the
text:
the social . . . cultural . . . historical . . .
CONTEXT of the text
Exploring setting
How does exploring / understanding ‘context’:
help us to understand
make us think more carefully about
alter our view of
… etc
the characters
their relationships
what happens
?
…etc
These are the areas A663 tasks will tackle.
The context of the reader
. . . explain how texts have been influential and significant
to self and to other readers in different contexts and at
different times
For example • how/why a text may influence views/ attitudes/
circumstances
• how/why responses to a text may change over time
• how/why a text may provoke different reactions in
different readers
Any relevant response to these aspects WILL be credited
If there is no reference to these aspects, the whole mark
range will still be accessible – for example, they may not
have been relevant to the extract or question set
Linking text and context
You need to learn how to:
• select from your contextual knowledge what is relevant
• explain how the contextual material helps to shape the
text itself
• explore how the contextual material helps to shape the
way we respond to the text
• integrate all this into a response to the task set
‘Bolt-on background’ is not what examiners are
looking for. Never begin with an introduction about
the cultural context of the text – your understanding
of this element must be fully integrated into your
response.
THE TASK
AO4 in the questions
The Texts
The specification prescribes the TEXT to be
studied:
•a prose text ‘from Different Cultures’
•so, by definition, setting and ‘context’ will be
significant
•and any reading / teaching / study can’t help but
address these aspects
AO4 Preparation (ii)
The Exam Board does NOT prescribe the ‘CONTEXT’
to be studied.
Your teacher will guide you to relevant ‘context’ as it
arises in the novel. So, as events happen, you will learn
about how the cultural context of the text has determined
or influenced the events and characters.
AO4 Preparation (iii)
So, for example in Of Mice and Men, the specification does
not prescribe:
• the Great Depression of the 1930s
• the ‘American Dream’
• the experience of black Americans
BUT Any / all of these
might be helpful – if
used constructively.
• …etc
Ask - at key points, what ‘context’ will help to ‘open up’
the text to the reader ?
. . . if it helps when reading, it should help when
answering an exam question
Exam Questions –
the P T R structure
A663 questions will:
• PROMPT an exploration
• of a specific TOPIC or issue in the text
• and of a way of RESPONDING to this
P
T
R
So – generically -
PROMPT
What makes (F)
How does the writer make
(H)
TOPIC
[something in
the text]
RESPONSE
so [adjective]?
N.B. – there will also be:
• a reminder about AO2 – ‘LANGUAGE’ etc.
TASKS – an example of P T R
The task asks the candidate:
What makes the ENDING of the novel so POWERFUL
and MOVING?
The candidate asks him/herself:
How does my KNOWLEDGE / UNDERSTANDING OF
‘CONTEXT’ help me to explain what makes the
ENDING of this novel so POWERFUL and MOVING?
The task also reminds the candidate about ‘language’ - eg
at F tier:
You should consider . . .
• the words and phrases [the writer] uses
P T R PROMPTS
FOUNDATION TIER
HIGHER TIER
What makes . . .
What are your feelings about . . .
What are your impressions of . .
What do you think . . .
What do you find . . .
How does [ ] bring home to you
How does [writer] . . .
How does X’s writing . . .
Explore the ways [writer] . . .
Explore the ways X’s writing . . .
Explore how [writer] makes . . .
In what ways does [writer] . . .
P T R TOPICS and RESPONSES
TOPICS
RESPONSES
FOUNDATION /
HIGHER
•
•
•
•
•
the ending of the novel
the way [character] is
treated
how the relationship
changes
what to admire / pity
the harshness of everyday
life
FOUNDATION /
HIGHER
•
•
•
•
•
powerful
moving
tense and exciting
entertaining
horrifying
A Summary of the Importance of
AO4
• You couldn’t learn a Different Cultures text without
addressing . . . the ‘context’
• What ‘context’ will help to ‘open up’ the text to the reader?
• AO4 performance will directly affect outcomes
• Key terms are ‘relate’ and ‘explain’ - not just ‘know about’
• ‘Bolt-on background’ will not gain credit
A Summary of the Importance of
AO4
• DON’T underestimate - AO4 has teeth
• DON’T overload - a little AO4 can go a long way
• DO ask - how does ‘context’ help understanding / affect
response ?
• DO emphasise - keep it relevant to the task
Some Simple Examples from
“Of Mice and Men”
• pp6–8: Lennie and his pockets: what we learn about
him and his relationship with George.
• pp23–25: the boss’s reaction to them.
• pp56–58: livin off the fatta the lan’.
• pp75–77: the truth about Crooks.
• pp86–88: Curley’s wife and her dreams
Over to you
Find some more examples which put a
moment/ character/ conversation in the novel first and the
context second.
Passage-based Questions
There are two common problems:
1. Lack of focus on the passage
2. Lack of focus on the question
AVOID:
• An introduction about the author, historical or cultural
setting/background.
• Excessive detail when putting the passage in the context
of the rest of the novel.
• Detailed reference to the rest of novel outside the
passage.
Passage-based questions continued....
DO:
• Read the question carefully and focus on the key words –
highlight them.
• Quote briefly and frequently from the passage to support
your points.
• Refer briefly to other points in the novel, tethering your
comments firmly to the passage.
• Think carefully about your point – don’t just include pretaught points unless you have made them relevant to your
response.
General/Discursive Essay
• Make sure that you have understood the demands of the
title.
• Choose the sections of the novel that you look at
carefully, ensuring that they are the most relevant
moments.
• Include brief, frequent quotations to keep your answer
firmly rooted in the text.
• Make sure that references to cultural context are fully
integrated into your comments, not bolted on.