INTERNATIONAL AS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
EN01
Unit 1 Language and Context

Mark scheme
January 2022
Version:1.0 Final Mark Scheme

*221XEN01/MS*
 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant
questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the
standardisation events which all associates participate in and is the scheme which was used by them in
this examination. The standardisation process ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’
responses to questions and that every associate understands and applies it in the same correct way.
As preparation for standardisation each associate analyses a number of students’ scripts. Alternative
answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed and legislated for. If, after the
standardisation process, associates encounter unusual answers which have not been raised they are
required to refer these to the Lead Examiner.

It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and
expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark
schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of
assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination
paper.

Further copies of this mark scheme are available from oxfordaqaexams.org.uk

Copyright information

OxfordAQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for OxfordAQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for
their own internal use, with the following important exception: OxfordAQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is
acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.

Copyright © 2022 Oxford International AQA Examinations and its licensors. All rights reserved.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

International English language mark scheme

How to mark

Aims
When you are marking your allocation of scripts your main aims should be to:
• recognise and identify the achievements of students
• place students in the appropriate mark band and in the appropriate part of that mark band (high, low,
middle) for each assessment objective
• record your judgements with brief notes, annotations and comments that are relevant to the mark
scheme and make it clear to other examiners how you have arrived at the numerical mark awarded for
each assessment objective
• put into a rank order the achievements of students (not to grade them − that is done later using the
rank order that your marking has produced)
• ensure comparability of assessment for all students, regardless of question or examiner.

Approach
It is important to be open-minded and positive when marking scripts.

The specification recognises the variety of experiences and knowledge that students will have. It
encourages them to study language in a way that is relevant to them. The questions have been
designed to give them opportunities to discuss what they have found out about language. It is important
to assess the quality of what the student offers.

Do not mark scripts as though they were mere shadows of some platonic ideal (or the answer you would
have written). The mark schemes have been composed to assess quality of response and not to
identify expected items of knowledge.

Assessment objectives
This component requires students to:
AO1: Demonstrate understanding of methods, terminology, concepts and issues in English language.
AO2: Analyse how meanings are shaped in a range of texts and data.
AO3: Demonstrate ability to use English in different ways.

The marking grids

The specification has generic marking grids for each assessment objective that is customised with
indicative content for individual tasks. These have been designed to allow assessment of the range of
knowledge, understanding and skills that the specification demands.

Within each assessment objective there are five broad levels representing different levels of
achievement. Do not think of levels equalling grade boundaries.

On the left-hand side of the mark scheme, in bold, are the generic descriptors that identify the
performance characteristics at five distinct levels.

On the right-hand side are statements of indicative content. These give examples of the kind of things
students might do that would exemplify the level. They are neither exhaustive nor required – they are
simply indicative of what would appear at this level. You will find that they sometimes indicate areas of
content that can be handled with increasing sophistication and subtlety. You will also find statements
which only characterise work at the bottom or top of the range.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

Depending on the part of the examination, the levels will have different mark ranges assigned to them.
This will reflect the different weighting of assessment objectives in particular tasks and across the
examination as a whole. You may be required to give different marks to bands for different assessment
objectives.

Using the grids

These levels of response mark schemes are broken down into five levels, each of which has descriptors.
The descriptors for the level show the performance characteristics of the level. There is the same
number of marks in each level for an individual assessment objective. The number of marks per level
will vary depending upon the number of marks allocated to the various assessment objectives covered
by a particular question.

Having familiarised yourself with the descriptors and indicative content, read through the answer and
annotate it (as instructed below) to identify the qualities that are being looked for and that it shows. You
can now check the levels and award a mark.

Step 1 Determine a level

Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the
descriptors for that level. The descriptors for the level indicate the different qualities that might be seen
in the student’s answer for that level. If it meets all the descriptors for the lowest level then go to the next
one and decide if it meets this level, and so on, until you have a match between the level descriptors and
the answer. With practice and familiarity you will find that for better answers you will be able to skip
through the lower levels of the mark scheme quickly.

When assigning a level you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holes in
small and specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as the rest. If
the answer covers different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best-fit
approach for defining the level and then use the variability of the response to help decide the mark within
the level; ie if the response fulfils most but not all of level 3 with a small amount of level 4 material, it
would be placed in level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of the level because of the level 4
content.

Step 2 Determine a mark

Once you have assigned a level you need to decide on the mark.

It is often best to start in the middle of the level’s mark range and then check and adjust. If there is a lot
of indicative content fully identifiable in the work you need to give the highest mark in the level. If only
some is identifiable or it is only partially fulfilled, then give the lower mark.

The exemplar materials used during standardisation will also help. There will be an answer in the
standardising materials that will correspond with each level of the mark scheme. This answer will have
been awarded a mark by the Lead Examiner. You can compare the student’s answer with the example
to determine if it is of the same standard, better or worse than the example. You can then use this to
allocate a mark for the answer based on the Lead Examiner’s mark on the example.

You may well need to read back through the answer as you apply the mark scheme to clarify points and
assure yourself that the level and the mark are appropriate.

In addition to the generic descriptors (presented in bold text), paper specific indicative descriptors
(presented in plain text) are provided as a guide for examiners. These are not intended to be exhaustive
and you must credit other valid points.

An answer that contains nothing of relevance to the question must be awarded no marks.

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Annotating scripts

It is vital that the way you arrive at a mark should be recorded on the script. This will help you with
making accurate judgements and it will help any subsequent markers to identify how you are thinking.

Where?

• in the body of the script

• in the margin
• at the end of each answer.

What annotations?

Section A

AO1

Green ticks placed in the body of the script at the point of credit:
• single tick for Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 credit – 
• double tick for Level 4 credit – 
• triple tick for Level 5 credit – 

AO2

Stamps placed in the margin at the point of credit:

• L1, L2, L3, L4, L5 to indicate level of attainment and

to indicate general discussion

to indicate identification

to indicate a linguistic example

to indicate an analytical point

to indicate a developed point.

Written comments

A comment box at the end of each answer for each AO:

• green comment box for AO1
• red comment box for AO2.

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Section B

AO3

Stamps placed in the margin at the point of credit:

• L1, L2, L3, L4, L5 to indicate level of attainment.

Written comments

A comment box at the end of each answer for each AO:

• blue comment box for AO3.

You should write a summative comment at the end for each assessment objective.

Please do not write negative comments about students’ work or their alleged aptitudes; this is
unprofessional and it impedes a positive marking approach.

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0 1 Text A and Text B are printed on pages 4–5.

Text A is an extract from an instruction page about drawing. It is from the website
All About Drawings.com.

Text B is an extract from an autobiography by famous artist Grayson Perry. In the

book he writes about how he became an artist.

Examine how the creators of Text A and Text B use language to create meanings.

In your answer you should consider different:

• audiences
• purposes
• genres
• modes of communication.
[25 marks]

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AO1: Demonstrate understanding of methods, terminology, concepts and issues in English

Language
For this question AO1 focuses on language features.
Level/ Performance characteristics Indicative content
Marks These are examples of ways students’ work
might exemplify the performance
characteristics in the question above. They
indicate possible content and how it can be
treated at different levels.
Level 5 Students will: Students are likely to describe and
• apply linguistic methods and exemplify features such as:
9‒10 terminology, identifying patterns and • aspects of discourse structure, eg
complexities cohesion, interactivity in Text A; narrative
• apply different levels of language structure, tense and chronology in Text B
analysis in an integrated way, • aspects of instruction/advice in Text A,
recognising how they are connected eg conditionals ‘If you practise..’; simple
• apply levels of language analysis imperatives ‘Copy the simple outlines …’;
with rare errors. modality, deictic markers
• aspects of narrative, storytelling and
reporting speech in Text B.
Level 4 Students will: Students are likely to describe features
• apply linguistic methods and such as:
7‒8 terminology with precision and detail • figurative language in both texts, eg ‘a
• apply two or more levels of language dash of imagination’ in Text A, ‘a switch
analysis was thrown’ in Text B
• apply levels of language analysis • first person pronouns in both texts, direct
with occasional errors. address in Text A, direct speech in Text
B
• semantic fields, connotations.
Level 3 Students will: Students are likely to describe features
• apply linguistic methods and such as:
5‒6 terminology consistently and • layout/graphological features, eg links,
appropriately headings, drawings in Text A
• label features that have value for the • language to describe art as positive, eg
task 'fantastic', 'loved it' in Text B
• label features with more accuracy • lexis relating to ease/simplicity of
than inaccuracy. drawing, simple technical language, eg
‘strokes’ ‘sketching’, informal terms
‘squiggles’ in Text A and contractions in
Text B.
Level 2 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use linguistic methods and • refer to elements of language that do not
3‒4 terminology inconsistently and illuminate the analysis
sometimes without value for the task • make unsupported generalisations about
• generalise about language use with the nature of sentences or utterances
limited/unclear evidence. • quote imprecisely to illustrate
descriptions.
Level 1 Students will: Students are likely to:
• quote examples without any comment

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

1‒2 • quote or identify features of • paraphrase the texts.

language without linguistic
description
• present material with limited
organisation.
0 Nothing relevant written. Nothing relevant written.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

AO2: Analyse how meanings are created in a range of texts and data.

Level/ Performance characteristics Indicative content

Marks These are examples of ways students’
work might exemplify the performance
characteristics in the question above. They
indicate possible content and how it can be
treated at different levels.
Level 5 Students will: Students are likely to:
• explore use of language and • explore subtle purposes to inspire,
13‒15 representations according to motivate, encourage
context. • explore how the writer positions the
audience as capable of self-teaching in
Text A; potentially considering pursuing
art as a career in Text B
• explore the presentation of art as life
changing, inspiring creativity/imagination;
presentation of text producers as
passionate about art
• explore specific mode features such as
interactivity, webpage navigation in Text
A; storytelling, narrative voice, reporting
speech in Text B.
Level 4 Students will: Students are likely to:
• analyse how language choices create • analyse purposes to encourage people
10‒12 meanings and representations to consider art as a hobby or career
• analyse how aspects of context work • analyse the ways in which the writers
together to affect language use. use language to establish a personal
connection with the audience
• analyse the presentation of art as
expressive and enjoyable either as a
hobby or as a career
• analyse the relationship between images
and purpose in Text A; first person, past
tense to tell a story in Text B.
Level 3 Students will: Students are likely to:
• interpret significance of specific • interpret instructional purpose in Text A;
7‒9 choices of language according to telling a story in Text B
context • interpret ideas about audience – new to
• link specific language choices with drawing in Text A; interest in reading
an aspect of context. about a famous artist’s life in Text B
• interpret how language is used to
present drawing as simple, easy to
achieve in Text A; to convey enthusiasm
in Text B
• interpret some of the key features of the
web page – links, short paragraphs,
images.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

Level 2 Students will: Students are likely to:

• identify distinctive features of • identify broad purposes to instruct in
4‒6 language and significant aspects of Text A, to inform in Text B
context. • identify prospective audiences in general
terms - those interested in learning to
draw and Grayson Perry’s career
• identify language associated with art, eg
‘line drawings’ ‘illustration’ ‘outlines’ in
Text A and passion for art in Text B
‘loved art’, ‘a good idea’
• identify graphological features of the web
page; factual information in Text B.
Level 1 Students will: Students are likely to:
• paraphrase or describe content of • give factual information about nature
1‒3 texts drawing
• misunderstand text or context. • show literal understanding of information
• rely on lengthy, unexplained quotations.
0 Nothing relevant written. Nothing relevant written.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

0 2 Write a letter to parents from the head teacher of a school/college.

The aim of the letter is to explain the benefits to children of choosing art as a subject.

You may draw on information and ideas in the material in Section A.

Write this letter using about 400 words.

[25 marks]

AO3: Demonstrate ability to use English in different ways

Level/ Performance characteristics Indicative content
Marks These are examples of ways students’
work might exemplify the performance
characteristics in the question above. They
indicate possible content and how it can be
treated at different levels.
Level 5 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form creatively • guide the reader by using structural
21‒25 • show close attention to register, features
effective for context • explain the benefits giving clear reasons
• write accurately. • convey information in an engaging style
• write with clarity and accuracy
throughout.
Level 4 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form convincingly • produce an effective opening and
16‒20 • use and sustain register, effective conclusion with a number of points
for context explained
• show strong control of accuracy. • write accessibly for audience
• write for context of a parent audience,
recognising the explanatory/informative
functions
• write with clarity and accuracy, showing
only an occasional error.
Level 3 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form competently • produce an effective opening and ending
11‒15 • use but not always sustain register • use an appropriate register but with
• show firm control of accuracy. overly formal elements
• write for stated audience/context
• write with general clarity and accuracy.
Level 2 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form appropriately • use letter formatting, eg salutation,
6‒10 • use appropriate address for context paragraphing, appropriate ending
• make occasional errors. • address the reader but with overly
informal style
• show lapses in clarity and accuracy.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

Level 1 Students will: Students are likely to:

• use the required form, but limited to • write in paragraphs
1‒5 simple elements • write an essay-like response
• shape language broadly for context • lack clarity and accuracy, impeding
• make intrusive errors. communication.

0 Nothing relevant written. Nothing relevant written.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

0 3 The art department are promoting their subject to the students in your school/college.

You have been asked to give a speech about the benefits of choosing art as a subject.

You may draw on information and ideas in the material in Section A.

Write the text for this speech using about 400 words.
[25 marks]

AO3: Demonstrate ability to use English in different ways

Level/ Performance characteristics Indicative content
Marks These are examples of ways students’
work might exemplify the performance
characteristics in the question above. They
indicate possible content and how it can be
treated at different levels.
Level 5 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form creatively • guide the reader by using structural
21‒25 • show close attention to register, features
effective for context • explain benefits clearly
• write accurately. • use engaging and entertaining style
• write with clarity and accuracy.
Level 4 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form convincingly • produce an effective opening and
16‒20 • use and sustain register, effective conclusion, communicating in an
for context engaging manner
• show strong control of accuracy. • write accessibly for audience
• write for context of student audience,
recognising the informative/explanatory
function
• write with clarity and accuracy, showing
only an occasional error.
Level 3 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form competently • produce an effective opening
11‒15 • use but not always sustain register • use an appropriate register but with
• show firm control of accuracy. overly formal elements
• write for stated audience/context
• write with general clarity and accuracy.

Level 2 Students will: Students are likely to:

• use the required form appropriately • use some features of a speech
6‒10 • use appropriate address for context • address the audience but use overly
• make occasional errors. informal style
• show lapses in clarity and accuracy.
Level 1 Students will: Students are likely to:
• use the required form, but limited to • write in paragraphs
1‒5 simple elements • write essay-like response
• shape language broadly for context • lack clarity and accuracy, impeding
• make intrusive errors. communication.

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 MARK SCHEME – INTERNATIONAL AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE – EN01 – JANUARY 2022

0 Nothing relevant written. Nothing relevant written.

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