AS Language Paper 2

Example Paragraph
Paper 2: Writing

► Section A: Shorter writing and reflective

commentary
► Section B: Extended writing
► Spend an hour on each section
► Time management is essential so divide your
time equally between the sections (one hour
for each section)
► Total marks: 50
Section A: Shorter writing and reflective
commentary

Question1a) Write a short text up to 400

words
Question 1b) a reflective commentary on your
writing in 1a) analyzing the choices you made
in 1b).
Both writing and analysis skills are assessed.
 Section a: Shorter writing and reflective
commentary
► Question 1: You have recently read an article in
class about fighting bad habits. Your teacher has
asked you to produce a leaflet with advice for
teenagers on how to stop bad habits.
► A) Write the text for a leaflet, using no more than
400 words. In your writing, give advice and
encouragement for getting out of bad habits. (15)
► B) Write a reflective commentary on your text,
explaining how your linguistic choices contribute
to fulfilling the task. (10)
Answering the question

❖ The question itself contains valuable information which you need to use in planning
and writing your response. Following the task is a key aspect.
❖ Write the text of the leaflet (text type – the type of structure and rules to follow)
❖ No more than 400 words
❖ Content: Your topic is fighting bad habits (keep your content relevant to the
question)
❖ Audience: register and tone to use: Teenagers – informal, colloquial, conversational
register and a relaxed tone to get close to our audience
❖ Secondary Audience: is the teacher who set the task language needs to be
appropriate for school and is sensible and appropriate advice (no slang)
❖ Purpose: Getting out of bad habits
❖ Constantly think about topic, audience, purpose and genre
Plan – start with the end goals in mind

Assessment Objectives:
❖ Include complex structures and interesting vocabulary
❖ Accuracy in writing
❖ Organizing your text well and developing your ideas fully
❖ Fulfilling the task and making the content relevant
throughout
❖ Engaging the audience
❖ All these are found in the text itself
Main text elements: plan

❖ Text type: Leaflet – list and subheadings

❖ Audience – teenagers and teacher
❖ Purpose to inform and persuade
❖ Tone: encouraging
❖ Register: informal
Content

❖ Introduction: possibly use an anecdote – putting studying off until the last
minute/ failure in an important exam/ emotional impact/now succeeded and
am achieving top marks at the moment so what I have to say is relevant.
Another option is to use a rhetorical question etc to engage the reader
❖ Paragraph one: Changing the environment – quote an expert- give examples of
bad habits (overeating or eating unhealthily or a social media addition)
❖ Paragraph two: Surrounding myself with positive people to break the bad
habits. It is easier to make a transition of changing environment to changing
the people around you
❖ Paragraph three: Set goals and visualise success to ensure you break the
habits
❖ Conclusion: End on a positive note so my readers are encouraged and inspired
or a motivation ending with a challenge
Language ideas

❖ Complex structures ‘have been doing’, use at least one sentence with
parenthetical clauses; short simple sentences for emotional impact.
❖ Punctuation: Use varied and complex punctuation accurately (“ “; , : …)
❖ Vocabulary: procrastination (postponing studying); may feel overwhelming,
you may overcome it, toxic people can undermine our desire and attempts to
change, our environment can trigger bad habits and may adversely affect us
and hinder our progress. Cravings need to be controlled, good habits are
beneficial, positive people can be empowering, and hold us accountable
❖ Rhetorical devices: AFFOREST – anecdote, rhetorical question, hyperbole,
statistics for credibility and expert quotes and imperative
You need to demonstrate your constant
awareness of:

❖ Topic – what you are writing about

❖ Audience – who you are writing for
❖ Purpose – why you are writing
❖ Text type – what format you are
writing in
❖ These are extremely important
Understanding the requirements of the
question
► The most effective way of writing a good answer is to make
sure you understand the requirements of the question.
► Write in the appropriate style
► Include the right content
► Have you made effective linguistic choices to sustain the
appropriate style?
► Have you kept to the conventions of your chosen form?
► Have you kept your focus on the details you were given?
► Is the mood or feeling you are meant to express sufficiently
clear?
Answering the question

❖ Remember that the task itself contains a lot of valuable

information that you need to use in responding to the task.
❖ Don’t forget to use it in order to achieve top marks.
❖ You need to keep your focus on the content of the text –what
you will write about (write about fighting bad habits).
❖ You also need to focus on the genre, audience and purpose.
This tells you how to write the text.
❖ Text type: You are writing a leaflet which gives you important
information about the kind of structure you need to follow and
the rules
Writing: the mechanics of writing

❖ Think carefully about how you choose your

words, use figurative language and
structure you writing
❖ Focus on and be aware of the big issues and
implementing those through your language
choices
❖ Use language and devices purposefully and
on purpose
Reflective commentary: An analysis of
your own text
❖ You need to explain your language choices
❖ Explain briefly how your writing matches the
task, audience and purpose set in the question.
❖ Comment on the form, structure and language
you used.
❖ Support your comments with appropriate
references and quotations.
Use the P-E-E (point, example, effect)
approach
► How your linguistic choices contribute to you achieving the purpose of your
text, in the relevant genre and appropriate for the particular audience
► Planning is essential which also involves time management
► Question 1b) is worth 10 marks
► Look at the examples on the next three slides. These are only examples of
how to write a reflective commentary. They are not complete examples and
are to show you the type of comments you could make. In your response for
1b), you need to include more detailed reflective comments about the form,
structure and language.
It would be helpful for you to revise the PowerPoint I sent about text analysis for
Paper 1.
Reflective Commentary (Part of an
example Response)
❖ I decided to write my leaflet in the same chatty style that is used in popular magazines,
which are aimed at teenagers, giving a light-hearted and humorous feel to the text while
offering a serious message about the importance of dealing with bad habits. My reason for
the humour, was to attract and maintain the attention of the target audience of teenagers;
on the other hand, I felt that the information and advice the leaflet was offering needed to
be sensible and worthwhile, as the original instructions had come from the
❖ The structure of the leaflet is set into paragraphs to make the overall graphology of the
leaflet clear and easy to read. I used subheadings which had catchy titles including ellipsis
and rhetorical questions. “Are you postponing your potential? “Eating Effortlessly…”,
“Problematic Peeps…” and ‘Curb Cravings!”as I feel they matched the style of my writing.
In order to enhance the relationship between the writer and audience, I used a very
informal register with colloquial terms like “Peeps” and ‘Yippy” and second person address,
“It’s time to ditch your unhealthy habits – no more burgers, fries and ice-cream dinners…”to
engage my readers.
❖ My sentence structures include short, simple statements, “Don’t blunder!” as well as more
complex structures offering a more serious message along with advice and guidance. “Keep
a track of how you are doing by…”
❖ On reflection, I feel I achieved my aims in my writing. (Write your concluding paragraph)
Reflective commentary (Part of a
response)
❖ I achieved the style of the diary through my use of the short present
tense opening – “We’re here!” – which conveys the idea that this has
only just been experienced and places the reader in the apartment. I
indicated my outlook through the positive references to the ‘spacious
apartment’ and the list of three adjectives – ‘amazing, incredible and
inspiring’. This is further emphasized by the use of the superlatives,
‘best and finest’ and the use of regal language – ‘majestic king size
bed’. I used jargonistic language, ‘audiovisual, flat-screen TV’ to
create the impression that the apartment is modern and high-tech and
sensory language to evoke the atmosphere of the apartment with
references to the ‘ambience, mood lighting, play of light and tea
lights which further add to the atmosphere. My use of imperative
verbs – ‘relax and enjoy’ convey the comfort of the place
Section B: Extended Writing

❖ You are given a choice of three questions

❖ A fiction or a non-fiction task
❖ Text types: Non-fiction (advertisements, brochures, leaflets, editorials, news
stories, articles, reviews, blogs, letters, podcasts diaries, essays, scripted
speeches, biographies and autobiographies)
❖ Fiction – narrative or descriptive writing
❖ In every task, you are given the topic, the genre and the purpose
❖ Write between 600 and 900 words
Planning your writing

❖ This is essential if you are wanting a top mark

❖ It helps you organize your thoughts and write better
❖ Brainstorm: a)General ideas for each paragraph b) Supporting details for each
paragraph c) Advanced vocabulary d) Reminders for advanced grammar
structures, different sentence types, punctuation and proof-reading to help
take your writing to the next level
❖ It only needs to be short
Make sure you respond accurately to the
task
❖ Text type – know your conventions of each text type
❖ Audience – pay attention to the audience and correct register (avoid being too
serious or too conversational)
❖ Purpose – the three main purposes (inform, persuade or entertain and have
different requirements
❖ When writing to inform you need to include a lot of specific details, persuade
relies heavily on the use of persuasive techniques and to entertain requires
vivid details and lots of figurative language
❖ Focus on the topic you are required to write about
Topic and what to focus on

❖ The task will set out precisely what you need to focus on:
❖ A) Text type – follow the conventions
❖ B) Audience – engage your audience and write in the correct register ( formal or formal)
Your ideas need to be original and unique to keep the interest of you imaginary audience
and the examiner.
❖ C) Purpose
❖ D) Topic and what you need to focus on within that topic –
❖ Use appropriate paragraphing and transitions \Use excellent grammar and high level
vocabulary / Use correct grammar and punctuation
❖ Use advanced tenses/ reported speech
❖ Avoid repetitiveness
❖ Avoid using run-on sentences or sentence fragments, or switching between tenses.
❖ Don’t let slang and inappropriate language slip into your response
Structuring your writing: Elements that
are being assessed
❖ Addressing the audience
❖ Fulfilling the task and relevance of content
❖ Organisation of the text: coherence and cohesion ( Through the use of
various linking words and cohesive devices, you need to show that you
can move from one point to another with ease and logic
❖ Language accuracy: Your writing should be grammatically correct and
punctuation and spelling should always be consistent and accurate.
❖ Complexity and range of language: Use a wide range of language
devices and complex vocabulary and grammar as well as write in a
sophisticated
❖ Always be aware of the genre, audience and purpose and structure
you writing and make your language choices relevant to the question.
Engaging the audience refers to:

❖ Understanding who the audience is and

adapting the register and style to suit the
audience
❖ Make sure you are original, unique and
interesting
❖ Your aim is to stand out
❖ Avoid generalization – provide vivid details,
concrete examples, specific arguments rather
than vague ideas
descriptive writing example response

► The sea had retreated miles out into the bay, revealing the mussel bed, like charcoal sticks
against the greying sky-line. Above me, sand-martins swooped furiously, ducked and dived
amongst the dunes, and the tufts of marram grass recalled to me childhood games, picking
the spiky leaves and sending them spiralling towards my younger sister. Ah, Alice…I wish
you were here now. But, you are gone five years, and nothing can bring you back.
► Use adjectives and nouns: geographical/physical description
► Use of senses: The harsh cawing of crows – dark ink stains around the sky
► Use of verbs/adverbs/prepositions
► Use of verbal patterning: ‘The lights flickering, the stars shimmering, our voices echoing.’
► Use of compound and complex sentences: ‘The gentle sloping vineyards dominated the land
for miles, although the rain battered on my windscreen..
► Use of figurative language: The tower leans to inspect her/ She felt the sharp needles prick
her skin
► as she ran for shelter, watching the grey dome of the sky unload its force on the earth.
Discursive writing

❖ A brief explanation of the topic you are writing about or introduction to the argument or main idea – Provide
a clear view of the key issues
❖ Reference to both sides of the argument (Give both perspectives)
❖ Development from less important to more important points
❖ An explanatory tone - raising questions and balancing different ideas (yet, however)
❖ Use of connectives for consequences or results (because of this, consequently); additional points
❖ A summary of current ideas (some people think)
❖ A suggestion of the debate questions you will address
❖ Contrast (on the other hand, despite this, conversely)
❖ Use appropriate evidence or support for your point of view.
❖ Organisation and order (to begin with, firstly, at the same time, ultimately, in conclusion
❖ Importance of concluding paragraph (does it refer back to the earlier arguments and points – offer a final
viewpoint?