What Language, identity and culture asks of you in the 2024 English Standard syllabus

Model answer. People use language to show where they belong, who they belong with and how they want to be seen. For example, a student who switches from the language of home to school slang when they arrive at the gate is signalling two memberships and showing that identity can change with the audience.

Marking spine.

• 1 mark: connects language to identity (belonging, self-presentation).
• 1 mark: a clear everyday example.
• 1 mark: says what it shows or suggests.

Model answer. The writer uses parallel structure ('at home... at school...') to set two worlds side by side, which makes the division feel balanced and unavoidable. The image of the name having 'a song in it' for home, but 'a question mark' at school, uses contrasting figurative language to show warmth in one place and doubt in the other. The reduction from 'four syllables' to 'two' suggests the name has been cut down to fit, hinting at pressure to assimilate.

Marking spine.

• 2 marks: two accurate features (parallelism, contrast, counting syllables, symbolic punctuation).
• 2 marks: explanation of how they present a divided identity.

Model answer. Culture also includes shared values, beliefs, stories, expectations about how people should behave, and the languages and ways of speaking that carry them. In analysing a text it is not enough to say that a character cooks traditional food; you need to explain what the food shows about belonging, memory or tension between generations, and how the composer constructs that meaning, for instance through imagery, dialogue or setting.

Marking spine. 2 marks for broadening culture beyond surface features; 2 for a general example that moves from detail to meaning; 2 for linking analysis to construction.

Model paragraph. The poem's mixing of two languages within a single stanza makes identity something that is spoken, not just stated. By letting one language interrupt the other mid-line, the poet enacts a speaker who cannot be placed in a single world. The shifts in rhythm that accompany each change give the stanza an unsettled sound, and the untranslated words invite readers to feel what it is to be partly outside a conversation. Rather than treating the blend as a problem, the poem presents it as a full way of being, so the speaker's identity is shown as layered and unashamed.

Marking spine. 2 marks for a clear argument about identity; 3 for techniques (code-switching, rhythm, untranslated words, interruption) with effects; 2 for sustained analysis; 1 for control of expression.

Planning. 'Keep' suggests storage and protection. Decide whether your text shows language as a safe store of identity, as something that can be lost or changed, or both. A thesis that qualifies the statement is stronger than one that simply agrees.

Structure.

• Introduction: a thesis that takes a position (for example, language keeps identity but also changes it as people and communities move), with a preview of two or three features of the text.
• Body 1: how the text uses language (names, dialect, a second language, silence, or the voice of the composer) to show a character or community holding on to identity.
• Body 2: a moment where language is lost, pressured, translated or misunderstood, and what that does to identity.
• Body 3: how the text's form (structure, voice, genre, visual language) frames the question, and what it suggests at the end.
• Conclusion: a measured judgement about the statement.

Model body paragraph (about 160 words, on an invented novel, Salt and Sugar; use your own text). The strongest evidence for the idea that language keeps identity is the novel's treatment of the grandmother's recipes. The recipes are written in a dialect the narrator can speak but not read, so each page holds a culture she carries in her ear and cannot yet fix on the page. When she copies the recipes into English, the composer lets the narration stumble over words that have no equivalent, and the gaps show that something is kept only by being said in its original form. But the novel also complicates the statement. By the final chapter the narrator invents a new, mixed phrase for the dish, and this hybrid name is presented as a fresh form of belonging, not a loss. Language therefore keeps identity in the way a recipe keeps a meal: it preserves the pattern while allowing the cook to change what goes into the pot.

Marking spine. 7 marks for a clear, sustained response to 'how far'; 7 for accurate evidence from the text and analysis of how language shapes identity; 3 for structure and expression; 3 for insight into culture and community. Responses that merely praise the text or retell it sit in the lower bands.

Planning. Name the assumption the text challenges (for example that identity is fixed, that one language or accent is 'proper', or that a group is all alike) and track the language choices that do the challenging. NESA's criteria for this section reward understanding of how ideas about language, identity and culture are expressed and how language shapes meaning about people and groups.

Structure.

• Introduction: a thesis naming the assumption and the main language resources (voice, naming, dialect, code-switching, symbol, visual or sound language).
• Body 1: how the text first sets up the assumption, analysed through a precise example.
• Body 2: the moment the assumption is disrupted, and the language that does it.
• Body 3: what the ending leaves the audience thinking about identity and culture.
• Conclusion: a judgement about how language shapes meaning about individuals or groups in the text.

Marking spine. About 7 marks for understanding of how ideas about language, identity and culture are expressed; 7 for analysis of how language shapes meaning, with close textual reference; 3 for structure; 3 for expression.