A Level English Language and Literature Tutoring, for Every Board
English Language and Literature asks students to read a novel, a poem or a play with the tools of a linguist, and a speech, a blog or a transcript with the eye of a literary critic. Most students arrive confident in one discipline and unsure of the other’s terminology, and the papers reward integrating the two rather than alternating paragraphs of each.
Short answer
A Level English Language and Literature is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
No group class runs for this exam.
From USD 95 per lesson
- Structure shown for AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How A Level English Language and Literature is assessed, board by board
3 awarding bodies examine this subject, and they do not examine it the same way: different papers, different weightings, different practical arrangements. Find your board — it is printed on your school's timetable and on past papers — and read that block. Nothing on this page describes one board's paper as though it applied to all of them.
AQA
AQA A-level English Language and Literature (7707)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Telling stories | 40% | 3 hours | 100 marks | unseen material and essay |
| Paper 2: Exploring conflict | 40% | 2 hours 30 min | 100 marks | essay |
| Non-exam assessment: Making connections | 20% | Assessed in school | 50 marks | independent investigation and coursework |
Checked on 22 September 2026
OCR
OCR A Level English Language and Literature (EMC) (H474)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exploring non-fiction and spoken texts (01) — The OCR (EMC) anthology of 20 non-fiction spoken and written texts | 16% | 1 hour | 32 marks | closed text and unseen material |
| The language of poetry and plays (02) | 32% | 2 hours | 64 marks | closed text and essay |
| Reading as a writer, writing as a reader (03) | 32% | 2 hours | 64 marks | open text and essay |
| Independent study: analysing and producing texts (04) | 20% | Assessed in school | 40 marks | coursework |
- Four components with a 16% paper among them — the shortest examined component of any A Level on this site. It is routinely under-prepared because it looks small next to the others.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Pearson Edexcel
Pearson Edexcel A level English Language and Literature (9EL0) — UK specification
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component 1: Voices in Speech and Writing — The Voices anthology and one drama text | 40% | 2 hours 30 min | 50 marks | open text and essay |
| Component 2: Varieties in Language and Literature | 40% | 2 hours 30 min | 50 marks | open text and essay |
| Component 3: Investigating and Creating Texts — 36 marks original writing, 24 marks commentary | 20% | Assessed in school | 60 marks | coursework |
- Pearson awards this as a UK A level only; there is no International A Level in English Language and Literature. Cambridge examines the combination at AS Level only (8695), so a full Cambridge A Level in this pairing does not exist.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Specifications are revised periodically. Each block links to the specification it was read from and gives the date it was checked; if your school has moved to a newer specification, that document takes precedence.
What A Level English Language and Literature covers
The syllabus areas most boards share. Which ones appear, in what order and on which paper differs by board and by specification code — your own specification is the final word. Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper.
Narrative and Storytelling
Narrator types and point of view · Time and place in literary and non-literary narratives · Dialogue analysis and representation
Conflict and Representation
The theme of conflict in literary texts · Conflict in media and political discourse · Power, identity and representation
Integrated Analysis
Applying linguistic tools to literary texts · Comparative text analysis · Creative writing and style development
Where A Level English Language and Literature marks are usually lost
Naming features without saying what they do
Students learn the terminology — word classes, sentence types, modality, discourse markers — and then list examples. Identifying a modal verb or a declarative earns little on its own; the credit lies in linking the feature to the speaker’s stance, the audience and the context, and comparing it with what another text does. Precise terms used to build an argument score; terms used as decoration do not.
Commentaries that retell the writing
Every board asks students to write as well as analyse: re-creative writing with a commentary in an AQA paper, a creative task with commentary in OCR’s prose fiction paper, and original writing in the OCR and Pearson Edexcel non-exam assessments. The commentary is where marks leak. It must explain specific choices and their intended effects with the same precision as an essay, not summarise what the piece is about.
Revising for the wrong exam-room rule
The boards differ on whether set texts go into the exam. AQA’s anthology section is closed book while its other sections are open; OCR’s poetry-and-drama paper and its anthology paper are closed text and its prose paper is open; Pearson Edexcel allows clean copies of its prescribed literary texts in both papers. Students who revise as if every paper were open book arrive without the quotations a closed-text question needs.
A Level English Language and Literature coursework
All three boards that award this A Level include non-exam assessment. AQA’s Making Connections is a personal investigation of a technique or theme across a literary text and non-literary material. OCR’s independent study pairs analytical, comparative writing on two texts with a piece of original non-fiction writing. Pearson Edexcel’s Investigating and Creating Texts asks for original fiction and creative non-fiction on a topic of the student’s choice, with an analytical commentary. A tutor can help the student narrow a focus, explain the criteria and question the analysis in a draft.
A tutor can explain the criteria, question a draft and point to what is weak. The research, the writing and every decision in it stay the student’s own, as the awarding body’s rules require.
How we teach A Level English Language and Literature
A tutor builds one analytical method that works on any text. Lessons start with short extracts — a political speech, a passage of dialogue from the set novel, a transcript of real conversation — and apply the same frameworks to each: lexis, grammar, voice, point of view and the way context shapes meaning. Set texts are then studied with that method rather than through plot summary, and comparison with unseen material is practised regularly, since OCR and Pearson Edexcel both set it. Writing tasks are drafted and redrafted with a commentary each time, so the student learns to explain choices as well as make them. The board’s own anthology and text list set the reading.
Your starting point is reviewed before the study plan is finalised. The exact method depends on the programme and is agreed on the intro call — for some students that means a timed section, for others it means reading a recent score report or a piece of marked work. We will tell you which applies to you before you book anything, rather than describing a process here that may not be the one you get.
Related subjects and pages
A Level English Literature
A Level English Literature tutoring online for AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge: close reading, unseen poems and prose, context, critical readings.
A Level English Language
A Level English Language tutoring online for AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge: transcripts and data, child language, language change, writing tasks.
A Level History
Live online A Level History tutoring for AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge: source analysis, historians’ interpretations, essays and coursework.
A Level Tutoring
Board-aware A Level tutoring online: AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel (UK and International A Level) and Cambridge International, subject by subject.
A Level prices
A Level tutoring from USD 95 per 90-minute lesson. Compare lesson packages and included materials.
A Level English Language and Literature: reviews from our students
Students and parents who prepared with us write these reviews themselves. We check each one before publishing it and never change its words or its star rating.
Nobody has reviewed this programme here yet. If you prepared with us, tell other students across Africa how it went.
Frequently asked questions
Short, direct answers. If yours is not here, ask us.
Talk to us about A Level English Language and Literature
Tell us your board or level, your predicted grade and when you sit it. We will tell you honestly whether you need a tutor, and which one.