Edexcel International A Level (IAL) English Language (WEN01–WEN04) Past Papers 2026

Language: Context and Identity (AS, Unit 1)

Duration: 1h 45m

Language in Transition (AS, Unit 2)

Duration: 1h 45m (paper has 2 sections, 25 marks each)

Crafting Language (A2, Unit 3)

Duration: 2 hours

Investigating Language (A2, Unit 4)

Duration: 2 hours

AO4 integrated comparison in WEN01 Q1 — a significant minority skip it entirely

'A significant minority did not address AO4 and the requirement to comment on the links between the two texts and this made an upward movement through the levels difficult. An integrated approach to this comparison is recommended.' (WEN01 2023). 'A significant minority did not address AO4 and the requirement to comment on the links between the two texts and this made an upward movement through the levels difficult.' (WEN01 2024)

WEN01

Sentence-level analysis (AO1/AO2) — common gap at mid-lower levels

'Less successful at AO1/AO2 were those that offered little (or no) analysis at sentence level. Some failed to support somewhat sweeping comments on form with evidence drawn directly from the source materials.' (WEN01 2024)

WEN01

Phonological analysis terminology — rhoticity often misapplied

'The term rhoticity was commonly deployed, but not always correctly. On the evidence of, e.g. /deə/, the speaker would be non-rhotic (i.e. not ostensibly pronouncing the phoneme /r/ in post-vocalic positions). Many candidates claimed that the speakers were demonstrating rhoticity but used evidence which showed that the opposite was true.' (WEN02 2024)

WEN02

Construction of identity as a discriminator in WEN01 Q1

'A significant focus of the question was the construction and presentation of personal identity, and the ability of candidates to incorporate this into their analysis proved something of a discriminator, with a significant minority struggling with this concept.' (WEN01 2024)

WEN01

Sustaining register and tone in WEN03 Section A creative tasks

'Less successful responses struggled with the precise purpose of the speech or with maintaining its generic form. Some appeared to lack the vocabulary and control of syntax to fulfil the requirements of the task. Some struggled to sustain a consistent tone/register and this was often exacerbated by limited assimilation of the source materials.' (WEN01 2024 Section B parallel; WEN03 echoes the issue)

WEN01, WEN03

Bullet-pointed essay structure in WEN02 Q1 caps responses at Level 2

'Finally for Section A, centres are reminded that whilst a bullet-pointed approach to answering this task might look appealing, it very rarely leads to marks beyond Level 2.' (WEN02 2024)

WEN02

WEN03 Section B commentary lacks technical methods and terminology at lower levels

'However, at the lower levels, comments on audience, purpose and context were often not linked to specific effects or language choices. This is an area where candidates at all levels could achieve better results in their commentaries, by giving more detailed evidence and analysis of how they crafted their writing to meet the requirements of their stated audience, purpose and context. Many commentaries at the lower levels lacked terminology, exemplification or close analysis of technique.' (WEN03 2023)

WEN03

WEN04 essays — missing argument structure and reference to data

'Those scoring in the lower levels were unable to develop a structured argument and produced undeveloped responses with a lack of terminology or reference to the data.' (WEN04 2023, Question 7). 'Some failed to develop an argument or reference examples from research.' (WEN04 2023, Question 8)

WEN04