OxfordAQA International A-Level English Language: Unit 1 Section B Directed Writing (9670)

Unit 1 Section B of OxfordAQA International AS and A-level English Language (9670), Directed Writing, asks you to write a new text to a specific brief by transforming some or all of the material from the two Section A texts. You choose one of two tasks, and you are credited for sustaining a style of writing that suits the task: the right audience, purpose, genre and mode, built from the source material rather than copied from it.

This guide covers specification section 3.1.2 Section B: Directed writing of the OxfordAQA International AS and A-level English Language specification (9670), Version 5.2, for International AS exams from May/June 2018. Unit 1, Language and context, is a 2-hour written exam worth 50 marks: Section A (Understanding texts, 25 marks) and Section B (Directed writing, 25 marks). It counts for 50% of the International AS and 20% of the International A-level. The Section A skills are taught in the Unit 1 study guide; for quick recall see the Unit 1 revision notes, and practise with the Unit 1 practice questions.

What does the specification say?

Specification point (3.1.2)	What it means
“Write to a specific brief”	The task names an audience, a purpose and a form; all three must shape your writing
“Involving the transformation of some or all of the material in Section A in order to create a new text”	You reuse ideas and information from the source texts, but reshape them for a new context
“There will be two options available for use of the source material”	You choose one of two tasks
“Credited for their ability to sustain a style of writing which is appropriate to the task chosen”	Consistency of register, tone and genre conventions from start to finish is central

The specification also explains why the sections fit together: “the material from Section A forms the basis for the writing task in Section B”, and the detailed analysis you do in Section A supports the writing task.

Which assessment objectives apply?

OxfordAQA’s three assessment objectives for 9670 are AO1 (understanding of methods, terminology, concepts and issues), AO2 (analysing how meanings are shaped in texts and data) and AO3 (demonstrating ability to use English in different ways). For the International AS, the specification weights Unit 1 at roughly AO1 10%, AO2 15% and AO3 25%. AO3, using English in different ways, is the skill directed writing tests most directly.

What does “transforming” source material mean?

Transformation means taking content from one context and rebuilding it for another. The four context headings from Section A (audience, purpose, genre and mode) are the levers you change.

What you change	Example from source to new text
Audience	An informative leaflet for adults becomes a talk for 11-year-olds
Purpose	A promotional web page becomes a balanced review
Genre	A news article becomes a blog post or a radio script
Mode	A written text becomes a spoken text (a speech, a podcast script), or a spoken transcript becomes a written article

You are not writing an essay about the texts, and you are not summarising them. You are producing a new, complete text that a real reader in the stated context could use.

How do you plan a directed writing response?

1. Decode the brief. Underline the audience, the purpose, the form and any details about where the text will appear. Decide the register this implies (formal or informal, technical or plain).
2. Select material. Go back through both Section A texts and pick the facts, ideas and examples relevant to the new purpose. Leave out what the new audience does not need.
3. Reorganise. Put the selected content in an order that suits the new genre: a speech needs a clear spoken structure; a leaflet needs headings; a blog post can move from a personal anecdote to wider points.
4. Re-voice. Rewrite in your own words and the new register. Change sentence types, vocabulary and forms of address to suit the audience.
5. Use genre conventions. Include the features a reader expects: headline and standfirst for an article; greeting and sign-off for a letter; discourse markers and direct address for a spoken text.
6. Sustain the style. Check that the tone stays consistent to the end; directed writing often loses marks when a piece slips back into the register of the source or of an exam essay.

Worked example: from two sources to a new text

Section A texts (invented for this example): Text A is a museum’s promotional web page for a new science gallery, written for families, with exclamatives, second-person address and short paragraphs. Text B is a transcript of a curator speaking on local radio, explaining how the exhibits were chosen, with hesitations, specialist terms and anecdotes.

Brief: Write the script of a short welcome talk to be given by a student guide to a group of visiting 14-year- olds at the start of their tour.

Decoding: audience = teenagers; purpose = to welcome, inform and engage; genre = spoken welcome talk; mode = planned speech, to be heard not read.

Selection: from Text A, the gallery’s highlights and practical details; from Text B, one or two curator anecdotes that make the exhibits vivid, with specialist terms explained.

Transformation choices:

• Spoken features: direct address (“Welcome, everyone”), inclusive “we”, rhetorical questions, discourse markers (“So, first…”, “Now, here’s the best bit…”).
• Register: friendly and lively, but clearer and more controlled than the radio transcript; no hesitations or false starts, because it is a planned speech.
• Content reshaped for teenagers: the curator’s technical explanation of how a fossil was dated becomes one striking fact; marketing exclamatives from Text A are toned down so the guide sounds natural rather than like an advert.
• Structure: greeting, what they will see, one story to hook interest, practical points, a closing invitation.

Sample opening: “Hi everyone, and welcome to the new science gallery. I’m your guide for the next hour. Before we go in, here’s a question: what do you think is the oldest thing in this building? Hold on to your answer, because in about ten minutes you’re going to be standing right next to it.”

How do you choose between the two tasks?

Pick the task where you can most clearly picture the reader and sustain the voice. Check that the source material gives you enough content for that task; the strongest responses use the sources fully but reshape them substantially.

Frequently asked questions

Can I add information that is not in the source texts? The task is built on transforming the Section A material. Small, plausible details that help the new text work in context can be appropriate, but the substance should come from the sources.

How long should my directed writing be? The specification does not set a word count. Write enough to produce a complete text that does the job in the brief, and leave time to check consistency of style.

Should I write a commentary on my choices? No. The specification describes Section B as a writing task only; your understanding is shown through the writing itself.

Is it acceptable to quote the source texts? Short quotations may suit some genres (for example a review quoting a visitor), but copying large sections does not show transformation.

Common mistakes

• Writing an analysis or summary of the source texts instead of a new text.
• Copying phrases and structure from the sources with little change.
• Ignoring the mode: writing a “speech” that reads like an essay, or a “leaflet” with no headings.
• Starting in the right register but drifting into a different one.
• Missing genre conventions the reader would expect.
• Including every detail from the sources instead of selecting for the new purpose.

Official syllabus

OxfordAQA International AS and A-level English Language (9670) specification, Version 5.2, for International AS exams May/June 2018 onwards and International A-level exams May/June 2019 onwards: 3.1 Language and context, 3.1.2 Section B: Directed writing, with the Unit 1 assessment structure and assessment objective weightings.