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Welsh
A-level Welsh — Cymraeg Iaith Gyntaf — is WJEC's first-language qualification for Wales, taught from 2015, awarded at AS from 2016 and at A level from 2017, and regulated by the Welsh Government; it is not available to centres in England. It is not shaped like any modern-languages A-level, and it is not shaped like the classical ones either. It is a UNITISED qualification of six units — three AS and three A2 — which may be sat in stages: AS Unit 1 The Film, the Play and Oracy (15%), AS Unit 2 Non-examination Assessment (10%), AS Unit 3 The Use of Language, and Poetry (15%), A2 Unit 4 The Novel and Oracy (20%), A2 Unit 5 Medieval Prose and Early and Medieval Poetry (20%), and A2 Unit 6 Appreciation of Literature and Welsh Language in Context (20%). Two features have no parallel anywhere else in this catalogue. First, a tenth of the qualification is a NON-EXAMINATION ASSESSMENT: two folio tasks of 1,000 to 2,000 words each, marked by the teacher during the course and moderated externally by WJEC, the second of them written under special conditions in two hours with a dictionary and one legal side of A4 bullet points. Second, ORACY IS EXAMINED TWICE, in Unit 1 and again in Unit 4, by a visiting external examiner, in groups of no more than three candidates, in discussions of about forty-five minutes that are recorded so the marking can be checked; together the two orals carry 35% of the A level. The assessment objectives are three and they are very unevenly weighted: AO1, use of spoken language, 11.7%; AO2, responding to texts, 50.2%; AO3, using written language, 38.1% — so half the qualification is the disciplined reading of texts, and the balance between AO2 and AO3 shifts unit by unit, which is the single most useful planning fact in the specification. The literary syllabus is prescribed by name and runs from the sixth century to the present: the film Hedd Wyn; a play by Saunders Lewis or Gwenlyn Parry; twelve twentieth- and twenty-first-century poems; a novel chosen from four; Branwen Ferch Llŷr from the Four Branches of the Mabinogi; and, in Unit 5B, poems attributed to Aneirin and Taliesin alongside three cywyddau of Dafydd ap Gwilym. A NOTE ON THE LANGUAGE OF THESE NOTES, which is a platform convention and not a claim about how the subject should be taught: the explanatory prose here is in English because the whole UK A-Levels notes corpus is English-medium, but the examination is conducted ENTIRELY IN WELSH and every word a candidate writes or speaks in it is Welsh. These notes therefore carry Welsh throughout — all literary and grammatical terminology in Welsh, all model phrasing and essay scaffolding in Welsh, and a register that assumes a fluent speaker rather than a learner.
0/70 Texts14 Chapters~431 min total
WJEC Welsh (First Language), specification structure — six units, three AS and three A2, unitised, allowing staged assessmentSpecification §4, assessment objective weightings by unit, and §4.4 the uniform mark scaleUnit 1 The Film, the Play and Oracy 15%; Unit 4 The Novel and Oracy 20%Unit 1 and Unit 4 Notes for Teachers — external assessment, examiner visits before and after Easter, examinations recorded, groups of no more than three, approximately 45 minutes for a group of threeThe role of the examiner — stimulate discussion, initiate a change of direction, ask for evidence, ensure each candidate can respondUnit 4 Synoptic Assessment — make connections between elements of the subject and refer to works read or seen+178 moreFoundationStandardAdvanced
Table of contents · 14 ChaptersT·14
- Where the two orals sit in a six-unit qualificationText L·01 · Recommended start7 min
- How the examination actually runs, and what the examiner is allowed to doText L·027 min
- What AO1 actually rewards, bullet by bulletText L·037 min
- Cofrestr ar lafar: which Welsh to speak in the examinationText L·046 min
- Exam technique: three people, forty-five minutesText L·057 min
- What Unit 1 asks: two sections, one discussionText L·067 min
- Section A: the film, and what 'background' means for itText L·077 min
- Section B: the play, and the difference a stage makesText L·086 min
- Dehongliadau eraill: the other-interpretations requirementText L·096 min
- Exam technique: citing a film when there is no text to quoteText L·106 min
- What Unit 2 is, and the rules that govern itText L·117 min
- The ten formats, and what each of them actually demandsText L·127 min
- What the 16–20 band actually asks forText L·136 min
- Register, audience and the variation of stylesText L·146 min
- Exam technique: the no-redraft rule and the process it forcesText L·156 min
- The task, and the special conditions that govern itText L·167 min
- Croesgyfeirio: the four-rung ladder the grid actually describesText L·175 min
- The architecture of an argued essayText L·186 min
- Essay or speech? The register decision, and the Welsh that follows from itText L·196 min
- Exam technique: building the one legal A4 sideText L·206 min
- What Section A actually asks forText L·216 min
- Y Treigladau: the three systems and the nine consonantsText L·227 min
- Sbardunau: which mutation follows which wordText L·237 min
- Cystrawen a chymalau: clauses, connectives and idiomText L·246 min
- Exam technique: correcting an error and explaining itText L·256 min
- What Section B asks, and what changed in 2023Text L·267 min
- The twelve prescribed poems, and the connections inside the listText L·276 min
- Reading a poem: form, metre and the claims each licensesText L·287 min
- Cymharu beirdd: the requirement candidates skim pastText L·296 min
- Exam technique: writing the essay with the poem on the deskText L·307 min
- AO3 is 38.1% of the A level, and it is spread across five unitsText L·366 min
- Yr eirfa feirniadol: the Welsh critical vocabularyText L·376 min
- The paragraph as a unit of argumentText L·385 min
- Connectives, and the shape they give an argumentText L·396 min
- Exam technique: the last ten minutesText L·406 min
- What Unit 4 asks, and how it differs from Unit 1Text L·416 min
- The four novels, and the seven headings the examiner may raiseText L·426 min
- Style, voice and dialect in a Welsh novelText L·436 min
- Other interpretations, and disagreeing usefully in a groupText L·446 min
- Exam technique: making a synoptic connection without derailingText L·456 min
- What Unit 5 asks, and how Section A is builtText L·466 min
- Branwen, the Four Branches, and what survivesText L·476 min
- Reading medieval Welsh prose: what an edited text is, and how it behavesText L·486 min
- Characters and themes, and connecting an extract to the wholeText L·496 min
- Exam technique: significance is not summaryText L·506 min
- What Section B asks: two poems, two different questionsText L·516 min
- Yr Hengerdd: Aneirin, Taliesin, and what is genuinely disputedText L·526 min
- Dafydd ap Gwilym and the cywyddText L·536 min
- Crefft: the strict metres, cynghanedd, and how to read a lineText L·547 min
- Exam technique: the two-poem questionText L·556 min
- Unit 6, and why it is the most writing-weighted paper in the qualificationText L·566 min
- What 'unseen' means here, and what it rules outText L·576 min
- Subject and style: the five aspects the specification namesText L·586 min
- Connecting an unseen text to what you have readText L·596 min
- Exam technique: the first ten minutes with an unseenText L·606 min
- What Section B asks, and what makes it unlike everything elseText L·616 min
- The seven formats and the conventions that identify themText L·626 min
- Register and audience: the instruction that governs the sectionText L·636 min
- From a fact sheet to a finished pieceText L·646 min
- Exam technique: format fidelityText L·656 min
- What this topic answers to, and which units it feedsText L·666 min
- The Welsh-language media, and the registers they useText L·676 min
- Theatre, broadcasting and film: three media the specification namesText L·686 min
- Welsh as a living language in a bilingual countryText L·696 min
- Exam technique: planning two years across six unitsText L·706 min
- Oracy / Llafaredd
- Ffilm a Drama (Film and Play)
- Gwaith Cwrs: Creative Writing (NEA)
- Gwaith Cwrs: Argumentative Essay (NEA)
- Iaith ar Waith (Use of Language)
- Barddoniaeth Fodern (Modern Poetry)
- Ymateb i Destunau (Responding to Texts)
- Ysgrifennu Beirniadol (Critical Writing)
- Y Nofel (The Novel)
- Rhyddiaith yr Oesoedd Canol (Medieval Prose)
- Yr Hengerdd a'r Cywyddau (Early and Medieval Poetry)
- Gwerthfawrogiad Llenyddiaeth (Appreciation of Literature)
- Y Gymraeg yn ei Chyd-destun (Welsh Language in Context)
- Cyfryngau a Diwylliant (Media and Culture)
- The six units, the weightings and what the mark figures actually mean
- Six units, three AS and three A2, all of them contributing to the full A level: AS Unit 1 The Film, the Play and Oracy, 15%, entry code 2000N1; AS Unit 2 Non-examination Assessment, 10%, 2000N2; AS Unit 3 The Use of Language, and Poetry, 15%, 2000N3; A2 Unit 4 The Novel and Oracy, 20%, 1000N4; A2 Unit 5 Medieval Prose and Early and Medieval Poetry, 20%, 1000N5; A2 Unit 6 Appreciation of Literature and Welsh Language in Context, 20%, 1000N6. Read the mark figures carefully, because the specification's table is a UNIFORM MARK table and not a raw-mark one. The maximum uniform marks are 75, 50, 75, 100, 100 and 100, which total 500: the GCE AS carries 200 uniform marks and the full A level 500. Unit 2 proves the point — its two tasks are worth 20 raw marks each, forty in total, against a uniform maximum of fifty. The uniform mark scale exists precisely so that candidates who reach the same standard receive the same mark whichever series they sat the unit in, which is what makes staged assessment possible. Grade thresholds are published in uniform marks: at A level 400 is a grade A and 200 an E, and A* is awarded to a candidate who reaches grade A overall AND at least 90% of the uniform marks available on the A2 units — 270 of 300. That second condition is easy to miss and it means a strong AS cannot carry a weak A2 to the top grade.
- The assessment objectives, and why their per-unit split is the key planning fact
- Three assessment objectives, declared across the specification as a whole with ranges: AO1, use of spoken language, 5–15%; AO2, responding to texts, 45–60%; AO3, using written language, 35–50%. The realised weightings are AO1 11.7%, AO2 50.2% and AO3 38.1%. AO1 asks a candidate to speak correctly and proficiently in a context-appropriate register, to listen attentively to others and consider their contributions, and to develop viewpoints in a balanced manner, summarise and reach fair conclusions — three separate demands, of which the second and third are the ones candidates neglect. AO2 asks for knowledge of specific texts and their background through critical analysis that discusses and evaluates OTHER INTERPRETATIONS, and for coherent response to literary, visual and factual texts by selecting, interpreting and justifying material referred back to the original; at A level it adds personal response to previously unseen material and the collating, comparing, cross-referencing and evaluating of information across media. AO3 asks for correct, clear, proficient writing with a range of linguistic resources and effective grammar, and for awareness of different registers. The per-unit split, expressed as percentages of the whole A level, is where the planning happens: Unit 1 is AO1 5 and AO2 10; Unit 2 is AO3 10 and nothing else; Unit 3 is AO2 6.9 and AO3 8.1; Unit 4 is AO1 6.7 and AO2 13.3; Unit 5 is AO2 13.3 and AO3 6.7; Unit 6 inverts Unit 5 exactly, AO2 6.7 and AO3 13.3. So Unit 2 is marked purely on how you write; Unit 5 is marked mainly on what you know and can argue about the medieval texts; and Unit 6, though it looks like the most literary unit on the timetable, is the most heavily WRITING-weighted paper in the qualification. Preparing Units 5 and 6 identically wastes the difference.
- The two oral examinations (Units 1 and 4) — 35% of the A level
- Oracy is not a bolt-on here: it is assessed twice, and together the two orals carry 35% of the A level. Both run the same way. The assessment is external — an examiner appointed by WJEC visits the centre in the weeks before and after the Easter holiday — although teachers are expected to assess candidates internally during the year and the centre's assessment is used to guide the examiner. Candidates are examined in groups of NO MORE THAN THREE, selected on the basis of ability or at the examiner's discretion; a group of three is examined for approximately forty-five minutes; a lone candidate is examined individually. Every examination is RECORDED, so any mark can be checked by relistening, and it is recommended that candidates sit a full mock beforehand. The examiner's job is defined narrowly and it tells you what to expect: to stimulate discussion by asking questions, to initiate a change of direction, to ask a candidate to substantiate an idea or develop an argument, and to ensure that each candidate has an opportunity to respond. Marking considers the ability to speak the language correctly and proficiently in an appropriate register, the ability to demonstrate specific information about the texts and their background, and — stated as its own clause — the ability to listen attentively to others, raise questions, develop opinions, interact and form conclusions. Unit 1 discusses the film and the play; Unit 4 discusses the novel and is synoptic, so candidates are expected to connect elements of the subject and refer to works they have read or seen beyond the set texts.
- Unit 2 — the non-examination assessment, its rules and its moderation
- A tenth of the A level, marked internally by the teacher during the course and moderated externally by WJEC, and assessed on AO3 alone. Two tasks, 20 raw marks each, and each unit of work should run to between 1,000 and 2,000 words. The same subject must not be used for both. TASK ONE is an extended piece in one of ten named formats: a short story; the first chapter of a novel; a diary; a monologue; a series of blogs; a portrayal; part of an autobiography; a script based on a short story for stage, television or radio; an editorial article or essay for a newspaper or magazine; a journalist's report. A word processor is recommended. TASK TWO is an essay or written speech, suitable for delivery, presenting an opinion on a controversial topic that the candidate has researched, using sources and cross-referencing them, reflecting on viewpoints and reaching conclusions. It is a task under SPECIAL CONDITIONS: two hours, conditions similar to an ordinary examination, no consultation between candidates, a week's notice, dictionaries permitted, and no word processor. The candidate may take in up to ONE SIDE OF A4 of short bullet points in font size 11 or above — statistics, facts, examples and relevant quotations are allowed on it, full paragraphs and full sentences are not — and that page must be submitted with the completed task. Two procedural rules matter more than they look. First, each piece is marked when it is presented to the teacher, and a folio task must NOT be rewritten or corrected once the teacher has corrected it; no mark may be awarded for work corrected in earlier drafts, and the teacher's corrections and comments stay on the script. Second, everything is documented: the resources the candidate used, any stimulus or guidance the teacher gave, and the submission date, on a WJEC form signed by both teacher and candidate. Where a centre has more than one learning group, internal moderation must align them; WJEC appoints an external moderator and selects the sample itself after marks are submitted online, and the sample is sent at the start of the summer term. NEA marks may be carried forward for the life of the specification.
- The written papers — Units 3, 5 and 6, and the set texts
- Each written unit asks for TWO answers. Unit 3, Section A is a composite Use of Language question made of different linguistic exercises: constructing sentences that demonstrate the meaning and use of verbs, prepositions, connectives and clauses; and identifying and describing grammatical features in a piece of accurately-written Welsh — labelling and constructing sentences to guidance, CORRECTING ERRORS WITH EXPLANATIONS, combining sentences, building a paragraph, imitating a writing pattern — over mutations, pronouns, adjectives, nouns, prepositions, verbs, adverbs, clauses, connectives, idioms and syntax. Section B is an essay on twelve prescribed twentieth- and twenty-first-century poems; from summer 2023 a copy of the poems the questions focus on is provided in the examination. Unit 5, Section A takes Branwen Ferch Llŷr, in the text printed in Gwerthfawrogi'r Chwedlau by Rhiannon Ifans, with the whole story known from a modern version; the question comes in two parts, explaining the content and significance of a printed extract and then analysing characters or themes in it with connections to the story as a whole. Section B takes six prescribed poems — awdlau I and XXIV from Y Gododdin attributed to Aneirin, Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain and Marwnad Owain ab Urien attributed to Taliesin, and Dafydd ap Gwilym's Mis Mai a Mis Tachwedd, Yr Wylan and Trafferth mewn Tafarn — and asks candidates to respond to TWO of them: the background of the poet and of the poem printed on the paper, then the writing techniques of an extract from a DIFFERENT prescribed poem. Unit 6, Section A is an appreciation of a literary extract never previously studied, explicitly not drawn from any prescribed text in this specification and possibly by any Welsh author; Section B asks for a piece in one of seven formats — news bulletin, main news item, press release, minutes of a meeting, newspaper report, instructions, speech or address — written from supplied facts, statistics and notes with an awareness of register and audience. Dictionaries are prohibited in Units 3 and 5. Units 4, 5 and 6 all carry synoptic assessment. The set texts are named and fixed rather than rotated on a published cycle, but every prescribing section reserves WJEC's right to change the film, plays, poets, poems, novels or texts on adequate notice, so confirm the list current for your own series before you commit two years to a book.