English Literature (PEARSON)

IGCSE Course Outline

What is IGCSE English Literature?

The IGCSE English Literature course is designed to strengthen and develop reading comprehension and writing skills. The course explores a range of texts from a variety of cultures and gives you an understanding of the development and cultural significance of classic and contemporary poetry, drama and prose. It also provides you with the foundations for writing clear, well-argued essays.

Examination structure

Paper 1: Poetry and Modern Prose
2 hours examination
60% of IGCSE

Section A - Unseen Poetry: one 20-mark essay on an unseen poem
Section B - Anthology Poetry: one 30-mark essay comparing two anthology poems
Section C - Modern Prose: one 40-mark essay question on a set text

Coursework
Internal assessment 40% of IGCSE

Essay 1: a response to a modern drama text
Essay 2: a response to a literary heritage text

Set texts*

Modern prose
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

Modern drama
J B Priestley, An Inspector Calls

Literary heritage text
William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Poetry anthology
You will study a wide range of classic and contemporary poetry from the Edexcel Anthology.

Structure of the Course
The course is often offered as a one-year course, the length of study depending on the needs and development of the student concerned. The Edexcel IGCSE English Literature course is taught in three one-hour lessons per week.

Challenges of the course
You will be required to think in depth about the texts that we study and to work hard on your written expression in order to meet the needs of the course. You will also be expected to read as widely as possible outside the classroom.

Introductory and Further Reading

The best way to improve as an English student is to read as much as possible. You might enjoy the following books:

• Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
• Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
• Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
• Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
• Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
• Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories
• George Eliot, Silas Marner
• Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
• Michael Frayn, Spies
• William Golding, Lord of the Flies
• Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
• Barry Hines, A Kestrel for a Knave
• Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
• Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
• Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
• Arthur Miller, All My Sons
• George Orwell, 1984
• Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials
• R. L. Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
• John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
• H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds

*Set text choices may change.