National 5 English

Why study English?

Language and literacy are of personal, social and economic importance. Your ability to use language lies at the centre of the development and expression of your emotions, thinking, learning and sense of personal identity.

This course gives you the opportunity to develop skills in listening, talking, reading and writing, which are essential for learning, life and work. You will develop your ability to communicate your thoughts and feelings and respond to those of other people.

The skills that you develop in English are useful in a wide range of careers; these include teaching, editorial, journalism, administration, legal work or in the arts.

Career Pathways

To see what career areas this subject could lead to and the routes to get there, download and view these career pathways:

Arts, Social Sciences and Languages

Communications and Media

Information, Culture and Heritage

Law

Teaching and Classroom Support

What do I need to get in?

Entry is at the discretion of the school or college but you would normally have achieved:

What will I study?

This course helps you understand the complexities of language through studying a wide range of texts, including studying the use vocabulary, word patterns, text structures and style. You will develop high levels of analytical thinking and understanding of the impact of language.

The course comprises two areas of study.

Analysis and Evaluation

You will develop:

  • listening and reading skills in the contexts of literature, language and media
  • the skills needed to understand, analyse and evaluate detailed texts, including Scottish texts.

Creation and Production

You will develop:

  • talking and writing skills in a range of contexts
  • the skills needed to create and produce detailed texts in both written and oral forms.

How will I be assessed?

Course Assessment

The course assessment has four components totalling 100 marks:

  • Component 1: question paper: Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation – worth 30 marks
  • Component 2: question paper: Critical Reading – worth 40 marks
  • Component 3: Portfolio – Writing – worth 30 marks
  • Component 4: Performance – Spoken language. This new internally assessed spoken language component will ensure that all four literacy skills are assessed, which will be graded as ‘Achieved’ or ‘Not Achieved’.

Component 2 will contain at least one question on a Scottish text.

For Component 3, you will be asked to produce two pieces of writing, one creative and one discursive.

Both the assignment component and question papers will be set and externally marked by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The grade awarded is based on the total marks achieved across all course assessment components.

The course assessment is graded A-D.

Study Materials

What can I go on to next?

If you complete the course successfully, it may lead to:

Further study, training or employment in:

Which jobs are related to this subject?

Where can my parents find out more?

Your school will give your parents an Options or Choices information booklet, which has detailed information on the curriculum and the individual subjects or courses you can study. It will also invite them along to a Parents’ Information Evening.

They can also read the information leaflet(s):

Nationals in a Nutshell – English (National 5)