tone close tone The overall mood or 'feel' of the text or part of the text. This can be created by the writer's choice of words, pace, rhythm or imagery. (sarcastic, humorous, ironic, argumentative, bitter, frustrated etc.) This was followed by practitioner focus groups (x8) which looked at the outcomes of the web consultation and associated issues.

sentence structure close sentence structure How a sentence is built up or constructed. (short/minor sentences, parenthesis, lists, punctuation etc.) In 2016, we carried out a consultation with teachers and other key stakeholders on the refresh of the Scottish set text list for National 5 and Higher English. Based on the findings of this consultation, we have now published a refreshed set text list for implementation in session 2018-19. This is a minor refresh, which provides opportunities for new texts to be studied, while also ensuring a minimal impact on resources. The Qualification Design Team (QDT) for English, which consistedof Principal Teachers and Faculty Heads of English, as well as other key stakeholder representatives, commented on the suggested list and also discussed a list submitted by the Association of Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) nominated representative on the QDT.During the 2011/2012 exam diet, theteam of examiners was asked to draw up a listof Scottish texts commonly answered on by candidates in the previousIntermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 English exams. Between September ¿ November 2012 we used an external consultancy agency (Ashbrook Research and Consultancy) to independently gather practitioners¿ views. There were two parts to this consultation:

Ashbrook then presented their findings to a Special Joint Curriculum Area Review Group/Qualification Design Team Meeting. Read the Ashbrook report (1.08 MB).

The following report details the findings of our consultation and provides more information on how we gathered the views of teachers and stakeholders. Please note, the past papers for each year also contain the critical essay questions for each genre. All centres were notified of the consultation in advance of it being carried out. As well as commenting on a suggested list of texts, respondents were given the opportunity to suggest Scottish texts they thought should be included. As a result of these discussions, we further increased the number of titles in each genre (drama, prose poetry) to include a wide representation of both established and more recent Scottish writers.