What is AO4? AO4: relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts; explain how texts have been influential and significant to self and to other readers in different contexts and at different times

So what is ‘context’? ‘Context’ = exploring the SETTING of a text How is the setting significant in the narrative of the text? How does the setting relate to the ‘real world’? How do these things influence the way we respond to the text?

SETTING and THE NARRATIVE In the text, to what extent: because of when/where the story takes place? do things happen as they do are characters like they are Consider (eg): In a ‘different cultures’ text, any or all of these may be unfamiliar to the reader Time / Period Place Culture / Community You couldn’t teach a Different Cultures text without addressing this unfamiliarity: the ‘context’.

Setting and the ‘real world’ Setting becomes ‘context’: when we link the setting in the text and a setting in the ‘real’ world when we start to explore the relationship between them. To do this, we need some knowledge from outside the text: the social . . . cultural . . . historical . . . CONTEXT of the text

? Exploring setting How does exploring / understanding ‘context’: the characters their relationships what happens …etc help us to understand make us think more carefully about alter our view of … etc These are the areas A663 tasks will tackle.

The context of the reader . . . explain how texts have been influential and significant to self and to other readers in different contexts and at different times For example - how/why a text may influence views/ attitudes/ circumstances how/why responses to a text may change over time how/why a text may provoke different reactions in different readers Any relevant response to these aspects WILL be credited If there is no reference to these aspects, the whole mark range will still be accessible – for example, they may not have been relevant to the extract or question set

Linking text and context You need to learn how to: select from your contextual knowledge what is relevant explain how the contextual material helps to shape the text itself explore how the contextual material helps to shape the way we respond to the text integrate all this into a response to the task set ‘Bolt-on background’ is not what examiners are looking for. Never begin with an introduction about the cultural context of the text – your understanding of this element must be fully integrated into your response.