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Running the spoken language endorsement

The endorsement is a short, formal presentation with questions, graded on its own scale and reported apart from the GCSE grade. Most of the work is organisation: topics agreed early, a sample recorded properly and uploaded on time.

Quick guide for teachers · 4 minute read

AQA’s spoken language endorsement (component 8700/C) is a prepared presentation with questions and feedback during it or after it. It earns no marks. Students get Pass, Merit, Distinction or Not Classified, and the specification says the endorsement is “reported as a separate grade (Pass, Merit, Distinction or Not Classified) and will not contribute to the result of the GCSE English Language qualification”. Ofqual’s conditions for GCSE English Language require two separate results for each student, one for the exams and one for the spoken language assessment.

What students do

The specification asks for a prepared presentation on a topic the student agrees with the teacher in advance. It must be formal, but it can take many forms, “including talks, debates, speeches and dialogues”. Notes and slides are allowed and not required. As part of the presentation or after it, the student listens and responds to questions and feedback. AQA’s notes and guidance (October 2025) say: “The specification sets a maximum of 10 minutes for the presentation and questioning”.

Students must use spoken Standard English, which for this assessment means they must “be intelligible” and “generally use language appropriate to the formal setting of the presentation”.

How the grades work

The specification awards the grades on a competency basis: “Competency means that a student must hit all the criteria in one grade before moving on to the next.” A Merit needs every Pass criterion and every Merit criterion.

In our own words, the criteria run like this:

  • Pass: straightforward ideas, an attempt to organise them and to meet the audience’s needs, and a straightforward response to questions.
  • Merit: challenging ideas in a range of vocabulary, a clear structure that suits the audience, a presentation that achieves its purpose, and formal answers to questions with some detail.
  • Distinction: sophisticated ideas and vocabulary, a range of ways to engage the audience, and perceptive answers that add new ideas where that helps.

Topics, questions and notes

AQA’s notes and guidance warn that “The use of common or directed tasks, however well-intentioned, is contra-indicated”, so every student needs a topic of their own. They advise that “Questions should arise out of what has been said and not be pre-prepared”, and that the one question not to ask is “Why did you choose this topic?”. For students working towards the higher grades, questions should “challenge students to reason, evaluate and/ or hypothesise”.

On notes, the guidance is plain: “reading entirely from pre-prepared notes is unlikely to enable them to access the criteria for the higher grades”, and “Note cards are continually seen to be the most effective support to a speaker”. It also expects students to rehearse, as a professional speaker would.

Recording the sample

Ofqual requires each school to give the exam board “a complete and unedited audiovisual recording of the evidence generated in that assessment by a sample of Learners”. AQA’s audiovisual evidence guidance (version 1.2, March 2024) sets the sample:

  • 30 or fewer students: record every student’s presentation.
  • More than 30 students: record 30, with at least 10 at each grade (Pass, Merit and Distinction).

AQA’s sampling page adds that students graded Not Classified or carrying forward an earlier grade are left out of that count, and that any student given parental interest status must be sent as well.

Each recording must be complete and unedited, including the questions and feedback. At the start, the student gives their name and the school’s name aloud or holds an A4 sign to the camera. The student must be clearly visible, and everyone taking part must be clearly audible. Once the grades are submitted, the recordings go through the View and upload sample screen in AQA’s Centre marks submission.

The deadline

AQA’s dates page for GCSE English Language gives 7 May 2027 as the non-exam assessment deadline for the June 2027 series, and 5 November 2026 for the November 2026 series. The audiovisual guidance says the presentations can take place at any time in the two-year course, as long as the sample arrives by that date.

Planning the year

The notes and guidance expect “internal standardising with reference to the published standard”. AQA’s administration page asks for one person to manage that process and sign the centre declaration. Standardise on the first few recordings, before most students present.

Speaking needs teaching as much as writing does. Ofsted’s 2024 English report found that the secondary schools it visited “have not clearly defined what pupils specifically need to know and practise doing to get better at speaking”. A short sequence before the assessments can cover structure, note cards and answering questions you have not heard before, with a rehearsal in pairs.

Viewpoint writing is good preparation. Lessons 10 to 13 of our Language Paper 2 scheme work on audience, openings, building an argument and persuading with restraint, and Lesson 12’s mentor text is a speech.

For students with communication, hearing or visual needs, AQA publishes separate guidance on arrangements: amplification systems are permitted and pauses are allowed, for example, and some methods of communication need the awarding body’s permission. For parents, The spoken language endorsement, explained covers the same ground in plain English.

Sources

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