Foxton Books
A Vocabulary-Driven Approach to KS3 Progression to GCSE
Years 7 to 9
Key Features
The Vocabulary Expander: KS3 Progression to GCSE is a vocabulary-centred approach to developing essential GCSE English skills for KS3 students in Years 7 to 9. Studies have repeatedly shown that the highest-achieving students have the widest vocabulary.
This book supports students’ development of academic vocabulary with 421 tasks and around 2800 practice questions to support progression to GCSE English Language and Literature. Packed with engaging and precisely focused tasks and games, it offers comprehensive coverage of all the assessment objectives for these two GCSE subjects, using extracts from well-known texts which students will study at GCSE. These include Shakespeare, 19th and early 20th century texts, poetry and plays.
The Vocabulary Expander: KS3 Progression to GCSE supports the development of Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening skills and provides in-depth coverage of:
- essential grammar and spelling rules
- inference skills and how to select quotations for reading tasks
- literary vocabulary, including key GCSE terms like figurative language, structure, evaluation and context
- analysing language and form in Shakespeare and 19th-century texts using academic and formal language and register to enhance writing
- developing complex vocabulary for creative fiction and non-fiction writing
Each section ends with a 40-mark test to check understanding of key vocabulary and concepts.
Writing exemplars and reading stems offer precise guidance on best practice.
A Vocabulary-Driven Approach to KS3 Progression to GCSE
Vocabulary is key to academic success and a proven indicator of progress in a wide array of subjects. Quite simply, the highest-achieving students have the widest vocabulary.
A firm grasp of subject terminology lays a clear foundation for GCSE English Language and Literature. The Vocabulary Expander: KS3 Progression to GCSE is focused precisely on the skills and assessment objectives needed for GCSE progression. This valuable resource for Years 7–9 targets GCSE progression through a wide range of practical and engaging activities and games, all with answers, explanations and writing exemplars as models. Each section finishes with a test to help students understand their progress.
Starting with the nuts and bolts of words and word classes and the spelling of complex vocabulary, The Vocabulary Expander: KS3 Progression to GCSE progresses with an understanding of the terminology needed for reading, writing and speaking at the highest level in English. It also mirrors the English Literature curriculum for all examination boards, with multiple extracts from Shakespeare, poetry, plays and 19th / early 20th-century literature. These are the GCSE texts students will study.
This is much more than a glossary. The Vocabulary Expander: KS3 Progression to GCSE not only introduces and reinforces understanding of English subject terminology, but it also develops wider academic vocabulary to support all areas of the curriculum. It provides a highly interactive introduction to valuable GCSE concepts such as structure, evaluation and context, with multiple opportunities to practise skills in a precise and systematic way, developing essential skills like selecting and using quotations, understanding inference and analysing the precise effects of words. In total, there are 421 tasks and 2800 questions.
Years 7 to 9 are valuable years to develop understanding of these concepts to support students’ ability to read, write and speak with confidence. These tasks help students understand how vocabulary creates effects and the impact of writers’ choices of language, structure and form, as this book supports informed reading and decision-based writing in an entertaining and skills-focused way. It positions vocabulary not as a mere tool of identification, but as central to understanding and engagement.
