Functional English

Functional Skills English – Entry Levels 1 to 3

Learning aims and outcomes at Entry Level

Functional Skills English qualifications at these levels indicate that students should be able to speak, listen, communicate, read and write with increasing clarity, accuracy and effectiveness at each level. They should be able to:

• Listen, understand and respond to verbal communication in a range of familiar contexts;
• Acquire an understanding of everyday words and their uses and effects, and apply this understanding in different contexts;
• Read with accuracy straightforward texts encountered in everyday life and work, and develop confidence to read more widely; and
• Write straightforward texts and documents with clarity and effectiveness, and demonstrate a sound grasp of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Students should, with some direction and guidance, be able to apply these functional skills to informal and some formal contexts, in familiar situations.

Functional Skills English – Level 1 and Level 2

Learning aims and outcomes at Levels 1 and 2

Functional Skills English qualifications at these levels indicate that students should be able to speak, listen, communicate, read and write clearly, accurately, confidently and with effectiveness. They should be able to:

• Listen, understand and make relevant contributions to discussions with others in a range of contexts;
• Apply their understanding of language to adapt delivery and content to suit audience and purpose;
• Read a range of different text types confidently and fluently, applying their knowledge and understanding of texts to their own writing;
• Write texts of varying complexity, with accuracy, effectiveness, and correct spelling, punctuation and grammar; and
• Understand the situations when, and audiences for which, planning, drafting and using formal language are important, and when they are less important.

Students should be able to use these functional skills autonomously, applying them to a range of formal and informal contexts, in the workplace and in real life.

A key aspect of developing knowledge and skills in English, at Level 1 and Level 2, is to be able to communicate with confidence, effectiveness and with an increasing level Oof independence.