National 4 ESOL
Course Specification
This explains the overall structure of the Course, including its purpose and aims and information on the skills, knowledge and understanding that will be developed.
- N4 ESOL Course Specification November 2019
Unit Specifications
These provide an outline of what each Unit will cover within the following Unit Specifications and detail the Outcomes and Assessment Standards.
- ESOL in Context (National 4) Unit Specification November 2019
- ESOL for Everyday Life (National 4) Unit Specification November 2019
Added Value Unit Specification
These define the mandatory requirements for the Added Value Unit, including the Outcomes and Assessment Standards.
They also include the further mandatory information on Course coverage for the National 4 Course and include information on the assessment method to be used and the conditions of assessment.
Added Value Unit Assessment
The ESOL Added Value Unit assessment is an assignment. While describing what candidates must do, the published assessment offers considerable flexibility in the choice of a context for the assessment.
In the assessment, candidates choose topics and texts in consultation with the assessor, then select relevant information from at least two straightforward texts, one of which must be written; make an oral presentation on the topic in English; and respond orally in English to oral questions relevant to the topic.
Centres can access the assessment through their SQA Co-ordinator.
As with all SQA Unit assessments, Added Value Unit assessments must be internally verified by centres.
Course and Unit Support Notes
These provide advice and guidance for teachers/lecturers on learning, teaching and assessment within the Course and its Units.
Support materials
National 4 Learning Support Material
Online resources - practice assessments
These materials are intended to support ESOL candidates in improving their skills in reading, listening, speaking and writing. (You are required to have Flash version 12 or above installed to run these assessments).
SQA Academy resources
Past Papers and Marking Instructions
Unit Assessment Support
These documents contain details of Unit assessment task(s), show approaches to gathering evidence and how the evidence can be judged against the Outcomes and Assessment Standards. Teachers/lecturers can arrange access to these confidential documents through their SQA Co-ordinator.
Verification and Course reports
Qualification Verification Summary Reports distil messages from verification activity from a given session.
Understanding Standards
Examples of candidate evidence with commentaries
Examples of candidate evidence and commentaries for unit assessment can be found on the SQA Secure Site. You can access these through your SQA Coordinator.
Webinar (recordings)
National 2 - National 4 - progression through Unit levels December 2020 (1 hour)
National 3 and National 4 Units 10 November 2021
- Download (344.52 MB)
Assessing Units online
- Download (182.73 MB)
Overview of Unit assessment from session 2019-20
- Download (112.07 MB)
Changes to Understanding Standards materials
Please note: Understanding Standards materials are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain up to date.
Related Information
- Who is ESOL for? (102 KB)
- National 2 and National 3 ESOL units: quick guide to assessment arrangements
- National 5 and Higher ESOL scaling table (117 KB)
- CEFR levels of SQA ESOL qualifications
- SQA ESOL qualifications overview (659 KB)
- NQs - notification of changes to documents
- ESOL Higher National units
- PDA Introduction to Tutoring English to Speakers of Other Languages (ITESOL)
- PDA Applied Practitioner Studies in TESOL at SCQF level 10
- Marker opportunities
Contact Information
- Candidate and General Enquiries
- 0345 279 1000