The purpose of the National 4 English course is to provide learners with the opportunity to develop the skills of listening, talking, reading and writing in order to understand and use language. As learners develop their literacy skills, they will be able to process information more easily, apply knowledge of language in practical and relevant contexts, and gain confidence to undertake new and more challenging tasks in a variety of situations.

The Course offers learners opportunities to develop and extend a wide range of skills. In particular, the Course aims to enable learners to develop the ability to:

• listen, talk, read and write, as appropriate to purpose, audience and context
• understand, analyse and evaluate texts, as appropriate to purpose and audience
• create and produce texts, as appropriate to purpose, audience and context
• plan and research, integrating and applying language skills as appropriate to purpose, audience and context.

The course consists of 24 SCQF credit points which includes time for preparation for course assessment. The notional length of time for candidates to complete the course is 160 hours.