Writing: Writing articles and reviews to Matching style to audience and purpose: Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B Skills and Techniques

Four writing forms, one underlying principle

The Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B writing: writing articles and reviews to matching style to audience and purpose cluster covers four essential transactional writing skills that candidates need for Sections B and C of the exam.

Section B and Section C of the Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B exam test your ability to write purposefully for a defined audience. Section B hands you source texts and asks you to produce a directed writing response. Section C offers a free choice between discursive, narrative and descriptive writing. Both sections require you to match your style to the task.

This article covers four interconnected writing topics from the specification: writing articles and reviews, writing speeches and letters, writing for digital and source-based tasks, and matching style to audience and purpose. Each topic has its own conventions, but they share a common demand: you must control your form, tone and register so that what you write fits who you are writing for and why.

If you are looking for Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B revision notes on the transactional writing component, the practical guidance below applies directly to both Section B and Section C tasks.

Writing articles and reviews

An article written for a magazine or newspaper needs to grab the reader quickly. Unlike an essay, which builds a case gradually, an article front-loads its appeal. The opening paragraph should make the reader want to continue. The body should deliver on that promise with evidence, examples or analysis. The closing should leave a lasting impression, not trail off.

Key conventions

Headline and subheading: If the task asks for an article, include a headline. It should be concise, engaging and relevant. A subheading can add context.
Short paragraphs: Magazine and newspaper articles use shorter paragraphs than essays. Each paragraph should develop one point clearly.
Direct address: Articles often speak to the reader ("you") to create a sense of involvement.
Varied sentence length: Mix long, complex sentences with short, punchy ones. The short sentences create emphasis; the long ones carry detail.

Reviews follow similar conventions but add a layer of evaluation. A review does not just describe its subject; it judges it. The reviewer's voice matters here. A strong review has a clear opinion, supports it with evidence from the subject being reviewed, and acknowledges the audience's expectations.

Worked example: article opening. Suppose the task asks you to write an article for a school magazine about the importance of reading for pleasure. A weak opening: "Reading is important for many reasons." That is flat and predictable. A stronger opening: "The last time you picked up a book for fun, not for homework, not for an exam, just for the pleasure of turning pages, how long ago was that?" The second version hooks the reader with a question, creates a conversational tone and establishes the article's argument before stating it directly.

Common mistake

Students sometimes write articles that read like essays. They use formal topic sentences, avoid direct address, and structure every paragraph as a mini-argument. Articles are looser. They can use anecdote, humour, rhetorical questions and direct appeal. The exam rewards writing that sounds like a real article, not a disguised essay.

Writing speeches and letters

Speeches and letters are two of the most reliably tested forms in the igcse 4EB1 writing: writing articles and reviews to matching style to audience and purpose assessment. Both require you to address a specific audience and achieve a clear purpose, but they do it through different conventions.

Speeches

A speech is written to be heard, not read. That changes everything about how you construct sentences. Spoken language benefits from:

Direct address: "Ladies and gentlemen," or "Fellow students," establishes the relationship between speaker and audience from the first line.
Rhetorical questions: They engage the audience and create pauses for reflection. "Can we really afford to ignore this?" is more effective in a speech than in an essay.
Rule of three (tricolon): Groups of three create rhythm and emphasis. "We need action, we need commitment, we need change."
Repetition: Deliberate repetition of key phrases drives the argument home. Used sparingly, it builds momentum.
Personal pronouns: "We" includes the audience. "I" establishes the speaker's authority. "You" challenges the listener directly.

Letters

A formal letter follows structural conventions: sender's address, date, recipient's address, salutation ("Dear Sir/Madam" or "Dear Mr Wilson"), body paragraphs, sign-off ("Yours faithfully" for unknown recipients, "Yours sincerely" for named ones). Missing these conventions signals to the examiner that you have not practised the form.

The tone of a letter depends on its purpose. A letter of complaint is firm but measured. A letter to a newspaper editor is persuasive and concise. A letter to a local councillor is polite but direct. Every letter should state its purpose in the opening paragraph, develop its argument or request in the body, and close with a clear statement of what the writer wants to happen.

Self-check question

Write the opening paragraph of a speech arguing that your school should extend its lunch break, and the opening paragraph of a formal letter to the headteacher making the same argument. Compare the two. The speech should be more emotive and rhythmic; the letter should be more measured and structured. If they sound the same, you need to practise differentiating between forms.

Writing for digital and source-based tasks

This topic covers two related skills: writing contributions to a website, and responding to source material by writing for a given audience, form or purpose. Section B of the exam is where this skill is tested most directly. You receive source texts and must produce a response that draws on those sources while writing in your own voice.

Source-based writing: the key challenge

The directed writing task asks you to use material from the source texts without simply copying it. This is a balancing act. Lift too much and your response reads like a patchwork of other people's ideas. Ignore the sources and you miss the brief. The skill is synthesis: reading the sources, understanding their key points, and then expressing those points in your own words, adapted to the audience and purpose the question specifies.

Approach	Result	Examiner's view
Copying phrases directly from the source	Text reads like paraphrase, not original writing	Limited marks for expression and originality
Ignoring the source entirely	Response misses key points	Marks lost for not addressing the brief
Synthesising source ideas into your own structured argument	Text shows understanding of the source and independent writing skill	Full marks available across all assessment objectives

Website writing

If the task asks you to write for a website, adapt your style accordingly. Website writing tends to be:

Broken into short, scannable sections with subheadings
Direct and concise, avoiding unnecessary preamble
Focused on the reader's needs (what they came to the site to find)
Written in a conversational but informative tone

The edexcel exam will specify the type of website (school site, charity page, travel blog) and the purpose (inform, persuade, advise). Match your register to both. A charity website is earnest and empathetic. A travel blog is vivid and personal. A school website is clear, professional and welcoming.

Matching style to audience and purpose

This topic is less a standalone area and more a thread that runs through every writing task. The specification requires you to construct and convey meaning in written language, matching style to audience and purpose, and to communicate effectively and imaginatively, adapting form, tone and register for specific purposes and audiences.

Every writing task in the Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B exam gives you three pieces of information: who you are writing for (audience), why you are writing (purpose), and what form your writing should take. Your job is to make all three work together.

Audience

Your audience determines your register. Writing for teenagers in a school magazine allows informal language, humour and pop culture references. Writing for a local council requires formal language, measured argument and evidence. Writing for a general newspaper readership sits somewhere in between: accessible but authoritative.

Purpose

Common purposes include:

To inform: Clear, factual, organised. Avoid opinion unless the task asks for it.
To persuade: Emotive language, rhetorical devices, a clear call to action. Acknowledge counterarguments and dismantle them.
To advise: Second person ("you should"), practical suggestions, a reassuring tone.
To entertain: Vivid language, anecdote, humour, engaging narrative or description.
To argue: Logical structure, evidence, balanced consideration of opposing views before reaching a conclusion.

Form

Form is the type of text. An article has different conventions from a letter, which has different conventions from a speech, which has different conventions from a website. The Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B notes for this topic should include a working knowledge of the conventions for each form you might be asked to write.

The audience-purpose-form triangle. Before you write a single word in the exam, draw a small triangle in your planning space. Write the audience, purpose and form at each corner. Every sentence you write should serve all three. If you find yourself drifting into language that does not suit the audience, or structure that does not match the form, the triangle brings you back.

Common mistake

The most common mistake across all four topics is ignoring the task's specific instructions. If the question says "write a letter to your headteacher," do not write an essay. If it says "write an article for a travel website," do not produce a formal report. The form is specified for a reason, and deviating from it costs marks even if your writing is technically strong.

Practising these skills

The best preparation is to write regularly in different forms. Set yourself a weekly task: write an article on Monday, a speech on Wednesday, a letter on Friday. Vary the audience and purpose each time. Then compare your writing to the Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B explained mark scheme criteria. Ask yourself: does my writing match the audience? Does it fulfil the purpose? Does it follow the conventions of the form?

For Edexcel IGCSE English Language Specification B practice questions on transactional writing, use past paper Section B and Section C tasks. Time yourself strictly. In the actual exam, you need to plan, write and proofread within the time allocated for each section. Practising under timed conditions builds the discipline to produce your best work under pressure.

The writing: writing articles and reviews to matching style to audience and purpose Edexcel IGCSE assessment requires sustained focus across forms. The difference between Specification A and Specification B is relevant here. Specification A tests transactional writing in a dedicated paper (Paper 1), while Specification B integrates it into a single three-hour exam alongside reading. That means your writing endurance matters. By the time you reach Section C, you have already been working for two hours. The students who score highest are those who still write with precision and energy in that final hour.