AS WJEC Media Studies: 2026 Exam Changes and Trends | AS WJEC 媒体研究：2026年考试变化与趋势

📚 AS WJEC Media Studies: 2026 Exam Changes and Trends | AS WJEC 媒体研究：2026年考试变化与趋势

From September 2025, WJEC will launch a substantially revised AS Media Studies specification, with the first examination sitting in summer 2026. This overhaul reflects the rapidly shifting media landscape — dominated by streaming platforms, algorithm-driven content, and interactive digital experiences. The legacy units MS1 (Media Representations and Responses) and MS2 (Media Production Processes) are replaced by a structure that places contemporary industry and cross-media production at its heart. For students and teachers, understanding the assessment changes, updated set products, and emerging theoretical trends is essential to success in the 2026 series.

从2025年9月起，WJEC将推出全面修订的AS媒体研究规范，首次考试将于2026年夏季举行。此次改革反映了以流媒体平台、算法驱动内容和交互式数字体验为主导的瞬息万变的媒体格局。旧版单元MS1（媒体表征与回应）和MS2（媒体制作过程）被一个以当代产业和跨媒体制作为核心的新结构所取代。对于学生和教师而言，理解评估变化、更新的指定作品以及新兴理论趋势，是在2026年考试中取得成功的关键。

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1. A Specification Built for the Streaming Age | 为流媒体时代打造的规范

The 2025–26 WJEC AS Media Studies qualification moves decisively away from a print-and-broadcast legacy model. The revised specification acknowledges that teenagers now consume media primarily through smartphones, on-demand services, and social feeds. Consequently, close-study products include a much stronger weighting of online platforms, music videos, video games, and podcast series. This ensures the course remains relevant and intellectually rigorous, while equipping learners to deconstruct the media that shapes their daily lives.

2025–26年WJEC AS媒体研究资格认证果断摒弃了以印刷和广播为主的旧版模式。修订后的规范承认，当代青少年主要通过智能手机、点播服务和社交信息流消费媒体。因此，精读产品更多地涵盖了在线平台、音乐视频、电子游戏和播客系列。这确保了课程既保持相关性又具有学术严谨性，同时让学习者能够解构塑造他们日常生活的媒体。

The new framework also embeds a critical interrogation of digital convergence, where previously separate media industries now intersect on a single device. For instance, a student might analyse how a newspaper’s website incorporates video, interactive data visualisations, and user-generated comment sections — all within the same textual study. This holistic approach mirrors industry practice and demands higher-order analytical skills.

新框架还嵌入了对数字融合的批判性审视，即过去分离的媒体产业如今在单一设备上交织在一起。例如，学生可能会分析报纸网站如何在同一文本研究中整合视频、交互式数据可视化和用户生成的评论区。这种整体方法反映了行业实践，并要求更高层次的分析技能。

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2. Component Structure: What Is Assessed in 2026 | 考试组成部分：2026年的评估内容

The AS qualification now comprises two mandatory components. Unit 1: Investigating Media Language, Representation, Industry, and Audience is a written examination lasting 2 hours 30 minutes. It is divided into two sections: Section A focuses on analysing an unseen media text using semiotic, narrative, and genre theories; Section B covers a choice of questions on the four in-depth set products, testing knowledge of institutions, audience behaviour, and political-economic contexts.

AS资格现在由两个必修部分组成。第一单元：媒体语言、表征、产业与受众探究，为2小时30分钟的笔试。它分为两部分：A部分侧重于使用符号学、叙事和体裁理论分析一段未见过的媒体文本；B部分涵盖围绕四个深度指定产品的选择题，测试关于机构、受众行为和政治经济背景的知识。

Unit 2: Creating a Cross-Media Production is a non-exam assessment (NEA) that accounts for 30% of the overall AS grade. Learners must respond to a WJEC-set brief by producing an original audio-visual or print-digital main product and one accompanying convergent platform outcome, such as a social media launch page or a viral teaser trailer. This NEA explicitly rewards creative risk-taking and detailed audience planning.

第二单元：跨媒体制作创作是非考试评估（NEA），占总分的30%。学习者必须响应WJEC设定的任务，制作一个原创的音视频或印刷数字主产品和一个配套的融合平台成果，例如社交媒体发布页面或病毒式预告片。此NEA明确奖励创意冒险和详细的受众规划。

The table below contrasts the previous and new AS structures to illuminate the extent of change.

Aspect | 方面	Pre-2025 Specification | 2025年前规范	2026 Specification | 2026年规范
Unit titles | 单元名称	MS1 Media Representations & Responses MS2 Media Production Processes	Unit 1: Investigating the Media Unit 2: Creating a Cross-Media Production
Exam duration | 考试时长	2h 30m (MS1) plus three separate production tasks (MS2)	2h 30m written; NEA single integrated project
Set products | 指定产品	Heavy on print ads, newspapers, television dramas	Mix of online news, music video, video game, long-form TV drama, social media campaign
Theorists | 理论家	Propp, Todorov, Barthes, Mulvey, Hall	Retains core plus hooks, Gilroy, Curran and Seaton, Van Zoonen extended

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3. Updated Set Products: From Analogue to Algorithmic | 更新的指定作品：从模拟到算法

WJEC has refreshed its suite of AS set products for 2026 to ensure topicality and depth. The four compulsory in-depth studies now include an up-to-date website of a national newspaper (print and online editions compared), a contemporary music video from a major label artist, a long-form TV drama series available via streaming, and a blockbuster video game with a significant online multiplayer mode. These selections force candidates to grapple with cross-platform branding, regulatory classifications, and fan communities.

WJEC已经更新了2026年AS指定作品系列，以确保时事性和深度。现在四个必修的深度研究包括一家全国性报纸的最新网站（比较印刷版和网络版）、一部来自主流唱片公司艺人的当代音乐视频、一部可通过流媒体观看的长篇电视剧集，以及一款具有重要在线多玩家模式的大片电子游戏。这些选择迫使考生应对跨平台品牌推广、监管分级和粉丝社群。

For example, the video game choice might be an open-world survival title with in-game purchases, prompting analysis of the ‘games as service’ economic model. The music video will likely be rich in intertextual references and Baudrillardian hyperreality, rewarding visual semiotics skills. Students are also expected to draw comparisons between these set products and their own independent media consumption, using concepts of positionality and agenda-setting.

例如，电子游戏的选择可能是一款带有内购服务的开放世界生存游戏，这促使学生分析“游戏即服务”的经济模式。音乐视频很可能富含互文指涉和鲍德里亚式的超真实，有利于视觉符号学技能的施展。学生还应该运用立场性和议程设置概念，将这些指定产品与自己的独立媒体消费进行比较。

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4. Media Language and Semiotics: A Sharper Toolkit | 媒体语言与符号学：更锐利的工具包

The 2026 specification places renewed emphasis on the grammar of the moving image and interactive design. Students must be fluent in technical codes such as shot composition, diegetic sound, editing rhythm, and mise-en-scène, but now extended to include user interface (UI) cues, algorithm-driven layout changes, and haptic feedback in games. Roland Barthes’ connotation and myth theories remain central, supplemented by Judith Butler’s performativity when analysing gender-coded media language.

2026年规范再次强调了动态影像和交互设计的语法。学生必须熟练掌握镜头构图、画内音、剪辑节奏和场面调度等技术符码，但现在还扩展到包括用户界面（UI）提示、算法驱动的布局变化和游戏中的触觉反馈。罗兰·巴特的隐含义与神话理论仍然是核心，辅以朱迪斯·巴特勒的操演性，用于分析性别编码的媒体语言。

Significantly, the unseen analysis in Unit 1 Section A will often present a short online clip or social media teaser instead of traditional print stills. Learners will need to unpack how meaning is made through the combination of moving images, on-screen text, captions, and emoji systems — treating the entire frame as a polysemic construct. This shift rewards those who practise annotating timelines and digital storyboards.

重要的是，第一单元A部分的未知分析现在常常会提供一段简短的在线短片或社交媒体预告，而不是传统的印刷静帧。学习者需要解析如何通过动态影像、屏幕文本、字幕和表情符号系统的结合来制造意义——将整个画面视为一个多义建构。这一转变使那些练习过时间轴标注和数字故事板的学生受益匪浅。

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5. Representation: Intersectional and Decolonised Approaches | 表征：交叉性与去殖民化方法

Representation has always been a cornerstone of Media Studies, but the 2026 exam demands a more intersectional lens. Bell hooks’ ‘oppositional gaze’ and Paul Gilroy’s work on diaspora and post-imperial British identity are now embedded study requirements. Candidates must link textual analysis to historical contexts, power hierarchies, and the ways in which media can both reinforce and challenge stereotypes around race, class, gender, and disability.

表征始终是媒体研究的基石，但2026年考试要求采用更具交叉性的视角。贝尔·胡克斯的“对抗性凝视”和保罗·吉尔罗伊关于离散族群与后帝国时期英国身份的研究，现在已成为必修内容。考生必须将文本分析与历史背景、权力等级，以及媒体强化和挑战有关种族、阶级、性别和残障的刻板印象的方式联系起来。

The set products have been intentionally chosen to provoke these discussions. For instance, the long-form TV drama might feature a diverse ensemble cast with non-Western storylines, while the newspaper website will oblige students to consider editorial gatekeeping versus user-generated news blogs. Marks are allocated for recognising absent or marginalised representations — a skill often referred to as ‘reading against the grain’.

指定作品的有意选择正是为了引发这些讨论。例如，长篇电视剧可能拥有一个多样化的群戏演员阵容和非西方的故事情节，而报纸网站则要求学生思考编辑把关与用户生成新闻博客之间的角力。识别缺失的或边缘化的表征——一个常被称为“逆读”的技能——可以获得分数。

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6. Industry, Economic Models and Digital Disruption | 产业、经济模式与数字颠覆

A core component of the 2026 AS Media Studies is the political economy of the media industries. The specification draws heavily on Curran and Seaton’s critique of power concentration and Murdock’s resources of production. Learners must compare the funding models of public service broadcasters, subscription streaming services, and ad-supported platforms like YouTube. Concepts such as vertical integration, horizontal monopoly, and the algorithmic commodification of attention are no longer optional extras — they are central to exam questions.

2026年AS媒体研究的一个核心组成部分是媒体产业的政治经济学。该规范大量借鉴了柯伦与西顿对权力集中的批判，以及默多克的生产资源理论。学习者必须比较公共服务广播机构、订阅式流媒体服务和YouTube等广告支持平台的资金模式。垂直整合、横向垄断和注意力的算法商品化等概念不再是可有可无的附加内容，而是考试题目的核心。

Additionally, students will explore regulation in a globalised digital environment. The effectiveness of bodies like Ofcom and the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system is evaluated against the borderless nature of online distribution and the rise of user-as-producer cultures. A potential exam question might ask: ‘To what extent can media industries effectively regulate content when platforms are global?’ This tests both knowledge and scepticism.

此外，学生将探索全球化数字环境下的监管。像Ofcom和泛欧洲游戏信息（PEGI）系统这类机构的有效性，将对照网络分发的无国界性和用户即生产者文化的兴起来进行评估。一个可能的考题是：“当平台具有全球性时，媒体产业能在多大程度上有效监管内容？”这既考查知识，也考查思辨能力。

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7. Audience Theories in the Age of the Algorithm | 算法时代的受众理论

The passive-versus-active audience debate has been fundamentally reframed. While the uses and gratifications model and Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding remain essential, the 2026 specification introduces Henry Jenkins’ spreadable media and participatory culture, alongside concepts of filter bubbles and echo chambers. Students must interrogate how TikTok and Instagram Reels use recommendation engines to create hyper-personalised flows that blur producer and consumer roles.

被动受众与主动受众之间的争论已被彻底重塑。虽然使用与满足模型和斯图亚特·霍尔的编码/解码仍然必不可少，但2026年规范引入了亨利·詹金斯的可传播媒体和参与式文化，以及过滤气泡和回音室的概念。学生必须探究TikTok和Instagram Reels如何利用推荐引擎创建高度个性化的信息流，模糊了生产者与消费者的角色。

An exam-style question could feature a data set showing engagement metrics for a set product’s online campaign, asking candidates to evaluate audience agency. The highest-scoring responses will weigh up ‘prosumer’ empowerment against the reality of data harvesting and behavioural micro-targeting. Understanding the gap between how platforms imagine their users and how real people negotiate texts is the critical edge examiners seek.

一道考试式题目可能呈现一份显示某个指定产品在线宣传活动参与指标的数据集，要求考生评估受众的能动性。得分最高的回答将权衡“产消者”赋权与数据收割和行为微定位的现实。理解平台想象其用户的方式与真人协商文本之间的差距，正是考官所寻求的批判锋芒。

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8. Non-Exam Assessment: Crafting a Convergent Project | 非考试评估：打造融合项目

The NEA for 2026 is a single, integrated brief that demands a coherent cross-media package. For example, a brief might ask for a two-minute opening sequence for a new streaming drama series, plus an interactive social media filter or a promotional podcast. Candidates must submit a statement of intent explaining how their creative decisions apply media language and aim at a specific target audience segment.

2026年的NEA是一个单一的、整合性的任务，要求形成一个连贯的跨媒体套装。例如，一项任务可能要求为一个新的流媒体剧集制作一个两分钟的开场片段，外加一个互动社交媒体滤镜或一个宣传播客。考生必须提交一份创作意图声明，解释他们的创意决策如何运用媒体语言并针对特定的目标受众细分群体。

Technical polish is prized, but conceptual justification carries equal weight. The new marking grid splits marks between a ‘Production’ strand and an ‘Explanation and Application’ strand, rewarding documented research into industry conventions, risk assessments, and iterative feedback logs. Plagiarism checks will be more rigorous, and any uncredited use of AI-generated assets, without critical reflection, may result in severe penalties. Originality of concept and ethical sourcing are key to top marks.

技术打磨受到重视，但构思论证的分量同等重要。新的评分框架将分数分为“制作”部分和“解释与应用”部分，奖励记录在案的行业惯例研究、风险评估和迭代反馈日志。抄袭检查将更加严格，任何未经说明且未进行批判性反思的AI生成素材的使用，都可能导致严厉扣分。概念的原创性和合乎道德的素材来源是获取高分的关键。

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9. Assessment Objectives: Refined for 2026 | 评估目标：为2026年精炼

WJEC has recast the assessment objectives to place greater weight on critical autonomy. AO1 (Demonstrate knowledge and understanding) now requires candidates to recall not just key facts about set products but also the economic and regulatory contexts in which these products circulate. AO2 (Apply knowledge and understanding) emphasises using a range of complex theories to analyse texts; rote description of theorists’ ideas will not exceed low bands.

WJEC已经重塑了评估目标，更加重视批判自主性。AO1（展示知识与理解）现在要求考生不仅回忆关于指定产品的关键事实，还要熟悉这些产品流通的经济和监管背景。AO2（应用知识与理解）强调使用一系列复杂的理论来分析文本；机械描述理论家思想将难以突破低分段。

AO3 (Create media products) in the NEA has been upgraded to assess professional production values and audience targeting rigour. The highest AO3 descriptors explicitly reference ‘sustained creativity’ and ‘effective harnessing of convergent platforms’. Teachers report that revision sessions must now include substantial practice in writing evaluative commentaries, as AO2 and AO3 are often assessed together in applied tasks.

NEA中的AO3（创作媒体产品）已升级，以评估专业制作价值和受众定向的严谨性。最高等级的AO3描述明确提及“持续的创造力”和“有效利用融合平台”。教师反馈说，复习课现在必须包括大量撰写评价性评论的练习，因为AO2和AO3在应用任务中经常共同被评估。

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10. Emerging Trends: What 2026 Candidates Must Watch | 新兴趋势：2026年考生必须关注的动向

Beyond the specification details, several media trends are likely to shape exam performance. First, the rise of short-form video journalism on platforms like Snapchat Discover means that ‘news’ is increasingly a fluid, ephemeral construct. Second, the growing discourse around virtual influencers and AI-generated presenters blurs the line between real and synthetic media, creating opportunities for Baudrillard’s simulacra to be applied in fresh ways. Third, environmentalist media criticism is emerging as a lens through which to examine production sustainability.

在规范细节之外，若干媒体趋势可能影响考试成绩。首先，像Snapchat Discover这类平台上短视频新闻的兴起，意味着“新闻”日益成为一种流动、短暂的建构。其次，关于虚拟网红和AI生成主播的讨论日益增多，模糊了真实与合成媒体之间的界限，为鲍德里亚的拟像理论提供了崭新的应用机会。第三，环保主义媒体批评正在成为一种审视制作可持续性的视角。

Moreover, as media literacy becomes a curriculum priority, the 2026 exam will likely include ‘compare and contrast’ tasks requiring students to juxtapose a pre-2000 media product with a contemporary equivalent. This temporal lens tests understanding of technological determinism and societal shifts. Students who build a personal catalogue of both classic and trending media will be best equipped to handle these synoptic challenges.

此外，随着媒介素养成为课程优先事项，2026年考试很可能包含“比较与对比”任务，要求学生将2000年前的媒体产品与当代同类产品并置分析。这种时间透镜考验对技术决定论和社会变迁的理解。能够建立一个涵盖经典与热门媒体的个人档案库的学生，将最有能力应对这些综合挑战。

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11. Strategic Preparation for the New Exam | 新考试的战略性准备

To succeed in the 2026 AS Media Studies, passive revision must give way to active, mode-switching practice. Effective strategies include maintaining a weekly media diary that applies semiotic and audience theories to everyday encounters, dissecting the representation of a major news event across three different platforms, and creating timed essay plans that integrate two contrasting theorists. Group discussions centred on feminist and postcolonial readings of set video games often yield nuanced perspectives that stand out in marking.

要在2026年AS媒体研究中取得成功，被动的复习必须让位于主动的、模式切换的练习。有效的策略包括：坚持写媒体周记，将符号学和受众理论应用于日常接触的媒体；剖析同一重大新闻事件在三个不同平台上的表征；以及制作整合两位对比理论家的限时论文提纲。围绕指定电子游戏的女性主义与后殖民解读的小组讨论，常常能产生在评分中脱颖而出的细致观点。

Equally important is technical hands-on preparation for the NEA. Learners should familiarise themselves with basic editing software, typography for convergence, and legal considerations such as copyright-free music and image licensing. Schools are encouraged to run mock NEA briefs in Year 12, enabling learners to troubleshoot narrative coherence and platform synergy before the actual project begins. The best coursework is always the result of iterative refinement, not overnight production.

同样重要的是NEA的技术实操准备。学习者应该熟悉基本的编辑软件、跨平台字体设计和法律注意事项，如无版权音乐和图像许可。鼓励学校在12年级开展模拟NEA任务，让学习者在真正项目开始前解决叙事连贯性和平台协同的问题。最优秀的课程作业始终是迭代打磨的结果，而非一夜之间的产出。

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12. Conclusion: A Forward-Looking Media Qualification | 结语：一项面向未来的媒体资格

The 2026 WJEC AS Media Studies specification is not just an update; it is a reimagination that aligns assessment with the media students actually inhabit. By weaving together critical industry analysis, advanced representation theory, and hands-on convergent production, the course cultivates versatile, digitally literate analysts. Embracing the changes now — by reading widely, practising flexibly, and staying curious about new media phenomena — will transform potential anxiety into an opportunity for top-grade achievement.

2026年WJEC AS媒体研究规范不只是一次更新，而是一次将评估与学生实际栖居的媒体对齐的重新构想。通过将批判性产业分析、高级表征理论和融合制作的实践操作交织在一起，该课程培养的是多才多艺、具备数字素养的分析者。现在就拥抱这些变化——通过广泛阅读、灵活练习和对新媒体现象保持好奇心——将把潜在的焦虑转化为获得顶级成绩的机遇。

Published by TutorHao | Media Studies Revision Series | aleveler.com

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