English Language

Course summary

English Language is a fascinating subject at A level. It builds on skills you will have developed at GCSE but there’s so much more to study. English Language will hone both your spoken and written communication skills as well as give you an insight into the way language is used in a variety of different contexts. English Language students will explore how meanings and representations are created by writers and speakers in a range of different contexts. Sociolinguistic debate is at the heart of the course; you will consider how ethnicity, occupational groups, gender and social class affect language use. Interested in accents and dialects? The course explores the vast diversity in our language. You will examine how the English Language has changed over time by looking at the history of our language. The Child Language Development unit examines the ways a child acquires spoken language as well as how they learn to read and write. In this unit, students will bring together the disciplines of English Language, Biology, Sociology and Psychology. In the coursework unit, they will get the opportunity to write creatively and explore language use in greater depth in a context of their choice.