English Language

Course summary

Studying language at the A‐level will help students understand how people communicate and create meaning, and how language relates to social factors, psychology, power and justice. Topics will include accent and dialect, language and gender, the language of occupations, World English, language change and child language acquisition. Students will develop critical analysis skills and learn how to challenge assumptions, as well as how to apply fascinating ideas and theories to topical, real‐life situations. You’ll gain further valuable skills including effective communication and decision-making as well as a vast range of in‐depth knowledge. Data collection is key to the study of the English language so students will be immersed in a range of methodologies before gaining practical experience in research and analysis. Students in this subject will have two teachers. Lessons will consist of a range of activities, including a discussion of theories and the application of these to data studying a diverse range of texts. Work, both in and out of the classroom, will consist of reading articles and studies, making notes, planning and writing a range of different response types, preparing presentaƟons, data collection and research. Pupils will notice similarities between some of the A‐level tasks and the questions that form the English Language IGCSE, but should be aware that the course content is very different; the A‐level is very firmly based on the study of linguistics. Contextual ideas gleaned from history, politics and psychology can all be applied here. Students of the English Language will be able to demonstrate skills in communication, data collaboration and analysis which would be valuable in a range of careers.