English Language

Course summary

How do men and women speak differently? How do babies learn to talk? How is technology affecting the way we use language in everyday life? Studying English Language at A-level is very different from GCSE; it can involve exploring almost any use of words and it often addresses big questions such as these. At A-level, you will have the opportunity to study how the English Language is used in a variety of forms, from casual spoken conversations and advertising material to texts and tweets, and even legal and medical discourse. You will also be able to study language from a range of periods and cultures, exploring the evolution of the English language from its Anglo-Saxon beginnings, and looking at the variety of forms of English in use across the world today. In the Senior Sixth, you will also investigate children’s language acquisition alongside the completion of an independent research project. Initially, you will learn the Language Framework and how to apply it to a range of unseen texts. You will also have the opportunity to explore areas of Sociolinguistics, incorporating Language and Gender, Language and Identity and Language and Occupation modules. You will study two further units on Language Change and Child Language Acquisition while completing an independent language project on a topic of your choice.