English Language

Course summary

There are three sections to the A Level: Exploring Language This paper is worth 40% of the total A Level. Students study three different areas: • Language under the microscope. For this part of the course we look at a variety of texts and analyse them in terms of grammar, lexis and discourse features. • Writing about a topical language issue. We will explore attitudes to a range of language issues such as accent and dialect; Standard English and the ways different groups use language. • Comparing and contrasting texts. Here we look at texts written for different purposes and audiences and compare the ways writers use language. Dimensions of Linguistic Variation This paper is worth 40% of the total A Level. Students study three different areas: • Child Language Acquisition • Language in the Media • Language Change Independent Language Research This is the non exam assessment and is worth 20% of the total A Level. Students produce two pieces of work: • A language investigation on a topic of their own choice • An academic poster to present the findings from the investigation in a visual way.