English Language

Why study this subject?

English Language at A Level is very different to how the subject is approached at GCSE, and is an introduction to contemporary linguistic study. You will learn about spoken and written language and how language is tailored to different contexts. But it’s so much more than this; English Language study is about developing a critical awareness of the world in which we live and the ways in which we communicate, whether that be to entertain, build relationships, inform, persuade, wound, or any of the other purposes for which we speak and write, even when it appears that there is no purpose. Language is all around us, from the news we wake up to on the radio through to the tweets we read when we can’t get to sleep, with all the chatter, newspapers, books, conversations with friends, overheard conversations, outrageous promises from lying politicians, social media interactions and hurled abuse in between.

What skills will you develop?

You will study and present on a variety of linguistics theories and theorists. Group sizes at A Level mean that discussion and argument are key skills as you learn more about language and begin to shape your own linguistic theories and positions.

Elements of the course help you to hone your creative and professional writing for the purpose and audience of your choosing. Coursework allows you a degree of independence as you undertake a language investigation which requires you to collect and analyse your own data relating to any area of your choosing.

Skills of close analysis are honed throughout the course, as are your analytical essay writing skills as you become an independent and critical thinker.

What are the key elements to the course?

You will study a range of language frameworks, from the ways in which we produce sounds to the ways in which we communicate meaning beyond words. You will study a variety of written and spoken texts and theoretical areas, which will include language and power, language and gender, language and technology, attitudes to accent & dialect, child language acquisition, the global spread of English and the ways in which the language has developed over the last 400 years. You will explore a range of topical issues, exploring the ways in which attitudes to language underpin current events. Coursework is worth 20% of your final grade; you will undertake a language investigation into an area of language which interests you.