GCE ADVANCED LEVEL SUBJECT: English Language [AQA

GCE ADVANCED LEVEL SUBJECT: English Language [AQA]

Overview

The English Language course encourages students to explore spoken and written English in the world around them. The course provides students with the tools to technically analyse written and spoken texts, considering how they reflect the contexts they were produced in and how they affect their audiences. It also engages students with a wide range of issues and debates surrounding the use of the English language, exploring topics such as language and age, language and gender and the origins and history of English.

In the examination units, students learn to analyse real life texts exploring audience, purpose, genre, mode and representation. They also look at how humans acquire language, understanding how we learn to communicate as babies and children, and evaluating the different theories to explain this. Language diversity is explored in all its forms, giving students the opportunity to evaluate the impact of gender, social status and location on language and to develop opinions on different modes of communication.

The non-examination element of the course gives students the opportunity to independently develop an area of personal interest and conduct a full Language Investigation, sourcing and analysing their own data. The second aspect of the coursework asks students to create an original piece of their own writing, demonstrating how they can manipulate language for an intended audience and effect.

This course complements the study of modern foreign languages, linguistics, Latin, psychology and history. Although the reading requirement doesn’t include novels, it is a good choice for students who enjoy reading texts such as web pages, magazine articles and newspapers, and who take a more analytical approach to studying texts. It is important to note that there is a lot of terminology to learn.

Course Description

Advanced 2 Specification Code: 7702

Unit Code Unit Content

Paper 1

Paper 2 Language, the individual and society:

• Textual variations and representations • Children’s language development

Language diversity and change:

• An evaluative essay on language diversity or language change • An analysis of two texts linked to the study of diversity and change • A directed writing task based on the topic or ideas in the two texts 2.5-hour exam Weighting: 40%

Assessment

2.5-hour exam Weighting: 40%

Non-examination assessment Language in action:

Coursework portfolio Weighting: 20%

• Language investigation • A piece of original writing and commentary

Career Path:

English Language is a highly regarded A-Level which builds a breadth of knowledge and a high level of competence in the analysis and expression of complex ideas in written English. It is therefore very useful for many career paths, including television and radio, film, journalism, advertising, publishing and law as well as other employment that requires intelligence, excellent powers of analysis, ability to debate and good communication skills. Please note: a number of universities will not accept students onto English Literature courses if they have only studied English Language A-Level.