This course will build on your study at GCSE and has a more conceptual and theoretical approach to the study of spoken and written language in use. Pupils will be examined on a range of texts including advertising, current articles and multi-media texts. You will be taught to consider the modes, purposes and audiences of text with a rich variety of topics: sport, the environment, politics and gender to name just a few. Pupils will be required to use linguistic methods to analyse and investigate a variety of texts from different time periods, exploring how meanings and representations are created. Ever wondered how children learn to speak, read and write? You will be able to study children’s language development and apply case studies and concepts to texts as varied as children’s early writing at school and home or to transcripts of conversations between caregivers and their children. Pupils will also consider key topics such as accent and dialect, the development of English around the world and throughout time, as well as sociolect. The non-examined element requires students to conduct a language investigation into an area of interest, collecting, analysing and evaluating their own data. They will also have the opportunity to produce a piece of original writing to suit a specific purpose: journalistic articles, short stories or a political speech perhaps. They will then write an accompanying commentary to explore the choices made. If you are interested in analysing all kinds of texts and researching society, diversity, personal and geographical factors and developing your own craft as a writer, then English Language A Level is for you.