English Language and Literature

Course summary

The study of English language and literature is for anyone who wants to be challenged to extend their knowledge and broaden their horizons while developing communication skills, independent thinking and selfexpression. The course looks at many practical examples of spoken and written language and gives you the tools to analyse them. You will be able to follow your own interests to some extent, reflecting and commenting on language use. You will also study a range of literary texts on a course that is not as constrained as the English GCSEs. In Year 1, you will begin to study from ‘Anthology: Paris’ and this area of the course introduces you to methods of language analysis to enable you to explore concepts of audience, purpose, genre, mode and representation. In literature you will study The Handmaid’s Tale and a collection of poetry. In Year 2, you will develop your study of ‘Anthology: Paris’ in addition to a play from the literature part of the course. You will also develop your re-creative writing skills. There is a non-examined assessment investigation into a text and theme of your choice; this independent component is worth 20% of your total A Level mark.