English Language

Course summary

It is expected that any student who is considering taking English Language to A level has a genuine enjoyment of analysing written texts. In studying a variety of reallife, non-fiction texts and by analysing and responding to current linguistic issues, it is hoped that students will become more proficient user of the language and will be able to apply their knowledge in a variety of professional contexts. What will I be studying on the course? This course is purely extract and theory based. The department follows the OCR board. There are two external examinations, one covering exploring language and one exploring linguistic variety. You will study a range of theories concerning gender, power, technology and media as well as recent research on language acquisition and change. There is also a coursework section, for which you will conduct an independent investigation – you will pursue an area of study of particular interest to you and then present your research in a concise and visually accessible way. What will I be doing in lessons? Some research and analysis will be done in class, although most of this will be done by you at home in order to maximize discussion time in class. There will be a mixture of group discussion, pair or small group work and individual work in class, with all activities based around the extracts and theories you study. Some writing tasks will be done in class but many will be done at home, again to maximize the time you get as a class to discuss the texts.