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English Language

Syllabus: AQA 7702

1 - Why study English Language?

The study of English Language has become increasingly important in today’s society. It will equip you with the tools to be able to engage with the world around you: navigating political discourse; being able to discern between real and fake news; to learn how language is acquired and why and how we use language.

At Eltham Hill we use our A Level English Language to track language change and to provide classroom discussion about class, race, gender and sexuality. We help our students to develop academic arguments to counteract folk language myths.

Students develop knowledge of theories and learn why and how we all speak in the way that we do. We ensure that we tailor our resources to our school community, reflecting the diverse nature of the world around us.

2 - What will you study?

Year 12

Child Language Development and Textual Variations and Representations
Language and Diversity (gender) / Language Change
Introduction to Original Writing NEA

Year 13

NEA
Language Diversity (age, occupation and technology)
Language and Diversity (class, dialect and accent)
Revision

3 - How will you be assessed?
 

Paper 1: Language, the Individual and Society (Textual Variations and Representations Children’s Language Development) - 40%, 2 hours 30 mins
Paper 2: Language Diversity and Change (Diversity and Change and Language Discourses) - 40%, 2 hours 30 mins
Non Examined Assessment (NEA): a language investigation of 2000 words (excluding data) and a piece of original writing and commentary (1500 words) - 20%

4 - What skills will you develop?

  • Analysis and interpretation​
  • The ability to think critically, from different viewpoints
  • To consider language as a product its their time
  • The ability to read widely around my subject, such as blogs and articles about English Language
  • Research skills, including data transcription and language analysis methods
  • Oracy and presentation skills
  • ​To apply critical theories to language study

5 - What makes a good English Language student?

  • Someone who is interested in learning about the world around them
  • Someone who is able to learn new terminology and apply it to texts and data
  • Someone who is able to manage your time well
  • Someone willing to research the backgrounds of language
  • Someone who is keen to find out what language can teach us about both history and the modern world
  • Someone who is keen to discuss ideas and evaluate different points of view

6 - Where can English Language lead?

  • Linguistics
  • Forensics
  • Journalism
  • Politics
  • Media
  • Broadcasting
  • Banking and or/fraud investigation
  • Teaching
  • Translation
  • Social work
  • Public service
  • ​And many other careers

​7 - Reading list and preparation

The English department have a subscription to the emagazine published by the English and Media centre which is full of excellent articles. Log in here. Our user name is ‘elthamhill’ and our password is ‘10sausages’.

Start with Marcello Giovanelli's article "Becoming an A Level Language Student - a Quick Guide" in emagazine 65, September 2014 which gives you some really helpful pointers about this, as does the article by Billy Clark and Graeme Trousdale in emagazine 51, February 2011, "Looking for Clues - How to be a Language Detective".

Wider reading:

8 - Stretch and challenge resources

Podcasts including:

 

Blogs and Twitter:

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/english HYPERLINK

https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/e-magazine/emag-login/ HYPERLINK

https://englishinprogress.net/english-podcasts/ HYPERLINK

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