English Language
The course, which will comprise four assessment units including coursework, will build on the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired by candidates at GCSE.
The AS course consists of two modules with a further two A2 modules to be studied in the Upper Sixth.
The course is designed to heighten your awareness of and sensitivity to the way the English Language functions, to the way you use your language and to the ways in which the language is used by others. The units will include a study of language issues, such as language and gender, language and power, language change, language and technology and language acquisition, and of varieties of both spoken and written English. You will also undertake some original writing and a research project.
Skills gained include:
• an ability to analyse and comment on examples of English from the present and
the past;
• an ability to write for a variety of specific purposes and audiences;
• an ability to communicate clearly;
• an ability to organise and present information, ideas etc. clearly, logically and
accurately.
Connections with other subjects
English Language links well with many other subjects at A level including English Literature, History, Religious Studies, Government and Politics, Sociology and Psychology as all require the same proficiency in analysis and logical thought. French, German and Spanish have components which demand comparable skills.
