About the Course:
This is an interdisciplinary course drawing on the study of language in literary and non-literary texts to better understand how meaning is constructed and understood. It is equally concerned with how language has developed over the last thousand years. This course will teach you how to analyse both written and spoken language as well as give you the opportunity to create your own pieces of writing. Do you fancy becoming the next JK Rowling? Are you hoping for a career in journalism or advertising? The coursework component of this course will give you the chance to show your writing skills for a variety of purposes.
Assessment:
AS
Section A: Students will study of an anthology of pre-1900 poetry spanning the major movements in literature and compare them with a wide range of texts from fictional prose to journalism.
Section B: Students will study one ‘core’ text such as The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and a second ‘partner’ text such as The Time Machine by H G Wells. 2 ½ hour examination
AS Internal coursework assessment: Students will be encouraged to develop their writing skills for a variety of purposes and audiences.
They will produce two creative writing tasks of their own choice accompanied with a written commentary of their own work.
A2
Internal coursework assessment: Analysing and Producing PerformanceTexts
Section A: Students will study one Shakespeare play and one play by another dramatist and produce an essay to show their analysis of texts.
Section B: Students will write and transcribe two original spoken texts for performance for different purposes and audiences accompanied by a written analysis of their work.
A2
Section A: Comparative Analysis of Texts
Students will be asked to make a comparative analysis of three unseen texts of different genres, chosen from a range of types and periods.
Section B: Reviewing Approaches Students will demonstrate their knowledge of linguistic and literary study and will prepare for the task by studying one poetry or prose text from a prescribed list. 2 ½ hour examination.
Is there anything else I need to know?
The skills you will learn in this subject will transfer to a number of occupations and therefore English (Combined) would be suitable to be studied with various subjects such as Psychology, History, Law, Religious Studies or the Science subjects.
Progression Routes:
Clearly this multi-disc iplinary approach means that either a combined English Language and Literature degree would be appropriate or indeed one focusing on just one of these subjects. The analysis of language in texts would benefit any student wishing to pursue a degree in History, Law or broadly any humanities subject.
Student quote:
“Interesting, thought provoking and superb”.