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English Language A-level

The study of English Language is the study of all the significant aspects of human communication from the language choices of teenage tweets to the language choices of celebrated playwrights. This course encompasses this range. For anyone interested in human communication, English Language will prove a fascinating and rewarding subject.


The course seeks to provide answers to the following questions:

  • How do children acquire language?
  • Is one way of speaking superior to another?
  • How does advertising work?
  • Do men and women speak differently?
  • How and why is English changing?


Why English Language?

This is a demanding course that provides a great deal of enjoyment. It enables students to develop and apply their understanding of linguistic concepts to the analysis and appreciation of the English Language. It provides a course of study for students wishing to develop research skills and investigative work related to the English Language.


Any special requirements?

Students must be self-disciplined and have an interest in the technical side of the English Language. They must be prepared to conduct their own investigations into different aspects of the English Language.

Students must be able to express their ideas clearly and elegantly and be able to frame their ideas in the form of incisive and systematic arguments Students should have achieved at least a grade 6 in English GCSE.


What will I study and how will it be assessed?

In the first year of the course, you will explore a number of language issues which include:

  • Gender - do men and women speak differently?
  • Acquisition - how do children acquire language?
  • Power - how does the language of persuasion work?

You will further study how and why language changes over time and analyse how English is used in the Twenty-First Century mediums such as Twitter.

In the second year of the course, you will undertake your own creative writing. You will also complete a piece of coursework (3,000 words) which will require you to investigate a language issue of your choice.


Purpose and Provision

Download a copy of the English Departments Purpose and Provision document here.


Curriculum Map

Download a copy of the English Departments Curriculum Map document here.