Five GCSEs at grade /9–4. including English Language. BTEC Level 2 qualifications considered in subject related courses.
English Language – A Level
During English Language A Level you will study how language is used in written, spoken and electronic forms and identify how these genres affect how language is structured. The course also examines language in a wider geographical context and explores accents and dialects in the UK, Australia and America.
COMPONENT 1 (FIRST YEAR)
You will study how language is used in written, spoken and electronic forms including articles, blogs and social media to see how these different genres affect how language is structured for respective audiences. You will also examine language in its wider geographical and social contexts with topics that will encourage debate in lectures including accents and dialects (in the UK, Australia and America), language and gender, language and ethnicity and political correctness.
COMPONENT 2 (SECOND YEAR)
You will study the interesting topic of child language acquisition, exploring children’s speech and writing habits to see how they learn to read, write and speak. You will explore how language has changed over time from Old English to the English varieties used globally today.
NON-EXAM ASSESSMENT (SECOND YEAR)
20% of your overall A Level result is gained from work completed in lectures. You will produce a report based on your own research, outlining an area of focus relating to language and society, such as the use of different accents and dialects in radio phone-ins or how gender roles are established in sit-coms. You will also produce a creative text based on a language debate in society such as an exploration in to whether the English language is decaying or evolving, along with an accompanying commentary of how you put your text together.
Internal assessment
Assessment in A Level English comes in a variety of different forms, from writing analytical essays to creative tasks and presentations. You be set home learning tasks regularly throughout the course, culminating in internal examined assessments.
External assessment
You will complete a NEA which is worth 20% of your overall grade for the A Level. This is based on independent research and will be completed in Year 2 of your course. The other 80% of your final assessment is done through external examinations at the end of the second year.
A Level English is highly valued by employers and in Higher Education. Career paths may include speech therapy, journalism, teaching, translation and editing.
The course includes a number of external trips to maximise your learning experiences on the course. You will get an opportunity to take part on the annual English Language trip to Dublin where in previous years students have seen comedy shows by performers including Jimmy Carr and Lee Evans. You will also visit the National Library of Ireland and other academic institutions for workshops, presentations and talks. You will also get the chance to appear in the audience of live TV shows such as The Wright Stuff and Loose Women, as well as other UK based excursions including the British Library.
The English Language Partnership with Winchester University also offers you the chance to visit Winchester to take part in taster sessions, study tours and talks from guest lecturers from higher education English lecturing staff.
You will be taught in our Andover Sixth building and will have access to many different facilities, including: 2 study centres, a Library, A canteen and the Careers Hub.