English Course Leaflet

ENGLISH LITERATURE LINEAR A LEVEL

SPECIFIC ENTRY CRITERIA Grade C in English Literature if taken and grade C in GCSE English Language. Linear best 8 score of 40+.

ABOUT THE SUBJECT English Literature is a subject for those who like reading independently. While poetry and plays will be read together in class, there is an expectation that the texts will be read privately as well, in preparation for class discussion. You should enjoy discussing books and be willing to investigate the themes and issues explored in literary texts (novels, plays and poems). You need to have an interest in literature of the past as a number of texts will be pre 20th century, including Shakespeare. You also need to have an interest in literary techniques and how writers use them.

Above all you must have a keen desire to improve your ability to construct a written argument, as essay writing is a vital component of the course and how you will be assessed.

ASSESSMENT The course is assessed by examination in the first year and by a combination of examination and coursework in year 2 (examinations are worth 80% of your overall mark and the coursework is therefore worth 20%).

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KITTY MUIR

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School: Ryburn Valley High School

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Studied: English Literature, Media Studies Film Studies and History

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Destination: English Literature at the University of York

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You will be required to study Aspects of Tragedy for the exams.

The focus of your study in Year 1 will be on the different ways of reading texts and the connections that exist between them within a literary genre (tragedy). You will study 2 Drama texts for Exam Paper 1: A Shakespeare play is a compulsory aspect of the Year 1 study and the chosen text for this is Othello. You will also study a modern play and this will be Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

For the Prose and Poetry exam paper (Paper 2), you will be studying The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald alongside poetry from John Keats.

Year 2 (A Level) For the examination unit, you will be required to study elements of political and social protest writing.

The text choices will include a preNineteenth Century poetry text, which is likely to be a collection of William Blake’s poems; a post2000 prose text, which will be either Harvest by Jim Crace, or Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini; and another text of our choosing, either The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood or the play A Doll’s House

by Henrik Ibsen.

In addition to the A Level texts listed above, an element of the A Level examination process will re-examine your knowledge of 3 of the AS texts, applying A Level assessment criteria.

The coursework will require you to consider different critical literary theories, such as Marxism and Feminism. This unit also encourages independent wider reading, so you will select the texts for your essays from a wide ranging reading list.

One text you choose will be poetry and the other will be prose.

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Year 1 (AS) You will be encouraged to read widely in the first year of the course and to pay close attention to how narrative and genre works in texts, as well as make connections across texts through exploring the varied use of these literary components.

ENGLISH COURSES AT HUDDERSFIELD NEW COLLEGE

If you need the information in this prospectus presented in a different way please contact Erika Montgomery on 01484 652341 or info@huddnewcoll.ac.uk

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COURSE CONTENT

The Huddersfield New College English Department is a highly qualified and experienced team of teachers. We have a passion for sharing our love of the subject and language with our students.

Many of our team are graduates in linguistics, as well as literature, and this is reflected in our outstanding A Level results. English courses are hugely

popular, with around 500 students taking one of our A level courses every year. We are dedicated to providing you with the best possible learning experiences throughout your course.

English continues to be one of the most widely respected and traditional A Levels, and successful English students develop sophisticated writing and analytical skills, which are highly valued

by employers and admissions tutors at universities.

The English Department organises events to enhance your enjoyment of the subject, including trips to the theatre and links with local universities.

An English A Level is prestigious, and helps many of our students progress onto competitive academic courses.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LINEAR A LEVEL ABOUT THE SUBJECT

COURSE CONTENT

Studying English Language at A Level involves exploring various language forms and genres from more informal spoken conversations through to carefully constructed advertisements as well as more formal genres like legal and medical discourses. We investigate how we encode and decode hidden meanings and inferences in our language choices as well as why more pragmatic issues like politeness remain so important in an otherwise ever-changing linguistic landscape. Studying English Language opens up many career paths including journalism, law, media and teaching.

You will study a variety of genres of language taken from written, spoken and electronic modes, developing an understanding of the expectations we have of each type of communication and then analysing and reporting on whether the examples we study meet these generalised expectations.

ASSESSMENT First Year The first year of the course (AS Level) is assessed by two exams (100%).

Second Year The second year (A Level) is assessed by three exams (80%) and a language investigation project (20%) The language investigation project allows you to study how a distinctive variety of English differs from Standard English. You will use your knowledge of the levels of language and of key concepts and issues to explore and interpret aspects of diversity.

We will study the history of English from the Anglo Saxon and Viking invasions through the Norman invasion to English in the 21st century. We will also study how children acquire language as part of their development.

The English Language A Level builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills you will have started to develop at GCSE. The course will require you to become more independent in your approach to studying a wide variety of issues related to language use as well as a deeper understanding of the systems that go together to create the language we all call ‘English’.

You will develop your creativity and confidence in both analysing a wide range of texts and your own use of language in your written and spoken assignments.

You will also develop your skills in searching out and understanding information from sources external to the core syllabus using books and electronic sources in order to deepen your own knowledge and understanding of wider influences in language production and reception.

Strong literacy skills are a necessity for this course, as they are for all advanced level courses. You will need to continue to develop your written and spoken expression and understand the key concept of appropriate language registers in your own work. You will need to take pride in your own work and responsibility for your own development in order to achieve at the level you require for progression into further education.

SPECIFIC ENTRY CRITERIA Grade C in GCSE English Language. Linear best 8 score of 40+.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE LINEAR A LEVEL ABOUT THE SUBJECT

COURSE CONTENT

This course is a study of how language is used by writers to craft literary texts. The two disciplines are thoroughly integrated and very different to the delivery of either subject at GCSE. The Combined course will therefore appeal to students who enjoy reading independently and are interested in how writers shape their work.

An enthusiasm for writing is also essential as you will develop your creative skills through a variety of written tasks.

Year 1

You will learn how to analyse and respond to the spoken and written word. This means you will study literary texts, including those from the media. Communication through language is involved in almost everything we do and the main reason to study this subject is having a genuine interest in language and how it is used in a wide range of contexts.

ASSESSMENT At AS level you are assessed by examinations in the summer. Each exam makes up 50% of the AS level.

At A2 assessment is split between coursework and examination. Overall, the coursework is worth 20% and the exam is worth 80%.investigation project (20%).

We will look at unusual narratives, narrators and events. You also consider key aspects of the texts which place them in particular contexts of production and reception, and analyse the language choices made by writers.

We will look at Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and consider how fantasy worlds are created in novels.

You will also study Seamus Heaney and we will look at poetic voice in the telling of events and the presentation of people. You will study the presentation of time, the importance of place and the ways these are captured in voice, and their effect.

In addition we will study a collection of different genres though an anthology on the topic of Paris.

We will study the way people and their relationships are realised through point of view, attitude, register, description, speech and thought.

You will start to write about the role of the individual in society, and do re-creative writing based on

John Krakauer’s Into the Wild and continue this into the second year.

This writing seeks to find an absent or underplayed perspective in the original text. Finally, you will learn how to write a critical reflection on your own work.

Year 2 The second year of the course builds on the analytical and language production skills introduced in the first year and revisits all set texts plus the Paris anthology.

You will undertake a personal investigation that explores a specific technique or theme in both literary and non-literary discourse (2,500-3,000 words).

In addition to the texts studied in the first year we will analyse areas relevant to the study of drama and dramatic discourse, including how playwrights represent natural speech features and use language to create distinctively different characters. We will especially be looking at how conflict is created in William Shakespeare’s Othello.

SPECIFIC ENTRY CRITERIA Grade C in GCSE English Language and grade C in GCSE English Literature if taken. Linear best 8 score of 40+.

Possible areas for investigation could include: • •

• •

Geographical and Social Variation African American Vernacular English (AAVE) Other Englishes Occupational Language

“I loved studying at HNC as the College community has such a variety of people, I made some amazing new friends!”

TATYANA MUBERUKA School: North Huddersfield Trust School Studied: English Language, French and Musical Theatre Destination: English Language and Linguistics at the University of Huddersfield