SHREWSBURY
SIXTH FORM COLLEGE
part of
A Level English
Course Booklet
2
English Department
English Combined
Specification at a glance A Level
AQA Combined subject content
What’s assessed?
What’s assessed?
What’s assessed?
• Remembered Places – the
• Writing about society – the role
• Making Connections –
•
•
•
representation of place
Imagined Places – point of view
and genre in prose
Poetic Voices – the forms and
functions of poetic voice
Methods of languages analysis
are integrated into the activities
Assessed
• Written exam: 3 hours
• 100 marks
• 40% of A Level
Questions
Section A – Remembered Places
• One compulsory question on the
AQA Anthology: Paris (40 marks)
• This section is closed book
Section B – Imagine Worlds
• One question from a choice of
two on prose set text (35 marks)
• This section is open book
Section C – Poetic Voices
• One question from a choice of
two on poetry set text (25 marks)
• This section is open book
visit our website: ssfc.ac.uk
•
•
•
of the individual in society, and
re-creative writing based on set
texts
Critical commentary – evaluating
own writing
Dramatic Encounters – conflict in
drama
Methods of language analysis are
integrated into the activities
Assessed
• Written exam: 3 hours
• 100 marks
• 40% of A Level
Questions
Section A – Writing about Society
• One piece of re-creative writing
using set text (25 marks)
• Critical Commentary (30 marks)
• This section is open book
Section B – Dramatic Encounters
• One question from choice of two
on drama set text (45 marks)
• This section is open book
•
investigation on a chosen theme
and texts
Methods of language analysis are
integrated into the activity
Assessed
•
•
•
•
Assessed by teachers
Moderated by AQA
50 marks
20% of A Level
Task
A personal investigation that
explores a specific technique or
theme in both literary and
non-literary discourse (2500-3000
words)
English Department
English Combined
Reading List
Here are a few examples of some of the things you could be reading, but read everything you can get your hands on – all reading is
reading,Inbut
good!!
September
read everything
the first you
thing
can
you
get
will
your
be hands
asked to
ondo
– all
will be related to your reading one of the texts on this list or the lists for
reading Literature
English
is good!! In
orSeptember
English Language.
the first thing you will be asked to
do will be related to your reading one of the texts on this list or
theFiction
lists for English Literature or English Language.
Non Fiction
Novels e.g.:
Travel Writing e.g.:
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
In Xanadu by William Hamilton Dalrymple
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Into the Heart if Borneo by Redmond O’Hanlon
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A House Somewhere: Tales Of Life Abroad by Don George and
Anthony Sattin
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Room by Emma Donoghue
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl
Strayed
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark
Haddon
Reportage by:
Strange Meeting by Susan Hill
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs – 100 years of the best journalism
by women by Eleanor Mills
Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Biography and Autobiography e.g.:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
Once in a House on Fire by Andrea Masterson
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Cider with Rose by Laurie Lee
The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Bad Blood by Lorna Sage
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Before I say Goodbye by Ruth Picardie
Faber Book of Reportage by John Carey
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Diaries and Letters e.g.:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The John Lennon Letters by Hunter Davies
Short Stories by:
Margaret Atwood
Writing Home by Alan Bennett
The Diary of Ann Frank
Angela Carter
The Assassin’s Cloak: An Anthology of the World’s Greatest
Diarists by Irene and Alan Taylor
www.orwelldiaries.wordpress.com
Raymond Carver
Speeches e.g.:
Alice Munro
The Penguin Book of 20th Century Speeches by
Brian MacArthur
www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/series/greatspeeches
Ray Bradbury
Rose Tremain
Drama e.g.:
The History Boys by Alan Bennett
A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
email: [email protected]
3
4
English Department
English Literature
Specification at a glance A Level
OCR subject content
Core Content:
Core Content:
Paper 1 – Drama and Poetry pre-1900
Paper 2 – Comparative and Contextual Study options:
Paper 2 – Comparative and Contextual Study
American Literature
NEA – Literature Post 1900
The Gothic
Dystopia
This qualification is linear. Linear means that you will sit both of the examinations at the end of your A-Level course after two years. If
you are interested in studying AS English Literature in one year only you should discuss this option with your English teacher.
Paper 1 – Drama and Poetry
pre – 1900
Paper 1 – Comparative and
Contextual Study
Non Exam Assessment:
Literature Post 1900
What’s assessed?
What’s assessed?
What’s assessed?
• Study of three texts: one poetry
Choice of options:
• American Literature
• The Gothic
• Dystopia
• Study of three texts: one passage
based unseen for chosen topic
area, two prose texts.
• Exam will include: an unseen
extract for close reading
• Study of one prose text, one
Assessed
Assessed
•
and one drama text, of which
both must be written pre-1900,
and one Shakespeare play
Exam will include: a printed
Shakespeare extract for close
reading
Assessed
• Written exam: 2.5 hours
• Closed text
• 40% of A Level
Questions
• Section A: Shakespeare:
•
one extract based questions and
one question which relates the
printed extract to the rest of the
play
Section B: one essay comparing
the thematically linked drama and
poetry pre-1900 texts
visit our website: ssfc.ac.uk
• Written exam: 2.5 hours
• Closed text
• 40% of A Level
Questions
• Section A: unseen passage in
•
chosen topic area
Section B: one essay comparing
thematically two link prose texts.
This will incorporate study of a
critical and contextual material in
chosen topic area
•
poetry text and one drama text.
All texts must be post 1900, one
must be post 2000
NEA folder will include: one
critical appreciation essay (1000
words) on one text, one linked
texts essay focusing on
connections and comparisons
between two texts (2000 words)
• 20% of A Level
• Assessed by teachers
• Moderated by OCR
English Department
English Literature
Reading List
It is important for studies in Literature that you read as widely as possible. This list suggests some authors and titles which students
may find useful and interesting to aid their understanding and appreciation of the subject.
In September the first thing you will be asked to do will be related to your reading of one of the texts on this list or the list for English
Combined and English Literature.
Gothic
Dystopian
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Time Machine by H G Wells
The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Tales of Mystery and Imagination (short stories)
by Edgar Allen Poe
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by
Philip K Dick
Interview with a Vampire by Ann Rice
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
The Children of Men by P D James
Elizabethan/Jacobean Drama
Classics
The White Devil by John Webster
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Revenger’s Tragedy by Thomas Middleton
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Changeling by William Rowley
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Atheist’s Tragedy by Cyril Tourneur
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Othello, King Lear, Hamlet, A Winter’s Tale by
Shakespeare
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Ghosts (play) by Henrik Ibsen
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Contemporary
Poetry Collections
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
Remains of the Day by Kazou Ishiguro
The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Selected Poems, The Not Dead by Simon Armitage
The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
Minds at War by Various (male)
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Scars Upon My Heart by Various (female)
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The War Poems by Wilfred Owen
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Collected Poems by Ted Hughes
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
email: [email protected]
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6
English Department
English Language
Specification at a glance A Level
AQA English Language subject content
What’s assessed?
What’s assessed?
What’s assessed?
• Textual variations and
•
•
•
•
• Language investigation
• Original writing
• Methods of language analysis are
•
•
representations
Children’s language development
(0-11 years)
Methods of language analysis are
integrated into the activities
Assessed
• Written exam: 2 hours
•
•
30 minutes
100 marks
40% of A Level
Questions
• Section A: Textual variations and
representations
Two texts (one contemporary and
one older text) linked by topic or
theme.
• A question requiring analysis of
one text (25 marks)
• A question requiring analysis of
a second text (25 marks)
• A question requiring
comparison of the two texts
(20 marks)
• Section B: Children’s language
development
A discursive essay on children’s
language development, with a
choice of two questions where
the data provided will focus on
spoken, written or multimodal
language (30 marks)
Language diversity and change
Language discourses
Writing Skills
Methods of language analysis are
integrated into the activities
Assessed
• Written exam: 2 hours
•
•
30 minutes
100 marks
40% of A Level
Questions
• Section A: diversity and change
•
Unseen passage in chosen topic
area.
One question from a choice of
two:
either: an evaluative
essay on language diversity
(30 marks)
or: an evaluative essay
on language change
(30 marks)
Section B: Language discourses
Two texts about a topic linked to
the study of diversity and change.
A question requiring analysis of
how the texts use language to
represent ideas, attitudes and
opinions (40 marks)
A directed writing task linked to
the same topic and the ideas in
the texts (30 marks)
integrated into the activities
Assessed
•
•
•
•
Word count: 3,500
100 marks
20% of A Level
assessed by teachers
moderated by AQA
Tasks
Students produce:
• a language investigation (2,000
words excluding data)
• a piece of original writing and
commentary (1,500 words in
total)
A Level English Language Reading List
Regular reading of all text types significantly improves your chances of a high grade in English Language. Your performance in both
the examinations and the coursework unites will benefit from you becoming familiar with the ways in which writers vary their styles
to cater for all audiences and genres.
Here are a few examples of some of the texts you could be reading, but this is only intended as a starting point – read everything
you can get your hands on: all reading is good! In September the first task you will be asked to complete is related to your reading
of one of the texts on this list. Fiction or Non-fiction – the choice is yours!
visit our website: ssfc.ac.uk
English Department
English Language
Course Texts:
Three especially useful books you may wish to purchase before the course starts:
• English Language A/AS Level for AQA Student Book (ISBN 978-1-107-46562-6)
• Language – A Student Handbook on Key Topics and Theories (ISBN 978-1-906-10119-0)
• CGP study guides
Non Fiction
Journalism: broadsheet, tabloid and local newspapers.
Vary the sections you read and pick papers from different
political persuasions, e.g. The Guardian, The Times, The
Telegraph, The Daily Mail.
Magazines: from specialist magazines to Sunday
supplements (rather than Heat, for example)
Biography/Autobiography/Diaries:
Travel writing by Bill Bryson, such as Notes from a Small
Island; The Road to Little Dribling
Toast by Nigel Slater
Diaries of Alan Clark (political)
Diaries of Samuel Pepys (17th century MP)
With Nails by Richard E Grant
Once in a House on Fire by Andrea Askworth
Polemic
Screenwipe by Charlie Brooker (reviews)
Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs by ed. Eleanor Mills
(women’s journalism)
Moranthology by Caitlin Moran
Speeches:
The Penguin Book of 20th Century Speeches ed by Brian
MacArthur
www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/series/greatspeeches
Blogs
www.englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk.
www.theenglishzone.org.uk/alevellang.html
www.english-online.org.uk/englishblog/profblog.php
http://blogg.lnu.se/english-language-blog/
http://language.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/
General texts about English Language:
Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson (history of English Language)
You Say Potato (accents) by Ben Crystal and David Crystal
The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language by
David Crystal
Eats, Shoots and Leaves (grammar) by Lynne Truss
Man Made Language by Dale Spender
Fiction
Radio Programmes
In the Summer Term of Year 1 you will begin working
on your Non-Examined Assessment (NEA). Below are
some recommendations for Fiction:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark
Haddon
Tales of Mystery and Imagination (short stories) by Edgar
Allen Poe
A Thousand Splendid Suns; The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
The Book Thief; I Am The Messenger by Markus Zuzak
Room by Emily Donoghue
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Talking Heads 1 & 2 (dramatic monologues) by Alan Bennett
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Radio 4 regularly broadcasts a number of
programmes about the English Language including:
• Word of Mouth
• Fry’s English Delight
• Routes of English
email: [email protected]
7
SHREWSBURY
SIXTH FORM COLLEGE
part of
Shrewsbury Sixth Form College
Welsh Bridge Campus - Priory Road, Shrewsbury, SY1 1RX
English Bridge Campus - Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6AA
Tel: 01743 235491
Fax: 01743 242735
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ssfc.ac.uk