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Excellent preparation for journalism, PR and communication industiries
Excellent preparation for journalism, PR and communication industiries
Excellent preparation for journalism, PR and communication industiries
A Level English Language requires you to achieve at least the minimum entry requirements for your chosen pathway plus a grade 5 or higher in GCSE English Language. The minimum entry requirements will be discussed at open events and at your college interview.
If you enjoyed exploring the way writers use language in GCSE English Language and want to find out more about how language works, English Language is perfect for you. This is a course which appeals to students who are both analytical and creative in their thinking and writing, and by the end of this two-year course you’ll be writing opinion pieces, travelogues, and reviews that many published journalists would be proud of. By building upon the skills you acquired at GCSE, our experienced team will prepare you for a more scientific approach to the study of language, with content that links directly to university subjects such as Linguistics.
We take a deep dive into the big language issues, seeking the answers to questions like:
Is there such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ English?
How do powerful people use language to control and influence others?
Why do teenagers use slang?
English Language links well with many other A Level courses, such as, Psychology, Sociology, History, Media Studies and Law.
We don’t do fancy gimmicks — we just teach a complex and challenging subject to a very high level. In lessons we use a variety of teaching and learning methods to help you retain and apply the core knowledge, but our aim is quite simple: to reinforce the learning of linguistic knowledge. If you find yourself struggling, we do have additional lunchtime support sessions, and we pride ourselves on the quality of our feedback.
The A Level English Language course is made up of 4 components.
You will analyse spoken language transcripts from a wide variety of contexts, from television chat shows to sports commentaries and domestic conversations. You will also learn about language issues, with topics including attitudes towards Standard English, Language and Power, Language and Situation, and Child Language Acquisition.
In this component, you will analyse a wide variety of written texts covering a period of 500 years from 1500-2000. We look at how different genres (newspaper reporting, recipes, love letters, etc.) have changed over time. You will also be studying written language data from the 21st century, from text messages and chat room language to the language of Twitter and Facebook.
Students will write a piece of creative fiction and non-fiction, accompanied by an analytical commentary evaluating their decisions.
Students will collect data from a range of spoken, written and multi-modal texts. They will be choose a topic from one of the following areas: language and self-representation; language and gender; language and culture and language diversity
Read, read, and read. Collect any written texts you can get your hands on: newspaper articles, magazine problem pages, film/holiday/book reviews, text messages, and even children’s stories! You can learn so much from simply reading interviews in magazines and noticing the language choices. Keep these texts in a file and you can use these during your A Level course to help you to apply all the language terminology. Make your own comprehensive list of all the language terminology (nouns, verb, simple sentences, etc.) you’ve learned at school and bring that in to show us.
Wyke Sixth Form College hold train to teach information events which offer you a great insight into this course. If you are interested in attending one of these events, please complete this form and we will be in contact with the key information.
Please note that the applications for this course can be submitted by following the ‘Apply Now’ button on this page. Applications are made through the University of Huddersfield rather than Wyke Sixth Form College. We look forward to meeting with you.
A Level English Language can assist you progressing on to many specialist undergraduate courses, particularly Law, Psychology and Sociology. As well as providing an excellent route on to English-related undergraduate courses, there are many other pathways our students take. Here are just some of the subjects our students have gone on to specialise in: Linguistics Journalism Speech Therapy Sports Reporting Creative Writing Digital Media Studies
At Wyke Start, our 2-day taster event in July, each of your subjects will set you some work to complete to help prepare you for the course. The work for this course will be available on this page to complete following this event.
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Within the department we offer you the chance to take part in a variety of enrichments including:
• Creative Writing club
• Songwriting club (Songs in the Key of Wyke)
• The College Podcast
• A Quiet Room where you can work at lunchtimes with the supervision of a teacher.
This is not to mention our trips to prestigious universities and to see eminent linguists such as Professor David Crystal and Professor Deborah Cameron provide stretching and challenging guest lectures.
