English language – AOs
AO1 = Terminology
AO2 = Theories
AO3 = Context
AO4 = Links and Connections
AO5 = Creatively writing
Paper 1: Question 1
AO1
AO3
Paper 1: Question 2
AO1
AO3
Paper 1: Question 3
AO4
(no marks for AO1 or AO3 but should still be mentioned)
Paper 1: Question 4
AO1
AO2
Paper 2: Question ½
AO1
AO2
Paper 2: Question 3
AO1
,AO3
AO4
Paper 2: Question 4
AO2
AO5
,Paper Overview
Paper 1: 100 marks
Question 1: “Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations”.
(Modern text)
Timing: 20 minutes reading + 30 minutes writing
Marks: (25 in total)
AO1: 10 marks
AO3: 15 marks
Question 2: “Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations”.
(Historical text)
Timing: 20 minutes reading + 30 minutes writing
Marks: (25 in total)
AO1: 10 marks
AO3: 15 marks
Question 3: “Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use
language”
Timing: 20 minutes of writing
Marks: (20 in total)
AO4: 20 marks
(Won’t get marks but you should still mention AO1 and AO3)
Question 4: (Statement) To what extent do you agree considering the data.
Timing: 5 minutes reading + 35 minutes writing
Marks: (30 in total)
AO1: 15 marks
AO2: 15 marks
,Paper Overview
Paper 2: 100 marks
Question 1/2: “Evaluate the idea that…”.
Marks: (30 in total)
AO1: 10 marks
AO2: 20 marks
Covers the following topic:
- Gender
- Social Groups
- Variety
- Language Change
- Political Correctness
Question 3: “Analyse how language is used in Text A and Text B to present views about…”
Marks: (40 in total)
AO1: 10 marks
AO3: 15 marks
AO4: 15 marks
Covers the following discourses (and more):
- Language Decay
- Linguistic Purity
- Language Control
- Linguistic Inferiority and Superiority
- Language Spread and Diffusion
- Linguistic Decay and Deformity
- Standardisation
- Technology
Question 4: Write an article about the issues discussed in Text A and Text B
Marks: (30 in total)
AO2: 20 marks
AO5: 10 marks
,Simplified Assessment Objectives:
AO1: Terminology
AO2: Theory
AO3: Links and Connections
AO4: Creativity
In-depth Assessment Objectives:
AO1: Apply appropriate methods of language analysis, using associated terminology and coherent
written expression.
A02: Demonstrate critical understanding of concepts and issues relevant to language use
AO3: Analyse and evaluate how contextual factors and language features are associated with the
construction of meaning.
AO4: Explore connections across texts, informed by linguistic concepts and methods.
AO5: Demonstrate expertise and creativity in the use of English to communicate in different ways.
,Paper Overview
PAPER 1 – QUESTION 123
Identify:
- The subject of the text
- The text producer
- A person, event or place
- A culture
- The publisher (eg. the newspaper)
Context:
- Genre
- Audience
- Purpose
- Subject
- Social Context
- Cultural Context
- Date
Look at:
- How language is being used differently in the texts?
- How is the context different?
- How does the time difference impact on the use of language?
- How can we see a change in attitudes between the two texts and how is it
reflected in the text?
,Paper Overview
PAPER 1 – QUESTION 4
Look at:
- Read the question and statement
- Read the data
- Find areas where the data agrees with the statement
- Find areas where the data disagrees with the statement
- Link elements of the data to the theory you have studied
-
Sample Questions
- “A child cannot learn through imitation”
- “Child Directed Speech hinders more than it helps”
- “Correcting a child does not help them”
- “Caregivers provide a poor input for children to learn language”
- “There is an external force from caregivers which helps them learn to speak”
“Syntactic development is more important than phonological develop
,LANGUAGE CHANGE: HISTORY
What: Main causes of language change
Main Point: Invasion
Technology
Migration
Lexical gaps
New cultural realities
Play
Political correctness
What: Angles, Saxons and Jutes Invasion
When: 449 AD
Main Point: An example of inexorable, large-scale geopolitical influences -
making it harder to control because language is so reactive to
these unpredictable changes.
The Anglo-Saxon invasion brought the arrival of Germanic “Anglo-
Saxon”
Shows how English is so old that it is impossible to not undergo
change
What: Viking Invasion
When: 793 AD
Main Point: An example of inexorable, largescale geopolitical influences -
making it harder to control because language is so reactive to
these unpredictable changes.
Similar to the Anglo-Saxon invasion, however, it not only brought
new lexis but also brought a simplified grammatical system.
,What: The Norman Conquest
When: 1066
Main point: An example of inexorable, large-scale geopolitical
influences - making it harder to control because
language is so reactive to these unpredictable changes.
Led to a large number of French terms being ingrained
in the English language.
Influenced orthography, pronunciation, and grammar.
Causing French to become the language of ‘power and
prestige’ until the second half of the 12th century.
As it became the language of the ruling class it was
adopted across many registers: literature, law,
commerce, and government business.
Old English, however, was “too established, too
vigorous and thanks to its fusion with Scandinavian
languages, too hard to wipe out”.
This meant that, despite written records being in Latin
and French, English was sustained as it was the
language of commoners and many people still spoke it
to strengthen their sense of identity.
Many Normans married the French causing many
people to identify more with the English language as
they were living in Britain.
Subsequently, the English that prevailed was an almost
new language in “vocabulary, spirit and wholly different
in character from Anglo-Saxon”
The overall impact was not only a “New English” but
the French-Norman fusion also caused a huge body of
French loanwords
What: 100-years war
When: 1337-1453
, Main Point: An example of inexorable, largescale geopolitical influences -
making it harder to control because language is so reactive to
these unpredictable changes.
A national ‘English’ identity emerged – as opposed to French.
Norman knights gradually lost their lands in France – ceased to be
‘dual-nationality’ or have a French nationality
A rich English-speaking middle-class emerged
The reason we speak a largely Germanic language with lots of
French words.
French was the accepted language of all formal discourse and
polite society in England
People started to resent the French language: making them speak
English as a symbol of rebellion and an act of solidarity.
What: Statute of pleading law
When: 1362
Main Point: Allowed people to use English in court, where before they had no
knowledge of what was being said for or against them
Led to a rise in people in power speaking English
What: Writers
Main Point: Shakespeare introduced 1,700 new words to the English language
(16th/17th century)
Geoffrey Chaucer, writer of The Canterbury Tales, introduced
2000 new words appearing in written form for the first time (14 th
century)
What: The Inkhorn Controversy
When: During the renaissance
