A-Level English Language - Struggling

Hi all

I wondered if you guys could offer some advice.

I'm studying my a-levels via distance learning whilst I work and am struggling with English Language. My tutor has told me that I'm not delving deep enough into the meaning behind the texts. For example, my last tutor marked assessment was to analyse two texts and funnily enough Text A was a screenshot from TSR. Anyway, in his feedback he said that I should've commented on hyperlinks, nouns, should've explained it on a more deeper level etc etc but - I don't see the importance or significance of such features. I suppose I just see the writing and that's it.

This is just an example but I'm hoping that some other Eng. Lang. students will grasp the gist of what I'm asking.

Basically, how do you become more aware of the features in a text, enough to see their significance and then talk about it? How do you actually see features and the semantics behind their context?

Also if you could recommend the absolute best books to help with this course, that'd be fabulous! :h:

Reply 1

Fox Corner

Original post by Sirofloin

Hi! I moved this to the English Study Help forum for you - you're more likely to get a response there :h:

Reply 2

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by Sirofloin

Hi all

To be honest, I think electronic texts are the hardest to analyse, beyond spoken language.

But I think you've always got to relate what you find to the whole context of the meaning of what you're analysing.

Like I don't know what the context of your extract was, but for a hyperlink you could say it gives more information for readers, it persuades readers, etc. You could also say this is more important in a computer-age society etc.

More features in a text is how well you know the features and linguistic toolkit terminologies. If it's something like TSR, or a forum I always go for the synthetic personalisation and analyse their usernames, pictures and if they incorporate any kind of humour, comic effect, joke, etc.

I just say keep analysing different modes of communication. You can easily do this by picking up a few magazines or newspapers in the house. Easily buy a few. If it's forums n stuff there's obviously plenty on here. You can try mumsnet too. TES which is a teaching forum is also good too.

Reply 3

Zay96

[QUOTE="Corner;64406383" Fox="Fox"]Hi! I moved this to the English Study Help forum for you - you're more likely to get a response there :h:

[/QUOTE

How would I get there ! Just type in english language study help? New to this and there seems to be sooo much activity. Kind of confusing

Reply 4

Zay96

The books I'm using are AQA English language A -there's two books, one for As and one for A2. Also the Gardiner Revision express for both AS&A2 (that's one book) a very giod book, that one is. I like the CGP revision books too.There are also certain websites that I've discovered that may be of some help such as the. 'Beth Kemp tutor English language' website and also my online teacher (distant learning too) tells me to go and read articles on language from newspaper websites such as the guardians 'mind your language section'One of the main aspects to focus on when analysing texts I've been told , is the mode (in all it's forms) then using all the frameworks, e.g. Grammatical (noun phrases, adjectives etc etc), lexical (semantic fields etc), phonology, graphology, syntax, pragmatics (to analyse the deeper meaning in the texts and the relationship between audience and writer)

Hope this helps some

Reply 5

Des_Lumières

Original post by Sirofloin

Hi all

You're right that the point of referencing language features and literary techniques is not to show that you recognise them but to respond to a question, usually about the purpose/ success of the text. I suggest that you spend some time looking at the wording of the questions and make some notes about what they are trying, exactly, to ask you. Consider every word in the question, it's meaning and what it points to in terms of how to go about answering the question. Then structure your response around this.

You need to get into the texts and you can do this by taking a step back from them. Ask you self:
- What's it about?
- Who is it written for?
- What's it trying to achieve?
- How does it go about achieving?
- How well does it achieve this finally?
The key is in the question!

Hope this helps

Reply 6

Zay96

Also, in the exam question past papers, one of the key things the examiners will look for in your answer is your ability to discuss each point they give in the question. For example, the first point is always "identify the mode features etc" and they expect you to follow the format in which they have presented the question.

Reply 7

Fox Corner

Original post by Zay96

How would I get there ! Just type in english language study help? New to this and there seems to be sooo much activity. Kind of confusing

It's in Forums > Study Help > Arts and Humanities Academic Help > English Study Help.

If you click on the Forums button on the homepage and then scroll down to the study help section you'll find it there. You'll get used to all the different sections on here soon :h:

Reply 8

evantej

Original post by Sirofloin

Hi all

Different mediums or platforms influence how people communicate their message. People communicate different messages in a book than they do in person because the medium differs; both how they communicate and what they communicate. You can dip in and out of a book, re-read a passage, or go and look up a word that you do not understand. You cannot do these things in person so people tend to communicate different messages.

But not all 'written' mediums are the same. Consider what you text someone using a mobile phone and to what you write on a website like TSR. There may be economic or functional limitations with the former which influence what and how you communicate (e.g. no coloured font, cost involved using smileys or sending pictures). A more obvious limitation is that you can only text people you know while a website is in the public domain and you can communicate with people around the world.

Website 'features' are significant. An admin has moved your thread so you will get a better response (i.e. how the message is organised and displayed affects who reads and responds to it). Websites are more interactive and counter a lot of the negatives involved with traditional written communication. Imagine you are arguing with someone online and you do not feel you are getting your message across. You could link a video which covers your point of view more succinctly. You could also edit your post in a way which other written mediums cannot - newspapers can post a retraction but they cannot change their original message - which influences the sort of thing they choose to publish in the first place to avoid libel laws.

Be very clear about the distinction between the mode of communication and the message itself. Things like Twitter are a perfect example of how the mode of communication - limited message size - influence the messages conveyed.