AQA A2 English Language B 14th June 2016

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thank you so much thats really helpful, good luck for tomorrow xx

I've been told by my teacher to put 3+ A01 terms in as the basis of the paragraph then back it up with A02 either a theorist or something like standardisation and add A03 to link it back to the changes at the time of the text or the producer. I have been getting solid B's with this way of writing each paragraph so hope it helps a bit even though you asked for essay structure

Reply 81

MidnightMist

Original post by natashaellenx

No, why would your teacher say that?! The exam board would have had to express that at the beginning of the course

ikr! well weird, idk what they were talking about. That's good tho, if the exam board haven't actually announced anything on it its probs not true. Haha, thank **** for that :biggrin:

Reply 82

Avjp39

Original post by natashaellenx

My brain is actually hurting from all this history that's involved in language change. I despise history so much. I'm still as mad as I was two years ago when I realised that English actually involved history!

Does anyone have any ways to remember the context for each century? :frown:

I dont think you need to know specifics really. Just the general pattern that educatiom has improved as time goes on along with gender and class equality. That why you dont have to reference specific events, just the fact that there have been inprovements in general equlaity alongw ith technology and sceince.

A few basic bits of knowledge would help like the standardization process signified by the dictionary in the 1700s or yhe first printing press in the 1400s but you dont have to know their exact date.

Reply 83

Avjp39

I know its not very specific but its a way to pick up some marks as long as you explain it by quoting from the text. If anyone has better suggestions of how to remember contextual factors it would help alot too!

Reply 84

Kelvin1245

Has anybody got any good examples of 'Phonemic Expansion'? Feeling confident for both questions but contextual factors within Language Change is stress

Reply 85

navysheep

Original post by Kelvin1245

Has anybody got any good examples of 'Phonemic Expansion'? Feeling confident for both questions but contextual factors within Language Change is stress

Phonemic expansion is when the number of phonemes (units of sound) increases for example a child moving from cooing to babbling, i hope that helps a little and good luck

Reply 86

Kelvin1245

Original post by navysheep

Phonemic expansion is when the number of phonemes (units of sound) increases for example a child moving from cooing to babbling, i hope that helps a little and good luck

thank you. you too

Reply 87

hairhelp

Dreading this exam, especially if the transcripts are hard :frown:

Reply 88

elsierose

Original post by Idolo123

Please send them to me! In desperate needs thanks! :smile:

[email protected]

emailed it over :smile:

there's also a link on page 2 of the thread if anyone else wants them

Reply 89

elsierose

I wrote a general language change essay plan, thought I'd copy and paste it here in case it helps anyone. Good luck tomorrow guys, remember that it's probably all already in your head, you just have to prove that to the examiners now :smile:

--

Introduction:

•

Genre (letter/newspaper article/diary/magazine/brochure/leaflet/advert/report)

•

Audience (men/women/class/specific….)

•

Purpose ( to inform/persuade/entertain… is it dual purpose?)

•

Context (date written, producer of text, gender/power/technology)

Lexis:

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Archaisms- fallen out of usage due to lack of necessity/synonyms existing (‘breeches’ has been replaced with ‘trousers’)- this word is not required any more (‘kerchief’ - we do not tend to use these)

•

Taboo Language/Political Correctness- older texts may censor words that we would find acceptable in modern english- modern texts may contain words that would not be found in modern texts- older texts may contain diminutive suffixes ‘ess’ & ‘ette’ that indicate femininity, this may be reduced in more modern texts as there is no need for distinction- older texts may use sexist language/phrases

•

Lexical Change- initialism or acronym formation/clipping/abbreviating- backformation or affixation- borrowings

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Compounding- word may be seen in two parts that is now in one part- attempt may be made at compounding that has not caught on

•

Semantic Shift (nb. could be used under framework of semantics)- amelioration (a word becomes more positive)- pejoration (a word becomes more negative, eg. ‘hussy’ used to mean housewife, now has negative sexual connotations)- weakening (a word loses some of its original force, eg. ‘terrible’ used to mean ‘causing terror’, now refers to something bad)- strengthening (a word takes on a stronger meaning) - broadening (a word takes on a wider meaning, eg. ‘bird’ used to refer to one particular species of bird, now it refers to that class of animal as a whole)- narrowing (a word’s meaning is reduced, eg. ‘meat’ used to refer to all food, now it refers to animal flesh in particular)

CONTEXT: Johnson’s Dictionary, 1755 began standardisation. However, even if a text falls after this time, standardisation may not have yet reached this person, as it was a gradual process.
Spelling:

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Cursive ‘s’- cursive s has fallen out of use over time as it largely performed the same function as the ‘short’ s

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Addition of letters (particularly vowel sounds)- extra ‘e’ at the end of words = remains of french influence on english language- other additions may just be uncertainty around spelling

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Transposition (switching letters) - uncertainty at how to spell it, due to lack of standardisation

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Phonetic Spellings- author may work out spellings from how they are said- there may be a dialectical influence on this (spelling of words will reflect the author’s accent)

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Inconsistency in Spelling- author may use both the ‘correct’ modern spelling & a different spelling of the same word - showing lack of standardisation

Grammar:

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Sentence type & length- older texts favour long, complex sentences (with subordinate clauses), modern texts would use simpler, shorter sentences for ease of understanding

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Omission of (auxiliary) verbs

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Tense- tense may switch within the text, due to lack of formation

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Negative Formation- ‘I deny it not’ (older) v ‘I do not deny it’ (modern) → we do not indicate negatives at the end of sentences in modern English

•

Contractions- modern english favours enclitic contractions (contractions at the end of words, eg. ‘it’s) whereas older english favoured proclitic contractions (contractions at the beginning of words, eg. ‘’tis’) - contractions such as ‘ne’er’, ‘o’er’ are archaic (contractions such as these were common in the 18th century, as poets wanted to make words fit the metre of their poems)

•

Punctuation- may be a hypercorrect use of semicolon (whilst it is still used in modern english, it is not as popular as it was at the time. use may be seen as largely limited to academic texts)- may miss out apostrophes- may use lots of commas & semicolons, link to long, complex sentences

CONTEXT: ‘A Short Introduction to English Grammar’ by Robert Lowth, 1762 introduced rules surrounding double negatives, …., this would have had an impact on grammar
Register

•

Formality/informality- does this fit with the genre of the text? would a modern text in this genre be more/less formal? - may be expressed through higher order lexis, third person…

CONTEXT: Change in standards of language over time. Older English may appear overly formal to a modern reader, as we are not used to formal language being used in magazine articles, etc.
Graphology:

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Handwritten- has this affected spelling?

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Printing Press- has this resulted in omission/addition of spaces/letters in order to fit onto lines?

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Columns - may have been difficult for the printing press to align all of these words

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Italics/bold/style - these would have been very expensive to be printed, stylistic features may be used to show wealth & prestige of the producer of the text

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Pictures- expensive to print

Other Contextual Factors:

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King James Bible, 1611

•

Education Act, 1880 -- made education compulsory up to the age of ten (more literate people)

Conclusion Through analysing the frameworks of ______, it can be seen that language has changed over time. …

Reply 90

SKC_

Thank you to those of you who have shared your knowledge (especially on language change).

Can't wait to get this exam over and done with...

Reply 91

Happyman322

After trawling through some examiners reports and collecting info from around the place i found some pointers for my essay technique. Its incredibly important, and instead of "My plan" i think its best to group points by lexis grammar then the next big thing. But generally this stuff seems to be the things most people, including me seem to forget.

1. Do READ THE QUESTION TEXT IN FULL: When you're in the exam hall and time is ticking away its very tempting not to do a plan and just blaze into your response. "seem to have not understood the text" is like AQA's favourite phase in the weaker student section. The question will tell you what mode the text is in. If you immediately think book instead of letter you've already knocked marks off.

2. DO USE TOPIC SENTENCES/ DISCOURSE MARKERS: It gets you A01 marks for organising your essay properly and coherently. also helps you stop waffling on and wasting time

3 DON'T HYPOTHESISE! ANALYSE! Its easy to say this could suggest that.... but this infers to an examiner that you are unsure about your point. You probably arnt , but it will be read that way and marked that way unfortunately. So be solid in in your points. "she said babbit instead of rabbit, This means that she is " only be tentative in the exam if there is no evidence. Be confident!

4. DON'T CRITICISE OR CORRECT THE PARENTS IN CLA! : the examiners are just looking for our analysis of language, not our experience of parenthood, suggesting a better way is irrelevant Just keep asking, what does this show? and Why?

5. DONT FOCUS ON THE LONG S OR GRAPHOLOGY!! A sentence will do, mention it in passing unless its like reeeeeeeeeeeally relevant because The exam focuses on words not pictures.

6. DO CONSIDER SH1T TOOK TIME IN THE PAST: after the invention of the dictionary, the printing press and free education in 1880 does not mean from then on in they took a hold. in the 15th century peasant Dave isnt going to give a dick about this new Johnsons dictionary, most likely he just wants to work on his farm and get enough food for the day. I suppose the points im trying to say are that 1, stuff took time, and 2 words and English only really became not a rich mans game till after 1900.

7:DON'T SHOEHORN IN STUFF!. You man know some ridiculously advanced term like 'polyoptoton' or whatever but if it isnt relevant it just hinders your A01 mark. your streamlined essay and "proper use of terminology " go hand in hand with the potential 27 ish marks for A01

8: DON'T PREDICT ANYTHING IN YOUR INTRO! More for clarity of arguments sake, because its more than likely that you will contradict yourself in the upcoming script, and if you do.... well thats bad.

9 TRANSCRIPTS ARE SNAPSHOTS!!! Just because there is one word said by "dad" or he is plain not there in the transcript does not mean he is not significant in the child's development,

10 REMEMBER THE STAGES OF ACQUISITION IS A GUIDE Every child is an individual, so not every kid will fit into the holophrastic or telegraphic stage perfectly, there is some wiggle room. Dont be afraid to point this out if there is evidence. Furthermore, if there is evidence to suggest a theorist is wrong, suggest that too.

11? Apparently, and i dont know how true this is (everying else is from the reports themselves) is that when you put an astrix and write a whole paragraph, say at the end. You get A01 marks removed because it goes against propper essay structure or something? not a huge one, just something to consider.

From what i can can gather, thats the suff people have missed, feel free to correct me or add points. And if anyone wants any notes or help on both CLA and Language change feel free to ask!

I can't wait till this is all over!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 92

navysheep

Original post by Happyman322

Thank you so much this is amazing!

Reply 93

navysheep

could someone explain piagets theory please

Reply 94

worldhead

Original post by Themodeststudent

How is everyone revising for this exam? Any tips, predictions?

Posted from TSR Mobile

hey quick prediction for the change question.
comparative text between old text (post standardisation though) and a internet text.

Reply 95

Happyman322

Original post by navysheep

could someone explain piagets theory please

Right, Piagets theory is basically you cant talk about a thing unless you understand a thing.

In relation to CLA, if a child can't understand a concept, say, concept of time, it will struggle to inflect both past and future tense verbs.

Oh and she also talks about object permanence, which is where a child essentially understands that an object, say her mother, continues to exists outside its view.

Reply 96

navysheep

Original post by Happyman322

Got it, thank you very much!

Reply 97

EvieEmerald

Hi, I also have the exam tomorrow- just wondering how long do you guys spend planning before you start to write up your answers?

One of my teachers told me to only spend 15 minutes today and I don't think that will be enough time for me (I've done practice essays in the past but I've forgotten how long I used to spend on planning them which is bad I know).

Reply 98

MidnightMist

Original post by EvieEmerald

Well the exam is 2hrs 30 mins, and an hour is meant to be spent on each question. 15 minutes is meant to be spent on EACH question in reading/annotating/planning etc :smile:

Anymore than that is eating up into your actual writing time.

Reply 99

EvieEmerald

Original post by MidnightMist

Well the exam is 2hrs 30 mins, and an hour is meant to be spent on each question. 15 minutes is meant to be spent on EACH question in reading/annotating/planning etc :smile:

Anymore than that is eating up into your actual writing time.