AQA English Language and Literature B ELLB3 - Unseen Texts Guide and Model Answer

This was super helpful, I was scouring the website for example answers with no luck

Any chance you have any pointers on 'A Streetcar Named Desire'

This was super helpful, I was scouring the website for example answers with no luck

Any chance you have any pointers on 'A Streetcar Named Desire'

yeah I picked up a copy I am finding it helpful the only thing is really essay structure....

I did do an unseen past paper using this plan asa guideline though and my teacher said it was definitely band 6 material. Yay. So now, practicepracticepractice

glad to know it helped someone then!

Hey, so I was just wondering I know your doing Hamlet but I was just reading through the mark scheme for section (the lit based texts) and one of the pointers for band 6 says: 'applies relevant concepts and theoretical approaches to texts'.

That would be in relation to the theories (grice, politeness etc) I asked my teaxher whether we had to include it and he said no buuuuuut surely if its in the MS we ought to. ugh, what do you think?

Hey how did everyone do on this exam? I JUST scraped an A in it. I got 97 UMS. And 320 UMS overall in my subject grade so I'm over the moon!

Thanks to this thread I got a high A! WooHoo!! SO relieved!

AQA - English Language and Literature B ELLB3 - Unseen Texts Guide and Model Answer

UPDATE: 8/6/2012 - Sorry everyone, but I have no model answers for Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire or any of the other texts.

Hi. This thread is my 'How to guide' in regards to the A2 English Language/Literature ELLB3 exam. It is pretty long, as you can see, but i've tried to put as much detail in as possible. NOTE - THIS IS NOT THE ONLY METHOD FOR AN A. This is what i use and, if you look below, is what has worked for me. Not all my essay have been full marks, but since this one they have all been A/A* and i am no genius - this is just to help.

A level English has few sources on line and unfortunately is, in my opinion, one of those subjects you can only teach to someone a certain amount. After a while, it is up to your ability and (more importantly) your dedication and creativity to get those B's - A*'s, especially the coursework. I have an excellent teacher, and shows modal answers - however, they are often not the best and just show the concepts to THAT PARTICULAR QUESTION. Some of my friends in L&L, much smarter than i, have struggled with this question the exam questions. I remember thinking how badly i wanted to just see HOW it was done and have decided to give something back to the community here.

So, i have decided to make a thread just talking abit about the question - i have seen a few threads on line, but unseen text questions are quite hard to teach. This model answer is one i did, and i was really happy when i found it got a score of 48/48. Perhaps some teachers may be harsher, but this is about as gooder an effort I can do, and this is the essence what you need. I am not here to try and be a preacher, i am NOT the smartest student, far from it, and thats partly why i have made this thread. To show anyone, if they get it right, can come out with top grades in the summer. It's just about being in the right ballpark, and from there your ideas will synthesise with a structure and WHAM you have an A/A*. Right, now i've done blabbing, Im going to talk about the general things i did in the answer.


BASICS -

1) You will get two texts. One will be a literary piece, and one will be a transcript (a recorded and unabridged version of a conversation.)

2) The literary text will be the focus of your talk in literature proportion of your answer. This text will ALWAYS one of the following
- a poem (usually pre 1945 English)
- a play extract
- a prose extract
The transcript will be the focus of your talk in life proportion of your answer. This will be linked thematically in some way to the other text, making it comparable.

3)IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THE DIFFERENCE IN TALK IN LIFE AND LITERATURE - The Literary text will be written to a certain audience, public or private. It will use literary devices, e.g. lexical fields- and perhaps some linguistic ones (although your focus should be on the former.) The transcript is SPONTANEOUS. It may show elements of the opposing text, i.e an emotion, but in a different way - pauses may indicate parts of the person's mindset for example. The two texts usually also give a different perspective.

4) Finally, before i go into more detail, for the love of god, DON'T i repeat DON'T just give one side and then the other. It's one essay, not two mini ones! If you are really good, it may get you an A, but if you cross compare throughout it is so much easier to get higher grades, i promise. For example, pretend the theme is madness. This shows in simplicity how you should cross compare

'Text A shows madness in the character through __________. Text B also has underlying themes of madness in the character of the individual, however, as it is talk in life as opposed to talk in literature, it shows it through the use of different features, such as ____________.'


THE MAIN POINTS


1) In essence, you have to talk about three things
- Context of Characters
- Functions and Purposes of Talk
- Attitudes and Values they Convey.
Briefly outline in the intro that these with differ from one text to another because one focuses on talk in life and the other with talk in literature.

2) THIS IS THE HARDEST PART, BUT THE KEY TO TOP GRADES. As you write this, you will begin to see the above all co-exist, overlap and relate to each other - this can create a mess off concepts and can result in confusing terms. Conversly, it's pretty much impossible to isolate each one - i mean how can you talk about the attitudes with saying how it's said? (its purpose?) The method i used was to find the point of context for one text, and compare this with the other text. I'll explain this by saying how i did this in my model answer below. The theme was romantic relationships. (This is a very simple structure to just explain)

Text A is a transcript from a boys perspective. Text B is a poem from a female one (this is the CONTEXT COMPARISON.) Look at the attitudes evident from the context, in this case the gender specific subjective values, e.g, The boys in text A almost fear what girls are capable of, and are scared of this. This is shown through the use of _______ 'QUOTE A FEATURE' (this is the ATTITUDE/FUNCTION conveyed.) Finally, cross compare this with a value and/or function from the other Text. Rinse and Repeat.

3) Generally, you want to find 2/3 main context differences/similarities and just make a few points on attitudes/functions conveyed for each contextual pointo. REMEMBER, you only have an hour to do this, so 2 and a half/4 pages WRITTEN is plenty. Anything more

4) Like the pre read text question you'll do first, don't just spot features. This means just using terminology and not explaining its effect. THIS IS WHAT BARS PEOPLE FROM THE TOP BANDS. This is an simple example of feature spotting - There is a lexical field to do with love, '_____'. The text also has use of adjacency pairing, '________' . So, what do you do? Follow the above - make your point on context, and from that expand with attitudes and functions like shown in 2. When you expand, say what the attitude/function is, give a quote, give it's effect. Then compare it with the other text. Once again, Rinse and repeat, so on, so forth.

5) Finally, Your conclusion is important, very important. DON'T JUST SUMMARISE WHAT YOU'VE SAID - this is the no.1 mistake with conclusions (mines actually abit short - 6/7 lines is perfect. Make a judgement. Say WHY they are different/similar - because of the contextual background and they share similarities in talk in life and literature but achieve in different ways because on is happy and one is sad and so on. This bit's quite hard to explain, but theres nothing else to think of after!


Right, well if you've made it this far, thank you i hope this has helped, and now it's the actual modal answer. Please don't copy straight, it will do NOTHING as your texts will vary on every single paper, however the structure remains the same on every one you'll do. Also feel free to send me a private message or email me @ [email protected] if you have any questions. i have helped two people on here in regards to coursework before and im more than happy to do that with this. Good Luck!

MODEL ANSWER


'Compare the two texts, commenting on the ways in which they reflect similarities between talk in life and literature.'

The key theme present within both text A and B is relationships, and relationship struggles. However, the two texts manipulate the context of their characters and voice to articulate the views of each text in a completely polarised fashion to re-enforce the purpose of each text. The most obvious features of the two texts are the different viewpoints and era’s presented within them, and the devices that are used within each text’s context to convey the functions and purpose of talk, and the attitudes and values each conveys in life and literature.
Text A is from a male perspective, and text B is from a female one. These fundamental differences in regards to voicing not only affects the delivery, but also the subjective nature of the two texts, as the shared motif is one that dictates the emotional drive of each text, which is arguably the main characteristic which compliments the theme of relationships. The comparison that is visible, therefore, in talk in life from the use of a gender specific variation is made obvious to the reader due to the references to the burden that the opposite gender, and is one relatable to the talk in literature shown in in Text B. In the case of the transcript, this is shown ingeniously through the careful use of discourse – phatic conversation, with an adherence to Grice’s maxim of quantity (as the conversation as the sharing of the conversation is equal,) and use of three part exchanges ‘Jake - he better treat her well: Liam – It’s gotta mean something (.) then she went out with you and everyone was completely surprised…’ shows that both participants feels a similar element of pain towards what the opposite sex inflicts, and both can elaborate on the topic of relationships well because they are confiding in another male; the use of discourse may suggest that Jake is more able to talk to Liam confidently because he knows he will not have his heart broken by another male due to his evident heterosexuality, and is more inclined to trust him. In Rossetti’s poem ‘No, thank you, John,’ discourse features are relevant to some extent in showing her opinions; the use of structured four lines stanzas and end rhyme on the second and last line of each stanza reflect traditional Victorian values towards poetry, and reflect talk in literature on views of love, or in this case, the lack of it. However, Text B uses literary and rhetoric features such as metaphorical language and rhetorical questions to do with independence and cold heartedness, ‘I have no heart?’ ‘Let’s mar our pleasant days no more’ and the uses of such literary features adds an underlying irony, due to the contextual background of the poem, to have such controversial, quick witted speech. This represents female views on relationships in a completely different light; they help the reader identify the characteristics of the protagonist and perhaps enable the reader to empathise and identify the feelings of resentment towards ‘John,’ instilling the poem’s talk in literature into something relatable.
Despite a clear division in the gender ideologies towards love and the concept of relationships, Text A and Text B show a similarity in the way in which the characters try to masquerade their emotions – through bravado and exaggerated feminism. In Text B, Rossetti uses phrasing perhaps stereotypically associated with men, ‘Let us strike hands as hearty friends’ to convey a sense of independence. In the time this was written, women were much more oppressed by male influence in most ways, and the use of bold and authoritative statements such as this indicates the speaker is willing to manipulate her gender’s benefits in order get the purpose she wants to show across to the reader. In addition, the use of rather derogatory and impersonal vocatives such as ‘you’ and contrasting them with personal ones, such as his name ‘John’ to further exaggerate this effect, and the use of ‘I’ is shown as her having only her intentions at heart, showing her has a cold hearted individual, perhaps going against the perception many people undertake of females as nurturing and selfless.
The context of gender is not the only steer in which the two texts reflect talk in life and literature/. As previously inferred to, this orientation branches out through each texts content and uses time to convey the true purpose of their texts meaning and the attitudes it aims to portray. Non-fluency features are used profoundly in text A, such as pauses and the use of fillers, ‘like’ and backchannel behaviour, in this case utterances ‘yeh,’ is probably used by the two boys as a subtle hint that the subject point is one of great sensitivity to them, and that they wish to detract from the situation - in the contextual situation of the 21st century, society and the media may influence they’re feelings on the topics of ‘girls’ and they may feel uncomfortable and vulnerable to mocking and may feel they can’t express their emotion, affecting the coherency of their talk. In comparison, Text B is very fluent and uses caesura and enjambment to show a flow of words from the writer, and results in a poem that doesn’t seem to experience any oppression, which formulates her poems very strong views towards the intolerance she possess of ’John’, and she will not let public opinion stop her in expressing her true feelings – ‘But then you’re made to take offence that I don’t give you what I have not got,’ and ‘catch at to-day, forget the days before.’
The publicity of the two poems in terms of its target audience is perhaps one of the most important way in which the two texts reflect the attitudes of the people within both the transcript and the poem. Once again both texts achieve this in different ways, and for different purposes. Text A, despite having two voices in regards the conversation is very private: Text A’s dialogue uses very emotive pre modifiers and adds quite arrogant and self-exclamatory post modifiers to the end of sentences to show the private relaying of emotions in the conversation, and how it diversifies between positively effects of the talkers at one point, for example ‘harshly dumping her,’, ‘she really liked me obviously (.)’ articulate views on life ‘procreation’ and even hidden sadness, border lining on jealousy ‘I wanna be with her’ on one girl, at a very young age. This depiction of emotional fluctuation seen in the transcript gives the conversation a more believable element, showing the vulnerability of young love in its essence to the reader. Text B is more public – she intends for people to see this poem, and perhaps this is reflected in her interpretation of love, as she uses this as a tool to almost humiliate her protagonist. This can be seen through her lecturing and bitter tone of voice, once again for hyperbolic effect – ‘I dare say Meg or Moll would take pity on you.’ This is indicative of her character, and she seems to believe she has control over the fate of others, and wishes to assert her dominance in the poem. By the use of a public genre, she can fully extend the wish to fully impose this purpose through the mentioned methods.
In conclusion, both texts convey talk in life and literature by accessing emotions – the two texts achieve this purpose from the methods of language and/or literary effects and create elements of empathy, tension and hyperbolism to truly to highlight the importance of relationship, and the very drastic effect it could have on seemingly normal people.

48/48

PLAN

INTRODUCTION
• Text A is a __________ and Text B is a __________
• Both explore the theme of_______
• However, they show differences because one explores the theme through talk in life and the other through talk in literature.

PG 1 –Main Point One - i.e. One may be a male persp. Vs. female (This is your contextualisation)
• Attitudes conveyed through this difference
o Idea 1 Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT (HAD SOME PEOPLE SAYING IDEA 1/2 WAS CONFUSING, MY APOLOGIES. I BASICALLY JUST MEAN SOMETHING MORE SPECIFIC ON THE MAIN POINT, OR THE TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION....IF YOUR MAIN POINT IS, i.e, GENDER THEN IDEA 1 COULD BE DIFFERENCE IN OPINION, AND IDEA 2 COULD BE GENDER EXPECTATIONS FROM THE SOCIETIES AT THE TIME OF THE TEXTS. Hope that makes a fraction of sense o.o

o Idea 2 (Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT
• Purpose of talk – how is it the same or different??
o Idea 1 (Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT
o Idea 2 Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT

PG 2 – Main Point Two - i.e. audience – one’s public, (prose etc) one may be private [dialogue]
• Attitudes conveyed through this difference
o Idea 1 (Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT
o Idea 2 (Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT
• Purpose of talk – how is it the same or different??
o Idea 1 (Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT
o Idea 2 Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT
• Audience –
o Idea 1 (Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT
o Idea 2 Quote/Explain Using Terminology) COMPARE WITH OTHER TEXT

Do another once or twice Until you have 3 or 4 solid paragraphs

Conclusion.

*I try to do 2/3 different ‘ideas’ for each subpoint, i.e attitudes, but the number is up to you. I’ve left it at two for explaination purposes.



CONTEXT 3 –