A level English language and literature?!

OP

Thanks

but I don't know if I should pick it. I enjoy analysing texts and writing essays on them aswell as reading but I'm not sure if I'll be good at A level English language and literature?!?!

Reply 4

I started AS English Literature in September and so far it's good.
We're doing tragedy and the texts are:
- The Great Gatsby (novel), which is alright.
- Death of a Salesman (play) which I love
- King Lear (play2) which we haven't started yet but I enjoy Shakespeare.
- Tom Hardy (poetry) which we haven't started yet.

I originally wanted to do Language but my sixth form doesn't offer it at A Level, but I enjoyed it very much.
'English Language and Literature' A Level is a mix between the two; I assume half and half.
I've heard English Language isn't as difficult as Lit, and is much more enjoyed by students. So it seems like Lang and Lit together is perfect! :smile:

Reply 5

OP

Thanks. Do you mind me asking what you got for your GCSE English language and literature? so I can see if my grades are good enough :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 6

Original post by stars14

Thanks. Do you mind me asking what you got for your GCSE English language and literature? so I can see if my grades are good enough :smile:

B in Language and a B in Literature.
My target were Bs so I'm glad I reached that, but I kind of wanted (and expected) an A in at least one of them - probably Language because I preferred that.
However, I was only a few UMS off of an A in my Literature, and got a remark, but it remained the same.

Reply 7

OP

That's really good :smile:

I did my language mock at the end of year 10 and I achieved an A for that. Next week I'll be doing my literature controlled assessment and I'm predicted an A for that in my real exams next may/june. From these grades do you think I'd be able to do well in A level English literature? (I've decided to not do combined with english language because I prefer and love to study books)

Reply 8

Original post by stars14

That's really good :smile:

I did my language mock at the end of year 10 and I achieved an A for that. Next week I'll be doing my literature controlled assessment and I'm predicted an A for that in my real exams next may/june. From these grades do you think I'd be able to do well in A level English literature? (I've decided to not do combined with english language because I prefer and love to study books)

Yes definitely! And having a love for books is a great attitude, you'll do well for sure!

What texts are you doing for GCSE Literature?
I did Of Mice and Men, Oliver Twist, Macbeth, and Relationships (Moon on The Tides) Poetry.

Reply 9

OP

Last year I did Of Mice And Men but I don't know what for.

Currently for literature im doing Macbeth which im comparing to a selection of Carol Ann Duffy poems I studied earlier. Its only just now that im enjoying Macbeth because our controlled assessment is going to be about what emotions are shown by Lady Macbeth throughout the play and comparing these to Duffy's female characters in her poems and if we can relate to the feminist agenda aswell as the jacobean era. I actually enjoy doing this - analysing/annotating the text and writing essays, comparing, etc.

After this half term im going to begin studying a book called Kindertransport.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 10

Original post by stars14

Last year I did Of Mice And Men but I don't know what for.

Currently for literature im doing Macbeth which im comparing to a selection of Carol Ann Duffy poems I studied earlier. Its only just now that im enjoying Macbeth because our controlled assessment is going to be about what emotions are shown by Lady Macbeth throughout the play and comparing these to Duffy's female characters in her poems and if we can relate to the feminist agenda aswell as the jacobean era. I actually enjoy doing this - analysing/annotating the text and writing essays, comparing, etc.

After this half term im going to begin studying a book called Kindertransport.

Your controlled assessment assignments sound great. The one I enjoyed the most was when we had to compare Bill Sykes who is a character from Oliver Twist, to the character of Macbeth himself. ]

Put a lot of effort into these because they're easy marks that go towards you final grade; and get in the good books with your teacher (they will mark and grade it) and then they'll be generous!
Good luck with everything and your exams! :smile:

Reply 11

OP

Haha thanks you've been really helpful! Hopefully I do really well for my controlled assessment next week! :smile:

Reply 12

Rhythmical

21

Hi there! I'm doing both but separately and I can say that the jump is big but it's normal and since the new reforms came into place, it'll be about revising for the next two years rather than AS/A2 although we get to do an AS exam at my school but it doesn't count towards our final grades. For Language I learn grammar, word classes and lexis and semantics and all that. And language in regional areas and specific language in genders. For Literature I've been learning The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and The History Boys which is a play by Alan Bennett.

Reply 13

OP

So which do u like better and is more enjoyable literature or language? Preferably I like literature because I love to read and study books.

Reply 14

Rhythmical

21

Original post by stars14

So which do u like better and is more enjoyable literature or language? Preferably I like literature because I love to read and study books.

Literature hands down and I find its easier too because you aren't remember the technical side of words although doing both helps for literature immensely! I like Lit because I enjoy reading personally. Language is linguistics and is great for those studying Social Sciences too.

Reply 15

OP

Social sciences like psychology because im going to be studying that at A level along with maths and further maths.
Does language not involve writing your own peices as well like stories, poems, etc? I hate doing that because I'm not creative at all! Do you know of anyone doing the combined A level?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 16

AmyPilot

15

Original post by stars14

Social sciences like psychology because im going to be studying that at A level along with maths and further maths.
Does language not involve writing your own peices as well like stories, poems, etc? I hate doing that because I'm not creative at all! Do you know of anyone doing the combined A level?

I did lit/language combined with WJEC exam board - though I did my A levels in 2014 so times have changed.

Have to say that the combined course puts more emphasis on the literature angle and my college didn't choose what appears to be the more common books to study. At AS we had a two books to read (we did In Cold Blood and the Ned Kelly gang) and for A2 we did two plays (Waiting for Godot and King Lear) and for poetry Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes (with wider reading about Sylvia Plath). Course work accounted for 40% at each AS/A2 level.

The coursework element gave plenty of opportunity for your own writing.

I did the combined course as originally I wanted to take each as a separate subject but already had 3 other subjects picked so the combined course seemed the most logical way to go (other subjects were psychology sociology and RS).

Reply 17

OP