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English Language and English Literature Separate or Combined?

Sorry if a similar thread has been already made,
I'm in the middle of choosing my subjects for A-Levels for next year and I am struggling to come to a conclusion on this matter. I really enjoyed English Literature and currently enjoying English Language just as much. My school offers Enlgish Lang/Lit which is a combined course but I'm not sure whether to do that one or do them separately as two different subjects, any help is appreciated :smile:.
Original post by Matreo
Sorry if a similar thread has been already made,
I'm in the middle of choosing my subjects for A-Levels for next year and I am struggling to come to a conclusion on this matter. I really enjoyed English Literature and currently enjoying English Language just as much. My school offers Enlgish Lang/Lit which is a combined course but I'm not sure whether to do that one or do them separately as two different subjects, any help is appreciated :smile:.

They're generally more respected as separate courses, so I'd say go separate unless you're really struggling with having too many options :smile:
Original post by Matreo
Sorry if a similar thread has been already made,
I'm in the middle of choosing my subjects for A-Levels for next year and I am struggling to come to a conclusion on this matter. I really enjoyed English Literature and currently enjoying English Language just as much. My school offers Enlgish Lang/Lit which is a combined course but I'm not sure whether to do that one or do them separately as two different subjects, any help is appreciated :smile:.


I answer the same questions on a monthly basis. Try searching "English Literature and Language combined" in the TSR search engine - there's LOADS of the same advice you can find!

So generally speaking, the combined course is usually all to do with stylistics - which is all about how language is used in different forms of writing, essentially - literature. The combined course offers breadth in both subjects. You will use them at an interdisciplinary way - how both English can be used alongside each other.

Studying both or just one of the subjects offers depth, rather than breadth. You will mainly focus on fiction texts during A level Lit and non-fiction with A level Lang. With the combined, you will study a combined from biographies to poetry to political speeches.

I studied both subjects at A-level and I much preferred it that way, as I got solid feeling of which one I preferred and I could tell the difference in which one I would like to specialise in at uni (literature).

Plus, the combined isn't focused on one area of study. For instance, you will have to talk about everything such as narratology, theme, context, language and style, pattern etc. It's all a bit scattered for my liking.
Depending on your teacher's knowledge and the exam board for Literature you will generally go more in-depth in something like historical and social context, plot and characterisation, etc etc. You get to focus one a couple of things with the separate A-levels, rather than a big chunk of things with the combined.

In Language, you also get to study how children learn spoken language and how they get taught to write and spell. It's a fascinating thing. You get to learn about teaching methods, the role of the mother, stages of language development from grammar to phonology. So if that's something that sounds interesting to you, I say take the separate A-levels as you don't get to study this in the Language side of the combined course.

I think you gain new skills in picking the separate A-levels. The combined one is just regurgitating skills from GCSE days.

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