Aqa engb3 help!!!!

Hi guys,

I'm really struggling with revision for this exam thats in June. Can people tell me how they go about revising? I try to do past papers but I can never see how I can link my terminology and actually build up an answer particuarly with Language change, nothing seems to click or make sence to me which makes it ten times harder to revise.

Does anyone have any model answers they could share with me or talk me through how you would link things when trying to compare?

What also makes it harder is I got an E in this exam last year and have taken a year out to resit this and my coursework so I have no help from my teachers.

Please please help :frown:

x

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

19

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile:

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:

You can also find the Exam Thread list for A-levels here and GCSE here. :dumbells:

Just quoting in Puddles the Monkey so she can move the thread if needed :h:

Spoiler

Reply 2

AlteredBoy

10

https://quizlet.com/22954520/english-language-a2-theories-flash-cards/

https://quizlet.com/67666981/language-change-lexis-flash-cards/

These may be helpful for a bit of AO1 for change and AO2 for CLA, I find getting random articles off the internet and feature spotting, then rough essay plans incorporating AO2 and AO3 help, as well as the examiner reports to see what they do/don't like to see when marking exams

Reply 3

mia.t

Original post by emmamooney

Hi guys,

I'm really struggling with revision for this exam thats in June. Can people tell me how they go about revising? I try to do past papers but I can never see how I can link my terminology and actually build up an answer particuarly with Language change, nothing seems to click or make sence to me which makes it ten times harder to revise.

Does anyone have any model answers they could share with me or talk me through how you would link things when trying to compare?

What also makes it harder is I got an E in this exam last year and have taken a year out to resit this and my coursework so I have no help from my teachers.

Please please help :frown:

x

A tip i use from my teacher is to always refer back to the genre, audience, producer and purpose of the text, this should help with ao3 marks. For terminology often, many of the same things appear each year it is just how you relate them to change AND the context of the piece. Try looking at mark schemes over a few years and highlighting parts which keep popping up. Often looking at grammar, lexis/semantics, pragmatics get you a better mark due to there being more to talk about than graphology and orthography! Hope this helps!!

Reply 4

hlaff

2

Original post by emmamooney

Hi guys,

I'm really struggling with revision for this exam thats in June. Can people tell me how they go about revising? I try to do past papers but I can never see how I can link my terminology and actually build up an answer particuarly with Language change, nothing seems to click or make sence to me which makes it ten times harder to revise.

Does anyone have any model answers they could share with me or talk me through how you would link things when trying to compare?

What also makes it harder is I got an E in this exam last year and have taken a year out to resit this and my coursework so I have no help from my teachers.

Please please help :frown:

x

Hey,

I'm doing this exam and I find looking at model answers so helpful when revising and building essay structure. Usually, if I want to find one I'll just type in on google e.g. ENG3 June 2011 exemplar script. If not, there is this website called Aquinas English which has a few exemplar script, but not all of them are top band.

When doing language acquisition my basic plan usually consists of:
Introduction
Caregivers
Lexis & Semantics
Discourse
Pragmatics
Theorists (obviously linked throughout)

I always feel as if the introduction of these essays are the hardest part, so I always exemplify the stage that they're in (usually the telegraphic/post telegraphic) with the use of contractions so for example...

Text A and B are transcripts of Jake, a four year old boy reading bedtime stories with his parents. Due to Jake being four years of age, theoretically we would place him into the post-telegraphic stage of lexical and grammatical development. However, Jake is seemingly suited to these groups within the two texts as it seems that he has is comfortable when employing more complex forms of grammar such as his use of contractions such as 'they're' and 'don't.' This is significant because the contracting of two separate lexemes comes later in grammatical development and the fact that he is able to use them confidently and correctly is impressive for someone of his age, which would be supported by Brown who believed that contractions were complex for children to comprehend so the fact that Jake uses them confidently suggests both a strong grammatical and cognitive ability which is typical of someone of his age.

The key is to always offer other explanations for things and be tentative. So, if you're saying that a child has mispronounced something like 'crying' as 'cwying', this may be due to consonant clusters, or it could also be from 'baby talk' that the caregiver may have previously used. Grunwell said that certain lexical items are easier to pronounce, so 'cwying' may be more phonetically pleasing due to it being related to baby talk that may have been used.

The same thing can be applied to Language Change. Always be offering alternative explanations, as at the end of the day, you never know why a text-producer has done something.

My general plan for Language Change includes:
Introduction (GAP, Mode of Production/Reception, diachronic/synchronic change, Register, etc.)
Lexis (Archaisms, modal verbs, perjoration/amelioration, broadening, etc.)
Discourse
Power (synthetic personalisation, accommodation, face theory, etc.)
Technology (advancements? printing press? etc)
Gender (if applicable)
Graphology (logos, colours, etc)
Also learn a few key dates (Dictionary, Lowth's Grammar Books, Education Act, World War's, etc.)
Theorists including Jean Aitchison and so on.

Just make sure to always be backing everything up with data and you should be fine, but don't ramble on certain things e.g. the long s because the examiner doesn't really care about that as its obvious.

Reply 5

yoMilkSheikh

2

Original post by hlaff

Hey,

I'm doing this exam and I find looking at model answers so helpful when revising and building essay structure. Usually, if I want to find one I'll just type in on google e.g. ENG3 June 2011 exemplar script. If not, there is this website called Aquinas English which has a few exemplar script, but not all of them are top band.

When doing language acquisition my basic plan usually consists of:
Introduction
Caregivers
Lexis & Semantics
Discourse
Pragmatics
Theorists (obviously linked throughout)

I always feel as if the introduction of these essays are the hardest part, so I always exemplify the stage that they're in (usually the telegraphic/post telegraphic) with the use of contractions so for example...

Text A and B are transcripts of Jake, a four year old boy reading bedtime stories with his parents. Due to Jake being four years of age, theoretically we would place him into the post-telegraphic stage of lexical and grammatical development. However, Jake is seemingly suited to these groups within the two texts as it seems that he has is comfortable when employing more complex forms of grammar such as his use of contractions such as 'they're' and 'don't.' This is significant because the contracting of two separate lexemes comes later in grammatical development and the fact that he is able to use them confidently and correctly is impressive for someone of his age, which would be supported by Brown who believed that contractions were complex for children to comprehend so the fact that Jake uses them confidently suggests both a strong grammatical and cognitive ability which is typical of someone of his age.

The key is to always offer other explanations for things and be tentative. So, if you're saying that a child has mispronounced something like 'crying' as 'cwying', this may be due to consonant clusters, or it could also be from 'baby talk' that the caregiver may have previously used. Grunwell said that certain lexical items are easier to pronounce, so 'cwying' may be more phonetically pleasing due to it being related to baby talk that may have been used.

The same thing can be applied to Language Change. Always be offering alternative explanations, as at the end of the day, you never know why a text-producer has done something.

My general plan for Language Change includes:
Introduction (GAP, Mode of Production/Reception, diachronic/synchronic change, Register, etc.)
Lexis (Archaisms, modal verbs, perjoration/amelioration, broadening, etc.)
Discourse
Power (synthetic personalisation, accommodation, face theory, etc.)
Technology (advancements? printing press? etc)
Gender (if applicable)
Graphology (logos, colours, etc)
Also learn a few key dates (Dictionary, Lowth's Grammar Books, Education Act, World War's, etc.)
Theorists including Jean Aitchison and so on.

Just make sure to always be backing everything up with data and you should be fine, but don't ramble on certain things e.g. the long s because the examiner doesn't really care about that as its obvious.

Where are the exemplars? I went on the link and I cannot find them

Reply 6

hlaff

2

Original post by yoMilkSheikh

Where are the exemplars? I went on the link and I cannot find them

http://english.wellacre.org/a-level/a2-level/unit-3-examination

https://mrswhelan.com/a2-english-language/
Can I also just say, if anybody wants to exchange their practice past papers and marks each others I'd be up for that because I think my teachers are getting sick of me emailing them papers in the half term lol

Reply 7

yoMilkSheikh

2

Original post by hlaff

http://english.wellacre.org/a-level/a2-level/unit-3-examination

https://mrswhelan.com/a2-english-language/
Can I also just say, if anybody wants to exchange their practice past papers and marks each others I'd be up for that because I think my teachers are getting sick of me emailing them papers in the half term lol