English Lang vs Lit?? Help?!

So, which???
I've seen before that Lit students argue with Lang students that their subject is better, and vice versa ...

I'm having to pick between the two soon. Please, full on debate it, explain both courses and their similarities/differences, advantages and disadvantages :biggrin:

Anything at all that's relevant, I wanna know it!

I'm in top set for English and predicted A*/9s in both of them at GCSE. I prefer literature at this stage, because I love poetry and analysing meanings behind them etc. Only problem with that is, plays and Shakespeare make me lose interest quite quickly.
I dislike language at GCSE because of the 'creative writing' (aka stories). So cringey to write. However, I've heard that at A level, Language is all about why and how people learn to speak and it can be quite interesting. Exam board for either one would be AQA.

So. Help me. Please, help a girl out. :smile:

Obviously it's not the end of the world whichever I choose, but I'm thinking of taking Biology and Chemistry too so don't want my workload to be bigger than it needs to be.

-Which of the English subjects would complement Science subjects better?
-Which is more respected?
-Which is more interesting?
-What are your opinions/any similar past experiences?

Thank you in advance lovelies!

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

farheenellan

Original post by ethistu7

Personally I would say Literature compliments science more only because there is lots of novels etc. And critics that talk a lot about science and the changes that could or have caused specific things to happen.

Language is more respected because well even in GCSE's its compulsory to retake if you fail language. Where as, with literature there is an exception if you fail it.

Literature is more interesting because there is a million, well realistically sooooo many different things you could read and study in your own time along with studying it in school.

I love literature more than language because personally I am worst at language. Hence, why I retook it last year (thank god I've passed it) but yeh it's amazing I love writing in my free time getting a lot of feed back and criticism for what i produce. It's just generally very diverse theres just so much in my opinion which could be said about literature being better.

However, it all depends on if you like creating work or being critical about the work.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

username939230

When I was at sixth form I did AQA lang and lit B so did a bit of both.

Forget about which one is more "respected" - every area of study has its own purpose and the best thing you can do for yourself is doing what you like the best.

Which is more interesting? That depends on your interests. Generally, lit is more to do with reading books,probably analysing fiction, poetry, etc. Personally, it wasn't my favourite but if you enjoy reading then go for it.

Language is more about the linguistic side of things. Looking more at how language is used. Personally I preferred this and I tend to think in a more logical manner so I like considering language like this (I also teach English to foreign students now so that's why it was more useful to me).

That's a general difference between the two. Choose the one you think you'd like the best, they are both respected areas of study

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 3

username2896864

I take AQA English Language at A level and it is sooo much fun! We've looked at how gender, occupation, region and social class can affect your language and we're learning about how your ethnicity can affect it too. There is a ''creative writing'' side, if you can call it that, it's basically just a piece of writing about 750 words and it can be on opinion journalism, short story etc. There's so much to chooses from and it's a really interesting course.
I also had your dilemma about which of the two to choose but for me, English lit has too many books and too much poetry and essay-writing involved whereas English Lang has hardly any of that, if at all.

It's your decision, but imo, English Language is highly underrated as a subject at A level because of people's prejudices from GSCE and it's jolly good fun too :h:

Spoiler

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 4

ethistu7

Original post by Batgirl98

Spoiler

Thank you! That's really helped. Sounds like my kind of thing (I've taken RS in the past and like how different aspects of a person can affect things. Definitely sounds good. You've helped a lot in shaping my opinions about my decision. Just out of interest, how are Bio/Chem/Eng all together? Is there a lot of work for the three of them together, or do they balance out well? Not heard of many people who want to take all three, that's why I'm curious

Reply 5

username2896864

Also, English Lang is lit - geddit? No? Ok.... :getmecoat:

Reply 6

username2896864

Original post by ethistu7

I take them because I like the subjects personally, and I think they do balance out quite well, although I'm not planning to take Biology forward to A2 simply because of the sheer amount of material you have to memorise :colondollar:

I'm going to take Chemistry, English Language and Maths to A level

Reply 7

phoebecarys

Original post by ethistu7

I do both English Literature and English Language at A-Level and I believe that English Language would complement the sciences better. I do not do AQA (mine is Edexcel) but English Language is far more technical than literature which works in general concepts and themes. In English Language so far I have studying psychological and scientific theories about the brain and education (in Child Language Development) and I have . I am also doing creative writing coursework at the moment which is admittedly quite cringey but you do get over it and there are still technical things to consider with regard to technique/structure and appealing to a certain audience so it's not completely free which makes it a little easier. The people I know who take an English and a Science mostly take Language, not that that means anything.
English Literature may also complement the sciences, though not as well. For example I have studied gothic/science fiction novels like Frankenstein and Never Let Me Go which require some research into science but I know that is because my teacher chose the 'Science and Society' strand of our course and it is not guaranteed that the texts you read will be relevant to science at all. It might be a refreshing change from the rigidity of science though.
English Literature is more respected, it is more appealing to university courses outside of English as it is considered to be facilitating (it's supposed to open up more doors).
I really could not say which is more interesting definitively, it is entirely subjective. If you did not enjoy Shakespeare you may struggle with A-Level English Literature as Shakespeare is such a key part of English it's unlikely that you won't have to study him, and when you do study an author or a text you have to spend a lot of time with it, have a full understanding of the text and its surrounding contexts and be able to write evaluative essays. In my experience this is very difficult to do successfully when you don't like the text at all. For this reason, and the fact you are studying sciences, I suspect you may prefer English Language but cannot say for certain.
I personally love both. You can AMA really, I'd be happy to help if you've got any more questions/concerns. 😊👍