English Language and Literature OR English Literature as A-levels?

I am currently choosing my A-levels, and would like to know which English subject is higher regarded - English Language and Literature OR English Literature. There is no English Language by itself, I can only choose the two I have specified. I have heard that English Literature is actually more highly regarded, and that there is no point in doing English language and literature as the English Language side is a bit of a "mickey mouse subject" - I am not sure how true this is. I would like to go on to University to study something along the lines of Journalism, or something to do with Humanities. Any possible information on these subjects will be great really, as I don't know which one of the two will be best to take. I am keeping my options fairly open for what I want to do as a career; but I know I certainly want a career which consists of lots of writing, because my strongest point is essay writing. I have thought about Journalism, but I have heard it is a hard thing to get in to. Is this true? I would love to be a travel Journalist. My other strong points are History and Humanities, and so I am definitely going to take History as an A-level subject, and once again perhaps further on in to a career.

Any help is appreciated! :smile:

Reply 1

-aimz

English Lit is best; I've got similar plans to you and I chose that,along with History,Geography and Biology. Lit is more analytical,essay based,and well respected. That way,you can take any Humanities subject onto uni,or do Journalism straight off. Make sure you get plenty of work experience if you want to do journalism. Personally I'm planning to do English Lit at uni then move into journalism afterwards.You don't need a degree in Journalism to do it,you can do almost any degree.

Do Lit

When I chose mine, I wanted to do journalism. Glad I chose just lit though as I changed my mind (after wanting to do journalism for years) and applied for English at Uni (and to go to a good uni and do English you need to do A2 English Lit). :smile:

Reply 4

Leto

I'd recommend Lit.

It's more focused on Literature (unsurprisingly). I've experienced both actually and really didn't like the focus of the combined course because you have to analyse books/poems using grammar terms etc. rather than solely 'literature' terms like mood, atmosphere etc.

On the other hand, combined is a respected subject. It's Lang on its own that isn't.

Reply 5

JW92

It is true that Literature is the more respected but I'd advise you to ask your school or college about the courses to find out which texts you'd be studying and what those texts are like or look up the different specifications on the internet. That way you should be able to work out which course you'd enjoy more.

Reply 6

username368993

Yeah look into what texts are studied but overall i would say lit.

Reply 7

Alssa

Personally, I would go for English Language if you're sure you want to do journalism in the future. However, there is this huge misconception that English is the perfect degree for the media industry. It is by no means bad, but newspapers/magazines etc are swamped with applications from those with an English degree. If you really want to stand out - and maximise your chances of securing a job in journalism - do something like law, a science degree, insert specialism-friendly degree here.

Reply 8

CherryCherryBoomBoom

My school only offers English Lit, so I suppose that's because it's the stronger subject. I took Lit and I'm considering a journalism career too

Reply 9

Jono300

English Language and Literature is quite difficult as it has the analytical side of English Literature combined with lots of terminology for Language. In your exam, you have an analytical question (which you comment on Lit and Linguistic tehniques) and a creative question where you write in the role of a character from one of the texts. For the creative question, you could have a question like writing a letter, journalism, etc. Overall, I'm enjoying it. :smile:

Reply 10

brettashley