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AQA English Language A A2 (ENGA3) 2015.

Maybe I haven't looked around enough but I swear there isn't a thread for this exam!
Most people are doing ENGB and very few are doing ENGA :|.

If anybody else is on this specification, could you please clarify whether, in Section A, the second bullet point on question 1 will definitely be a ".... how language changes" and the alternative will be on variation? or is it possible for both to be on variation? I really need to get as close to full marks in this aaah!

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Reply 1
HELLO!! I know barely anybody on here does the ENGA3 syllabus. Section A is definitely one of both and you pick between the two. Section B is where they will only give you one and that could be change or variation.
Reply 2
Original post by Sammyxo
HELLO!! I know barely anybody on here does the ENGA3 syllabus. Section A is definitely one of both and you pick between the two. Section B is where they will only give you one and that could be change or variation.


Original post by PR1234
Maybe I haven't looked around enough but I swear there isn't a thread for this exam!
Most people are doing ENGB and very few are doing ENGA :|.

If anybody else is on this specification, could you please clarify whether, in Section A, the second bullet point on question 1 will definitely be a ".... how language changes" and the alternative will be on variation? or is it possible for both to be on variation? I really need to get as close to full marks in this aaah!


I've finally found some more people doing this! Guys lets get this alive and help each other out!

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Reply 3
Ahhh finally people who are doing the same spec as me! I'm soooo confused by the questions this year. I'm so unsure what to revise so I've stuck to my revision guide which categorises it into 'Language Change' and 'Social Aspects of Language', am I on the right track here? It covers what we've been learning in lessons but I'm clueless as to what the questions will be like and when to bring in theorists etc. Please can someone help me out? What will Section A be on and what will Section B be on and how do I go about answering them? Thank you lovelys!!! X
Reply 4
Original post by mcbb
Ahhh finally people who are doing the same spec as me! I'm soooo confused by the questions this year. I'm so unsure what to revise so I've stuck to my revision guide which categorises it into 'Language Change' and 'Social Aspects of Language', am I on the right track here? It covers what we've been learning in lessons but I'm clueless as to what the questions will be like and when to bring in theorists etc. Please can someone help me out? What will Section A be on and what will Section B be on and how do I go about answering them? Thank you lovelys!!! X


As far as I'm aware from reading past papers, section A always has a question on language and change, and the second question is where it could be things such as gender,political correctness and so on (I could be wrong I'm not sure)

Then section B is on either language change or variation (Accents and dialects) or something along that line

Again I wouldn't take my word for it😅


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Reply 5
I HATE GENDER AND PC😥


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Reply 6
Original post by may_1
I HATE GENDER AND PC😥


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I do have essay structures for all possible questions,but it's hard to identity which one to use 🙊

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Reply 7
Original post by Liaamm
As far as I'm aware from reading past papers, section A always has a question on language and change, and the second question is where it could be things such as gender,political correctness and so on (I could be wrong I'm not sure)

Then section B is on either language change or variation (Accents and dialects) or something along that line

Again I wouldn't take my word for it😅


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Thanks so much. So just to clarify, Section A will always be on Language Change and Section B will either be on language change again or variation such as accents, dialects, global English, etc?

I have also just found this from an article if it helps!!

At A2, for AQA A, there is some old text analysis for ENA5 Language Variation and Change; it's not too daunting. Just remember all the lingustic frameworks from AS, and add some of the A2 ones (e.g. phrase structure; noun, verb, adjective phrases). The period is limited from 'Early Modern English' onwards.
You can study accents for ENA5 too! Here a lot of linguistics is incorporated. You learn how accents vary, regional features such as "h" dropping and the glottal stop, social views on different accents. It helps if you want to imitate different accents! It's limited to the British Isles though, so be wary of inserting too many references to American or Australasian linguistic features.
Then there is how language has developed:

Lexical change: words that have come into use, how they are formed;

Semantic change: the change in meaning, such as how a word can have several meanings e.g. "cool"- cold, "cool"-popular, "cool"-ok;

Why languages changes;

Views on language change (prescriptivism, descriptivism) - highly relevant and quite fun!

For the exam, the Texts from Different Times section is compulsory in Section A; but there is a choice between the Section B questions on Contemporary Language Variation and Change in the British Isles - one will be on dialectal variation, the other on language change. Both parts of Section B are restricted to 1950 onwards.


Soo I'm guessing you're right in saying Section A is Language Change and Section B is more to do with dialect? You're a star, thank you!
Reply 8
Original post by mcbb
Thanks so much. So just to clarify, Section A will always be on Language Change and Section B will either be on language change again or variation such as accents, dialects, global English, etc?

I have also just found this from an article if it helps!!

At A2, for AQA A, there is some old text analysis for ENA5 Language Variation and Change; it's not too daunting. Just remember all the lingustic frameworks from AS, and add some of the A2 ones (e.g. phrase structure; noun, verb, adjective phrases). The period is limited from 'Early Modern English' onwards.
You can study accents for ENA5 too! Here a lot of linguistics is incorporated. You learn how accents vary, regional features such as "h" dropping and the glottal stop, social views on different accents. It helps if you want to imitate different accents! It's limited to the British Isles though, so be wary of inserting too many references to American or Australasian linguistic features.
Then there is how language has developed:

Lexical change: words that have come into use, how they are formed;

Semantic change: the change in meaning, such as how a word can have several meanings e.g. "cool"- cold, "cool"-popular, "cool"-ok;

Why languages changes;

Views on language change (prescriptivism, descriptivism) - highly relevant and quite fun!

For the exam, the Texts from Different Times section is compulsory in Section A; but there is a choice between the Section B questions on Contemporary Language Variation and Change in the British Isles - one will be on dialectal variation, the other on language change. Both parts of Section B are restricted to 1950 onwards.


Soo I'm guessing you're right in saying Section A is Language Change and Section B is more to do with dialect? You're a star, thank you!


So I suppose I should create a perfect t answer for language and change as that's definitely going to come up right? Then I'm hoping for varieties (accents and dialects) to be question three!

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Reply 9
Original post by Liaamm
I do have essay structures for all possible questions,but it's hard to identity which one to use 🙊

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Any chance you could share some of your essay structures? Sorry, I'm asking so much of you haha! I've just left revision seriously last minute and have come to realise I have barely any idea what the exam is even on and am pretty screwed :redface:
Thank youuuu again for all your help! X
Reply 10
Original post by mcbb
Any chance you could share some of your essay structures? Sorry, I'm asking so much of you haha! I've just left revision seriously last minute and have come to realise I have barely any idea what the exam is even on and am pretty screwed :redface:
Thank youuuu again for all your help! X


yeah same I would be so so grateful ☺️ x


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Reply 11
Original post by Liaamm
So I suppose I should create a perfect t answer for language and change as that's definitely going to come up right? Then I'm hoping for varieties (accents and dialects) to be question three!

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Yeah that's what I'm guessing! Language Change seems pretty inescapable, then it seems silly if accents and dialects don't come up in Section B considering that's on our syllabus. So I'm assuming Section A: Language Change, Section B: Accents and Dialects (or other aspects of Language Variation)
Reply 12
Original post by mcbb
Any chance you could share some of your essay structures? Sorry, I'm asking so much of you haha! I've just left revision seriously last minute and have come to realise I have barely any idea what the exam is even on and am pretty screwed :redface:
Thank youuuu again for all your help! X


So I suppose the most important one is language change right? Here are the things you need to include;

Key dates/events in history of English (this is where you talk about our Roman,Norman and Anglo Saxon influences. Also the creation of Johnson's first dictionary, William Shakespeares influence, introduction of computer and ect)

Next is the historical features (double negatives,semantic shift,lexical change and so on)

Then you discuss how and why words are introduced to the UK (immigration,empire expansion,media ,technology and travel)

Then you introduce your theories (functional,crystals flow chart,wave model, s curve, lexical gap and so on)

Then to conclude you introduce the attitudes to language change (prescriptivist descriptivist debate, Atchisons three analogies) and just conclude on a whole

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Reply 13
Original post by Liaamm
So I suppose the most important one is language change right? Here are the things you need to include;

Key dates/events in history of English (this is where you talk about our Roman,Norman and Anglo Saxon influences. Also the creation of Johnson's first dictionary, William Shakespeares influence, introduction of computer and ect)

Next is the historical features (double negatives,semantic shift,lexical change and so on)

Then you discuss how and why words are introduced to the UK (immigration,empire expansion,media ,technology and travel)

Then you introduce your theories (functional,crystals flow chart,wave model, s curve, lexical gap and so on)

Then to conclude you introduce the attitudes to language change (prescriptivist descriptivist debate, Atchisons three analogies) and just conclude on a whole

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what do you do for gender or pc? x


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Reply 14
Original post by Liaamm
So I suppose the most important one is language change right? Here are the things you need to include;

Key dates/events in history of English (this is where you talk about our Roman,Norman and Anglo Saxon influences. Also the creation of Johnson's first dictionary, William Shakespeares influence, introduction of computer and ect)

Next is the historical features (double negatives,semantic shift,lexical change and so on)

Then you discuss how and why words are introduced to the UK (immigration,empire expansion,media ,technology and travel)

Then you introduce your theories (functional,crystals flow chart,wave model, s curve, lexical gap and so on)

Then to conclude you introduce the attitudes to language change (prescriptivist descriptivist debate, Atchisons three analogies) and just conclude on a whole

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You're a LIFESAVER!!!!!!!!! Thank you so so much! Do you have anything similar for accents and dialects etc? You've just helped me more than my teacher has done over the entire course haha thank you
Reply 15
Original post by Liaamm
So I suppose the most important one is language change right? Here are the things you need to include;

Key dates/events in history of English (this is where you talk about our Roman,Norman and Anglo Saxon influences. Also the creation of Johnson's first dictionary, William Shakespeares influence, introduction of computer and ect)

Next is the historical features (double negatives,semantic shift,lexical change and so on)

Then you discuss how and why words are introduced to the UK (immigration,empire expansion,media ,technology and travel)

Then you introduce your theories (functional,crystals flow chart,wave model, s curve, lexical gap and so on)

Then to conclude you introduce the attitudes to language change (prescriptivist descriptivist debate, Atchisons three analogies) and just conclude on a whole

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Also include the creations of words (clippings etc) with how words are introduced into the uk

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Reply 16
Original post by may_1
what do you do for gender or pc? x


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Language and Gender is a very free one, you need to explore the 4 models and include features and theorists included in each model

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Reply 17
Original post by Liaamm
Language and Gender is a very free one, you need to explore the 4 models and include features and theorists included in each model

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THANKS☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️


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Reply 18
I don't suppose anyone has more detail on language and Gender, I find this one tough and my booklet does not provide enough material :/

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Reply 19
Original post by Liaamm
I don't suppose anyone has more detail on language and Gender, I find this one tough and my booklet does not provide enough material :/

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Sure, here's a powerpoint!

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