Welcome

to English Language A-level

Marcus Barrett
LL.B(Hons), MA(Soton), MA(Exeter), PGCE, Barrister
Course Manager, English Language
Richard Huish College, Taunton, Somerset;

Trustee, The English Project

University of Winchester;

Language Column, Somerset County Gazette;

[Twitter] @CaptainDiction
What does ‘English Language’ mean to us? Historical? Regional? Rules? People? Change?
Contents
• Differences from GCSE
• Think ‘variety’ – the key to A-level language
• Assessment Objectives
• Skills audit & structure of (OCR) A-level
• ‘Language Levels’ – new ways of looking at data
• Data tasters & NEA ideas
• Plenary and Questions
[NB – Happy to answer questions along the way]

Starter Activity – ‘Varieties of English’… Chance for 3min breakout… What

makes a ‘variety’ within / around a language? What ‘varieties’ of English can
you folks list? HINT: think beyond geographical, to social, temporal,
vocational…
It’s Not GCSE English Language+
• No ‘creative’ writing (NB there is professional / original writing)
• All boards require linguistic theory
• Some boards question-led (rather than data-led, OCR)
• Language issues (OCR: ‘Topical Language Issues’ 12%)
• Eg Attitudes to language variation? Role of standardisation? What is taboo?
• Older data (OCR 1600+) and contemporary (social networking etc.)
• Spoken language as important as written (role of ‘hybrid mode’?)
• Models for analysis (OCR ‘Levels’, AQA ‘Methods’, ‘Frameworks’
How do children learn to speak?
If you feel like getting involved, make brief notes on how this
language variety is different from ‘Standard English’.
Variety – the Key to A-Level English Language
2 min BREAKOUT Which data-types have NOT been used for assessment? ]

• A: Treaty on Indigenous American Settlement Choose 5 important SKILLS for an A-

• B: Legal contract for mobile phone level English linguist? (2min)
Planning & time management
• C: Corpus of new words relating to climate change
Reading & trend-spotting
• D: Article from The Times on David Bowie’s death Annotation of unseen data
• E: Public Health text on quitting smoking Research, report-writing
Genre awareness
• F: Extract from birdwatching field guide
Professional writing (blogs, talks, etc)
• G: Police recruitment website Editing & summarising
• H: Corpus of Christmas card messages Collaboration & discussion
• I: Spike Milligan - children’s poetry Abstract thinking
Noting patterns, accuracy
• J: Letters from trenches, 1917 Selection, presentation of info
• K: Corpus of text messages Recall, interpretation
• L: Illustrated List of Kings (c1432AD) Comparing & contrasting
Categorising (into Language Levels)
• M: Last will and testament, 1510 Imagination, prediction
• N: Corpus of Russian words from OED online, 2020 Mentoring, nurturing
Structure of (OCR) A-level in English Language
Assessment Objectives (AOs)
AO1 – Terminology & Language Levels (& expression)
AO2 – Concepts, theories, ideas, issues about language
AO3 – Contexts
AO4 – Comparing & contrasting text
AO5 – Creating texts (genre, audience awareness etc)

Language Levels – ways of looking at new language data

 Lexis - word choices / origins
 Semantics - meaning
 Grammar - system / rules
 Discourse - structure
 Orthography - spelling
 Phonology - sounds
 Pragmatics - situational effect
Case Study of a ‘Language Level’ - Orthography (Spelling)
A student, having studied English Language for two years, ought (!) to have ideas about…
• Is the English language standardised in its spelling? (The Korma test)
• What are the issues in English orthography? (e.g. prestige, codification)
• Historical development (language change, intervention)
• Spelling & morphology (Patterns in compounds, blendings; borrowings)
• Language regulation (Academy for English? Role of spelling in GCSE English)
• Perceptions of spelling; attitudes to language? (Prescriptive/descriptive approaches)
• Language variation? (Dialects; US English, varieties of international English)
• Recent trends? (Social networking, online varieties: emoji)
• Ludic language (playfulness in spelling, creativity with language)
• Applied linguistics (advertising language, brand names, onomastics…)
NEA: Which of these do you think has NOT been an
‘Independent Language Investigation’ at Huish?
1. ‘French English’ in a King List (14thC chronology of English monarchs)
2. A Corpus of Cocktail names
3. Language Development: A case study of ‘Ru Paul's Drag Race’, 2021
4. Language Change in a 19thC American treaty
5. Testing Accommodation: Princess Diana’s 1993 Eating Disorder Speech
6. Language & Authority in an exam board ‘Notice to Students’ poster
7. Motor car adverts, 1898-1902: ‘Dispense with a Horse.’
8. Gender representation in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, 1964
9. Features of MUE in Stormzy’s ‘Gang Signs and Prayer’
10. Assessing the influence of English on words borrowed into Romanian
Data tasters
Now -
• You may like to take a photo of the following language data (5 in total)
• If you’d like, take 2 minutes to think about 1 text of your choice – we’ll have a very quick
discussion of the linguistic ideas raised by each

(Later)
• Review what language data YOU would like to investigate yourself…
• How could linguistic perspective complement literary studies; or GCSE English Literature?
• What could you do to raise awareness of English Language studies?
• The English Project (Winchester) – look out for ‘English Language Day’ (ELD)
• https://youtu.be/3tNqyuOAzrs David Crystal, ELD 2020 – ‘The New Normal’
• https://twitter.com/CaptainDiction semi-regular English linguistics tweets
TEXT A: Corpus of cocktail names
TEXT B: Two speakers playing Halo,
Xbox Live.
TEXT C: An advert from Guardian Weekend magazine
(AQA Exam Text)
TEXT D: Transcript of a radio advert for tea
(AQA Exam text)
TEXT E: ‘Broadside’ relating an inquest, 1830
Somerset Heritage Centre (SWHT)
 Thanks for listening and for your ideas and getting involved!
If there’s time – happy to have questions or to keep in touch, spreading the word…
marcusb@richuish.ac.uk