A-level English – Language

Knowledge and Understanding

2.1: The conventions of a wide range of written textual forms

2.2: The linguistic elements and literary features of texts

2.3: The significance of audience in both the design and reception of texts

2.4: The ways in which genre, purpose and context contribute to the meaning of texts

Skills and Techniques

2.5: Writing for a specific audience and purpose to fulfil the brief provided

2.6: Producing an appropriate structure for longer pieces of writing

2.7: Organising writing to achieve specific effects

2.8: Structuring paragraphs

2.9: Using a range of appropriate linguistic elements and literary features

2.10: Expressing ideas accurately and clearly at both sentence and word level

2.11: Reflecting upon and evaluating the qualities of their own writing, including aspects relating to its purpose, form and audience

Language Change

3.1: The chronology and essential features of the development of the English language from Early Modern English to Contemporary English

3.2: Concepts and terminology related to language change

3.3: Theories and theorists of language change

3.4: n-gram graphs representing changes in language use over time

3.5: Word tables derived from corpus data

Child Language Acquisition

3.6: The main stages of early development in child language acquisition

3.7: The different functions of children’s language

3.8: Theories and theorists of child language acquisition

3.9: The conventions and features of unscripted conversation and spoken language transcripts

English in the World

4.1: The historical development of English as a "global" language

4.2: Varieties of English

4.3: Relevant ethical considerations

Language and the Self

4.4: Innateness and learning

4.5: The relationship between language and thought

4.6: The relationship between language and social identity