Year 12 Homework 1

Read the following article (Article about A-Level English) and answer the questions below. You don't need to hand the answers in, so you can answer them in note format if you wish. Be ready to explain your answers in class, though.

1. What do you understand by the phrase 'modern cultural references'?
2. Give two reasons why people have criticised the A-level. Do you think these reasons are valid?
3. What is the 'crumbling castle' view of language?
4. What viewpoint does Laura Barton hold about this subject? Select two quotations where this viewpoint is evident.
* The version of this article that you have read was the online version. What genre features in this article would you not have found 25 years ago?