One down, one to go...

Paper 1 was kind, I thought, though large... we need bigger desks next year!


So, as your thoughts turn to Paper 2, here are a few reminders about the paper.


You need to revise 4 topics: Gender, Occupation, Social Groups and Accent & Dialects.


Section A: There are two questions and you have to answer one of them. You choose which one to answer. They could be on any of the topics above.


Section B: There is only one question and you have to do it! This is the writing task, where you have to transform your linguistic knowledge on one of the topics above for a non-specialist audience.


Gender: There are some key things to remember here.


Essay: Use whatever data you are given as a springboard into a more general essay about language and gender. Show off what knowledge you have on the subject. Be discursive - don't say 'this approach is definitely right' - you get more marks for being tentative (seeing different sides of an argument).


Article: Remember to write for a specific audience (name it). Choose which audience you want to write for now!


Remember to come at the questions from a Diversity aspect. Current thinking in Linguistics is that men and women are not really that different in terms of their speech, and that even if they are, is it just because of their gender? They may have been influenced by education, class, ethnicity, region etc. Revise the diversity theorists (particular Cameron, Hyde).


Remember that there are two key topics that can come up in Gender: 1) How language represents genders. You may get a text that requires you to discuss how different genders are represented. We did this right at the start of the topic and looked at semantic derogation, lexical asymmetry, androcentric language etc. The first half of your theorists booklet is linked to this topic. 2) Whether and how men and women communicate differently. This is where the Deficit, Dominance, Difference and Diversity theorists come in. You cannot use these theorists if the question is a Representation one.


That's all for now. Post any questions in the comments below and I'll get back to you.

Revision Quizlet made in lesson

Here's the link to the Quizlet that you all made in class last week Hope it's useful.

I'll also put the Loop game we did in our lesson resources folder in the revision folder.

Language and Gender article - revision

In this very timely article from the Guardian (of course... they should pay me a commission) revise the arguments around whether English should have a gender neutral pronoun (would form part of your discussion about gender representation, not gendered conversation) and at the same time, look at how the writer forms an argument, sticks to the controlling idea, introduces other experts on the subject and makes the article lively. Note also how the title and sub-editorial material very clearly outline the position of the article.

Whilst you're here, you might as well analyse what I've done with that first sentence. It's pretty long: how and why?

See what I did there?

Enjoy!