Year 13 Private Study

Each week, you should be doing 5 hours of Private Study for your English Language A-Level. Here are some ideas of how to use your time:

Coursework: complete some wider reading related to your topic; draft and/ or redraft your work; read your work closely and check for errors. Start gathering ideas for your investigation. Collate some data, show your teacher and check your initial ideas.

Paper 1: Find a text, or choose one from the selection on the google drive. Practise annotating and labelling language features. Practise planning and writing responses to the question “How does text x use language to create meanings and representations?” Self-mark your answer with the mark scheme. Choose two texts and practise the comparison question.  Learn terminology!

Child Language acquisition: Revise key concepts by area. Do a mind-map and recall everything you can about phonology, semantics, grammar, the theorists etc. Test yourself on terminology using the large sheet from the start of the year. Practise annotating data and spotting concepts using the bank of texts in the google drive. Practise writing paragraphs that weave theories and examples, using the data. Ask me for an essay question.

Paper 2: revise your Year 12 notes – any of them! Have a go at a gender essay (Evaluate the idea that men always dominate; Evaluate the idea that our language is androcentric; Evaluate the idea that the media represent men and women differently; Evaluate the idea that women lack power in conversation; Evaluate the idea that women and men are not all that different in terms of their language…)

DIRT: Take a paragraph of an essay you have already done (even a year 12 one). Re-write it, improving it as much as possible, given your new knowledge and superior analytical skills.

Wider Reading and General Language Knowledge Improvement:

EngLangGeek on twitter – follow for relevant articles
Quizlet – search English Language or Language and Gender or Child Language Acquisition – plenty of people have been here before you and created relevant study sets. Make your own and tell me so that I can share with other students – go on, be kind.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/language for language articles
Language terminology: http://www.memrise.com/course/71498/as-english-language-word-classes
Frameworks: http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/contents.htm#langa
Glossary: http://www.slideshare.net/BCALevels/alevel-english-glossary
Revision guides on lots of different language topics: https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/english-language-gcse-level
Good for other people’s opinions of language use: https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language; http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com
Good if you want to listen rather than read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtnz (Word of Mouth programme on radio 4)
AQA Reading List: http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-7702-READING-LIST.PDF

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