English Language - South Nottinghamshire Academy

A Level English Language – Transition Work
Welcome to English Language! We are thrilled that you have chosen this course and look forward to working with
you over the next two years. We follow the A Level AQA English Language 2015 syllabus. There are some texts that
you are expected to read and view before the course begins, two tasks to complete over the summer and also
suggested further reading below. Please ensure that you bring your work to your first English Language lesson in
September.
Essential Reading:
A Little Book of Language – David Crystal. An introduction to many different areas of English Language. Easy to read
with short chapters and a straight-forward writing style. You will gain a good understanding of a range of topics that
will be covered throughout the English Language course.
Essential Viewing:
Planet Word – Stephen Fry – DVD.A series presented by Stephen Fry and produced by the BBC. A fascinating series
exploring many aspects of English Language and highlighting many of the current issues within the subject.
Transition Task 1:
On pages 2 and 3 of this document you will find a screen shot of a ‘mumsnet’ discussion on prom days/nights for
Year 11 students. Mumsnet is a forum for mums to discuss parenting issues with other mums. The discussion is
started by ‘woolleyideas’ who entitles it ‘School proms – aaargh!’. A few of the 61 messages included in the thread
are here for you to examine. Print off this sheet and use it to annotate the discussion so that you can answer the
questions below:
1. What is the genre of this text? (Genre means text type.)
2. Who are the intended audience of this text? (Be as specific as you can. Try to explain who is EXCLUDED as a
reader and why they would find this text inaccessible.)
3. What is the purpose of this text? (Why does it exist? What are the writers trying to achieve?)
4. What is the context of this text? (Where would it appear? How is it different to a face-to-face conversation?)
5. What is the mode of this text? (mode refers to whether it is an example of spoken or written language. This
text has features of BOTH making it a MULTI-MODEL text. Try to explain which features of writing it has and
which features of conversation you’ve noticed and explore why you think they have been used in this piece.)
6. Can you spot any difference in the register of the different contributor’s posts? (Register means the
formality/informality of the words they choose.) Why do you think some are more formal than others?
7. Which contributor holds the most power in this conversation? How have you come to that conclusion? Try
to explain what it is about their speech that has given you that impression.
8. Do you think these posts are planned or spontaneous? What gives you that impression?
Transition Task 2:
Write an article expressing your views on people changing their accents. The purpose of this piece is to inform us
your opinions, putting a forceful and persuasive argument across to the reader. You should write a little paragraph
before writing the article which makes it very clear where the article would appear (school newsletter? The Derby
Evening Telegraph? The Times? Mumsnet? Facebook?) You should also explain your target audience (age? gender?
class? interests?) and how you intend to attract them/tailor your language use to them in this piece of writing.
Remember that articles tend to have a headline at the top and that persuasive texts use a range of persuasive
devices.
Optional Further Reading:
-
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language – David Crystal
Mother Tongue – Bill Bryson
Rediscover Grammar – David Crystal
The Story of English – Melvin Bragg
Online:
-
www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/ - A website to accompany the Evolving English exhibition at the British Library. A
treasure trove of material including video clips, audio clips and podcasts.
http://david-crystal.blogspot.co.uk/ - A blog about all aspects of the English Language.
Search yourself for discussions, opinions and research on areas of English. You will find a range of firmly-held
views and heated arguments like no other subject!