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I'll cut the boring intro this time and just say that in this post we'll have a look at what to think about when you're actually analysing texts for Section B. What should you be doing with the texts and what kinds of approaches work? As with everything posted for revision this year, I'm not suggesting there's only one right way to do this, but here are a few things that I've found useful and that you might like to think about. Again, I'm only referring to sample material here and what has previously been set by AQA on their old A and B specs. Basically, what you're doing here is a form of what is called Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and in a post in 2014 for the old AQA A spec (which this part of the paper is very similar to), I outlined a few approaches to analysis which I thought might help. ... you're using language analysis to work out the ideological position a text producer is taking in discussing a language issue. So, this could mean you...

Here's the third in a short (and predictably-titled) series of ... yadda yadda yadda...you get the drift. Still on the subject of Language Discourses, what have different people - linguists, writers and media commentators - had to say about the big debates around change and diversity? Who could you go to for some ideas about different approaches to these arguments? A really good starting point is the linguist Jean Aitchison, whose BBC Reith Lectures in 1996 were all about language: what it is, how we acquire it, how it changes and how people feel about it. Her book, Language Change: Progress or Decay? (now in its fourth edition and a great text for the whole second year of this course) looks at some of the patterns of change we see in English over time and some of the perennial complaints about such change. One of her best known metaphors is the the idea that prescriptivists (those who resist change and want to tell everyone else what constitutes 'proper English') fall int...

Here's the second in a short (and predictably-titled) series of posts preparing you for next week's first sitting of the new AQA A level Paper 2. The last post was on Language Discourses and what they are. This one is on some of the discourses and debates you could explore. These are just a few suggestions; there are lots of other areas you could look at and I know nothing about what might appear so don't take any of these as predictions. My advice is always to revise all the possible areas and be ready for anything. Gender debates - remember, as with the AS paper this summer, debates about gender can be about how language is used but also how gender is represented in language. American English and World Englishes - have a look at some of the arguments here  and here about the supposed Americanisation of English. Attitudes to accents and dialects - this cropped up on the AS paper this summer and is worth thinking about from an A level perspective. New words and arguments...

This is the first of a short (and tediously-titled) series of posts on revision for AQA A level English Language Paper 2. With Paper 1 out of the way and Twitter awash with exam-based memes and 'bananagate' stories, you can now turn your attention to Language Change, Diversity and Discourses. You've still got just under a week to go, so there's time for some reading and thinking as well as practising the skills you need to use across the three very different questions you'll need to answer. Today, let's have a look at Language Discourses and what you can do to work on these before the exam. One thing to say is that while Section B is the main Language Discourses bit of the paper (it's even called that), arguments and debates about language can crop up in Section A as well, so don't narrow your thinking down too much. The first thing to ask is "What the hell is a language discourse?". The answer - for this paper, at least - is that it's a wa...

You don't have to revise with reading and writing alone; there are loads of podcasts and downloads that cover topics and discussions relevant to AS and A level English Language. I've been collating a few of these for my students, so here are some to listen to. This Radio 4 programme about Cockney changing and dying out is really good for language change & variation. Lexicon Valley is a regular linguistics podcast. Have a look here for a list of recent episodes. Lingthusiasm is a new linguistics podcast and you can find out more here . Michael Rosen's Word of Mouth on Radio 4 has loads of good programmes about language and a few are listed here: American English:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08g5533 Attitudes to accents:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s4g7g Emoji and technology:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ffvp6 Slang:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z4423 Language pedantry and discourses:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qgch7 Ch...

One of the big differences between what you do at AS level and A level is in the "command word" used to give you your tasks. At AS level, Paper 2 questions use the formulation "Discuss the idea that...", where the "idea" is something that you can then focus on and tell us about. By using "discuss" as the command word, the question (well...it's an imperative really, grammar-lovers, so not really a question at all) is asking you to tell us about what you know in relation to this topic. There's no real sense in the word 'discuss' that to answer the question at a reasonable level that you have to weigh it all up and come to any kind of definitive conclusion, but that's what's expected a bit more at the highest level (Level 5 of the AO2 mark scheme) where last year's main indicative content key words were: explore , assess and " make some evaluative comments ". The way I've taught my students to approach this...

Gender as a topic area features in both the AS and A level, and can appear in either part of Paper 2. You could get an AS level "Discuss the idea that..." or an A level "Evaluate the idea that..." question in Section A or gender might feature as part of 'language discourses' in Section B. What is meant by 'discourses'? Well, it's something that I've defined elsewhere as a debate or argument about language, but it can also be treated as a way of thinking about, talking about and describing language. If you want to get academic about it (and why wouldn't you?) here's what the linguist Paul Baker has to say about it in his excellent book about language, gender and sexuality, Sexed Text s: Language constructs ideas about gender, represents them to us and often helps establish them as 'common sense'. When people write about gender, they often articulate many of the existing discourses - that gender interaction is like a battle of...