1. English Language
Welcome to A Level!

2. To gain insight into the basic structure of the course;
English Language
Learning Objectives
To gain insight into the basic structure of the course;
To consider our opinions about our own language use and exposure to texts;
To begin to analyse how something is represented via the frameworks of English Language study.

3. Starter
Opinion
This course is not about reading books. It does, however, involve us reading a lot.
What is your opinion of the headline? Is he right?

4. In pairs
Please work backwards, from this moment, and mind map all the times you have:
‘Read’, or interacted with, language of any kind
Used language to communicate
Try to think about the context in which you did so.

5. Let’s have a look at the course

6. First Piece of Learning
We are going to start by looking at the kinds of things you will read/analyse for Paper 1. This is focussed on the topic of representation. Representation – the portrayal of events, people and circumstances through language and other meaning-making resources (e.g. images/sounds/colours) to create a way of seeing the world.

7. First Piece of Learning

8. Where to start when looking at a text for the first time
Here are some of your basic areas to think about: -GENRE & MODE = What type of text is it? (e.g. article: planned & public or phone conversation: spontaneous & private) -AUDIENCE = If it is a non-interactive text, who is it aimed at? (e.g. children, parents, women etc) -INTERLOCUTORS = If it is an interactive text, who are the participants? (e.g. husband and wife / boss and employee / group of teenage friends) -PURPOSE = Why has the text been produced? (e.g. persuade, entertain, inform, social function etc) -TENOR = Relationship = How well do speakers/writers know each other? (e.g. Intimate, familiar, professional, strangers etc)

10. So how are things represented? Look at:
The Tramlines festival
Sheffield and its people
The wider music community

11. What else can I use at this point?
Grammar
Word, sentence and text level:
e.g.
nouns
adverbial phrases
subordinate clauses
Graphology
Images, layout and presentation:
e.g. logos, font, images
Lexis and semantics
Words and meanings
e.g. vocabulary, connotations

12. Summer Work
Use your work from today and your own knowledge to produce two pieces of work.
Piece One
Choose two of the texts I have provided for you.
Compare the two texts in terms of:
Genre/mode, audience, purpose etc…
Grammar etc…
Compare how the texts create representations.
(e.g. How Sheffield is represented.)
Aim for about 500+ words.
Piece Two
Find three different texts that are linked by theme (just like I did with Sheffield). At least one text must be electronic and one must involve an element of interaction with the audience.