Trying to choose between A-level English Lit or English Lit/Lang? Help!

[MamOfTwo]

DD is stuck on her third A-level choice - trying to decide between English Lit and English Lang/Lit. Both seem to have pros and cons. Other choices will be History and Sociology.

Can anyone suggest why one may be better than the other? (Know it all comes down to individual preference in the end but any advice welcomed as we just keep going back and forth!)

Think it's pretty unusual for a school to offer both - it's usually one or the other!

DD is studying A Levels in English Lit and English Lang (2 A Levels) so commenting on her experience.

She loves English Lit (it's what she's planning to study at university), so would not have wanted to cut down the amount of literature study that she did by studying a single Lit/Lang A Level (not offered at her school anyway). But she's really enjoyed English Lang and finding out about the origins and use of language and does feel it complements the Literature side well.

Universities will accept either Lit or Lit/Lang to study an English Lit degree, and I don't think it matters for Linguistics either so your DD wouldn't be limiting herself in that respect by her choice.

I guess it genuinely comes down to how much she likes literature and language (note that English language study at A Level is very different to GCSE) and whether she wants to focus on the literature side or not. One thing to flag is that the language side has a creative writing element - so if that is something she is interested in, it might swing the decsion (or not, as I think DC interested in creative writing, will write anyway!)

Thank you for the reply! Yes, school offers both English Lit and English Lit/Lang (but not standalone English Lang).

This is the admissions requirement from Cambridge university for English:-

All Colleges require: A Level/IB Higher Level English Literature (A Level/IB Higher Level English Literature and Language may be accepted as a substitute at some Colleges).

Ie they want English Lit.

Pretty much every other university would be happy with Lit/Lang combined.

How likely is she to want to do English at Cambridge? And are there any subject that would prefer Lit/Lang combined?

Very different subjects - dd took lit and for degree too, no interest in lang.

yy Eng lang A level very different from GCSE. Is she fully aware of what it involves? Some of DD’s peers were disappointed.

Woukd she take straight lang if offered? If so then I suggest the joint. But if she prefers lit then go with that.

Lit and History plus sociology is a much stronger set than sociology, lit/Lang and History.

Lit incudes poetry studies
Lang/Lit doesn't

It's that simple.

What’s the choice of texts in Eng Lit compared to Eng Lit/Lang? Are they different at all? if they are would that persuade her one way or another?

That's a bit glib isn't it? If you hate poetry then yes, maybe eng lit A level is not a good idea. But there's a lot in lang A level (even if only half of it) that is not anything like Eng lit and may be hated - or loved, obvs.

Also worth pointing out that A Level study of texts is different to GCSE. DD hated poetry at GCSE but her favourite A Level text has been the poetry anthology. Part of the beauty of English Lit is the exposure to a wide range of material, which is naturally cut down if you study Lit/Lang.

@MetaverseMavis that isn't true. I teach Lang/Lit (AQA) and poetry is compulsory - Heaney, Browning or Duffy.

I learn sonething every day. We enquired about this for DS and he was assured no poetry at the college running this option. Thank you, genuinely

I’d advise against history and English lit. The coursework requirement for both hits at the same time in many exam boards (first term of year 13) and it’s hell for them.

@MetaverseMavis no problem! Might vary by exam board. Poetry in Lang/Lit is quite interesting as it's all about the study of 'poetic voice' and how it's created through linguistic features.

Dd was considering Lang/Lit but is applying for Lit. She feels that it's the literature part of English she loves the most.

I wanted to do Lang/Lit but DM wouldn't let because it wasn't academic enough for her liking arbitrary as it turned out because my results weren't anything to write home about. It's been over 30 years and it still annoys me

DD is doing Eng combined and is really enjoying it so far. She preferred language to lit at GCSE so definitely didn't want to just do lit but her school teachers told her that language alone could be a bit dry (her 6th form actually does all three options), one said it was more like linguistics.

Anyway, it seems to be a good mix of writing (creative and other stuff like doing research and reports) along with studying various texts like The Handmaid's Tale, biographies, and yes poetry! I find it a bit bizarre that she studies the history and culture of Paris in an English A level but she finds it really interesting.

If she wants to do Eng Lit at uni, i'd go for the Eng Lit degree for the greater breadth of reading. But then again, if she already reads widely independently then the Eng Lang could be a really strong additional source of knowledge.

I did Lang/Lit as had a subject clash with straight Lit. I found the lang elements tedious ("dry" is spot on) and hated them - despite being excellent at creative writing, lang GCSE and effectively writing for a career. We did poetry, though; I still know Grace Nichols, Linton Kwesi Johnston and others by rote..

Can she get the reading lists for both courses and see which she prefers? Are the course run by different teachers, is there a preference there?

I did a level eng lit and Lang and surprisingly loved the lang part. This was when grammar wasn't on the curriculum pre A Level though. I loved learning about sentence structures and the nitty gritty of analysing the sentences etc. I found it was a good mix of literature and lang.

DD2 had a similar dilemma and in the end opted for the straight English Lit as a more 'traditional' and easily understood by future unis/employers course. She's really enjoying it so far.

Both of my DDs have done both English Lit and History A level - it's a fairly standard combination for people who like humanities and essay writing.

DD did History, Eng Lit, and Class Civ, which is basically classical literature. She loved it. She is at Uni studying History and is getting heavily into Medieval Religious texts! It's actually really interesting stuff.

Thank you all for the replies! She is still wrestling with the decision (changing her mind pretty much daily!) so will show her this thread as some very useful points and input here!

Can she get the reading lists for both courses and see which she prefers? Are the course run by different teachers, is there a preference there?

That's a good point. DD's friend is doing lit and is currently hating studying 1984. It was on DD's summer reading list (but not part of the combined curriculum) and she read part of it but then gave up because she disliked it so much.

I did English lit A level myself and then same for my degree. I have taught both A level lit and Lang/lit. Personally I prefer teaching the Lang/lit as I find the course more varied and interesting.

A bit of an overview of my experience with my groups on both-

Lit- really wide range of texts to read, range of different contexts, able to gain a broad understanding of breadth of literature.

Lang/lit- wider range of tasks- creative writing as well as analysis, study texts from both a language/linguistic and literary perspective.