English Language A Level

[Mealplanner50]

Where can you do english language A level in or around West London? Currently looking at 6th form options for DD and this seems to be a little restrictive...

I'm surprised that most don’t offer it tbh. It’s pretty standard ime – all the schools local to me offer it (not in London so not much help). Do they all just offer Eng lit?

Is your DD aware that A level Eng lang is nothing much like the GCSE?

Yep they seem to offer English lit and not lang.

How does the A level differ to the GCSE? Any info you can share would be greatly appreciated ☺️

As I understand it, it is not about understanding of written texts and creative writing (there is some creative writing but the amount depends on the school) and a lot more about acquisition of language. I think it sounds interesting but a lot of DD’s mates were less than keen.

Is your DD a fan of the GCSE Eng lang or has she looked into the A level? It’s certainly less of a follow-on than (for example) French or Eng lit, tho for those the focus is obviously deeper and on more complex themes. Plus for MFL analysis of book and film.

It is more about linguistics, language development and psychology. Be wary of committing to a school on the promise of it. At dd school they were going to introduce it but it proved not popular enough a choice to run it.

I have a DC who is keen to do English language A-level too and they're finding it hard to find sixth forms that offer it. It's precisely because of the language acquisition and linguistics content they want to do it. We're in SE London.

Hmm you all need to move to the East Mids – just checked four good local secondary schools and three of them offer Eng lang A level.

I agree tho be wary of moving for an A level subject – DS2 was looking at a new setting for sixth form and they planned to offer PE A level (which was a must) and then in the end they didn’t. He didn’t go there (obvs).

Maybe it’s an East Midlands thing - some of our schools do it, DD did it alongside English lit. It’s completely different to the GCSE, it’s about language acquisition and development, dialects and the way the language changes. She described it as more like the science of the English language.

DD is in her third year of a lang and lit joint honours and has said that a lot of what was taught in the A level forms parts of her degree course.

It was more popular than English Lit at DD's school!

Funny how things are different in different places. I think it unfairly gets a bad press as not as "good" as English Lit (probably because universities won't count it as the "English" in an English Lit course - which is perfectly reasonable as it isn't English Lit!) and you hear people saying that you shouldn't do English Lang and English Lit as too much English (although no one ever says that Biology and Chemistry is too much science, or German and French is too much MFL ...).

(Also can't help with your area; sorry OP. You might be better to get MN to put West London in the title to attract those living locally?).

Lots of schools around me offer English Lang/Lit. DS is enjoying it.

It’s NoTHING like it (head of English, taught Lang for ten years)

English language gcse is 50% imaginative writing, 25% unseen fiction analysis and 25% analysis of non fiction, using the gcse literature frameworks basically

language a level is brilliant. It’s like linguistics at uni; covers language and social groups (impact of gender, class, region, ethnicity, age etc) on language use in action; child language development; language development over the last couple of hundred years, and creative writing
The analytical pieces area combination of analysing data and applying a wide range of academic linguistic research.

it doesn’t get enough credit as an a level tbh,

if your daughter doesn’t know about it she should find the AQA textbook and flick through to see if she’s interested. I think AQA is probably most populat

Eltham Hill do it

Just be aware that an A Level in English Language is not at all necessary to pursue modules or even degrees in Linguistics, which is what it is far more like than the awful GCSE English Language course.

That's ultimately the reason it's such an unpopular/rare choice, because most pupils get PTSD thinking of having to do English Language again!

And I say all this as an English teacher.

neither of the big comps near me offer it. I did it myself back in the day, liked it well enough though my further study and work didn't really have anything to do with. i enjoyed learning about the history of English, theories of language acquisition, & so on.

Have you tried colleges? We're in a different part of the SE and all the bigger colleges here offer it. At my daughter's one they are roughly a third English Lang, a third Lit & Lang and a third Lit. Lit's actually the least popular.

I imagine school sixth forms are smaller and maybe less able to offer multiple options. I can imagine if they can only run one, they will tend to pick either combined Lit & Lang or just Lit. So look for somewhere that's either big enough to run multiple options, or expensive enough to support small classes!

Ds started English A level, did 18 months & hated it, ended up dropping out of sixth form. He had loved English language at GCSE but A level was totally different, no creative writing, just more about the language itself.

They do. As does Thomas Tallis. Both those open evenings have been attended and liked but DC could probably do with another visit to each of them to get more of a feel for them and I don't think that's possible.

Apply for both. Nothing needs to be decided until results day. They’ll both hold offer holder taster days next June, so your child will get another chance to visit.

Is this the case with all 6th forms / colleges etc? Do they all offer taster days? Are all applications provisional at this stage?

I can’t say it’s the case everywhere, but it’s how it works in London/South East. You apply to each school/college individually and can hold as many offers as you want. Nothing gets finalised until results day.

I’m in London so will take this as good news and crack on with the search tomorrow, thanks for your time ☺️

Hi @Mealplanner50 !

Would your daughter consider (combined) English Language & Literature A Level?