Course overview
English A: Language and Literature develops a close, critical understanding of how texts work - both literary works and the everyday language of media, advertising, and public life. Students learn to read analytically, write persuasively, and speak with confidence about meaning, audience, and context.
What you will study
- Readers, writers and texts: how meaning is built through language and form across a range of text types.
- Time and space: how context of production and reception shapes a text.
- Intertextuality: how texts connect, echo, and respond to one another.
- A balanced selection of literary works and non-literary body of texts (journalism, speeches, advertising, digital media).
Assessment
| Component | SL | HL | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (guided textual analysis) | 35% | 35% | Analysis of previously unseen texts |
| Paper 2 (comparative essay) | 35% | 25% | Comparison of two studied literary works |
| HL Essay | - | 20% | 1,200-1,500 word essay on one text |
| Individual Oral | 30% | 20% | Spoken analysis linking a literary and non-literary text |
The Higher and Standard Level courses share the same aims; HL studies more works and adds the written HL Essay.