English: Literature

Why Study English Literature?
This course offers students an accessible and stimulating course in which they will engage with a variety of literary texts. The course provides opportunities for independence in analysing and commenting on texts. An attractive feature is that students are required to respond creatively to texts.

AS Level
Unit 1 will introduce you to the central position of narrative in the ways literary texts work, involving many different aspects of literary representation. Unit 2 will introduce you to aspects of genre.

Unit 1- LITB1
Aspects of Narrative- Four texts for study
60% of AS, 30% of A level
Written Paper. 2 hours. Open book- 84 marks

Unit 2 LITB2- Dramatic Genres
The aim of this unit is to introduce candidates to aspects of genre. The dramatic genre to be studied will be tragedy. This unit addresses the compulsory requirement of the study of at least one Shakespeare play. Assessment will be by the production of a coursework portfolio of two pieces of work. Each piece of work will be marked out of 30 to produce an overall mark out of 60 for the unit. 40% of total AS/20% of total A Level marks

A2 Level
Unit 3 teaches you to develop ideas on the significance of a genre. Texts will be grouped within the following category: Elements of the Gothic. In Unit 4, you will study a wide range of texts, the different ways of reading texts and critical ideas applied with discrimination to literary texts.

Unit 3: LITB3-Texts and Genres
The aim of this unit is to develop ideas on the significance of genre which have been established during the AS course. We will be studying Elements of the Gothic. Individual texts will be explored and evaluated against some of the commonly accepted principles of the Gothic genre and three texts will be compared as representatives of that genre.

We will study:-
'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare, 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte and 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker.
This is a Closed Book exam. This means that candidates are not permitted to take their text books into the exam.  Assessment will be by one written paper of 2 hours duration. 2 hours Closed Book: 60% of total A2/ 30% of total A Level marks

Unit 4: LITB4- Further and Independent Reading
Candidates must study at least three texts. One of the three will be a pre-released anthology of critical writing applied to a piece of literature.
The purpose of the pre-released pack of critical literature is to introduce candidates to some different ways in which the study of Literature can be approached. Once they have studied the material they will then apply some of it to a text or texts of their choice.
Assessment will be by the production of a coursework portfolio of two pieces of work. Each piece of work will be marked out of 30 to produce an overall mark out of 60 for the unit. 40% of total A2/ 20% of total A Level marks

Course Leader: Mrs Radford