The Student Book reflects the structure of Unit 3. It is divided as follows:

Section A – Analysing unprepared prose

(SB p 8/CD-ROM p 9)

1 A foundation for Section A

2 Analysing written non-fiction texts

3 Analysing spoken non-fiction texts

4 Tackling Section A of the exam

Section B – Analysing prepared plays or poetry (SB p 54/CD-ROM p 19)

1 Comparing the key features of plays

2 Comparing plays in their contexts

3 Comparing the key features of poems

4 Comparing poems in their contexts

5 Tackling Section B of the exam

For Section A, the Student Book supports the unprepared analysis of non-fiction prose from the late 18th century to the present day. In the exam, students will comment on how a writer’s or speaker’s use of structure, form and language conveys attitudes, values and ideas. This is the main focus of p 8–53.

For Section B, the Student Book supports comparison of prescribed texts. In the exam, students will compare the ways dramatists or poets treat similar themes, exploring links between (i) texts, and (ii) texts and their contexts. This is the main focus of p 54–101.

Sections A and B of the Student Book each end with specific guidance about how to maximise exam performance.

Unit 3: Varieties in language and literature

Edexcel A2 English Language and Literature Unit 3: Varieties in language and literature 8

This section covers the skills and knowledge required for Section A of the exam. It prepares students to write a critical analysis of an unprepared prose text related to their chosen topic area.

This section covers the skills and knowledge required for Section B of the exam. It prepares students to write a comparative analysis of two plays OR two poetry collections related to their chosen topic area.

Section A of the Student Book covers the skills and knowledge needed to make a critical analysis of unprepared prose. It combines linguistic and literary approaches.

Part 1 shows students how to identify a writer’s/speaker’s attitudes, values and ideas and relate these to uses of structure, form and language. The emphasis is on building suitable frameworks to analyse the particular text in question rather than using an ‘all-purpose’ toolkit. Part 1 could be introduced after AS examinations and the skills regularly revisited during the Advanced study period.

Part 2 covers in a systematic way the range of written non-fiction prescribed for Section A.

Part 3 covers the range of spoken non-fiction texts prescribed for Section A.

Part 4 gives students specific guidance on how to meet the requirements of the Section A exam.

1 A foundation for Section A

(SB p 8/Handouts 3.1–3.6)

Key teaching points

Encourage students to:

see the unprepared question as an analytical task focused on •language rather than as a comprehension exercise

think of texts from the past as being accessible, not written in •a different language

combine linguistic analysis with comment on literary •techniques

have the confidence to build and use their own frameworks •for analysis

draw on the skills of analysing unprepared texts they •developed in Unit 1.

The range of non-fiction (SB p 8–9/Handout 3.1)

This sub-section gives an overview of the main written and spoken genres included in the specification. Teachers should refer to page 29 of the specification for a full list of wider reading on which to base the work for Section A.

Activity 1 (SB p 8) asks students to review their prior reading of non-fiction and explore their preferences. The majority enjoy non-fiction and know more about it than they realise: this task gets the course off to a positive start and highlights the importance of personal response. They use Handout 3.1 to record their reading.

Edexcel A2 English Language and Literature Unit 3: Varieties in language and literature 9

A Analysing unprepared prose (SB p8–53)

Handout 3.1 reproduces the reading grid for Activity 1.

Genre, audience and purpose

(SB p 9/Handout 3.2)

Activity 2 (SB p 9) Question 1 reminds students of the importance of audience in shaping a non-fiction text. Refer them back to their work on this in Units 1 and 2. Question 2 shows that different genres typically have different levels of formality (register) but that this will vary depending on a writer’s audience and purpose. For example, letter writing ranges from the highly informal (a note to a close friend) to the highly formal (details of a business plan to a bank manager).

Activity 3 (SB p 9)

Commentary

The genres and main linguistic features of the five extracts are:

Extract A – Biography (Peter Ackroyd’s biography of Dickens, 1990) • foregrounding of facts, focus on time and place; • discursive style and register; • use of simple past and past historic tenses to create a broad chronological perspective; • positioning of the reader to accept and share the writer’s judgements: ‘so great was his father’s hold upon his life …’

Extract B – Formal speech (Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863)• First person plural address to audience; • formal register; • deictic references to create a shared context between speaker and listeners: ‘this field’, ‘those who here gave their lives’; • abstract lexis assuming shared values: ‘liberty’, ‘all men are created equal’.

Extract C – Diary entry (Benjamin Haydon, 1825) • personal register; • mixing of narration and reflection – shift between past and present tense typical of informal texts; • use of a single simile (how like ants! I thought) developed in a whimsical way; • syntax characteristic of an informal text, a string of short phrases linked by the co-ordinating conjunction ‘and’.

Extract D – Impromptu speech (V.I. Lenin to revolutionary workers in Petrograd, 1917) • First and second person address to audience; • reiteration and syntactic parallelism to emphasise a key point: ‘The people need … The people need …’; • juxtaposition of contrasting phrases: ‘The people need bread and land. And they give you war, hunger, no food’; • use of vocatives and an imperative mood to unite and rally the audience: ‘Sailors, comrades, you must fight for the revolution, fight to the end’.

Edexcel A2 English Language and Literature Unit 3: Varieties in language and literature 10

Extract E – Personal letter (Admiral Lord Nelson to Lady Nelson, 1794 ) • clear signposting of time and place; • personal register: ‘I may now tell you’; • strong sense of internalised audience (yet I most fortunately escaped, only my right eye) and emphasis on private feeling: ‘and hope never to be in it again’; • compressed syntax, elaboration of ideas unnecessary for a family member.

Handout 3.2 reproduces the five extracts for Activity 3.

Watch out for … (SB p 10). Students sometimes respond to an unseen non-fiction text generically rather than specifically. Emphasise the need to analyse the text and not the genre. Genre conventions provide a relevant background but analysis should focus on the way a writer/speaker makes use of them for a particular purpose and audience.

Context, content and style (SB p 11/Handout 3.3)

This sub-section highlights the importance of context in shaping a non-fiction text. Define context as the writer’s/speaker’s identity, circumstances (time and place) and intended audience for the text. Students need clear guidance to determine contextual factors and take them into account as they make an analysis. This is a key skill in the exam.

Activity 4 (SB p 11) asks students to relate content and style to context in two texts by monarchs. Text A is from Queen Elizabeth II’s televised speech following the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Text B is a diary entry by Queen Victoria for the day on which she opened the Great Exhibition in 1851.

Commentary on Activity 4, question 1Queen Elizabeth II’s purposes:• to lead the nation in mourning Diana: ‘I say to you as your Queen’; • to express and demonstrate personal grief: ‘I say to you … from my heart’; • to defuse criticism at the time that she was neither leading the nation nor showing personal grief: ‘I say … as your Queen and as a grandmother’.

Queen Victoria’s purposes:• to reflect on a national triumph: ‘one of the greatest and most glorious days of our lives’; • to express ‘pride and joy’ in ‘my dearly beloved Albert’, who was instrumental in creating the Great Exhibition; • to celebrate the role of the monarchy at the centre of the British Empire, still vast in 1851: ‘flags of every nation were flying’.

In question 2, the text transformation exercise requires students to adapt given texts to other purposes and audiences. This activity provides detailed insights into the relationship between a writer’s use of lexis, form and structure and his/her intentions. Promote it throughout the work on Section A.

Extension: Support (SB p 11). Students should apply Activity 4 to other texts. They will find it helpful to work on paired extracts that have one or more elements in common. Handout 3.3 provides two suitable examples: teachers will readily supply others.

Extension: Stretch and challenge (SB p 11). Ask students to add to each text transformation they make a commentary explaining the lexical and structural changes involved. Their coursework in Unit 2 will be a useful reference point for this.

Handout 3.3 provides two pairs of texts for Extension: Support above.

Attitudes, values and ideas (A/V/I)

(SB p 12)

This sub-section defines attitudes, values and ideas (A/V/I) and shows students how to comment on them. Make clear that these are the terms the examiner uses to provide a focus for analysing the content of a text. A/V/I cross a spectrum from ‘emotional’ to ‘philosophical’ responses, as the model on p 12 shows.

Activity 5 (SB p 12) asks students to familiarise themselves with the examiner’s terms through writing a short discursive piece of their own. The topics in question 1 can be adapted to match students’ knowledge of current affairs.

Watch out for … (SB p 12). Students sometimes interpret ‘attitudes, values and ideas’ too narrowly to mean only ‘surface feelings’. Emphasise that a wider perspective is needed in responding to the content of an unprepared text. They should infer and deduce, not just paraphrase.

Activity 6 (SB p 12) asks students to identify attitudes, values and ideas in two extracts from Victorian travel writing.

Commentary on Activity 6, question 1

Extract from Dickens’s ‘American Notes’ Attitudes: at first feels ‘stunned’ and ‘unable to comprehend the vastness of the scene’ – then feels how immense the Falls are, full of ‘might and majesty’ – then feels a sense of ‘Peace’ and deep ‘Tranquillity’. Values: the Falls testify to the greatness of God, ‘my Creator’ and the power and beauty of His creation, nature: ‘Great Heaven, on what a fall of bright-green water!’ – the values are those of a devout Christian and a pantheist. Ideas: the spectacle of the Falls is a spiritual experience for Dickens, inspiring thoughts of heaven (‘Eternal Rest and Happiness’) and eternity (‘changeless and indelible … for ever’).

Extract from Sala’s ‘In America in The Midst of War’Attitudes: feels a growing sense of disappointment and anti-climax – the Falls fail to live up to their reputation. Values: the Falls are merely geological and do not give him the uplifting experience he was expecting (‘144 rods wide, 158 feet high … And was this all?’) – they have scale but not the aesthetic grandeur they are noted for (‘Where was the grand effect – the light and shade?’) – the values are those of a humanist and, perhaps, a cynic. Ideas: the Falls fail to match other famous landmarks in conveying a sense of significance (‘the field of Waterloo, the Pyramids, St Peter’s’) – they inspire only mundane, not transcendent, thoughts (‘so much unattainable soda and sherry’).