English LanguageQ&A by dot point

Comparing and contrasting texts (H470/01 Section C): the extended comparison of two unseen texts in different modes, genres or contexts, assessing AO1, AO3 and AO4, worth 36 marks, structured by idea with the texts woven together.

Context, audience, purpose and mode: how contextual factors shape language, the spoken-written mode continuum, and using context to analyse the construction of meaning (AO3, the dominant analytical objective across H470).

Language under the microscope (H470/01 Section A): the close analysis of an unseen text in two directed parts (a and b), each targeting a specified language level, AO1 and AO3 assessed, 10 marks per part (20 total).

Representation and meaning: how language constructs representations of people, groups, events and ideas through lexis, grammar and pragmatics, and analysing representation as a made, ideological choice (AO3 across H470).

Functions and pragmatic development: Halliday's functions of early language, the development of pragmatic competence (turn-taking, politeness, conversational skill), and analysing what children use language to do (AO1, AO2, AO3 in H470/02 Section A).

Stages of spoken acquisition: phonological development and simplification processes, the lexical stages (holophrastic, two-word, telegraphic, post-telegraphic) and grammatical development, and identifying a stage from data (AO1, AO2, AO3 in H470/02 Section A).

The child language data question (H470/02 Section A, 20 marks): integrating cross-level analysis (AO1), acquisition theory (AO2) and the role of interaction (AO3) into an evaluated response to a transcript or written data.

Theories of language acquisition: behaviourism (Skinner), nativism (Chomsky), cognitivism (Piaget), social interactionism (Bruner, Vygotsky) and functionalism (Halliday), and deploying them critically to explain data (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02 Section A).

Written language development: emergent writing and the stages of spelling and composition (Kroll's phases, Gentry's spelling stages), the relationship between speech and writing, and analysing children's written data (AO1, AO2, AO3 in H470/02 Section A).

Accent, dialect and region: the difference between accent and dialect, Received Pronunciation and regional varieties, attitudes and accent prejudice (Giles's accommodation and matched-guise work), and analysing regional variation in data (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02).

Language and gender: the deficit (Lakoff), dominance (Zimmerman and West), difference (Tannen) and diversity or social-constructionist (Cameron) models, and analysing how gender is represented and performed in language (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02).

Language, class and age: sociolect and idiolect, class variation (Labov, Trudgill, Bernstein's codes), age and youth language (slang, MLE, communities of practice), and analysing social variation in data (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02).

Language and power: instrumental and influential power, occupational and institutional discourse, synthetic personalisation (Fairclough), face and politeness, and analysing how power is constructed in interaction (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02).

Attitudes and theories of language change: prescriptivism versus descriptivism, Aitchison's metaphors (damp spoon, crumbling castle, infectious disease), Halliday's functional view, Hockett's random fluctuation, and analysing attitudes in data (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02 Section C).

Contexts and causes of language change: the influence of printing and standardisation, technology and the internet, contact and travel, social change, and using context to explain change across texts (AO2, AO3, AO4 in H470/02 Section C).

Processes of language change: lexical change (borrowing, coinage, compounding, blending, clipping), semantic change (broadening, narrowing, amelioration, pejoration), and grammatical, orthographic and phonological change, analysed across historical and contemporary texts (AO1, AO2, AO4 in H470/02 Section C).

The language change question (H470/02 Section C, 36 marks): comparing historical and contemporary texts, integrating cross-level analysis (AO1), change theory (AO2), context (AO3) and connections over time (AO4) into an evaluated response.

Media discourse analysis: the features of media language (headlines, multimodality, mode of address, register), the concepts of audience positioning and synthetic personalisation, and analysing how media texts make meaning (AO1 and AO3 in H470/02 Section B).

Online and digital language: the features of computer-mediated communication (abbreviation, emoji, non-standard orthography, interactivity), the spoken-written blend, and analysing digital media language (AO1, AO2, AO3 in H470/02 Section B).

Representation in the media: how media texts construct representations of social groups and events through lexis, transitivity and presupposition, the ideological dimension, and analysing media representation critically (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02 Section B).

The media question (H470/02 Section B, 24 marks): integrating cross-level analysis (AO1), media and social-group concepts where relevant (linked to AO2 understanding), context (AO3) and connections across texts (AO4) into a focused response on media language.

Choosing an investigation topic: identifying a workable area of language, narrowing it to a focused and answerable research question, ensuring data is gatherable, and avoiding common pitfalls (the NEA planning stage for H470/03 Task 1).

Investigation methodology and data: choosing a method (quantitative, qualitative or mixed), selecting and gathering data, sampling, transcription, ethics, and writing a transparent, repeatable methodology (AO1 and AO3 in H470/03 Task 1).

The academic poster (H470/03 Task 2, 10 marks): the 750 to 1000 word poster presenting the investigation to a non-specialist audience, assessed for AO5 only, and how to craft it for clarity, accessibility and effective communication.

The language investigation (H470/03 Task 1, 30 marks): the independent 2000 to 2500 word study, its structure (introduction, methodology, analysis, conclusion), and how to integrate analysis (AO1), concepts (AO2) and context (AO3).

Grammar, morphology and syntax: analysing word formation and inflection, phrases and clauses, sentence types and functions, mood, voice and word order, and reading their effect on meaning (AO1 and AO3 across H470).

Graphology and multimodality: layout, typography, colour, images and the integration of word and image in print and digital texts, and reading their effect on meaning alongside the verbal levels (AO1 and AO3 across H470).

Lexis and semantics: analysing word choice, word classes, semantic fields, connotation and denotation, formality and register, and moving from a lexical feature to its effect on meaning (AO1 and AO3 across H470).

Phonetics, phonology and prosody: speech sounds and the IPA, phonological patterning (alliteration, rhythm, sound symbolism), and prosodic features in transcripts (intonation, stress, pitch, pace, pause), and reading their effect (AO1 and AO3 across H470).

Pragmatics and discourse: implicature and Grice's maxims, politeness and face, speech acts and deixis, and discourse structure including cohesion, turn-taking and adjacency pairs, and reading their effect (AO1 and AO3 across H470).