English Literature at Key Stage 5
At John Port School we offer English Literature at A level following the EDEXCEL syllabus. Currently we do not offer English Language. In both years, the students sit one examination which counts for 60% of their grade and they complete a piece of coursework which makes up the remainder of their grade. Students have five lessons of study per week in both years. In 2011 our results at A2 were:
85% A*-C
52% A*-B
100% pass rate
In Year 12, English Literature students complete two pieces of coursework. The first main piece is comparative and based on their study of two tragic plays, Shakespeare’s Othello and Webster’s The White Devil, and the second smaller piece of coursework is a creative critical response to screen/film versions of Othello and reviewers' opinions. Unlike at GCSE this is not a controlled assessment and therefore students craft their piece over time with the help and support of their teacher; they are able to make revisions and produce a piece which reflects their best possible work. They are also encouraged to develop their independent learning skills through research and application of critical viewpoint. To prepare them for their 2hr 15min exam in June, students study Emily Bronte’s Gothic classic novel Wuthering Heights alongside Alice Walker’s The Colour Purple: a fabulous tale of the lives of black women in America in the early 20th Century. In addition to this, students annotate 16 poems based on the theme of Home in detail, drawing close comparisons and points of contrast between them. These are selected by the exam board from the poetry anthology, The Rattle Bag. Finally, students are taught how to deconstruct a poem they have never seen before in a limited amount of time so that they are ready to answer three small and specific questions on their Unseen poem in the examination.
The structure of the course at A2 mostly mirrors that of AS. Students complete a single piece of coursework based on their study of two plays, but this time the texts are more contemporary and the response students are required to write is longer. They study Harold Pinter’s psychologically compelling The Homecoming and John Osbourne’s more political Look Back in Anger, with a clear focus on independent research and analysis of critical viewpoint. For the 2hr 45min examination in June they are prepared to write a full essay in response to an Unseen poem. Students also study Khalid Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road and several poems for 101 Poems Against War. This prepares them for the writing of a large discursive essay on the subject of war and how it is treated in literature.
Throughout the course, students are encouraged to take an independent, organised and responsible approach to their studies. We have endeavoured to cover a range of genres and time periods with our chosen texts which provide a varied and interesting programme of study . Furthermore this is an excellent grounding for many university courses in English Literature, as well as developing key skills such as communication, analysis, and independent learning. In addition and wherever possible, appropriate theatre trips and lecture days are booked for students to attend in order to enhance and support learning.
For more information on this course, please click here.
