English Literature

Course summary

A Level English Literature, from the exam board OCR, aims to build on skills gained at Key Stage 4. Specifically, it aims to encourage students to: read widely and independently, both set texts and others that they have selected for themselves; engage critically and creatively with a substantial body of texts and ways of responding to them; develop, and effectively apply their knowledge of literary analysis and evaluation explore the contexts of the texts they are reading and others’ interpretation of them. Duringthe course, students will complete three units of study: Component 1 - Content of Drama and Poetry pre-1900: A Shakespeare play, asecond pre-1900 drama text and one pre-1900 poetry text; Component 2 - Comparative and contextual study: Choose one topic and study at least two whole texts in the chosen topic area; Non-Exam Assessment: Study of three literature texts – one prose, one poetry and one drama. At least one text must be post-1900 and one must be post-2000. We want students who: Are passionate about reading and love literature; who are prepared to explore brave new worlds of ideas, approaches and ways of thinking; who will listen to, build on and challenge, other people’s ideas; who will read around the subject, the author and the concepts discussed in lessons. In addition to this, to be successful, students should: have the ability to write clearly, accurately and fluently about texts; enjoy classroom discussion and be prepared to voice and defend their opinions; be able to work independently, researching linguistic areas of interest.