Students will create texts and reflect critically on their own processes of production, while analysing the texts produced by others. The specification explores the study of English language both as a medium of communication and as a topic in its own right, with an emphasis on the ability of students to pursue lines of enquiry, debate different views, and work independently to research aspects of language in use. Language is seen as a creative tool for expression and social connection, as well as for individual cognition. The study of language as a symbolic system used to assert power in society is also fundamental to the scope of this specification.
The topics and titles of the subject content reflect a possible trajectory through the course, with ‘Language, the individual and society’ focusing on individual and immediate social contexts for language, and ‘Language diversity and change’ working outwards to consider larger-scale public discourses about change and variety, drawing on regional, ethnic, national and global Englishes.