English Literature A Level
Teaching methods are based around group discussion and lecture centred learning. Coursework sessions are frequently run in workshop style, which enables you to gain the best possible grade for each piece of written work. In addition, you have the opportunity to go on a number of theatre trips. AS and A Level groups regularly go to see productions at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon and The Lowry Centre in Manchester. The College also has strong links with the English department at Aston University and the students have bi-annual attendance at undergraduate lectures by the professors in residence. Work experience is a compulsory part of the course and helps you develop the skills required to progress to university and the world of work. To obtain a certificate for Advanced Subsidiary GCE, you will need to have studied for and been assessed in 2 AS units. To obtain a certificate for Advanced GCE, you will need to have studied for and been assessed on your performance in 4 A Level units including content studied in the AS year.
AS available components:
Component 1: Poetry and Drama (2 hour examination, open book, 60% of the qualification)
• This module is designed to introduce you to the discipline of literary studies. You will be exploring a range of contemporary poems published in the Poems of the Decade anthology and drawing comparisons between poems. In addition, you will be exploring the presentation of social themes in Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. You will study the form, structure and language of these texts and also the context in which they are written.
Component 2: Prose (1 hour examination, open book, 40% of the qualification)
• You will develop your responses Mary Shelley’s ground-breaking gothic novel Frankenstein and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize. The focus of your analysis of these texts will explore the relationship between science and society, including issues relating morality, religion, knowledge, identity and individualism.
The components available at A Level are:
Component 1: Drama (2 hour and 15 minute examination, open book, 30% of the qualification)
• You will explore two tragedies; one pre-1800 and one post-1800. You will be considering multiple critical interpretations of William Shakespeare’s Othello; approaching the play with feminist, post-colonial, Marxist and new historicist readings. In addition, the AS content for A Streetcar Named Desire will be reassessed in Section B of the exam.
Component 2: Prose (1 hour examination, open book, 20% of the qualification)
• Comparisons between Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go are revised and reassessed from the AS year.
Component 3: Poetry (2 hour and 15 minute examination, open book, 30% of the qualification)
• The Poems of the Decade anthology is revised from the AS year, but this time compared with unseen poems. You will develop your understanding and appreciation of how structure, form and
You will need 5 GCSEs grades 4 or above, including two grade 6, as well as GCSE English at grade 5 or above.
With a qualification in English Literature, you could go into higher education and/or work in the media and communication industry, teaching, administration, publishing or librarianship. You will gain an AS in English Literature at the end of the first year of study. You will then have the opportunity to enter a second year of study to gain an A Level qualification. Progression into the second year of study, however, is dependent on gaining a minimum of a grade D in the AS component of the course.
