English Lit Gce a Level from September 2004

LORETO COLLEGE COLERAINE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT 2008-2009

ENGLISH LITERATURE GCE A LEVEL

2008-2009 Teachers: CL, AA, CD

SYLLABUS FOLLOWED: CCEA ENGLISH LITERATURE

2008 – 2009 is a year of transition for us, as the new specification begins with Year 13 while the old one continues with Year 14. This scheme of work is therefore based on two different CCEA syllabi.

AS LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATURE 2008-2009 CL / AA

Unit AS 1: The Study of Drama

Section A The Study of Shakespeare AA

The aim of Section A is to introduce students to a detailed textual study of one

Shakespeare play and the contexts in which it was written, thereby enabling students to

express informed and relevant responses to Shakespeare. Students will be expected to

demonstrate, depending on the play chosen for study, relevant knowledge of generic

conventions and display critical understanding of the ways in which Shakespeare’s

stagecraft and dramatic methods, such as structure, form and language shape meaning.

There should be an understanding of the ways in which Shakespeare’s drama is

determined by the social and historical context in which it was written.

Content

Students will study one of the followingtexts:

Henry IV, Part I

Antony and Cleopatra *** our selected text ***

The Tempest

As You like It

Richard II

Learning Outcomes

Students should be able to:

• demonstrate an awareness of the fundamentals of literary critical concepts and terminology (AO1);

• identify and examine a range of methods employed by Shakespeare e.g. language (including imagery), tone, form and structure, exploring how these methods shape meaning (AO2); and

• demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence the contexts in which Shakespeare’s drama was written and received (AO4).

Section B The Study of a Twentieth Century Dramatist CL

The aim of Section B is to give students the opportunity to compare and contrast two

texts by an individual dramatist, affording candidates opportunities to reflect creatively

on aspects of this writer’s work. Students will articulate personally informed and relevant

responses to a writer whose work has impacted significantly on the dramatic genre during

the twentieth and/or twenty-first centuries.

Content

Students will study two plays written by one of the following post 1900 dramatists:

Edward Albee

Alan Bennett

Caryl Churchill

Brian Friel

Arthur Miller *** our selected playwright***

Sean O’Casey

Harold Pinter

Peter Shaffer

Tom Stoppard

Timberlake Wertenbaker

Tennessee Williams

Learning Outcomes

Students should be able to:

• demonstrate an awareness of the fundamentals of literary critical concepts and terminology (AO1);

• identify the major themes and issues explored within the paired plays which they are studying (AO3);

• explore connections and comparisons between characters, themes or issues examined in the paired plays, informed by their own and others’ opinions (AO3); and

• draw upon and shape the above to articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to the selected dramatist, using appropriate terminology and concepts (AO1).

Rubric

Two assignments will be set. Students will base one assignment on Section A and one on Section B.

Method of Assessment

Internal assessment

The folder will consist of pieces as follows:

The first piece in the folder will be on the chosen Shakespeare play. It will place the play in its context andwill then focus on aspects of the play such as theme, structure, dramatic techniques, characterisation, etc.

The second piece of writing in the folder will focus on a personal, creative, informed response to the study of the work of the chosen twentieth century dramatist. Should a

centre wish to use another twentieth century dramatist for this section, prior permission must be sought from CCEA.

Assessment Objectives

Section A: AO2, AO4

Section B: AO1, AO3

Unit AS 2: The Study of Poetry Written after 1800 and The Study of Prose 1800–1945

Section A The Study of Poetry Written after 1800 AA

The aim of Section A is to give students the opportunity to compare and contrast two poets they have studied. They will be expected to communicate effectively their knowledge and understanding in responding to a question requiring analysis of poetic methods such as form, structure, language and tone which the poets use to achieve particular effects.

Content:

Students will study one of the following sets of paired texts:

Hopkins Selected Poems Oxford World Classics

Dickinson A Choice of Emily Dickinson’s Verse Faber and Faber

Duffy Selected Poems Penguin

Lochhead The Colour of Black and White Polygon

Heaney Opened Ground Faber and Faber

Montague New Selected Poems Gallery Press

Thomas (E) Selected Poems Everyman

Frost Selected Poems

Yeats Selected Poems

Kavanagh Selected Poems Penguin

See appendix for a list of poems prescribed for study.

Learning Outcomes:

Students should be able to:

• articulate informed and relevant responses that communicate effectively their knowledge and understanding of poetry (AO1);

• demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meaning (AO2); and

• sustain a comparison and contrast (AO3).

Section B The Study of Prose 1800–1945 CL

The aim of Section B is to give students the opportunity to communicate effectively their

knowledge and understanding of a prose text in response to a stimulus statement which

expresses a particular interpretation. They will also be required to show contextual

understanding – social, cultural, historical characteristics of the particular type and genre

of the novel – obtained from outside the text and relevant to the terms of the question.

Content:

Students will study one of the following texts:

Jane Austen Mansfield Park

Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights

F Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby *** our selected text***

E M Forster A Passage to India

Elizabeth Gaskell North and South

Thomas Hardy The Mayor of Casterbridge

Learning Outcomes:

Students should be able to:

• articulate informed and relevant responses that communicate effectively their knowledge and understanding of a novel (AO1);

• show awareness of the interpretations of other readers (AO3); and

• demonstrate understanding of the context in which texts are written by drawing on appropriate information from outside the novel (AO4).

Rubric

Students will be expected to answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B. In Section A, one question will be set on each pair of poets. In Section B, a choice of two questions, (a) and (b), will be set on each text.

Method of Assessment

External examination

Duration 2 hours

Style of Examination Section A will be open book. Section B will be closed book.

Assessment Objectives Section A: AO1, AO2, AO3; Section B: AO1, AO3, AO4

A2 2007-2008 Teachers AA and CD

A2 MODULE 4: RESPONSE TO UNSEEN POETRY AND THE STUDY OF POETRY

WRITTEN BEFORE 1770

Section A Response to Unseen Poetry Shared AA/CD

Candidates will be expected to demonstrate a sustained personal response to poetry which they have not studied for their advanced level course. They should be capable of comparing and contrasting two poems, demonstrating powers of comprehension and literary appreciation and offering a personal evaluation based on an informed literary critical perspective. Candidates will be expected to draw on the skills developed inthe study of prescribed texts to identify principal poetic genres such as lyric, ode, sonnet, elegy and

dramatic monologue and to analyse the effect of poetic features such as verse form and language including imagery, tone and sound effects.

Section B The Study of Poetry Written Before 1770 AA

Examination Closed book

Candidates will be expected to show awareness of the linguistic conventions of the period from which they have selected their text, whether these conventions are the unfamiliar vocabulary and syntax of Chaucer, the English of the Elizabethan era, Milton’s latinisms or Pope’s polished Augustan wit. There should be evidence of appreciation, where appropriate, of the characteristics of such literary forms as the love lyric, sonnet, metaphysical conceit, pastoral idyll and verse satire. In developing their own responses to the chosen texts, candidates should also be familiar with a variety of critical opinions and show how social, cultural, religious, literary and biographical factors impact on the work of the poet. Candidates will be required to study ONE of the following texts.

Chaucer The Wife of Bath’s Tale

Pope The Rape of the Lock

Rubric: In Section A, candidates will be expected to provide a personal and analytical response to poetry which will involve comparing and contrasting two poems.

In Section B, a choice of two questions, (a) and (b), will be set on each text. Candidates

will be expected to answer one question on a selected text. In general, the questions on

this paper will required candidates to base their responses on a named poem and one

other poem chosen by them. All named poems will be printed in a booklet accompanying the question paper. For Chaucer and longer poems from other poets, extracts will be referred to in the question and will be printed in a booklet accompanying the question paper. Candidates will be asked to refer to other appropriately selected parts of the poem.

A2 MODULE 5: STUDY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY PROSE AA

Candidates will be expected to show understanding of the ways in which the writers. choices of form, structure and language shape meanings, and of the ways in which the content, form and language of these novels are determined by the social and historical contexts in which they were written. As appropriate, candidates will be expected to show awareness of the English, American, Irish or South African dimensions of the text, and of the literary conventions associated with twentieth-century prose, e.g. modernism, realism, naturalism, symbolism, surrealism, the absurd etc. Candidates should have read a range of critical responses that illustrate different literary approaches to the understanding and interpretation of specific texts and of twentieth-century prose generally. These secondary readings should inform candidates’ personal response.

The following list of prescribed editions may differ slightly from that found in the first printing of this specification, as some editions are no longer in print. Previously prescribed editions of set texts may still be used by candidates in the examination.

Alice Walker The Color Purple The Women’s Press

This module may be assessed by means of either internal or external assessment units

So far we have used the external assessment.

A2 MODULE 6: DRAMA CD

Style of Examination Open book

Introduction

In this module the comparative, critical and contextual aspects of the study of drama texts are the focuses for study. Candidates will be expected to study a pair of drama texts chosen from a list of prescribed pairs which are clearly related and connected. One of the two texts prescribed will have been written before 1900.

Candidates will be required to study the texts specified in: Option A

Miller Death of a Salesman Penguin Modern Classics Drama

Sophocles Oedipus The King (Tyrannus) Oxford World’s Classics

(from Antigone, Oedipus the King and Electra)