English Language (9093)
Cambridge International AS and A Level English Language provides learners with the opportunity to study English language and its use in communication. Learners will be encouraged to respond critically to a wide variety of texts in a range of forms, styles and contexts, and to promote skills of communication, reading, research and analysis.
Through their study, learners will develop an ability to read and analyse material, gaining further knowledge and understanding of English language features and issues. Learners will also develop the skills of writing clearly, accurately, creatively and effectively for different purposes and audiences.
We expect students that register to this course, have an IGCSE certificate in First Language English with a minimum mark of B. If registering students have completed a curriculum that is not Cambridge International in grades 9 and 10, they will be required to sit an internal English examination at our High School Campus.
Link to full Syllabus: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/414955-2020-syllabus.pdf
Key Benefits
Cambridge International AS & A Level English Language develops a set of transferable skills. These include critical analysis; constructing arguments; presenting knowledge and understanding; and writing English in a balanced, articulate and fluent manner. Learners can apply these skills across a wide range of subjects and real-world situations. These skills will also equip them well for progression to higher education or directly into employment. Our approach in Cambridge International AS & A Level English Language encourages learners to be: confident, exploring texts and ideas with self-assurance, intellectual freedom and personal insight responsible, committing to their learning and developing linguistic expertise to better understand themselves, others and the wider community reflective, developing a keen and critical sense of themselves as users and consumers of language in a range of ever-changing contexts innovative, approaching tasks and texts with a combination of creative, original and flexible thinking engaged, recognising and interrogating the role language plays in matters of personal, social and global significance, and being prepared to apply this learning beyond the classroom.
Key Concepts
Key concepts are essential ideas that help students develop a deep understanding of their subject and make links between different aspects. Key concepts may open up new ways of thinking about, understanding or interpreting the important things to be learned.
Good teaching and learning will incorporate and reinforce a subject’s key concepts to help students gain:
- a greater depth as well as breadth of subject knowledge
- confidence, especially in applying knowledge and skills in new situations
- the vocabulary to discuss their subject conceptually and show how different aspects link together
- a level of mastery of their subject to help them enter higher education.
The key concepts for Cambridge International AS & A Level English Language are:
- Text and context
A text can be defined as a single, coherent unit of language, from the briefest spoken utterance to a book published across several volumes. However, no text exists without context; students of English language must always consider how a text’s meaning is informed by the circumstances not only of its production, but also of its communication and reception.
- Meaning and style
The study of English language involves developing a range of strategies for exploring the complex ways in which different linguistic elements come together to create meaning. Whether producing their own texts or analysing texts produced by others, students of English language must consider how choices regarding form, structure and language also interact to create a distinctive style.
- Audience
Students of English language must learn to identify and analyse the strategies writers and speakers use to communicate with their intended audience(s). Likewise, they must be able to predict, recognise and analyse the various responses these strategies might elicit.
- Creativity
Whether writing artfully for a specified purpose and audience, reading deeply between the lines of a challenging text, or developing strategies for acquiring the language in the first place, users of the English language must demonstrate creativity in a range of forms and contexts.
- Diversity
Constantly subject to a range of influences – whether personal, social, geographical or otherwise – the English language exists in a range of competing and overlapping forms at any given moment. This extraordinary diversity offers a rich opportunity for analysis, comparison and exploration.
- Change
The phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic and other aspects of the English language are liable to change over time. Students of English language must analyse these changes and explore in detail the factors that drive them.
Recognition and progression
Cambridge Internationals expertise in curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment is the basis for the recognition of the programmes and qualifications around the world. Every year thousands of students with Cambridge International AS & A Levels gain places at leading universities worldwide. They are valued by top universities around the world including those in the UK, US (including Ivy League universities), Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
UK NARIC, the national agency in the UK for the recognition and comparison of international qualifications and skills, has carried out an independent benchmarking study of Cambridge International AS & A Level and found it to be comparable to the standard of AS & A Level in the UK. This means students can be confident that their Cambridge International AS & A Level qualifications are accepted as equivalent, grade for grade, to UK AS & A Levels by leading universities worldwide.
Cambridge International AS Level English Language makes up the first half of the Cambridge International A Level course in English Language and provides a foundation for the study of English Language at Cambridge International A Level. Depending on local university entrance requirements, students may be able to use it to progress directly to university courses in English Language or some other subjects. It is also suitable as part of a course of general education. Cambridge International A Level English Language provides a foundation for the study of English or related courses in higher education. Equally it is suitable as part of a course of general
Resources
The following are the preferred resources at Istanbul International School:
- Cambridge AS/A Level English Language 9093 Coursebook
- Variety of Literature determined by teacher
Cambridge International Examinations
AS Level Candidates take:
Paper 1
Passages – 50% (2 hours 15 minutes)
Candidates answer two questions: Question 1, and either Question 2 or Question 3.
Questions carry equal marks.
Externally assessed.
Paper 2
Writing – 50% (2 hours)
Candidates answer two questions: one from Section A and one from Section B.
Questions carry equal marks.
Externally assessed.
A Level candidates take:
Paper 1
Passages – 25% (2 hours 15 minutes)
Candidates answer two questions: Question 1, and either Question 2 or Question 3.
Questions carry equal marks.
Externally assessed.
Paper 2
Writing – 25% (2 hours)
Candidates answer two questions: one from Section A and one from Section B.
Questions carry equal marks.
Externally assessed.
Paper 3
Text Analysis – 25% (2 hours 15 minutes)
The paper contains two questions.
Candidates must answer both questions.
Questions carry equal marks.
Externally assessed.
Paper 4
Language Topics – 25% (2 hours 15 minutes)
The paper contains three questions, each on a separate topic area.
Candidates answer two questions.
Questions carry equal marks.
Externally assessed.