A Level: English Language - PowerPoint Presentation

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A Level: English Language Remote Learning Booklet

Name: __________________

Paper 1, Section A:

Meanings & Representations

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What does this section of the exam look like?

One text is older

One text is more contemporary

Two questions, looking at the texts separately

One comparative question

Recommended time on each question:

Preparing & Reading the texts – 15 minutes

Q1 – 25 minutes

Q2 – 25 minutes

Q3 – 20 minutes

The texts will be on similar topics but will have different context e.g. date of publication; form of text e.g. letter, article, blog etc. ; purpose e.g. to entertain, inform, persuade etc.; differing political, social or cultural contexts. You’ll need to consider how the contextual factors help to shape any meanings and representations.

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Q1 & 2 Mark Scheme: How are you marked?

AO1: Apply appropriate methods of language analysis, using associated terminology and coherent written expression

Level/ MarksPERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICSINDICATIVE CONTENT These are examples of ways students’ work might exemplify the performance characteristics in the question above. They indicate possible content and how it can be treated at different levels.

Level 5 9‒10

Students will: apply linguistic methods and terminology, identifying patterns and complexities; apply different levels of language analysis in an integrated way, recognising how they are connected; apply levels of language analysis with rare errors; guide the reader

Students are likely to describe features such as: semantic patterns; pragmatic features; sentence and clause types, elements and linking; cohesion and textual structure

Level 4 7‒8

Students will: apply linguistic methods and terminology with precision and detail ; apply two or more levels of language analysis ; apply levels of language analysis with occasional errors ; develop a line of argument

Students are likely to describe features such as: word classes in detail; verb tenses, voice, aspect, modals; phrases

Level 3 5‒6

Students will: apply linguistic methods and terminology consistently and appropriately ; label features that have value for the task ; label features with more accuracy than inaccuracy; communicate with clear topics and paragraphs

Students are likely to describe features such as: connotations; semantic fields ; word classes; verb moods; icons, hyperlinks; graphological features

Level 2 3‒4

Students will: use linguistic methods and terminology inconsistently and sometimes without value for the task ; generalise about language use with limited/unclear evidence ; label features with more inaccuracy than accuracy; express ideas with organisation emerging

Students are likely to: discuss formality and/or complexity (4) ; offer only one or two descriptions, eg a word class, a sentence function (4); make unsupported generalisations about language used (3) ; use a linguistic register of very general terms eg sentence and word (3); quote imprecisely to illustrate descriptions (3)

Level 1 1‒2Students will: quote or identify features of language without linguistic description; present material with limited organisation

Students are likely to: quote relevant examples without any linguistic description

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Q1 & 2 Mark Scheme: How are you marked?

AO3: Analyse and evaluate how contextual factors and language features are associated with the construction of meaning

Level/ MarksPERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICSLevel 5 13‒15Students will: evaluate use of language and representations according to context

explore analysis within wider social and cultural contexts

Level 4

10‒12

Students will:

analyse how language choices create meanings and representations

analyse how aspects of context work together to affect language use

Level 3

7‒9

Students will:

interpret significance of specific choices of language according to contextlink specific language choices with an aspect of context

Level 2 4‒6Students will:identify distinctive features of language and significant aspects of context

Level 1 1‒3Students will:paraphrase or describe content of texts

misunderstand text or context

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Q3 Mark Scheme: How are you marked?

AO4: Explore connections across texts, informed by linguistic concepts and methodsLevel/ Marks

PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICSLevel 5 17‒20Students will: evaluate the importance/significance/effect of connections found across textsLevel 4

13‒16

Students will: explore connections between texts by linking language and context

Level 3

9‒12

Students will: make connections across texts by identifying similar or different uses of language/ content/context

Level 2

5- 8

Students will: make connections at a literal level

Level 1

1‒4Students will: discuss relevant aspects of texts without making connections explicitly

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Introductory task: starting to look at representations

Task: Look at how the representations of men and women are different on these magazine front covers.

How do these texts differ? What language has been used to create two totally juxtaposing representations here?

Do you agree with these representations? Should both genders continue to be presented in this way?

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Example Paper 1: Gender

Text A: An article from Good Housekeeping

from the 1950’s titles ‘The Good Wife’s Guide’ (Housekeeping Monthly 13 May 1955)Task 2: How does the magazine article use language to create meanings and representations?

Highlight and label any lexical, semantic, grammatical, structural or graphological features used and how they create representations

Task 1: Read the text you have been given carefully and discuss the following questions:

What is the TAP of the text?

How is the context of this text likely to affect the language used?

What are the affordances and constraints of the genre?

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Example Paper 1: GenderText A: An article from Good Housekeeping

from the 1950’s titles ‘The Good Wife’s Guide’ (Housekeeping Monthly 13 May 1955)

Housekeeping Monthly 13 May 1955 The good wife's guide · Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed. · Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. · Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

· Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.

· Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper etc. and then run a

dustcloth

over the tables.

· Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

· Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimise all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

· Be happy to see him.

· Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

· Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

· Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax. · Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquillity where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit. · Don't greet him with complaints and problems. · Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.

· Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. · Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice. · Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him. · A good wife always knows her place.

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Example Paper 1: Gender

Representation

Language featureContext LinkHusbands are represented as superior and god-like“Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too”

Metaphor “a haven of rest and order”

Collocation “rest and order”

Reflects patriarchal society of 1950s and how men were seen as the head of the household and the ‘money makers’ whereas women were expected to stay at home.

Women are presented as…

Writer or magazine represents themselves as…

Task: Use the grid to plan an answer for Text A. The first one is completed for you.

Hints to look for:

Sentence types

Semantic fields

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Example Paper 1: GenderQ2: Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations.

Structuring your paragraphs

R – Mention representation: How is the profession/organisation/event/person represented?T – Give an example of language and use precise terminology to label the featureA – Analyse the language used. How does it help to create representations? What meanings are communicated?C – Link the language to an aspect of the context of the text (audience, purpose, mode, genre, wider social context etc.)

Example Paragraph:

Throughout the article, men are represented as superior to women and the writer gives the impression that they are the leaders of the domestic space. Figurative language, for example the metaphor “reached a haven of rest and order”, describes the idealistic home women should create and in turn represents the husbands as superior. The idea of this peaceful, holy home is emphasised by the collocation “rest and order”, which consequently implies men’s working life is dynamic and chaotic and represents how their home should be an antithesis to this. Furthermore, the abstract noun “haven” links to connotations of religion and establishes the representation that men are god-like and should be worshipped. This idea is mirrored through the active voice in “Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order”; the noun phrase “your husband” is the subject of the sentence just like the article is stating that the husband is the forefront of the home. This hierarchal structure created through the grammar and semantics of the language here is reflective of the patriarchal society of 1950s and how men were seen as the head of the household and the ‘money makers’ whereas women were expected to stay at home and tend to their husbands needs. As this text’s purpose is to inform, it is reinforcing the sexist attitudes and stereotypes of the time by instructing women on how to behave.

Task: Now write up your planned paragraphs, following this structure.

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Example Paper 1: GenderText B: An online article from

Cosmopolitan by AMY ODELL DEC 30, 2013http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/advice/a5273/stop-judging-marrying-women/

Are We Seriously Still Judging Women Who Want to Get Married?Sadly, yes. Here's why we need to stop.Hairpin writer Jia Tolentino has a bone to pick with the year 2013, for it was the year she attended 18 weddings. She writes that "18 weddings is so many weddings that the words start to shift in meaning. Eighteen is now an adjective that means too many. Wedding, a noun that means too much." What follows is a self-indulgent critique of the institution of marriage, the tradition of weddings, and the women who want to become wives. Though it's difficult to draw one conclusion from her arguments, which make hairpin (yes, went there) turns at nearly every paragraph, there is this:

18 women, 18 brides. 18 capable, wonderful, educated, privileged, professional, socially aware female humans enthusiastically plunging into an institution that holds about as much interest for me as a bag of playground rocks (some! Not much, though) and whose associated totems have historically represented the diminishment and commodification of a gender that needs to get more of either as much as we need a swift punch in the face. I understand easily why a man would want a wife; it's harder to for me to grasp why a woman would want to be one. The language and semiotics of marriage are terrible: we're still proposed to, our cervical fealty insured by a ring, our fathers give us away to our fuck buddies, we erase and replace

our own names

. The preferred aesthetic for "bride" is still very close to that of "princess," a role so passive and empty that there's not even anything there to subvert.

I'm getting married next summer. According to Tolentino, this means I am diminishing myself as a woman, and turning myself into someone who can be bought with a diamond ring. But here's the thing: I'm not marrying my

fiance

because he gave me a ring or because I want to dress and act like a thoughtless, trussed-up princess for a day. I'm marrying him because marriage is a meaningful and incredibly worthwhile demonstration of our love for one another. It is also a demonstration of our desire to live out our lives and raise children together. The wedding that kicks it off allows us to celebrate our union with our closest friends and family — something that's as important to many of our loved ones as it is to us. Of course we want to show our guests a nice weekend that shows how much we care about not only each other, but also them.

But what really troubles me about Tolentino's post is that to assume marriage represents societal repression is to assume a pervasive helplessness among women. Marriage is no longer a retro institution that leaves women sitting around doing housework and feeding the children while a man goes off and earns all the money and enjoys all the world's viable intellectual stimulation. Women are anything but feeble Betty Drapers these days. We may not be fully equal to men in some unfortunate ways (we still

don't earn a full dollar

to theirs), but we certainly haven't given up the fight and are even making awesome strides: women now earn

more college degrees than men and are close to overtaking men as the primary breadwinners in their households. My

fiance and I are equals in our relationship, and that won't disappear the second we say "I do." I work just as much as does, and I know that when we have children, he'll be an equal caretaker in the relationship. When faced with choosing a city to live in after he finished graduate school, we picked New York because it offers the best opportunities for my career.I have to wonder how Tolentino would respond to gay activists who have been fighting for decades for this country to give them the same legal recognition as heterosexual couples, or who rush to the steps of city hall the moment their state legalizes gay marriage. Marriage is many things: it is work, it is commitment, it is even a tax break. But most important, it's one way to make a life more meaningful.

The choice to marry and have a fun traditional wedding to inaugurate it hardly undoes the work of the feminist or post-feminist movements. Indeed, I would argue that it strengthens it — women marrying today know that marriage won't subvert them. It's dangerous to turn a fear of commitment into an argument that it does.

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Example Paper 1: GenderText B: An online article from

Cosmopolitan by AMY ODELL DEC 30, 2013http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/advice/a5273/stop-judging-marrying-women/

Task 2: How does the magazine article use language to create meanings and representations? Highlight and label any lexical, semantic, grammatical, structural or graphological features used and how they create representations

Task 1: Read the text you have been given carefully and discuss the following questions:

What is the TAP of the text?

How is the context of this text likely to affect the language used?

What are the affordances and constraints of the genre?

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Example Paper 1: Gender

Representation

Language featureContext LinkRepresents her relationship as a partnership“My fiance

and I are equals in our relationship, and that won't disappear the second we say "I do.””

Noun phrase with co-ordinate conjunction ‘and’

Collective pronoun “we’ and determiner ‘our’

Column piece; bias and opinionative from the writer’s own experiences – anecdotal

2013; more gender equality

Task: Use the grid to plan an answer for Text B. The first one is completed for you.

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Example Paper 1: GenderQ2: Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations.

Structuring your paragraphs

R – Mention representation: How is the profession/organisation/event/person represented?T – Give an example of language and use precise terminology to label the featureA – Analyse the language used. How does it help to create representations? What meanings are communicated?C – Link the language to an aspect of the context of the text (audience, purpose, mode, genre, wider social context etc.)

Example Paragraph:

Throughout the article, the writer represents her relationship as an equal partnership. Most obviously, the writer uses a semantic field of equality through the positive adjectives “equal” and “equals” as well as the abstract noun “union” to describe both herself and her fiancée; these words have positive connotations and foster the idea that her relationship is balanced, loving and respectful. However, other lexical and grammatical features also help to further create this representation. There is repetition of the collective pronoun “we” which creates the idea that the writer and her partner are a team. Similarly, the determiner ‘our’ in the noun phrase ‘our relationship’ also emphasises the idea that both the writer and her fiancé contribute and are committed to the relationship equally. This representation is mirrored through the first main clause of the co-ordinating declarative ‘my fiancé and I.. I do’; the subject of the sentence is the noun phrase ‘my fiancé and I’. The noun phrase uses the co-ordinating conjunction ‘and’ which joins both nouns equally together as one. As the text is an column piece, it is likely to be opinionative and try to express her own experiences which is seen through her use of anecdotal language and personal pronouns. Moreover, being an article in the women’s magazine, Cosmopolitan, explains why the article is positioned as a critique against judgement towards women and aims to celebrate women’s freedom of choice and marriage as well as encouraging gender equality in 2013.

Task: Now write up your planned paragraphs, following this structure.

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Example Paper 1: GenderQ3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language.

Text A

Text B

Context

An article from

Good Housekeeping

from the 1950’s titles ‘The Good Wife’s Guide’. More informative and instructional. Reflects patriarchal society and attitudes towards women in the 1950s.

Contemporary magazine article from the women’s magazine ‘Cosmopolitan’.

Collomn

/opinion piece which is highly anecdotal and is more colloquial due to online magazine format. To entertain or persuade.

Language

Lots of short, sharp imperatives; use of modals as instructions or guides

Semantic field of calmness to describe the home ‘peace’ ‘haven’ ‘welcome’ ‘tranquillity’ ‘comfortable’

More transactional and aims to instructMore declaratives and anecdotal language Simile - act like a thoughtless, trussed-up princess for a day

Positive language ‘meaningful’ ‘desire’ ‘celebrate’More emotive and anecdotal to express the writer’s opinion

RepresentationRepresents marriage as unequal, women being the inferior sex. “You have no right to question him. A good wife always knows her place.”

Condescending tone through direct address. Noun phrase ‘her place’ – implies women are submissive Represents marriage as a union and portrays women and men equally Semantic field of equality ‘equals’ ‘union’

Allusion to Betty Draper (House wife from Mad Men tv show set in 50/60s) “Women are anything but feeble Betty Drapers these days”

Task: Use the grid to plan an answer for Q3, comparing how the texts use language and create representations.

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Example Paper 1: GenderQ3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language.

Structuring your paragraphs

C – Compare an aspect of the texts E.g. Context, representation or languageT – Give an example of language from Text A and use precise terminology to label the featureA – Analyse the language used. How does it help to create representations? What meanings are communicated?C – Link the language to an aspect of the context of the text (audience, purpose, mode, genre, wider social context etc.)

Example Paragraph (comparing representation):

The texts differ in how they represent marriage and specifically the role of women. In Text A, the writer represents women as the inferior sex: “You have no right to question him. A good wife always knows her place.” Firstly, the use of direct address through ‘you’ at the start of the first declarative creates a condescending tone as if the writer is belittling the female reader. In the second declarative, the noun phrase “a good wife” helps the writer to portray the positive qualities of a wife who is obedient through the positive adjective ‘good’ which is further emphasised by the pre-modifying adverb ‘always’ to suggest that women should continually adopt a high level of respect for their husband. Similarly, the noun phrase ‘her place’ again represents how women should happily accept their submissive role in society and their marriage whilst presenting the patriarchal views of the time. In contrast, the writer of Text B directly rejects this idea of women being inferior through the allusion “

Women are anything but feeble Betty Drapers these days.” The noun phrase ‘feeble Betty Drapers’ acknowledges archaic and sexist representations of women, with the pre-modifying adjective “feeble” demonstrating how previously women were weak and inferior. However, the writer uses the phrases “anything but” and “these days” to subvert this message in order to present ‘women’ of today as strong and equal. Rather than accepting and enforcing societal views like Text A, Text B is aiming to inspire and encourage the readers to break stereotypes and fight for gender equality - whatever form this may look like.

Task: Now write up your planned paragraphs, following this structure.

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Example Paper 2: Transport

When it comes to motorised transport, the bus is definitely the poor relation.  It doesn’t appear to have the same appeal to decision makers that road and rail have.  Indeed, both these forms of transport consume vast public resources in comparison to buses, yet buses are an essential form of transport for millions of people every day.  Indeed, without them, many local economies would struggle and the burdens on our already struggling social services and NHS would increase still further.  And congestion and pollution already bad in many places would become intolerable.

At a time when much is being said about the importance of investing in our transport infrastructure to support the economy, little or no mention is made of bus services.  Indeed, it’s worse than that:  services are actively being cut for a variety of reasons, namely:

The squeeze on local authority funding has led to large cuts in supported bus services

The reimbursement of the bus pass has not kept up with escalating costs

Rising congestion has resulted in operators having to put on extra buses to maintain existing services, increasing costs so that they become uneconomic.

Perhaps it’s because buses don’t have their own tracks or they are not part of some great construction project, but buses, while hitting the headlines locally, have been almost completely ignored at a national level. 

Yet 

bus commuters generate over £64 billion of economic output every year

, while bus users make shopping and leisure trips worth £27.2 billion a year.

Over 

4.4 billion journeys are made every year on buses in England

,

with around half of these taking place in London.  Buses carry nearly 60% of all journeys on public transport in Great Britain, compared to just over 20% being carried by rail.  The bus is far more important in terms of number of journeys.  The problem is that because these journeys can be relatively local, it would seem that they are considered unimportant.

 

So what can we do about this?  We need to encourage local transport authorities to use the tools that the Bus Services Act gives them.  They also need to stop allowing sprawling out of town developments which are not designed to be served by buses and instead end up dumping even more cars on our roads, increasing congestion and pollution. 

But none of this is going to get us very far in the absence of a coherent national approach to tackling traffic congestion and rising traffic levels.  We need a long term investment strategy for buses like the ones that roads, rail, and even cycling and walking have, backed up by real cash.

 

Text A: A blog post from the Campaign for Better Transport (2018)

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Example Paper 2: Transport

CHAPTER XVI—OMNIBUSES

It is very generally allowed that public conveyances afford an extensive field for amusement and observation.  Of all the public conveyances that have been constructed since the days of the Ark—we think that is the earliest on record—to the present time, commend us to an omnibus.  A long stage is not to be despised, but there you have only six insides, and the chances are, that the same people go all the way with you—there is no change, no variety.  Besides, after the first twelve hours or so, people get cross and sleepy, and when you have seen a man in his nightcap, you lose all respect for him; at least, that is the case with us.  Then on smooth roads people frequently get prosy, and tell long stories, and even those who don’t talk, may have very unpleasant predilections.  We once travelled four hundred miles, inside a stage-coach, with a stout man, who had a glass of rum-and-water, warm, handed in at the window at every place where we changed horses.  This was decidedly unpleasant.  We have also travelled occasionally, with a small boy of a pale aspect, with light hair, and no perceptible neck, coming up to town from school under the protection of the guard, and directed to be left at the Cross Keys till called for.  This is, perhaps, even worse than rum-and-water in a close atmosphere.  Then there is the whole train of evils consequent on a change of the coachman; and the misery of the discovery—which the guard is sure to make the moment you begin to doze—that he wants a brown-paper parcel, which he distinctly remembers to have deposited under the seat on which you are reposing.  A great deal of bustle and groping takes place, and when you are thoroughly awakened, and severely cramped, by holding your legs up by an almost supernatural exertion, while he is looking behind them, it suddenly occurs to him that he put it in the fore-boot.  Bang goes the door; the parcel is immediately found; off starts the coach again; and the guard plays the key-bugle as loud as he can play it, as if in mockery of your wretchedness.

Now, you meet with none of these afflictions in an omnibus; sameness there can never be.  The passengers change as often in the course of one journey as the figures in a kaleidoscope, and though not so glittering, are far more amusing.  We believe there is no instance on record, of a man’s having gone to sleep in one of these vehicles.  As to long stories, would any man venture to tell a long story in an omnibus? and even if he did, where would be the harm? nobody could possibly hear what he was talking about.  Again; children, though occasionally, are not often to be found in an omnibus; and even when they are, if the vehicle be full, as is generally the case, somebody sits upon them, and we are unconscious of their presence.  Yes, after mature reflection, and considerable experience, we are decidedly of opinion, that of all known vehicles, from the glass-coach in which we were taken to be christened, to that sombre caravan in which we must one day make our last earthly journey, there is nothing like an omnibus

Text B: is taken from a non-fiction book Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens, published in 1836.

Q1: Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q2: Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language [20 Marks]

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Example Paper 3: WarPerched on the hill-tops as we were, we should have made lovely marks for artillery; but there was no artillery. Sometimes I used to gaze round the landscape and long — oh, how passionately! — for a couple of batteries of guns. One could have destroyed the enemy positions one after another as easily as smashing nuts with a hammer. But on our side the guns simply did not exist. The Fascists did occasionally manage to bring a gun or two from Zaragoza and fire a very few shells, so few that they never even found the range and the shells plunged harmlessly into the empty ravines. Against machine-guns and without artillery there are only three things you can do: dig yourself in at a safe distance — four hundred yards, say — advance across the open and be massacred, or make small-scale night-attacks that will not alter the general situation. Practically the alternatives are stagnation or suicide. And beyond this there was the complete lack of war materials of every description. It needs an effort to realize how badly the militias were armed at this time. Any public school O.T.C. in England is far more like a modern army than we were. The badness of our weapons was so astonishing that it is worth recording in detail.

 

For this sector of the front the entire artillery consisted of four trench-mortars with fifteen rounds for each gun. Of course they were far too precious to be fired and the mortars were kept in Alcubierre. There were machine-guns at the rate of approximately one to fifty men; they were oldish guns, but fairly accurate up to three or four hundred yards. Beyond this we had only rifles, and the majority of the rifles were scrap-iron. There were three types of rifle in use. The first was the long Mauser. These were seldom less than twenty years old, their sights were about as much use as a broken speedometer, and in most of them the rifling was hopelessly corroded; about one rifle in ten was not bad, however. Then there was the short Mauser, or mousqueton, really a cavalry weapon. These were more popular than the others because they were lighter to carry and less nuisance in a trench, also because they were comparatively new and looked efficient. Actually they were almost useless. They were made out of reassembled parts, no bolt belonged to its rifle, and threequarters of them could be counted on to jam after five shots. There were also a few Winchester rifles. These were nice to shoot with, but they were wildly inaccurate, and as their cartridges had no clips they could only be fired one shot at a time. Ammunition was so scarce that each man entering the line was only issued with fifty rounds, and most of it was exceedingly bad. The Spanish-made cartridges were all refills and would jam even the best rifles. The Mexican cartridges were better and were therefore reserved for the machine-guns. Best of all was the German-made ammunition, but as this came only from prisoners and deserters there was not much of it. I always kept a clip of German or Mexican ammunition in my pocket for use in an emergency. But in practice when the emergency came I seldom fired my rifle; I was too frightened of the beastly thing jamming and too anxious to reserve at any rate one round that would go off.

 

Text A: is an account from 1938 detailing the weaponry at hand for a soldier in the Spanish Civil War.

Q1: Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q2: Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language [20 Marks]

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Example Paper 3: WarThe U.S. Military's Future: 6th Generation Fighters Firing Laser Weapons? U.S. arms-maker Lockheed Martin is developing a laser that could be small enough to arm a future, “sixth-generation” fighter plane, company officials told reporters on May 1, 2019.

But it’s not clear when the Pentagon might develop a new fighter. The laser could be ready before the plane is.Reporter Ben Werner from USNI News attended Lockheed’s media briefing. “The High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance ...  system is at the core of Lockheed Martin’s electronic warfare work,” Werner wrote.

The company expects to field a ship-based HELIOS system aboard an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in 2021. However, technological advances are helping the company shrink the size of HELIOS from what is due for installation aboard a ship to what can possibly fit onto an airframe, said Tony Wilson, a Lockheed Martin F-35 test pilot.“Being a tactical pilot in today’s age is really exciting. During my time, I’ve seen the leap from fourth-generation to fifth-generation, with the integration of stealth and sensor fusion,” Wilson said. “What I’m really looking forward to is the next-generation leap. That’s a sixth-gen fighter, where we not only take stealth and sensor integration, but we start adding things like directed energy weapons, drone swarm control.”

A laser has obvious advantages. It could be more accurate than a gun is. A fighter could fire many more laser shots than it could carry missiles, potentially boosting the plane’s magazine depth.

But it could be a long while before a new laser-armed fighter takes flight. The Air Force, in theory, is developing a new air-superiority system. But the new system might not take the form of a stand-alone, sixth-generation fighter, a team of 

Defense

News 

reporters 

explained

.

In 2016, the U.S. Air Force unveiled its “Air Superiority 2030” study, which posited that although the service would need a new air superiority fighter jet — called Penetrating Counter Air — as soon as the 2030s, it would be just as important that the new plane fit into a "family of systems” of space, cyber, electronic warfare and other enabling technologies.

Text B: is an online article for

The National Interest, which is an American bimonthly conservative international affairs magazine.

Q1: Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q2: Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]Q3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language [20 Marks]

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Example Paper 4: DeathText A: is an article by Arthur C. Brooks, taken from The New York Times. It was published in 2016.

To be happier, start thinking more about your death

9

th

January 2016

Want a better 2016? Try thinking more about your impending demise.

Years ago on a visit to Thailand, I was surprised to learn that Buddhist monks often contemplate the photos of corpses in various stages of decay. The Buddha himself recommended corpse meditation. “This body, too,” students were taught to say about their own bodies, “such is its nature, such is its future, such its unavoidable fate.”

Paradoxically, this meditation on death is intended as a key to better living. It makes disciples aware of the transitory nature of their own physical lives and stimulates a realignment between momentary desires and existential goals. In other words, it makes one ask, “Am I making the right use of my scarce and precious life?”

In fact, most people suffer grave misalignment. In a 2004 article in the journal Science, a team of scholars, including the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, surveyed a group of women to compare how much satisfaction they derived from their daily activities. Among voluntary activities, we might expect that choices would roughly align with satisfaction. Not so. The women reported deriving more satisfaction from prayer, worship and meditation than from watching television. Yet the average respondent spent more than five times as long watching TV as engaging in spiritual activities.

If anything, this study understates the misalignment problem. The American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that, in 2014, the average American adult spent four times longer watching television than “socializing and communicating,” and 20 times longer on TV than on “religious and spiritual activities.” The survey did not ask about hours surfing the web, but we can imagine a similar disparity.

This misalignment leads to ennui and regret. I’m reminded of a friend who was hopelessly addicted to British crossword puzzles (the ones with clues that seem inscrutable to Americans, such as, “The portly gentleman ate his cat, backwards”). A harmless pastime, right? My friend didn’t think so — he was so racked with guilt after wasting hours that he consulted a psychotherapist about how to quit. (The advice: Schedule a reasonable amount of time for crosswords and stop feeling guilty.)

While few people share my friend’s interest, many share his anxiety. Millions have resolved to waste less time in 2016 and have already failed. I imagine some readers of this article are filled with self-loathing because they just wasted 10 minutes on a listicle titled “Celebrities With Terrible Skin.”

Slide22

Example Paper 4: DeathText A: is an article by Arthur C. Brooks, taken from The New York Times. It was published in 2016.

Some might say that this reveals our true preferences for TV and clickbait over loved ones and God. But I believe it is an error in decision making. Our days tend to be an exercise in distraction. We think about the past and future more than the present; we are mentally in one place and physically in another. Without consciousness, we mindlessly blow the present moment on low-value activities.

The secret is not simply a resolution to stop wasting time, however. It is to find a systematic way to raise the scarcity of time to our consciousness.

Even if contemplating a corpse is a bit too much, you can still practice some of the Buddha’s wisdom resolving to live as if 2016 were your last year. Then remorselessly root out activities, small and large, that don’t pass the “last-year test.”

There are many creative ways to practice this test. For example, if you plan a summer vacation, consider what would you do for a week or two if this were your last opportunity. With whom would you reconnect and spend some time? Would you settle your soul on a silent retreat, or instead spend the time drunk in Cancún, Mexico?

If this year were your last, would you spend the next hour mindlessly checking your social media, or would you read something that uplifts you instead? Would you compose a snarky comment on this article, or use the time to call a friend to see how she is doing? Hey, I’m not judging here.

Some might think that the last-year test is impractical. As an acquaintance of mine joked, “If I had one year to live, I’d run up my credit cards.” In truth, he probably wouldn’t. In a new paper in the science journal PLOS One, two psychologists looked at the present value of money when people contemplated death. One might assume that when reminded of death, people would greatly value current spending over future spending. But that’s not how it turned out. Considering death actually made respondents

less

likely to want to blow money now than other scenarios did.

Will cultivating awareness of the scarcity of your time make you grim and serious? Not at all. In fact, there is some evidence that contemplating death makes you funnier. Two scholars in 2013 published an academic paper detailing research in which they subliminally primed people to think about either death or pain, and then asked them to caption cartoons. Outside raters found the death-primed participants’ captions to be funnier.

There’s still time to rethink your resolutions. Forget losing weight and saving money. Those are New Year’s resolutions for amateurs. This year, improve your alignment, and maybe get funnier in the process: Be fully alive now by meditating on your demise. Happy 2016!

Slide23

Example Paper 4: DeathText B: Extract from a letter sent by Fyodor Dostoevsky to his brother on 22nd December 1849.

Brother, my precious friend! all is settled! I am sentenced to four years’ hard

labour in the fortress (I believe, of Orenburg) and after that to serve as a private. To-day, the 22nd

of December, we were taken to the

Semionov

Drill Ground. There the sentence of death was read to all of us, we were told to kiss the Cross, our swords were broken over our heads, and our last toilet was made* (white shirts). Then three were tied to the pillar for execution. I was the sixth. Three at a time were called out; consequently, I was in the second batch and no more than a minute was left me to live. I remembered you, brother, and all yours; during the last minute you, you alone, were in my mind, only then I

realised

how I love you, dear brother mine! I also managed to embrace

Plescheyev

and

Durov

who stood close to me and to say good-bye to them. Finally the retreat was sounded, and those tied to the pillar were led back, and it was announced that His Imperial Majesty granted us our lives. Then the present sentences. Palm alone has been pardoned, and returns with his old rank to the army.

I was just told, dear brother, that to-day or to-morrow we are to be sent off. I asked to see you. But I was told that this was impossible; I may only write you this letter: make haste and give me a reply as soon as you can. I am afraid that you may somehow have got to know of my death-sentence. From the windows of the prison-van, when we were taken to the

Semionov

Drill Ground, I saw a multitude of people; perhaps the news reached you, and you suffered for me. Now you will be easier on my account. Brother! I have not become downhearted or low-spirited. Life is everywhere life, life in ourselves, not in what is outside us. There will be people near me, and to be a

man

among people and remain a man for ever, not to be downhearted nor to fall in whatever misfortunes may befall me – this is life; this is the task of life. I have

realised

this. This idea has entered into my flesh and into my blood. Yes, it’s true! The head which was creating, living with the highest life of art, which had

realised and grown used to the highest needs of the spirit, that head has already been cut off from my shoulders. There remains the memory and the images created but not yet incarnated by me. They will lacerate me, it is true! But there remains in me my heart and the same flesh and blood which can also love, and suffer, and desire, and remember, and this, after all, is life.

On

voit

le

soleil

!*

Now, good-bye, brother! Don’t grieve for me!

[…]

Slide24

Example Paper 4: DeathText B: Extract from a letter sent by Fyodor Dostoevsky to his brother on 22nd December 1849.

Q1: Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q2: Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]Q3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language [20 Marks]

Write to me more often, write more details, more, more facts. In every letter write about all kinds of family details, of trifles, don’t forget. This will give me hope and life. If you knew how your letters revived me here in the fortress. These last two months and a half, when it was forbidden to write or receive a letter, have been very hard on me. I was ill. The fact that you did not send me money now and then worried me on your account; it meant you yourself were in great need! Kiss the children once again; their lovely faces do not leave my mind. Ah, that they may be happy! Be happy yourself too, brother, be happy!

But do not grieve, for the love of God, do not grieve for me! Do believe that I am no down-hearted, do remember that hope has not deserted me. In four years there will be a mitigation of my fate. I shall be a private soldier, – no longer a prisoner, and remember that some time I shall embrace you. I was to-day in the grip of death for three-quarters of an hour; I have lived it through with that idea; I was at the last instant and now I live again!

*Glossary

our last toilet was made = we put on clothes for the last time

On

voit

le

soleil

!

= We see the sun! (French)

Slide25

Example Paper 5: BoatsText A Taken from Boating Safety and Safe Boating Blog

How to Survive a Sinking Ship

You've obtained your

boat license

and are now ready to venture out for some sea-bound fun. But would you know what to do if you were on a sinking ship? The following article will outline the steps you should take if ever you find yourself aboard a sinking ship. Fortunately, the odds of surviving a sinking ship are very high. The most important thing to do is stay calm.

Be prepared

Anyone who's had experience as a scout will know these 2 words: "be prepared". The meaning behind this famous saying is closely tied to another famous saying "knowing is half the battle". Those two bits of advice could very well save your life on a sinking ship.

Before even stepping aboard, prepare an evacuation bag complete with the tools you'd need to survive on a raft or an island.

Your survival kit should include:

Compass

Flashlight

Waterproof matches

Knife

Sunscreen lotion

Fresh water

Mirror for

signalling

Flares

First aid kit

Some food rations

Learn Where Everything Is

Make sure to explore the ship and become familiar with all the emergency exits and evacuation maps. Find the closest lifeboat to your cabin, and be sure to know where all the life jackets are. When it comes to ocean survival, floating is everything. You may have been able to tread water for hours back in the old swimming pool, but the ocean is much, much colder and rough. You'll already be fatigued and in a relative state of shock, and the ocean is filled with various forms of dangly leg-eaters.

Slide26

Example Paper 5: BoatsText A Taken from Boating Safety and Safe Boating Blog

Calm Down!So there you are, relaxing by the pool when suddenly the loud horn lets out 7 short bursts followed by one long one. This is not the boat playing battleship via Morse code with another distant ship, this is in fact the signal to abandon ship.

Screaming and running is the quickest way to get yourself killed. You're not thinking clearly, making terrible decisions, expending valuable energy and rushing into the madness of the mob. One trip and you could get trampled. Let the frenzying folk do their thing, and practice a little something called square breathing.Square Breathing:Inhale deeply for 4 seconds

Hold your lungs full for 4 seconds

Exhale for 4 seconds

Hold your longs empty for 4 seconds

Do this 3-4 times

and your nerves will settle, your heart rate will slow, and you will find it much easier to focus on survival. This simple technique is used in the military to lower the heart rates of snipers.

Statistically speaking, in an emergency scenario 70% of people will panic, 15% are going to make irrational decisions, and only the remaining 15% will be thinking clearly. Remaining calm already places you above 85% of the rest of the ship.

Follow the rats!

If the hull is breached and the ship begins to take on water, the lowest parts of the ship are generally filled first. This is also where much of a ship's vermin dwell. Rats have been known to be the first to abandon a sinking ship, which seems like intelligence at first until they plunge into the ocean and drown anyhow. They do however, set the right example of where to go as the ship is filling up.

Getting to the deck as fast as possible is extremely important. It would seem fairly obvious to avoid heading deeper and more towards the center of the ship as it sinks, but when panic sets in it's easier to lose orientation and to get lost. Similarly to a burning building situation, avoid using the elevators; it would be terrible to get stuck in one as the boat goes under. If you have time, make sure to grab your evacuation bag!

Slide27

Example Paper 5: BoatsText A Taken from Boating Safety and Safe Boating Blog

A stable ship is a sinking shipA good thing to know if you're on the deck of your own boat, if the boat seems to be rolling less than it should, it could be filling up with water. The weight of the water is preventing your boat from rolling with the waves, time to abandon ship!

Calling for HelpIf you're on a big cruise ship, you are clearly not responsible for calling for help. If you're on your own boat however, it's important to not only have a radio, but to know how to use it. Your radio should always be on and tuned to marine VHF radio channel Six-Teen (16) or Frequency 161.400 or 156.800 MHz; marine MF/SSB on 2182 kHz. The coastguard and other ocean rescue authorities are constantly monitoring these channels and will be able to dispatch help in an emergency. Most modern radios are equipped with a Digital Select Calling (DCS) button, which will send your GPS coordinates along with a Mayday beacon to the coastguard once pressed.Life boats

Without pushing or shoving, find a lifejacket, put it on before helping anyone else, and get yourself on a lifeboat in an orderly fashion. Your own morals will dictate whether you let women and children on the boats first, just know that the longer you stay aboard, the lower your chances of survival. And if you end up in the water as opposed to aboard a life raft, your odds for survival drop by as much as 70%. The water surrounding the Titanic when it sank was 28 degrees, giving swimmers about 15-30 minutes before their hearts stopped.

"The majority of the survivors of the Titanic disaster "were women, children and people with young children,"

Thomas H.

Maugh

II wrote for the Los Angeles Times, compared to the Lusitania, where they were primarily

"young men and women who responded immediately to their powerful survival instincts,"

according to the Associated Press."

Source:

Sinking Ship Escape EtiquetteTips to follow once on the lifeboat:

Continue to remain calmProtect your skin from the sunDrink your fresh water sparingly

Whenever it rains use whatever you can to capture the water.
Dehydration occurs quickly on the open seas.The vastness of the ocean and the apparent "hopelessness" of the situation can make people freak out, so try to keep people's brains occupied with conversation, singing, or games.

All you can do at this point is let the raft drift to shore, using your flares sparingly to attract the attention of other boats or aircraft.

Slide28

Example Paper 5: BoatsText B: Extract from a booklet containing an eye-witness account of a shipwreck that occurred in Seaford in 1809.

Q1: Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q2: Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]Q3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language [20 Marks]

One of the two men that were preserved of this vessel, had his nose cut asunder by the sudden fall of some timber upon him before he quit the ship, but his wound, though painful, turned out neither malignant nor dangerous.

All of the distressed crews that could, by the most resolute efforts, be saved from the various vessels, were saved before ten o'clock in the morning, one only excepted, the preservation of whom is deserving of particular mention, and the following are the circumstances of it:-

The piteous spectacle of the wrecks was within a very short distance of

Blatchington

; and the Commanding Officer of the military there stationed, Captain Brown, and the greater part of the subordinates of the 81st infantry, as well as the Officers generally of that regiment, took very active and humane parts on the luckless situation.

It so occurred, that Mr.

Derenzy

, a Lieutenant in the 81st, after various successful efforts in rescuing his fellow-men from the brine of death, discovered a poor mariner in the last agonies of exhaustion, sometimes beneath and sometimes above the surface of the billows*, feebly buffeting the waves, with the dying hope of being yet enabled of reaching the shore.

The soul of the truly courageous but tender-hearted veteran, was sensibly touched by the distressing picture of human woe that was now again exhibited before him, and he carefully watched every movement of the sufferer under the gratifying persuasion that the moment would arrive when he, by plunging in the water, should be able to afford him effectual relief.

The drowning man, however, appeared to have expended the last effort he could command soon after Mr.

Derenzy

had discovered him, and, at length, as

resignant

to the will of the all-good and all-powerful spirit of the universe, his eyes were raised on high, and the next moment he sunk as in the icy embrace of death.

The feelings of Mr.

Derenzy

were now wrought up to the highest pitch of agony -"I'll save the poor fellow," he exclaimed, "or perish in the attempt," and instantly plunged into the foaming surges, and was for some time lost to observation.

This brave and noble character, however, was at length, grasping firmly part of the

habilements

* of the object he had sought with one hand, while, with the other, he attempted to make good his return to the land. At this critical moment, a heavy fragment of the wreck struck Mr.

Derenzy

on the temple; the blow was forcible, and deprived him of his senses; he could no longer strive to stem the current and regain the land; but still held the poor sailor in his grasp, until lost, as it were, in the torpor* of death, both sank together.

*Glossary

billows = large sea waves

habilements

= clothing

torpor = a state of physical or mental inactivity; tiredness

Slide29

Example Paper 6: Air PollutionText A: Extract from Alexis de Tocqueville’s non-fiction novel 

Journeys to England and Ireland. Published around 1840.

An undulating plain, or rather a collection of little hills...On this watery land, which nature and art have contributed to keep damp, are scattered palaces and hovels. . . .Thirty or forty factories rise on the tops of the hills I have just described. Their six stories tower up; their huge enclosures give notice from afar of the centralisation of industry. The wretched dwellings of the poor are scattered haphazard around them. Round them stretches land uncultivated but without the charm of rustic nature, and still without the amenities of a town. The soil has been taken away, scratched and torn up in a thousand places, but it is not yet covered with the habitations of men. The land is given over to industry's use. . . .Heaps of dung, rubble from buildings, putrid, stagnant pools are found here and there among the houses and over the bumby

, pitted surfaces of the public places. . . .

On ground below the level of the river and overshadowed on every side by immense workshops, stretches marshy land which widely spaced muddy ditches can neither drain nor cleanse. Narrow, twisting roads lead down to it. They are lined with one-story houses whose ill-fitting planks and broken windows show them up, even from a distance, as the last refuge a man might find between poverty and death. None-the-less the wretched people reduced to living in them can still inspire jealousy of their fellow human beings. Below some of their miserable dwellings is a row of cellars to which a sunken corridor leads. Twelve to fifteen human being are crowded pell-mell into each of these damp, repulsive holes.

The fetid, muddy waters, stained with a thousand colours by the factories they pass, of one of the streams I mentioned before, wander slowly round this refuge of poverty. They are nowhere kept in place by quays; houses are built haphazard on their banks. Often from the top of their steep banks one sees an attempt at a road opening out through the debris of earth, and the foundations of some houses or the recent ruin of others. It is the Styx of this new Hades. Look up and around this place you will see the huge palaces of industry. You will hear the noise of furnaces, the whistle of steam. These vast structures keep air and light out of the human habitations which they dominate; they envelop them in perpetual fog; here is the slave, there the master; there the wealth of some, here the poverty of most; there the organised effort of thousands produce, to the profit of one man, what society has not yet learnt to give. Here the weakness of the individual seems more feebly and helpless than even in the middle of a wilderness; here the effects, there the causes.

A sort of black smoke covers the city. The sun seen through it is a disc without rays. Under this half daylight 300,000 human beings are ceaselessly at work. A thousand noises disturb this damp, dark labyrinth, but they are not at all the ordinary sounds one hears in great cities. The footsteps of a 

busy 

crowd, the crunching of wheels of machinery, the shriek of steam from boilers, the regular beat of the looms, the heavy rumble of carts, these are the noises from which you can never escape in the sombre half-light of these streets. You will never hear the clatter of hoofs as the rich man drives back home or out on expeditions of pleasure. Never the gay shouts of people amusing themselves, or music heralding a holiday.

You will never see smart folk strolling at leisure in the streets, or going out on innocent pleasure parties in the surrounding country. Crowds are even hurrying this way and that in the Manchester streets, but their footsteps are brisk, their looks preoccupied, and their appearance sombre and harsh. Day and night the street echoes with street noises. . .From this foul drain the greatest stream of human industry flows out to fertilise the whole world. From this filthy sewer pure gold flows. Here humanity attains its most complete development and its most brutish; here civilisation works its miracles, and civilised man is turned back almost into a savage.

Slide30

Example Paper 6: Air PollutionText A: Speech delivered by Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, as he launched the Clean Air Strategy. January 2019.

I’m here, as Health Secretary, because air pollution is a health emergency.

When it comes to our health, there’s lots of things we can take personal responsibility for: what we eat, how we exercise and whether we smoke, for instance. And I’m no nanny state politician. I believe personal responsibility is important. But around a third of what determines the length of our healthy life is the environment we live in – the things we can’t, alone, do anything about. And of those environmental causes of healthy life expectancy, the biggest factor is the air we breathe. The biggest single environmental cause of death is air pollution. Air pollution causes chronic conditions, and shortens lives. In short: air pollution kills. Clean air saves lives. And it’s worse than that – because the impact of air pollution is even bigger on children, as their lungs are growing. I know this. I know more about air pollution than most people. For a decade, almost, I lived next to a very busy main road. I’d constantly have to clean the dirt – these horribly black specs that became a carpet – off my window sill. And to this day I feel guilty that I brought my children into the world living next to the A40. I’m delighted that I was able to move my family away, but I know not everyone is in a position to do that.

And contrast that with my constituency in West Suffolk where you’re much likelier to breathe fresh, clean air blown in from the sea – it might as well be 2 different worlds.

We are the fifth richest country in the world. We’ve just put an extra £20.5 billion into the NHS. Its budget will be £148 billion a year – £3,000 for every man, woman and child in this country. Yet air pollution causes around 36,000 deaths each year, and puts extra, preventable strain on the NHS through increased incidents of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and child asthma. Surely we can afford to stop killing ourselves with entirely preventable filth, and give every child clean air, no matter where they live, so we can give every child the best possible start in life.

Much of the technology exists, and where it doesn’t, let’s invent it. Every new development and new technology should be clean by design – like the NHS is leading the way on.

We all have a part to play. Cycling or walking short journeys instead of driving not only helps our own health, it reduces the health risk to others by helping cut air pollution. But this isn’t something we can each do alone. It takes concerted, far-sighted government action, like the visionary action being proposed today by my brilliant friend Michael Gove. That’s why we are working so closely together. It’s why I feel so strongly about these plans. For your children and for mine.

I’m very proud to do my bit, proud of this Conservative government demonstrating bold, progressive, energetic, popular action this day to improve the lives of millions, to deliver for our citizens, and make Britain fit for the future.

Q1: Analyse how Text A uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q2: Analyse how Text B uses language to create meanings and representations [25 Marks]

Q3: Explore the similarities and differences in the ways Text A and Text B use language [20 Marks]