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Flashcards · 7702 · Topic 1
Language, the individual and society flashcards
21 cards on Topic 1, subtopics 3.1.1 to 3.1.3. Pick a subtopic or study them all.
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3.1.1 Textual variations and representations
- How is AQA A-level English Language 7702 assessed?
- Paper 1 Language, the Individual and Society (2 h 30, 100 marks, 40%), Paper 2 Language Diversity and Change (2 h 30, 100 marks, 40%) and the NEA Language in Action (100 marks, 20%).
- What does Paper 1 Section A (Textual variations and representations) require?
- Three questions on two linked texts: analysis of Text A (25 marks), analysis of Text B (25 marks) and a comparison of the two (20 marks).
- What are the five assessment objectives in 7702?
- AO1 apply methods of linguistic analysis with terminology and coherent expression; AO2 understanding of concepts and issues in language use; AO3 how context and language features construct meaning; AO4 connections across texts; AO5 expertise and creativity in using English.
- What is representation in language study?
- How language constructs a version of people, groups or events, which can reinforce or challenge attitudes. Look at naming, modifiers, and whether agency is shown or hidden.
- What is transitivity, and why analyse it?
- Who is presented as the agent doing an action and who as the one affected. It shows whether a text gives a group power and responsibility or presents them as passive.
- How can a text position its reader without stating a view?
- Through presupposition (building a claim into the sentence), inclusive pronouns that enrol the reader, selection and omission of voices, and naming choices such as "protester" against "activist".
- How should the Paper 1 comparison question be organised?
- By point of comparison across both texts, not one text then the other, and comparing language choices rather than content.
3.1.2 Methods of language analysis
- What are the language levels used for analysis in 7702?
- Phonetics, phonology and prosodics; graphology; lexis and semantics; grammar (including morphology); pragmatics; and discourse.
- What is the three-step pattern for every analytical point?
- Name the feature with correct terminology, quote it, and explain its effect in relation to audience, purpose and context. A feature named without an effect earns little.
- What does modality signal in a text?
- The writer's degree of certainty or obligation. High modality (must, will) asserts authority; low modality (might, perhaps) hedges or softens.
- What is deixis?
- Words whose meaning depends on the context of utterance, such as this, here, now and you. It ties language to a shared situation and can create closeness or immediacy.
- What is pragmatics?
- The study of implied meaning in context: what a speaker intends beyond the literal words, including presupposition, implicature and politeness.
- What is mode, and why is it a spectrum?
- Whether a text is spoken or written. Many forms mix features: a text message is written in medium but often speech-like, so mode is analysed as a continuum.
- How does a scripted news bulletin differ from a live phone-in?
- The bulletin is written to be spoken: planned, dense, complete sentences, no repair. The phone-in is spontaneous: fillers, false starts, overlaps and self-repair, with structure negotiated live.
3.1.3 Children’s language development
- What does Paper 1 Section B (Children's language development) require?
- One 30-mark discursive essay from a choice of two, evaluating a view of children's language development and drawing on the data provided and on theories and research.
- What are the main stages of children's spoken language development?
- Babbling, holophrastic (one-word), two-word, telegraphic, then post-telegraphic.
- What does the behaviourist view of acquisition claim?
- Skinner: children learn language through imitation and reinforcement (praise or correction) from carers.
- What does the nativist view of acquisition claim?
- Chomsky: children have an innate language acquisition device that lets them work out grammatical rules from limited input.
- What do cognitive and interactionist views of acquisition claim?
- Cognitive (Piaget): language follows conceptual understanding. Interactionist (Bruner): child-directed speech and social interaction scaffold acquisition.
- What is a virtuous error, and what does it show?
- A logical but non-standard form such as "goed" or "sheeps". The child cannot have imitated it, so it is evidence of rule formation, supporting nativist accounts against pure imitation.
- What is child-directed speech?
- The simplified way carers often talk to young children: higher pitch, exaggerated intonation, repetition, short sentences and questions. Interactionists see it as support for learning.