AQA A-Level English Language: Language Diversity and Change (7702)

This guide covers 4.2.1 Language Diversity and Change, the content underpinning Paper 2 Section A (Diversity and Change), from AQA AS and A-level English Language (7701/7702), Version 1.2, AS and A-level exams June 2016 onwards.

Where this fits

4.2 Language Diversity and Change is the second major content area of the A-level (alongside 4.1 Language, the Individual and Society). Paper 2 Section A assesses this content through an evaluative essay — either on language diversity or on language change — worth 30 marks.

Syllabus coverage

AQA AS AND A-LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE (7701/7702) — 4.2.1 LANGUAGE DIVERSITY AND CHANGE

Students study a range of examples of language in use and research data, including: texts using different sociolects (social and occupational groups, gender and ethnicity); texts using different dialects (regional, national and international varieties of English); texts that use language to represent these different groups; texts from different periods, from 1600 to the present day; written, spoken and electronic texts about a range of subjects, for various audiences and purposes in a variety of genres; items from collections of language data (such as dictionaries, online resources, language corpora); and research findings (such as tables, graphs, statistics).

When analysing texts and data, students should explore: how language varies because of personal, social, geographical and temporal contexts; why language varies and changes, developing critical knowledge of different views and explanations; attitudes to language variation and change; the use of language according to audience, purpose, genre and mode; and how language is used to enact relationships. This exploration includes methods of language analysis, how identity is constructed, how audiences are addressed and positioned, the functions of texts, their structure and organisation, and how representations are produced.

How to approach it

Keep “diversity” and “change” as two related but distinct lenses on language variation: diversity concerns how language differs across social groups, regions and contexts at a given point in time (a sociolect, a regional dialect, a text aimed at a particular audience); change concerns how language has shifted over time, from 1600 to the present day. Paper 2 Section A offers a choice of essay on either diversity or change, so having a clear, separately organised bank of examples and terminology for each — rather than one blended set — pays off directly in the exam.

The specification’s two content statements on context (personal, social, geographical and temporal) and on audience, purpose, genre and mode can be grouped, as a revision aid, into five analytical lenses applicable to any text you’re given — this grouping is an editorial convenience for organising revision, not a framework the specification itself names. When analysing an unfamiliar text in this section, work through each lens in turn: who produced it and in what social/geographical context; when was it produced (relevant to a change-focused answer); who is the intended audience; what is its purpose; what genre it belongs to, and where it sits on the spectrum of mode from spoken to written, with digital and electronic forms sitting between the two. This systematic approach prevents the common failure mode of jumping straight to isolated language features without first establishing the text’s context.

Worked example: analysing a sociolect feature

A question presents an extract of workplace communication among a specific occupational group and asks candidates to comment on its use of sociolect.

Feature:       specialist lexis and abbreviations specific to the
               occupational group (e.g. industry jargon or acronyms)
Context:       this is an example of an occupational sociolect --
               language variation associated with a particular social
               or professional group rather than a geographical region
Function:      such lexis creates in-group identity and efficient
               communication among group members, while potentially
               excluding or confusing outsiders unfamiliar with the
               terms
Link to wider  this connects to the specification's focus on how
debate:        language is used to enact relationships and construct
               identity -- specialist lexis both reflects and
               reinforces membership of a professional community

Linking a specific textual feature to the broader concepts the specification names (identity, relationships, in-group/out-group dynamics) is what distinguishes an evaluative essay from a purely descriptive one.

Key terms to define precisely

Sociolect — a variety of language associated with a particular social group, such as an occupational group, gender group, or ethnic group, as distinct from a regional dialect. Dialect — a variety of language associated with a geographical region or national/ international area, differing in vocabulary, grammar and sometimes pronunciation from other varieties. Mode — a spectrum running from spoken to written, with digital and electronic forms sitting between the two, that interacts with audience and purpose to shape a text’s language choices. Representation — how language is used to construct a particular image or portrayal of a group or individual, which may reinforce or challenge social attitudes. Language change — the observable shift in vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation or usage conventions of a language over time, studied in this specification across the period from 1600 to the present. Distinguishing sociolect from dialect precisely — social-group-based variation versus geography-based variation — is a foundational distinction this whole content area depends on, and conflating the two is one of the most common and most costly errors in essays on diversity.

Named positions on diversity

Key areas of social variation and their leading positions, useful as citable evaluative material in a diversity essay:

• Gender — Lakoff’s deficit model, Tannen’s difference model, Zimmerman and West on interruption, and later critiques arguing gendered language differences are exaggerated and context-dependent.
• Social class and region — accent and dialect, Labov’s department store study, Trudgill on Norwich, overt and covert prestige.
• Occupation — jargon and specialist lexis creating in-groups.
• Ethnicity — varieties such as MLE, and attitudes toward them.
• Power — Fairclough on influential and instrumental power, and the linguistic means by which it is exercised: imperatives, modality, interruption, topic control.

Attitudes to language variation are examinable in themselves: prescriptivism treats change as decline, descriptivism treats it as natural variation. A strong essay names a position, applies it to the data provided, and cites a critique or counter-position rather than presenting any one theorist as settled fact.

Named views on why language changes

The evaluative essay on language change credits engagement with named positions, not just the prescriptivist/descriptivist split above:

• Jean Aitchison’s three metaphors for the prescriptivist reaction to change — the Damp Spoon image (change as laziness), the Crumbling Castle image (change as decay of a once-perfect structure), and the Infectious Disease image (change as contagion spreading through careless speakers) — each of which Aitchison herself rejects in favour of a descriptivist, “language as a living, evolving system” position.
• The S-curve model of lexical diffusion — a new form spreads slowly among a few users, then rapidly through the wider population, then slowly again as it reaches the last holdouts, producing an S-shaped curve when adoption is plotted against time.
• Functional theory (associated with David Crystal and Jean Aitchison) — language changes to meet new communicative needs, such as new technology or social change requiring new vocabulary or structures, rather than declining through carelessness.
• Random fluctuation theory — some changes have no clear social or functional cause and are better explained as arbitrary drift than as evidence of a single driving mechanism.

A strong evaluative essay engages with more than one of these named positions and reaches a judgement, rather than relying solely on the prescriptivist/descriptivist opposition.

Common mistakes

Treating “diversity” and “change” as the same topic rather than preparing distinct examples and vocabulary for each. Analysing a text’s language features without first establishing its audience, purpose, genre and mode. Describing a language feature (a sociolect term, a dialect form) without explaining its social function or what it reveals about identity or relationships. Using examples only from the present day when a question specifically addresses language change, missing the specification’s 1600-to-present timeframe. Applying gender or class theories as settled fact rather than contested positions.

Quick revision checklist

• Build separate example banks for diversity (sociolect, dialect, representation) and change (historical shifts since 1600).
• Practise applying the audience/purpose/genre/mode framework to unfamiliar texts systematically.
• Be ready to explain the social function of a language feature, not just identify it.
• Know at least one specific, named debate or attitude about language variation or change to reference in an evaluative essay.

Related resources

• Language Diversity and Change revision notes
• Language Diversity and Change practice questions

Official syllabus

AQA AS and A-level English Language (7701/7702) specification, Version 1.2, June 2016 exams onwards — aqa.org.uk/7702.