English Language (A Level)

Clayton, D. and Kemp, B., 2008. AQA English language A. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Year 13 Reading List

Blogs:

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk
http://dialectblog.com
http://david-crystal.blogspot.co.uk
http://linguistics-research-digest.blogspot.co.uk
http://geoffbarton.co.uk/student-resources.php
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language

Accessible Texts to Develop your Knowledge:

Bill Bryson: Mother Tongue

“A delightful survey – though with its good humour, wealth of anecdote, and boyish enthusiasm, “romp” would be a better word.” (David Crystal)

 David Marsh: For Who the Bell Tolls

“an entertaining compendium of usage notes and essays. Most satisfying is an angry chapter on so-called “political correctness”, which demolishes the pretensions of those who think they have a God-given right to abuse those less fortunate than themselves.” (Steven Poole Guardian)

 David Crystal: The Fight for English

“elegant, accessible, illuminating” (Times Education Supplement)

 Robert Lane Greene: You are what you Speak

“An insightful, accessible examination of the way in which day-to-day speech is tangled in a complicated web of history, politics, race, economics and power.”

 Deborah Cameron: The Myth of Mars and Venus

“In this vigorously argued book, [Cameron] also combats the cliché by example, writing in an enjoyable mode of pugnacious sarcasm” (Steven Poole, The Guardian)

 Deborah Tannen: You Just don’t Understand

Tannen combines a novelist’s ear for the way people speak with a rare power of original analysis … fascinating (OLIVER SACKS)

 Julie Coleman: The Life of Slang

“Completely fascinating … immensely enjoyable … Coleman’s thinking lifts this book above the usual semi-disposable level of writing about rude words.” (James McConnachie, The Sunday Times)

 Lynne Truss: Eats, Shoots and Leaves

‘I laughed, I howled, and I immediately wanted to join the militant wing of the Apostrophe Society. This is great stuff: genuine, heartfelt and rousing.’ Jenny Colgan

 Henry Hitchens: The Language Wars: A History of Proper English

‘It is a breath of fresh air (if that is the right cliché) to wander the byways of language without always being nudged to laugh at prescriptivists’ foolish nostrums.’ (Daily Telegraph)

Twitter Handles:

@HorsforthEng
@EngLangBlog
@JennyLewinJones
@CLVEngLang
@MisterSlang
@tonythorne007
@JillLavs
@GHEngLang
@WhitbyA2English
@StanCarey
@HSFCEngLang
@MurrayLeeA
@LanguageDebates
@backwellengdept
@HillsEnglish1
@robdrummond
@nickking6
@TarporleyLang
@QEEnglish
@SSFCEnglishLang
@ENSFCEnglish