In the past decade, the teaching of English has undergone a major shift in focus. Matching similar changes in Higher Education, A level English, literature or language, now approach a range of texts from a linguistic perspective. Successful English language learners develop an understanding and enjoyment of a wide variety of texts. They gain pleasure and awareness of how language is constructed in different ways, for different purposes and for different audiences.

In addition, they gain skills for life, including:

The ability to appreciate how different texts are shaped by their language and style.

Skills in creating their own imaginative and persuasive writing for different purposes and audiences.

Skills in researching, selecting and shaping information from different sources.

The ability to analyse and compare written and spoken texts in close detail.

Key concepts

When we say the characteristics of written and spoken texts, we are referring to the ways in which constructed and spontaneous language are either consciously or unconsciously formed and shaped by different means for a variety of purposes and effects.

Structure refers to the organisation of a text or passage, its shape and development and how this contributes to meaning and effect: for example the way in which a written passage or spoken language may develop using different techniques and moods.

Context refers to the relationship between a text and its background – for example, historical, social, cultural and economic – and the ways in which it may influence the meaning and interpretation of a particular extract.

By the features of imaginative writing, we mean the ingredients which may help to form different types of creative responses.

The features of persuasive and argumentative writing encompass the different techniques and devices employed in conveying points of view, exemplification and cohesive reasoning in different formats.

The features of spontaneous speech include their differences to shaped and scripted speeches and dialogue; the characteristics which mark spontaneous speech out as being unrehearsed.

Language acquisition refers here to the ways in which children and teenagers learn to recognise, understand and construct language at different times in their development. It also explores how these processes shape their different uses of both written and spoken language as they grow.