in the 2018 summer exams fewer than 40
percent of students achieved above half
marks in AQA English language paper one
question - proving once again that this
question is less about spotting language
choices and more about writing about
their effect in a manner which is
precise and contextualized in this video
we'll look at how to do just that
AQA English language paper 1 question 2
assesses the language element of
assessment objective to explain comment
on and analyze how writers use language
and structure to achieve effects and
influence readers using relevant subject
terminology to support their view now in
this exam what we mean by language
analysis is pointed out in the bullet
points of the question a right is use of
words phrases language features and
techniques and sentence forms in this
question you're given a section of the
text historically around six to ten
lines in length and asked to analyze how
the writer uses language let's look at a
typical question based on the sample
paper which you can download free of
charge at mr. broth calm looking detail
at this extract from lines 8 to 17 of
the source how does the writer use
language here to describe the setting
you could include the writers choice of
words and phrases language features and
techniques sentence forms now it's worth
pointing out that those bullet points
could be followed but you don't have to
cover all three especially if you run
out of time before you can do so in fact
in the November 2018 paper the
examiner's report pointed out that there
were no sentence forms worthy of
analysis in that particular extract of
the text so the key thing about these
three bullet points is that you could
write about all three but you don't have
to as an eighth mark question you really
only want to spend around 10 minutes on
question two and yet many students spend
way longer because there are just so
many different examples you could write
about however you don't have to write
about everything you find obviously if
you spend too long on this relatively
low mark question you're going to run
out of time on the longer higher mark
questions to come so keep an eye on the
clock and don't go over ten minutes or
so now the assessment objective for
question 2 refers to the use of relevant
subject terminology and this has led
some students to approach the question
as if it's all about feature spotting
looking out for similes and metaphors
personification that kind of thing
but this question is not simply about
identifying and labeling language
features it's all about effect and the
mark scheme makes it very clear that you
can only achieve half marks at best if
you write about generic effects such as
this is powerful or it draws the reader
in or creates a picture in our heads so
the key thing to this question is to be
specific about the effects the writers
language choices have or to explain the
reason behind the writers choices one
way to do this is to read the extract
and ask yourself what is the specific
effect the write is trying to achieve
now sometimes it might be an emotional
effect like creating a sense of fear or
mystery and sometimes it might be
something else like revealing something
key about a character and it's not
necessarily only one thing for example
an extract might use contrasting
positive and negative language to
symbolize the contrast between a
character's dreams and their reality so
let's look at the extract and ask
ourselves what is the specific effect
the write is trying to achieve
brightly had a home the river saw to
that
not the Tavey but the less romantic tall
on the western side of course and are
many gorges in the great cleft cut by
the tour between bell stone and stipple
path these narrow and deep clefts have
been made by the persistent water
draining down to the tour from the bogs
above in the largest as these clefts
brightly was at home the sides were
completely hidden by willow scrub
immense ferns and clumps of wattle
berries as well as by overhanging masses
of granite the water could be heard
dripping below like a chime of fairy
bells in winter the cleft appeared a
white cascade of falling water but
brightly's cave was fairly dry and quite
sheltered he had built up the entrance
with shaped stones taken from the long
abandoned copper mines below the cleft
was full of copper which stained the
water a delightful shade of green so
what effect is the writer looking for
here well of course there's more than
one possible answer but I'd certainly
say that the language is used
make the setting sound it Dilek and
appealing and once you're clear on the
effect then you can pick out words
phrases language features techniques and
sentence forms that create that effect
but remember it's not enough just to
spot one of these things you need to be
able to clearly explain the effect it
has avoiding vague and generalized
comments that could be applied to any
text so let's finish this video by
looking at a sample paragraph the writer
describes the setting in a way that
makes it sound idyllic the sound of
water resembles a time of theory bells
this simile conveys how delicate and
pretty the sound was and emphasizes how
lovely it would have been to hear if you
lived there it's almost as if the
surroundings are magical and trying to
resemble a real home for brightly who
lives outside like a homeless person the
fairy barrels describe a magical
sentimental world that perhaps provides
an escape for brightly's difficult
existence I hope you found this video
useful if you'd like to see a longer
video on this question then you can see
one just here click on the screen and
you'll be taken to that video please do
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