English Language or Lit?

[Immenseman]

I'm going to college in September and I'm going to change what I pick. I want to do one out of either English Langauge or English Lit but I really don't know which. Just so you know I got a grade "A" for both of these at GCSE and the other three A levels I will be studying are Sociology, Psychology and History.

Any opinions? Have you done either before, what did you think about them?

Thanks :)

[JackBuddy]

Psychology... ba-hoooooorrrrinnngg.

Anyway if you can't decide which one to do do the lang & lit combined course. Btw you might not be able to choose it so late, there was a waiting list for some subjects when I first started college.

[Immenseman]

For our college you can basically pick on the day. So many people won't get the good enough grades. You just have to ask the teacher if you can enrole on their course and if you got good enough grades they'll say yes.

[Virgin Mary]

I do both individual subjects... English literature comes across as less technical, but English language is a lot more varied in terms of subject matter. Ultimately, it depends what you like really - English lit, as you'd expect, is reading books and writing essays on them. English language is more your own work, you do investigations and are tested on your ability to use the language as well as understand it.

[Throne Sofa]

Go for English Literature. It's a bit more respected as well.

[Immenseman]

Hmmm, which one would go better with History, Psychology and Sociology.

[,Jess,]

I'm doing English lit atm and I quite like it. I do Psychology as well and think it goes well with that and probably history especially because you do a lot about context and different literary views etc so it could help. Not sure about English language and what the course is like though.

[FlyingJesus]

Psychology is an awful subject, I did it for a year and since then have told people to avoid it like the plague.

I did English lit thinking that as it was literature I'd get to try out my creative writing skills, but apparently it's just analysis :P I was actually told off for putting creative stuff in my essays lol. Language is the more creative one as I found out, but didn't bother switiching. Literature is seen as a higher subject anyway I think.

[JackBuddy]

Psychology is an awful subject, I did it for a year and since then have told people to avoid it like the plague.
Ditto.

[Misawa]

A degree in psychology will have you working in McDonald's.

[Immenseman]

A degree in psychology will have you working in McDonald's.

Lucky I'm not studying it at university then. Thanks for the constructive post. A genuine thanks to everyone else who helped me, I really am stuck and just have no idea. I think I'm leaning towards Literature at the moment but I'm yet to decide.

[JackBuddy]

Do the lit and lang combined course.

[Misawa]

At AS Literature, you study a novel and poetry.

At AS Language, you study the history and origins of the English language, and close study different elements such as idiolect; the psychology of the language. Meaningful psychology. The coursework is creative writing spanning from journalistic articles to moral fables.

[Immenseman]

I think I'm leaning towards English Literature, it all depends who the teacher is though. I enjoy the creative side of the Language course but I don't enjoy the other side, the more "language" side if you like. I find it dull and not really what I want. Literature is a lot more reading and analysis, which I enjoy a lot more anyway.

[Soka]

A degree in psychology will have you working in McDonald's.

LOL,

i'd choose english literature due to what you just said about prefering analysis
although does your not college not to the english lit/lang combined A level? this would be ideal as your having to choose :)

why you choosing because of teacher - don't do that lol

[Immenseman]

I am staying at the school I went to for 6th form and their English department is relatively weak I think. There are some class teachers and some crap ones that's why I need to wait. Yeah we do do the combined course that is something I will have to consider too.

[Holofoil]

Hmmm, which one would go better with History, Psychology and Sociology.

Depends what you want to go on and do... Literature shows you are able to analyse stuff well, which goes well with the other three, especially history. Language shows good communication and obviously language skills, which goes well with Psychology and Socio.

[Supersam]

I do Language and its brilliant. I did great for AS level.

However, my friend does both and she assures me that Lit is better... however her teacher is better in that so I cannot compare.

I would suggest LIT if:
-You like to read.... ALOT
-You can critique well (such as what you do in history)

LANG if:
-You are very creative
-You can take lots of information and use it to analyse texts

Lit would be very good alongside history because you actually do war literature as a module (if you do the AQA specification I think).


Oh and the first year of lang is all about the building blocks of language and text that comes under:
-Lexis
-Semantics
-Pragmatics
-Grammar
-Phonology
-Discourse
-Graphology

And using those "frameworks" you analyse texts for those features.

They are both good and it depends on what you want to continue on doing through uni (if you go) as to what you choose.

[benjamin]

lit lit lit!
english literature is much more interesting.

[Immenseman]

The grammar side of the Langauge course really puts me off. I think I will choose literature, I spoke to my Aunt who teaches English and she advised me to do Literature too.

[Frodo13.]

I'm about to start A2 English Literature after doing suprisingly well as AS (I utterly convinced myself I was going to get a U, and I got a C). Lit is OK, and nothing more to be honast and the only thing that has made me carry on with it is the fact it is a respectable subject, and I have the two greatest teachers ever for it. All year I have found it difficult, hard work and at times unbearable and I also got a good grade at GCSE, but when I achieved the good grade at AS, it gave me a bigger sence of accomplishment then any other then my other subjects.

I also think it has alot to do with what books you study. Thankfully for you, A Levels are changing this year, so I don't think you will have to be put through the horrors of reading Cold Mountain (I hated it so much that I got a D on the Modern Novel Paper) But while I say that, I also studied some great texts, such as 'Tis Pity...' and 'The World's Wife', and it showed in my grade (I got an A on the Texts in Context paper). And you may even be shocked at what sort of stuff you liked; this past year I have totally changed my perception to Shakespeare and have also read some great books which I will be comparing for my coursework for A2. If your looking for a subject with great variety, but also will challenge you, then go for Lit.

[Funya Chin]

I failed at English Language AS and I got a B at GCSE. Language I was fine though but this is probably because it was coursework-based. I generally fail in exams apart from GCSE's because they're easy.

Depends what you want though, do you want to spend two years reading, analysing and reviewing novels and poetry or spend two years writing original text, changing text etc.

[Immenseman]

I picked literature and missed my first lesson because I was messing with mates.

[Inseriousity.]

Hahahahaha, great start :P

I was late for French. That's hard :(. I was thinking english lit or french and I picked french lololol. I need to get used to the teacher speaking in fluent french with only 20 minutes of English :P

[Abbie.]

most people that do englit at as level seem to do well, its alot of hard work though lol, i did it at gcse and hated it so much, but i went into the exam without reading the books and poems and got a C (y) o yeahh LOL

[Immenseman]

I found GCSE French very hard so I didn't pick it. It's not my fault they totally messed up my timetable.

[Abbie.]

I found GCSE French very hard so I didn't pick it. It's not my fault they totally messed up my timetable.

my best friend does alevel french for a level, it is really hard actually

i enjoyed french gcse actually but sound northern irish when i speak french, so i couldnt pick it because u need the accent lmao.