Section A
Language Diversity and Change
Answer one question in this section
Either
0 1 Analyse and evaluate the ways in which people of authority use language to influence others
[30 marks]
or
0 2 Evaluate the idea that language change is either a process of evolution or of decay
[30 marks]
Section B
Language Discourses
Answer both Question 3 and Question 4
Text A is an extract from an article about slang from The Guardian, accessed in 2013
Text B is an extract from an article about textspeak from The Telegraph, accessed in 2013.
0 3 Analyse how language is used in Text A and Text B to present views about language change.
In your answer, you should:
Examine any similarities and differences you find between the two texts
Explore how effectively the texts present their views
[40 marks]
0 4 Write an opinion article about language change in which you assess the ideas and issues raised in
Text A and Text B.
You should refer to ideas from language study and argue your own views.
[30 marks]
, Text A
Banning slang will only further alienate young
people, innit
Will Coldwell
The Harris Academy in London's Upper Norwood should not mute pupils' voices, but instead look
for better ways of motivating them
Harris Academy in Upper Norwood has put posters up outlawing "innit", "bare", "like" and "extra" as well as the
heinous practice of beginning sentences with "basically" or ending them with "yeah". Photograph: @artsemergency
Basically, this week a south London school decided to ban slang. Harris Academy in Upper
Norwood has put posters up outlawing "innit", "bare", "like" and "extra" as well as the heinous
practice of beginning sentences with "basically" or ending them with "yeah".
The school believes its initiative will help students to "develop the soft skills they will need to
compete for jobs and university places".
Labour MP David Lammy agrees. He said he hoped they could add the words "s'up blood" to the
list. "Speaking slang is fine in a social setting," he told the Daily Mail. "But a school should be a
professional, educational environment, and if part of that means banning slang then that's fine by
me."
But while most people, young and old, will probably understand that you shouldn't refer to a
potential employer as "blood", there seems to be increasing and unwarranted criticism of the
language of the young. It is important for people to understand that language must be adjusted
according to their situation, but banning certain words seems more likely to isolate the very pupils
the school is hoping to assist.
The school may feel as though it is doing its pupils a service, preparing them to enter the interview
room with received pronunciation, but do they face making some pupils feel less welcome in the
process?
Interested to hear a perspective from a teacher who promotes a different approach to the measures
adopted by Harris Academy, I asked Darren Chetty, founder of the Power to the Pupils hip-hop
education project, for his thoughts. "Banning [the words] makes a very strong value judgment to
pupils and it has an effect on the pupils who use that language," he says. "It situates the school as a
middle-class place."
He goes on: "It's the idea that speaking slang is speaking nonsense that doesn't make any sense to
me. Where would there be the place for patois poetry and writing that uses
dialect? Schools shouldn't be pretending that these languages don't exist."
Language Diversity and Change
Answer one question in this section
Either
0 1 Analyse and evaluate the ways in which people of authority use language to influence others
[30 marks]
or
0 2 Evaluate the idea that language change is either a process of evolution or of decay
[30 marks]
Section B
Language Discourses
Answer both Question 3 and Question 4
Text A is an extract from an article about slang from The Guardian, accessed in 2013
Text B is an extract from an article about textspeak from The Telegraph, accessed in 2013.
0 3 Analyse how language is used in Text A and Text B to present views about language change.
In your answer, you should:
Examine any similarities and differences you find between the two texts
Explore how effectively the texts present their views
[40 marks]
0 4 Write an opinion article about language change in which you assess the ideas and issues raised in
Text A and Text B.
You should refer to ideas from language study and argue your own views.
[30 marks]
, Text A
Banning slang will only further alienate young
people, innit
Will Coldwell
The Harris Academy in London's Upper Norwood should not mute pupils' voices, but instead look
for better ways of motivating them
Harris Academy in Upper Norwood has put posters up outlawing "innit", "bare", "like" and "extra" as well as the
heinous practice of beginning sentences with "basically" or ending them with "yeah". Photograph: @artsemergency
Basically, this week a south London school decided to ban slang. Harris Academy in Upper
Norwood has put posters up outlawing "innit", "bare", "like" and "extra" as well as the heinous
practice of beginning sentences with "basically" or ending them with "yeah".
The school believes its initiative will help students to "develop the soft skills they will need to
compete for jobs and university places".
Labour MP David Lammy agrees. He said he hoped they could add the words "s'up blood" to the
list. "Speaking slang is fine in a social setting," he told the Daily Mail. "But a school should be a
professional, educational environment, and if part of that means banning slang then that's fine by
me."
But while most people, young and old, will probably understand that you shouldn't refer to a
potential employer as "blood", there seems to be increasing and unwarranted criticism of the
language of the young. It is important for people to understand that language must be adjusted
according to their situation, but banning certain words seems more likely to isolate the very pupils
the school is hoping to assist.
The school may feel as though it is doing its pupils a service, preparing them to enter the interview
room with received pronunciation, but do they face making some pupils feel less welcome in the
process?
Interested to hear a perspective from a teacher who promotes a different approach to the measures
adopted by Harris Academy, I asked Darren Chetty, founder of the Power to the Pupils hip-hop
education project, for his thoughts. "Banning [the words] makes a very strong value judgment to
pupils and it has an effect on the pupils who use that language," he says. "It situates the school as a
middle-class place."
He goes on: "It's the idea that speaking slang is speaking nonsense that doesn't make any sense to
me. Where would there be the place for patois poetry and writing that uses
dialect? Schools shouldn't be pretending that these languages don't exist."
