Language A

1. What makes a Language A EE different?

A Language A essay:

• analyses literary effects and devices, not background information

• is rooted in interpretation, not description

• focuses on how the text creates meaning

• bases its argument entirely on textual evidence

• must reflect the conventions of literary criticism

• treats issues only within the literary context of the text

The guide states that a Language A EE examines the effects the text achieves and the devices it uses to create these effects.

2. Rules for choosing texts

These rules are unique to Language A and must be followed carefully.

Your essay must be based on one or more clearly defined primary texts.

These may be:

• a single literary text

• a comparison of two or more literary texts

• a comparison of a literary text and a non literary language text

Language requirement

At least one text must have been originally written in the language of your EE.

A second text may be used in translation.

Restriction on studied texts

You may not base your EE on any text studied in your Language A course.

You may use a different text by an author you studied.

3. What counts as a suitable topic?

A strong Language A topic:

• is focused on a precise literary feature or effect

• leads naturally to close reading

• allows for sustained interpretation

• avoids broad themes, biography, plot or social history

Examples of strong approaches

• How structure shapes meaning

• How a narrator influences interpretation

• How imagery or symbolism creates a particular effect

• How characters embody ideas within the text

• How a writer uses language to construct identity or perspective

These are explicitly warned against in Subject-Specific Guidance:

• describing social or political issues without literary analysis

• writing biography of the author

• retelling the plot

• thematically analysing without technique

• using the text as evidence for real world arguments

4. What analytical methods should you use?

The core method is close reading:

• selecting significant passages

• analysing specific language choices

• exploring stylistic devices

• examining structure, form and perspective

• connecting effects to wider patterns in the text

You may also use:

• literary theory (for example, structuralism, feminism, postcolonial theory)

• scholarly criticism that supports or challenges your interpretation

But your own insights must dominate. Secondary sources can support but must never replace your argument.

5. Expectations for argument and interpretation

Your essay must present:

A clear interpretative claim

An argument about how meaning is created.

A sustained thread

Your line of argument should link the research question, the analysis, and the conclusion.

Textual precision

Quotations should be well chosen and analysed in depth, not simply presented.

Awareness of alternative readings

Strong essays acknowledge ambiguity and justify why one reading is compelling.

6. Common pitfalls in Language A essays

Avoid these, as they frequently cause essays to lose marks:

• writing a descriptive essay with little analysis

• summarising the plot

• choosing a text that is too broad for 4,000 words

• letting historical or cultural background dominate

• relying heavily on secondary criticism

• analysing themes without linking them to technique

• attempting to cover too many techniques or chapters

• focusing on the author instead of the text

These are echoed repeatedly in subject reports and the new guidance.

7. Model Research Questions

Here are examples that demonstrate appropriate focus and literary direction:

1. How does Toni Morrison use fragmented narrative structure to shape the reader’s understanding of memory in Beloved?

2. In what ways does Kazuo Ishiguro construct narrative unreliability in Never Let Me Go and with what effect?

3. How does Han Kang employ symbolism to represent autonomy and resistance in The Vegetarian?

4. How does the use of landscape imagery contribute to the portrayal of isolation in the poetry of Emily Brontë?

5. To what extent does Shakespeare’s use of antithesis intensify dramatic tension in Macbeth?