AQA English Language

Revision cards for section A of the AQA English Language exam, covering which features to look for in different types of text.

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Audience

Aspects chosen to appeal to the audience are:

  • presentation
  • language
  • content and style

Audiences are characterised by

  • age
  • background
  • gender
  • interests
  • location
  • belief
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Purpose

Purposes include:

  • advise
  • argue
  • describe
  • entertain
  • explain
  • inform
  • persuade
  • review
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Extra features

Other things to look out for are:

  • use of colour, fonts and images
  • position or layout of certain features or information
  • headings, sub-headings and pull quotes
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Writer's Perspective

What to look for:

  • emotive language
  • strong first sentence
  • sarcasm
  • criticism
  • presenting other viewpoint
  • sentence structure/length
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Newspaper Reports

  • impersonal style - writer only facts, opinions come from sources
  • emotive language
  • quotes in headline - indicate bias
  • summary final paragraph
  • quotes from other side - balanced argument
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Feature Articles

  • more considered view or interpretation of event or issue
  • 1st person pronouns
  • strong opening sentence
  • emotive language
  • concluding sentence
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Advertisements

  • purpose will be to persuade, need to consider target audience

look for use of:

  • images
  • colour
  • font style, size and colour
  • text: organisation; layout; language
  • logos, slogans, shapes
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Leaflets

  • use presentational features so it can be read quickly
  • colour and layout may also present the message
  • analyse all features but be sure to link, connect and explain joint effect of features

look for:

  • images: what? -> subject? size?
  • info: what? where? how? font? capitals?
  • colours: -> target market? reinforce message/purpose? -> help achieve purpose?
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Diaries

always 1st person, normally informal unless written for publication

look for:

  • purpose
  • opinions
  • emotive language
  • exaggeration
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Blogs

  • more colloquial language
  • writer has a sense of wider audience
  • -> content and tone
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Biographies and Autobiographies

  • biographies in 3rd person, autobiographies in 1st person
  • events from the past
  • purpose to entertain and inform

look for:

  • imagery
  • sentence structure/length for effect
  • dramatic language
  • writing style for effect (informal/formal)
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Travel writing

  • factual but individual interpretations
  • -> some bias
  • purpose is to entertain and inform

look for:

  • different language techniques
  • attitudes or feelings of writer
  • 1st sentence sets tone
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Reviews

  • written for clear and specific audience
  • description and evaluation of event, object or publication
  • purpose is to provide a clear overview and evaulative judgement

look for:

  • biased or unbiased
  • language and structure -> effect
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Web pages

  • designed with specific layout conventions and presentational features to allow you to skim read
  • has to be appealing and accessible

look for:

  • images
  • colours
  • live links
  • contact details
  • logos
  • use of celebrities
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Information Texts

  • purpose is to inform
  • will be written for a specific target audience

look for:

  • sub-headings to guide reader
  • impersonal and direct language
  • clearly organised
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General Analysis

  • audience
  • purpose
  • presentational features
  • language
  • effect on audience
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Language Devices

  • alliteration
  • facts
  • opinions
  • repetition
  • exaggeration and emotive language
  • statistics
  • triples
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Presentational Features

  • colour
  • organisational features
  • data/diagrams
  • font
  • images
  • slogans
  • headings
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