King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls A Level English Literature Specification B NEA Manual 2019-20 Introduction The NEA aspect of the A level course is by far the most exciting component (for both staff and students!). It allows you the opportunity to spread your literary wings and explore how much literature really has to offer. Your success for this module is very much dependent on how successfully you prepare and execute your research and your essays. FAQs What do I need to produce? You will write two responses, each about a different literary text. One of the texts must be a poetry text and the other must be prose. What do I need the anthology for? The anthology will provide the basis of the criticism/ lens you will use for your work. It is important you use it as a springboard to support your thinking about the text you have chosen. Follow up any critics/ works mentioned as part of your own research. Can I write about the same theory in both pieces? No, each text must be linked to a different section of the AQA critical anthology How long does each response need to be? The word count for each response is 1,250-1,500 words (not including quotations from critics/ the anthology). You MUST provide a word count at the bottom of your work. How many times will my teacher check my work? You will have a series of 121 meetings with your teacher to discuss your progress but they will mark ONE DRAFT only. It is imperative that you make your first draft the strongest it can possibily be, so that you can reap the rewards of having the best possible feedback. In the past, students have misunderstood the importance of the first draft and ended up not taking advantage of the opportunity for detailed feedback. Don’t make the same mistake! Do I design the question(s) myself? Yes, you decide the direction of your debate, but it is worthwhile to ensure that you have a strong argument. So, your question should have a strong, one-sided argument which will give you something decent to debate. Your teacher will support you with any questions about your questions! The tasks must be worded so that they give access to all five assessment objectives So, can I choose anything? 2 Well, no, not really. Again, ask your teacher if you are unsure. The reading list (enclosed) does give you some support in what can and cannot be selected. Set texts listed for study in both A-level examination components, Literary genres and Texts and genres, cannot be used for NEA. Both texts should be of sufficient weight and of suitable ‘quality’ for A-level study; the set text lists for the examined components help to exemplify what is meant by a substantial text, particularly in relation to selecting an appropriate amount of poetry for the poetry ‘text’. Remember, however, that the A-level set texts cannot be used in NEA. ● texts chosen for study must maximise opportunities for writing with reference to the AQA critical anthology ● texts must allow access to a range of critical views and interpretations, including over time in the conventional response, which students can evaluate and apply autonomously. How long does the poetry collection need to be? Poetry texts must be as substantial as a novel or a play. A poetry text could be either one longer narrative poem or a single authored collection of shorter poems. A discrete Chaucer Tale would be suitable as a text for study, as would a poem such as The Rape of the Lock. If students are using a collection of short poems for a conventional response, they must have studied the whole text and select at least two poems to write about in detail as examples of the wider collection. What about prose? Single authored collections of short stories are permissible. If students are using a collection of short stories for a conventional response, they must have studied the whole text and select at least two stories to write about in detail as examples of the wider collection. The prose choice should be of good quality! Check with your teacher if you are unsure. When covering A03, how much context is important? Don’t shoe-horn information about writers/ time the work was published unless it is relevant to your debate. Examiners are interested in contexts which arise naturally from the texts. Think about language of possibility – “it may be seen that…”, “some readers…” to show that they are aware that this is one view. Own readings are relevant as modern contemporary readers. Your teachers will discuss context of reception and production, as this should form your contextual understanding of the text. Likewise, it is important that you have a wealth of knowledge about the poet, poems/ novel/ author so that your work can be informed. You may not use all of that knowledge in your essay, but it’s useful to have. 3 When writing about poetry, do I need to compare the poems in the collection? No, not really. However, you will want to ensure that you show you have understood the whole collection, though no explicit comparison is required. Referencing your sources correctly 4 Both essays should include footnotes (see below) and should end with a bibliography and a word count (not including quotations). Failure to do so will result in the loss of marks. Footnote:1 Footnotes should be concise. They are most frequently used to give a bibliographical reference at the bottom of the page. In this case, they should contain the following information: Surname, Forename. Title of Text. City of publication: Publishers, Year published Example: Shakespeare, William. Othello2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. If you have read a chapter from a book, the bibliographical reference will appear as follows: Fraser, Antonia. “Prologue: How Weak?”3 The Weaker Vessel: Woman’s Lot in Seventeeth- Century England. London: Phoenix Press, 2002 If you have consulted a website, you need to use the following (note punctuation and italics): Author, Initials. Title of article/ journal, Date of publication: Web address (Date accessed) Bibliography: List of books consulted. In alphabetical order by author. Website addresses to follow texts. Include address followed by title of article. Framing a question to give yourself the best chance 1 2 3 5 Below is a table that shows how the question proposed aims to meet the assessment objectives. ‘A Clockwork Orange is a protest novel about the powerlessness of human beings against ruthless autocratic governments.’ Using ideas from the critical anthology to inform your argument, to what extent do you agree with this view? AO1: Articulate informed, personal and In responding to the extent he/she agrees with creative responses to literary texts, using the given view, AO1 will be tested through the associated concepts and terminology, and way the student constructs the argument and coherent, accurate written expression. expresses ideas. AO2: Analyse ways in which meanings are AO2 is set up in the requirement for the shaped in literary texts. student to focus on the ways Burgess has/has not presented A Clockwork Orange as a protest novel, and on the implied presentation of human beings as powerless and governments as ruthless and autocratic. AO3: Demonstrate understanding of the AO3 will be addressed through the student significance and influence of the contexts showing his/her understanding of a range of in which literary texts are written and possible contexts which arise from power and received. powerlessness (e.g. cultural, gender, political and historical contexts), and of the 6 feminist/Marxist readings of the text that are possible. AO4: Explore connections across literary AO4 is targeted by the requirement to refer to texts. the critical anthology, which is itself another text. The student will also connect implicitly with other ‘protest’ texts. AO5: Explore literary texts informed by In debating the extent to which A Clockwork different interpretations. Orange is a protest novel about the powerlessness of human beings against ruthless autocratic governments, the student will directly engage with different interpretations. 7 A Level Theory and Independence: Reading List You will need to explore two texts independently: one in poetry and one in prose. Each exploration will need to be linked to a different section of the Critical Anthology. The poetry must be a long narrative poem or a single authored collection of shorter poems. If you choose to write on a collection of short poems, you must have studied the whole collection and select at least two poems to write about in detail as well as giving examples from the wider collection. The prose should be a novel or a collection of short stories. If you choose to write on a collection of short stories, you must have studied the whole collection and select at least two stories to write about in detail as well as giving examples from the wider collection. You CANNOT write on any of the following: ❖ Aktinson, Kate – When Will There Be Good News? ❖ Atwood, Margaret – The Handmaid’s Tale ❖ Austen, Jane – Emma ❖ Blake, William – Songs of Innocence and Experience ❖ Browning, Robert – The Laboratory, My Last Duchess or Porphyria’s Lover ❖ Chaucer, Geoffrey – ‘The Nun’s Priest’s Tale’ ❖ Christie, Agatha – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd ❖ Coleridge, Samuel Taylor – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ❖ Crabbe, George – Peter Grimes ❖ Crace, Jim – Harvest ❖ Dickens, Charles – Hard Times or Oliver Twist ❖ Fitzgerald, F. Scott – The Great Gatsby ❖ Greene, Graham – Brighton Rock ❖ Hardy, Thomas – Tess of the d’Urbervilles ❖ Harrison, Tony – Selected Poems (see AQA English Literature B Specification) ❖ Hosseini, Khaled – The Kite Runner 8 ❖ Keats, John – Selected Poems (see AQA English Literature B Specification) ❖ Levy, Andrea – Small Island ❖ McEwan, Ian – Atonement ❖ Wilde, Oscar – The Ballad of the Reading Gaol ❖ Any of the poems in the AQA English Literature B Poetry Anthology (tragedy or comedy - see Specification for more details) You will need to choose two out of the following six areas from the Critical Anthology: ❖ Literary Value and the Canon ❖ Feminist theory ❖ Marxist theory ❖ Post-colonial theory ❖ Eco-criticial theory ❖ Narrative theory The suggested texts on the next pages could be used for more than area of the anthology; where possible they have been included as such.