Posted this somewhere else. Thought it might be relevant...
I am going to clear up 3/4 English Language. I'll start by saying that it is not overly scientific, however, it is very structured and therefore more suited to maths and science students. I think of it as amateur linguistics.
Everything you study in English Language is based on the 5 subsystems of language.
-Phonology, the study of sound
-Morphology and Lexicology, the study of words and word structure
-Syntax, the study of sentence structure
-Semantics, the study of meaning
-Discourse, the overall study of language in context
This is mostly grammar based, so if you don't like grammar and metalanguage, then don't study EL. I wouldn't say you need an immaculate understanding of English grammar to do this subject, but you still need to be good at it. The exam generally has a grammar based question or two in it, which really could be on anything from sentence structure to phrase or clause analysis.
Anyway this is the actual course.
Unit 3 AoS1: Language according to user
-Australian English, and comparing it to international English varieties on all of the subsystem levels
-The concept of Standard English
-The varieties of Australian English: Broad, General and Cultivated
-Social attitudes towards these varieties
-Aboriginal English - YES IT IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF ENGLISH!
-Ethnocultural varieties of Australian English, which arise when non-English language speakers transfer features of their first language into English
-The ability of language the reaffirm and create identity: individually, socially, culturally and nationally
A few examples so you get the basic idea.
-Semantically, in Australian English, the word 'bum' refers to a part of the human anatomy, whereas in the US, 'bum' means a homeless person
-Syntactically, Australian English speakers have a tendency to use the pronoun 'me' as opposed to the possessive pronoun 'my' to allude to their belongings (e.g. 'Come to me house')
AoS 2: Language variation according to use
-The holy grail of English, 'The Principle of Appropriateness' (basically just means be appropriate for the situation)
-Social distance, positive and negative politeness and power relations (are you communicating with someone you know well or not? are they your superior?)
-Jargon and slang (jargon is the use of language specialized to a specific topic/profession and allows for fast, expedient communication, wheareas slang is generally more informal, used by everyone, and can play an important role in forming group identity)
-Social taboos, euphemism and dysphemism (e.g euphemism = person with a mental diability dysphemism = spastic)
-Doublespeak and public language (government and corporations using language to mislead e.g. voluntary resignation program = people getting fired)
-Political Correctness (gender, race, sexuality etc.) (don't offend anyone based on any aspect of their identity)
Unit 3: Other general areas which you should know:
-Origins of English, especially Australian English
-Language and power
-Language use in technology
-Teen speak
-Varying language to suit the context
On the end of year exam, you have to be able to write a detailed essay on any of the Unit 3 content. Unit 4 is question and analytical based. It is possible that you could however incorporate some of the Unit 4 content into an essay.
Unit 4 AoS 1: Spoken Language
-Conventions of the mode (e.g. dynamic, more slang, transient, shorter sentences, quicker to change, errors)
-Reading conversation transcripts and understanding the key
-Usually it will be either a conversation, interview or sports commentary
-Discourse particles (words such as 'well' and 'yeah no' which have no meaning but are used unconsciously as conversation strategies
-Topic management/Turn taking
-Prosodic features (e.g. stress=emphasis, rising intonation= signals a question, increasing tempo/volume=builds tension and excitement)
-Paralinguistic features (e.g. laughter, intake of breath etc.)
-Backchaining and minimal utterances and overlapping speech
-Grice's Cooperative Principle of Conversation (don't lie, don't be obscure, be relevant and give adequate information)
Unit 4 AoS 2: Written Language
-Conventions of the mode (e.g. static, less slang, permanent, longer sentences, longer to change, no errors)
-Analysis of a wide variety of written texts including articles, advertisements and literature
-The concepts of Cohesion (what links elements of the text together?) and Coherence (what gives the text meaning and makes it understandable?)
-All pretty much grammar and metalanguage based, which you just have to know. Bit hard to explain here but a basic example is a conjunction such as 'but' creates cohesion by linking two coordinating sentences together.
-After you learn all of the grammar and metalanguage, it is actually quite easy. It doesn't matter what text you get, questions will rarely be different
-Stylistic features: are pretty much the style the writer uses (i.e. a opinion piece may include lots of puns or similes)
And overall for Unit 4, you just have to be able to identify the function of the Spoken/Written text. i.e. conversation is often for social 'phatic' purposes. Articles and opinion pieces have the goal of 'persuading' and/or entertaining.
Anyhow, if you are like me and you hate English, especially essays, then you will hate this English the least as it has only 1 essay on the exam.
Also, if you put in the time, it is very interesting and rewarding to know how the everyday language which you use works.
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