English or Literature?

[scared_of_hippies]

Haha cheers man, yeah that makes sense, the structure of English can be constricting. Thanks man.

[jane1234]

This is similar to what Water said:

I did unit 1 Lit, hated it, and moved to English for unit 2.

Biggest thing that brought me down after the swap was, sadly enough, basic essay structure.
In Lit were were taught the "literature style" of essays... you would know, it is a fair bit more sophisticated and less formally rigid. However, you need to remember to simplify your essay structure down. You NEED an obvious introduction, body paragraphs with clear topic sentences and links, and a clear conclusion WHICH SUMMARISES YOUR ESSAY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE NEW INFORMATION.
You probably already know that, but in Lit you get lazy with structure, as they are generally not as strict.

So I guess take a step back with essays... obviously not year 7-level lame structuring ... but keep it logically ordered and simplified in structure.

That said, use your lit advantage. Coming out of even one semester, I found that I was able to analyse texts, and even persuasive techniques, on a level slightly different to the people in my class (I was the only one who had come out of lit).
So go as deep as you can, like in Lit, but remember to structure your essays differently.

Hope that helped a little bit... do you know what you are struggling with in particular??

[Ghost!]

I disliked Literature immensely last year because of the lack of structure, English is better suited for me (and others) because of the ability to stick to a formula when writing essays :3

[ShortBlackChick]

This is similar to what Water said:

I did unit 1 Lit, hated it, and moved to English for unit 2.

Biggest thing that brought me down after the swap was, sadly enough, basic essay structure.
In Lit were were taught the "literature style" of essays... you would know, it is a fair bit more sophisticated and less formally rigid. However, you need to remember to simplify your essay structure down. You NEED an obvious introduction, body paragraphs with clear topic sentences and links, and a clear conclusion WHICH SUMMARISES YOUR ESSAY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE NEW INFORMATION.
You probably already know that, but in Lit you get lazy with structure, as they are generally not as strict.

So I guess take a step back with essays... obviously not year 7-level lame structuring ... but keep it logically ordered and simplified in structure.

That said, use your lit advantage. Coming out of even one semester, I found that I was able to analyse texts, and even persuasive techniques, on a level slightly different to the people in my class (I was the only one who had come out of lit).
So go as deep as you can, like in Lit, but remember to structure your essays differently.

Hope that helped a little bit... do you know what you are struggling with in particular??

I disliked Literature immensely last year because of the lack of structure, English is better suited for me (and others) because of the ability to stick to a formula when writing essays :3

Agreed and me too.
The analysing of the authorial intent during lit helped heaps when it was needed for text response. The unstructured essays of lit were confusing. i felt as if there were so many options of how i could do things and what i could say but in the end i would lose some lot essential analysing and i was pulling off B+'s ,but in english with the structure i got A+'s because it was much more straightforward.

[Readinya]

I like Lit over English. I did Lit 3/4 last year, and so i don't have to do any form of English at all this year. (Although I feel as if i should, i know immediately that i will not have the motivation to go through Lit again)

Lit, for me, provides an opening that students can actually explore in terms of ideas, and it can get to the level of philosophical detail. It's great! You can write what you want, so long as you can justify it in terms of analysing what the author has composed.

I know this can also be true of English. However, at my school, they place a HEAVY importance of the TEEL and doesn't allow for any flexibility AT ALL. Throughout Yrs 7-10, the English teachers had to have several conferences because they were arguing how to link passages!! I know of a couple of teachers who wants students to write exactly as they write; limiting ideas, heavy focus on structure and quantity over quality.

Did i mention the stupid FLAP+C things?

That's why i dropped normal English in Yr 10 and picked up Lit instead. I would probably have preferred English Language, but it's not offered at my school.

[VivaTequila]

You guys need to realise that English and Literature are not different in essay writing. An essay is an essay; it's meant to convey a point of view and articulate your response to some sort of stimulus.

English is more "structured" because it is the mainstream subject. The only difference that sets Literature students out from the rest is that you they are expected to be able to fabricate a piece of writing in Literature that goes somewhere; that offers an opinion, and a deep one at that - without using the "TEEL" approach. Literature students are encouraged to not have a topic sentence, but rather to cumulatively develop meaning throughout their paragraphs, and where you go with them should be essentially transparent from the outset. I've aced many English SACs by simply using the same style of writing that I use in Lit.

As long as you communicate your point of view and it's coherent and structured, it doesn't matter whether you use TEEL or not - just articulate yourself clearly and develop a reasoned piece of prose.

As long as

[RossiJ]

You guys need to realise that English and Literature are not different in essay writing. An essay is an essay; it's meant to convey a point of view and articulate your response to some sort of stimulus.

English is more "structured" because it is the mainstream subject. The only difference that sets Literature students out from the rest is that you they are expected to be able to fabricate a piece of writing in Literature that goes somewhere; that offers an opinion, and a deep one at that - without using the "TEEL" approach. Literature students are encouraged to not have a topic sentence, but rather to cumulatively develop meaning throughout their paragraphs, and where you go with them should be essentially transparent from the outset. I've aced many English SACs by simply using the same style of writing that I use in Lit.

As long as you communicate your point of view and it's coherent and structured, it doesn't matter whether you use TEEL or not - just articulate yourself clearly and develop a reasoned piece of prose.

As long as

YEAH BAXTER!

[tloves]

Couple of months ago I had an English examiner as a sub and someone asked this exact question. He said that they've specifically structured the English course so that students who are linear thinkers can handle it just as well as more creative thinkers, and maybe even so that creative thinkers are disadvantaged a bit, thus leveling the playing field so-to-speak (because of the necessity of such formulaic responses). Which makes sense, I guess...considering it's the only compulsory subject and it's pretty unfair when people who aren't interested in or have trouble with maths can choose not to take any maths subjects but people who can't stand Eng have to do it anyway.


But yeah, being someone who has taken and is doing well in both I can say with Lit I barely ever even write an introduction and have still gotten full marks. With English I try to pretty much recycle the same topic sentences (replacing stuff when necessary) and get high to full marks also. So to me the difference is pretty much what everyone else is saying - English is all about simple responses whereas Lit gives you more freedom and you can write a ridiculously unstructured essay but still get good marks so long as you've got some insightful statements backed with evidence in there. BUT that's not to say you can't use the English way of essay writing in Lit, actually that'd probably be better 'cause you'd get better and better at it if you're taking both and getting that much practice.

[Beginner]

I was curious, if I was to be a Vet or a Doctor.
Should I do Literature or English?

[pi]

I honestly don't think either subject would help too much with either occupation. Probably english though as it is more "mainstream", but the difference would be insignificant for your question

[iamtom]

Doesn't really make a difference which one you do to achieve either of those amigo. I personally enjoyed Literature more than English because of the class I had, but the subject I actually enjoyed less. Comes straight down to personal preference. Out of the two, English would probably help you more in the long run due to Language Analysis and Context... but I would not sweat it.

[Special At Specialist]

[pi]

They're only saying that because they go to MHS where everyone is forced to do English.

Um... Not true LOL.

[iamtom]

They're only saying that because they go to MHS where everyone is forced to do English.

I'd say it's more about the score than the subject. They both help you a lot. Literature helps you to think creatively, deeply and helps you to develop complex ideas. English helps you to think analytically and formulatively. But they both teach you good English skills so whichever you think you will score a higher scaled score in, you should do that.

You're only saying that because you can't read/don't understand what we're saying/what have you. In fact, you're not even thinking about his question, just reiterating what Rohit and I said; a doctor is not paid to be creative. They're paid to be analytical and provide facts and prognoses.  So by your logic, Literature is better.

I did both English and Literature, thanks. Don't do a subject because you feel you can get a "better score". Do whichever you will enjoy more. In the long run (ie, when you hit September holidays before exams) you'll either love or hate the revision.

Edit: Also, just so you can get facts straight in the future, no-one is forced to do English as far as I know... any more.

[Hamdog17]

They're only saying that because they go to MHS where everyone is forced to do English.

I'd say it's more about the score than the subject. They both help you a lot. Literature helps you to think creatively, deeply and helps you to develop complex ideas. English helps you to think analytically and formulatively. But they both teach you good English skills so whichever you think you will score a higher scaled score in, you should do that.

MHS is relaxing a lot of its VCE policies and will be offering eng lang next year and students will have a choice. VCE English require analytical and creative thinking and writing and having done unit 1 lit I could see that it required both styles of thinking and writing also. In regards to the OP do which ever one you enjoy more/ think you will enjoy more because ultimately you will want to work harder and longer at it and achieve higher results.