Language and literacy are of personal, social and economic importance. Your ability to use language lies at the centre of the development and expression of your emotions, thinking, learning and sense of personal identity.
This course gives you the opportunity to develop skills in listening, talking, reading and writing, which are essential for learning, life and work. You will develop your ability to communicate your thoughts and feelings and respond to those of other people.
The skills that you develop in English are useful in a wide range of careers; these include teaching, editorial, journalism, administration, legal work or in the arts.
Career Pathways
To see what career areas this subject could lead to and the routes to get there, download and view these career pathways:
Arts, Social Sciences and Languages
Information, Culture and Heritage
Teaching and Classroom Support
Entry is at the discretion of the school or college but you would normally have achieved:
This course helps you understand the complexities of language through studying a wide range of texts, including studying the use vocabulary, word patterns, text structures and style. You will develop high levels of analytical thinking and understanding of the impact of language.
On this course you will develop:
Course Assessment
The course assessment has three components totalling 100 marks:
For Component 3, you will be asked to produce one piece of writing, either creative or discursive.
During the course you will also be assessed on performance-spoken language, which involves doing at least one spoken language activity, such as contributing in a group discussion or preparing and presenting a presentation. This is graded on an achieved/not achieved basis.
Both the assignment component and question papers will be set and externally marked by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
The grade awarded is based on the total marks achieved across all course assessment components.
The course assessment is graded A-D.
If you complete the course successfully, it may lead to:
Further study, training or employment in:
Your school will give your parents an Options or Choices information booklet, which has detailed information on the curriculum and the individual subjects or courses you can study. It will also invite them along to a Parents’ Information Evening.
They can also read the information leaflet(s):
