Level 3 English Language Diploma

Course Content

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 1: Reading and writing skills

• Why read
• Passive and active reading
• Skimming and scanning
• Standard English
• Spelling and punctuation
• Tenses
• How to read fiction and non-fiction
• Controlling and choosing language

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 2: Poetry and prose

• Poetic form
• Imagination and reality
• Plots and settings
• Character and dialogue

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 3: Essay techniques

• Essay planning, structure and form
• Factual and expressive techniques
• Persuasion
• Paragraphs
• Viewpoints
• Constructing an argument

In this unit, we will be looking at essay writing techniques but this will also encompass different genres of writing. The student will learn to understand how to apply skills for this purpose and write a range of documents including letter, narratives and documents with dialogue.

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 4: Reading and responding

Reading sourced material:

• Reports
• Journals
• Brochures
• Newspapers
• Media
• Reading and writing about different cultures and traditions
• Contexts and images
• Reading nonfiction and fiction

There is a requirement to be able to evaluate a range of reading sources and this unit introduces the student to some of the principles.  It also offers a range of examples that will help the student to develop their skills in this area.

The student will need to be able to define non-fiction texts and identify the purpose and audience. This is similar to some of the processes already covered in previous units. In addition to this, the student will need to show that they understand what the writers are trying to say and how they do this through specific presentational features of the piece.

The following units (5-9) are designed to facilitate development of a broad understanding of Written English principles.

Throughout these units, the students are encouraged to use correct grammar spelling and punctuation in order to develop style and presentation as well as facilitating understanding of meaning and language as in previous units, though, the emphasis is on language skills.

The units are outlined as follows:

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 5: Functional Writing Skills

This unit considers the skills needed for writing for a particular purpose. This includes writing persuasive texts to argue or to advise the reader; and writing to inform, explain and describe. Students will learn effective communication, adapting form, tone, and register of writing for specific purposes and audiences.

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 6: Poetry: Reading non-fiction

This units considers the reading skills of students. Students will learn and be assessed on reading for meaning and understanding. Students will look at several anthology texts to do this. Students will read and summarise information and ideas, they will identify the purpose of texts and learn skills to read more effectively.

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 7: Comparing Non-fiction texts

This unit looks into exploring the links and connections between writer’s ideas and perspectives. Students will develop skills to analyse how writers use linguistic and structural devices to achieve their effects. Student will carry out close reading of the text and consider the wider context of the extracts to help understand the them that the authors are writing about.

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 8: Imaginative writing

Students should use what they have learned about the writer’s craft in their reading of fiction to inspire and influence their own imaginative writing. They should develop a range of creative writing techniques, planning and proof-reading skills.

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 9: Poetry and Prose Anthology texts

Students will read selections from a range of high-quality, challenging poetry or prose fiction to prepare them for an assignment. They will develop to be able to read substantial pieces of writing (extended texts) that make significant demands on them in terms of content, structure and the quality of language. Throughout the unit, students should develop the skills of inference and analysis.

Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 10: Speech and Writing: Anthology Text

In this unit, you will be required to show knowledge and understanding of:

• Use a range of techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of texts for various audiences and purposes.
• Explore connections across a wide range of literary and non-literary texts.
• Identify and describe how meanings and effects are created and conveyed in texts.
• Show knowledge and understanding of the ways in which texts relate to the contexts in which they are produced and received.
• Show awareness of the different language levels, as appropriate, drawn from: phonetics, phonology and prosodics, lexis and semantics, grammar and morphology, pragmatics and discourse.