Course at a glance
Introduction
This course is designed to be accessible for those with limited academic or study backgrounds, but there is a need to be able to read, comprehend and write written English competently. In this course, 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.
Through the first 4 units, students will be asked to study through comprehensive and independent reading texts and extracts. This will provide an opportunity to develop skills in summarising, collating and paraphrasing written text. Through the writing aspects of the course students will learn how to articulate their own experiences and develop skills that allow expression of ideas clearly and in an ordered way through appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structure.
The course is a year in length and divided into 10 units of study. At the end of each unit 5 and 10 there is an associated TMA (Tutor Marked Assessment) which students are required to complete and submit. The course is formally assessed by an average grade being attained from the 2 submitted Assessments.
Quality of Written Communication (QWC)
In addition, OLC require students’ to produce written material in English. Candidates must: ensure that text is legible and that spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPG) are accurate so that meaning is clear; select and use a form and style of writing appropriate to studying a complex subject matter; organise information clearly and coherently, using specialist vocabulary when appropriate and Harvard referencing of citation and sources. In this Specification, SPG will be assessed in all tutor marked assignments (TMAs)
To ensure that we maintain quality standards; all our students written assignments are subject to our plagiarism policy and procedure.
Accredited Level 3 English Language Diploma Entry Requirement
Entry to this English Language Diploma requires that potential students have gained GCSE/IGCSE or equivalent qualifications and have, good English oral, reading and writing skills.
Advice on enrolment and guidance of prior learning (APL) can be obtained through out contact centre. The course is a rolling programme and can be started at any point in the year. Successful students can go on to Higher Education, including remaining as students at OLC to complete courses in our portfolio of higher awards.
All students must be aged 16 or over.
Assessment
The coursework is assessed through continuous assessment with no formal exit examinations.
Study Hours
Approximately: 200 hours of personal study time for the entire course is recommended. All of which is supported by the OLC Course Tutor, who we greatly encourage students to access support from throughout their course.
Quality Assurance
This course has been developed by the College’s professional team of tutors to meet the needs of sector based employers and employees. Further details of our accreditations are provided on our website.
Course Length
1 Year.
Awarding Body
Course Content
The whole level three diploma has TEN (10) specific units of study, which are sub-divided into topic areas these are:
Accredited 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
Accredited Level 3 English Language Diploma Unit 2: Poetry and prose
- Poetic form
- Imagination and reality
- Plots and settings
- Character and dialogue
Accredited 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.
Accredited 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:
Accredited 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.
Accredited 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.
Accredited 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.
Accredited 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.
Accredited 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.
Accredited 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.
Progression
This Accredited Level 3 English Language Diploma can be used to gain entry to a Level 4 Diploma or higher.
More information on the Level 4 Diplomas we offer may be found via the following link: https://www.oxfordcollege.ac/courses/accredited-level-4-diplomas/
