A Level Language and Regional Variation

A 10 lesson unit comprising of a 61 slide PowerPoint, 9 different worksheets exploring the topic of Language and Region (UK) and a summary terminology and theory sheet.

Each lesson includes a starting discussion prompt which acts as a learning objective, detailed notes on the theories and concepts listed below, a worksheet (with the exception of lesson nine) and activities, and a homework task. The following theories and concepts are covered:

• MLE & MBE
• Howard Giles’ Matched Guise Study (1970)
• Queen Mary University & The University of York Accent Bias Study (2020)
• David Rosewarne – Estuary English (1984)
• Peter Trudgill – Norwich Study (1972)
• Overt and covert prestige
• Paul Kerswill – Dialect Levelling (1999)
• Watt and Gunn (HSBC) – The sound of 2066 (2016)
• Howard Giles – Capital punishment study (1973)
• Dixon, Mahoney and Cocks – Accents of Guilt (2002)
• Rob Drummond – MLE, MUBE and MBE (2016)
• Amanda Cole – SSBE and research into MLE, RP and SSBE in London (2023)
• Isogloss
• General Northern English and the research of Strycharczuk, López-Ibáñez, Brown and Leemann (2020)
• Urban West Yorkshire English (UWYE)

There are some references to AQA-style A Level specification questions, but you can adapt these if needs be. These can be found on slides 13, 37-38 and 51-58. Lesson 9 is based on an AQA A Level question.

This unit does not cover World Englishes and only touches briefly on Language and Ethnicity through references to MLE and MBE.

The final lesson is a consolidation activity complete with guided revision cards. Alternatively, you could use an app such as Quizlet so that the students could produce digital revision resources.