Change is a topic in 3 areas of the A2 course:

• The first half of the exam asks you to choose change or variation.
• The coursework intervention must be on either a ‘change’ topic or a variation one.
• Change is one of four possible topics in the second half of the exam.

For the first section of the exam unit:  

You have a choice of questions, one on variation and one on change.  Each question will ask you to analyse two texts, probably to comment on their context.  For change, these are most likely to be texts produced at different times (e.g. comparing recipes from the 17th and 20th centuries or comparing texts on technology from 1955 and 1995.)  You will need to analyse using detailed frameworks, bearing in mind that grammar (esp. clause/sentence grammar) is the Great Differentiator.  You should also make theoretical and conceptual comments, e.g. about standardisation, theories of change, or attitudes to change.

You should be familiar with:

• Processes of change
• Social reasons for change
• Technological reasons for change
• E-varieties (find this in the variation section)
• Attitudes to change
• Theories of change
• Historical texts (features of different periods)
• Standardisation
• Globalisation (find this on the standardisation page)
• Dialect levelling (find this in the variation section)

As you can see, there are multiple crossovers between variation and change in this unit.  

Notes on these topics are available via the menu on the left.

Be as up-to-date as you can on material here.  General “reading around” about language will benefit you hugely in A2 assessments.

See this excellent blog for language news of the week, maintained by a teacher of A Level English Language.