A-level Bengali Specification for first teaching from 2018
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The A-level specification builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills gained at GCSE. It constitutes an integrated study with a focus on language and culture and society. It fosters a range of transferable skills including communication skills, critical thinking, research skills and creativity, which are valuable to the individual and to society. The content is suitable for students who wish to progress to employment or to further study, including a modern languages degree or equivalent.
The approach is a focus on how Bengali-speaking society has been shaped both socially and culturally and how it continues to change. The specification has been designed to be studied over two years. The suggestions below relating to content for year one and content for year two are based on the knowledge that the course will generally be taken over two years. Schools and colleges are free to choose how and when to cover the content. In the first year, aspects of the social context are studied, together with aspects of the artistic life of Bengali-speaking countries. In the second year further aspects of the social background are covered, this time focusing on issues, such as life for those on the margins of Bengali society as well as looking at the positive influences that diversity brings. Students also study aspects of the political landscape in the Bengali-speaking world, for example looking at migration and at the way in which political power is expressed through action such as strikes and demonstrations. The extent to which young people are politically engaged looks towards the future of political life in the Bengali-speaking world.
Students will develop both their knowledge and understanding of themes relating to the culture and society of the Bengali-speaking world, and their language skills. They will do this by using authentic spoken and written sources in Bengali.
The choice of works (literary texts and films) offers opportunities to link with the themes.
Students following this specification will develop their language knowledge, understanding and skills through:
Students must also study either one book and one film or two books from the lists in this specification. They must appreciate, analyse and be able to respond critically in writing in Bengali to the work they have studied. Their understanding of the work must include a critical appreciation of the concepts and issues covered and a critical and analytical response to features such as the form and the technique of presentation as appropriate to the work studied.
In addition, students following this specification will: