This lesson is about close analysis — putting a single text under the microscope and describing exactly how it works, level by level, always connecting features to context and effect.
You will practise systematic analysis: establishing context, then working through the levels to build an argument about meaning. Press Start.
Before analysing detail, establish the text's context. A useful checklist is GAP:
Add mode (spoken, written, electronic) and the context of production and reception (when, where, why).
Why first? Context explains why the language choices were made — the heart of good analysis.
Close analysis works best when you move through the levels in a deliberate order, picking the most significant features at each:
Selectivity: analyse the features that most shape meaning, not every feature you can spot.
Every analytical point should follow a clear chain:
Weak analysis stops at spotting a feature. Strong analysis explains its effect and links it to the text's purpose and the reader's response.
Tip: use tentative, exploratory verbs (suggests, implies, positions) to discuss possible effects.
Tap an observation, then tap the level it belongs to.
Close analysis often reveals how a text represents people and events and constructs a viewpoint:
Analysis tip: ask whose viewpoint the text privileges, and how the language achieves this.
Tap a term on the left, then its meaning on the right.
Context first: genre, audience, purpose and mode explain the choices
Systematic: work through the levels, selecting significant features
Chain: feature, terminology, effect, context
Selectivity: analyse what most shapes meaning
Representation: connotation, transitivity and modality construct viewpoint
Tone: use tentative verbs to discuss possible effects
You can now put any single text under the microscope with rigour. Press Finish to see your score.
You have worked through Language Under the Microscope for OCR A-level English Language. 🎉
Your stars: 0 / 0
Next: test yourself in the Verify stage.