The document provides guidance for students taking an AS Communication and Culture exam. It outlines the key concepts covered in the AS course that should be revisited, including communication, culture, context, code, value, representation, power, and identity. These concepts form the foundation for the A2 course and additional concepts of ideology, mode of address, discourse, narrative, and technology. The compulsory exam question will involve analyzing an unseen passage about society or culture in light of these concepts, adopting a critical stance. Students are advised to practice this technique and provided guidance on how to structure their response by summarizing the passage's key points, context, and purpose before addressing each concept in a separate paragraph.

1. Communication and Culture
A2
Compulsory Question
Key Concepts
Examples
Advice
The key concepts at AS are
Communication
Culture
Context
Code
Value
Representation

2. Power
Identity
You used these to answer the ‘stretch and challenge’
question in the AS exam. Spend a moment revisiting
these and check that you can expand on them.
The AS key concepts are still relevant to your A2 course
as they are the foundation to your studies.
The Additional Key concepts at A2 are
Ideology
Mode of Address
Discourse
Narrative
Technology
The Compulsory question will be a passage of text for
you to read and assimilate.
It may be from

3. A text book
A newspaper article
A poem
Book or CD review
Or others
The question is 50% of your exam and therefore it is
very important you become skilled at the techniques it
involves.
You will have to read the text and extract the views of it.
It will be a comment on Society or our Culture and will
expect you to be able to analyse it in the light of the key
concepts. This is known as a adopting a ‘critical stance’.
We will work on essay writing skills and giving structure
to this work so that you will at least feel secure about
that before entering the exam. Then all that will be
required is the application of the Key concepts, i.e. you
can ‘think’ about issues from a Communication and
Culture perspective.
We are going to be doing these exercises every fortnight,
eventually under exam conditions so it will soon become
very natural to you.

4. Think in key concepts to frame your response.
Combine what the text is saying with how that reflects or
informs us about for instance, non verbal communication
(codes).
There will be no ‘right’ answer to this section of the
paper, just your very well informed opinion.
So, read the extract below
Technique

5. 1. Summarise the main points the text is making
2. Whose point of view is it? Are they famous?
What else have they done?
3. Who are they talking to? (audience)
4. What is the purpose of the text? What is
attempting to do?
You now have your opening paragraph of your response
as it will be a summary of these points.
Next think sequentially of the key concepts and how
they are relevant and can be applied to the issue. AS..

6. Communication.
Context
Culture
Value
Representation

7. Power
Code
Identity
A2
Ideology
Mode of Address

8. Discourse
Narrative
Technology
Each one of these will be a paragraph of text for your essay.
Fill them in as best you can using the previous extract.
Write this up in a coherent, logical way and you have an ‘A’ grade
response.