Language investigation — AQA A-Level English Language
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Language investigation explained
This guidance defines the independence expected in the Language Investigation.
Read the full explanation
You are not given a ready-made data set: you design the collection yourself, and you choose the analytical approach that fits your question. The phrase 'in consultation with their supervising teacher' means the process is negotiated, not unsupervised. In practice you might agree a focus, check that your planned collection is ethical and feasible, then gather your own spoken, written or multimodal material, for example recording a short interaction or compiling a small corpus of texts. You then decide how to analyse it, such as a framework suited to your data, and justify that choice. The teacher's role is to advise on scope, ethics and appropriateness; the data and the analytical decisions remain yours.
Students can choose to pursue a study of spoken, written or multimodal data, or a mixture of text types, demonstrating knowledge in areas of individual interest.
This guidance sets out the range of data open to you in the Language Investigation. You may work with spoken data, such as a recorded conversation; written data, such as a set of letters or articles; multimodal data, where meaning is carried by more than one mode at once, for example a webpage combining image, layout and wording; or a mixture of text types. The choice is yours, provided it lets you demonstrate knowledge in an area of individual interest. In practice, pick a topic you genuinely want to explore, then select data that can be analysed in depth within the available time and word limit. A mixed data set can be valuable when your question is comparative, but it must still be manageable and clearly focused.
Your focus
- Explain that the investigation requires students to collect their own data rather than use supplied data.
- Describe how consultation with a supervising teacher informs, but does not replace, the student's own research decisions.
- Plan a data collection and a matching analytical approach that together address a chosen research focus.
Show all 6 objectives
- Identify spoken, written and multimodal data types and recognise that a mixture of text types is permitted.
- Select data that supports a research focus in an area of individual interest.
- Justify how the chosen data type or mixture allows knowledge to be demonstrated through analysis.
Language investigation exam tips
Examiner Tips
- 💡Draft a short plan naming your data source, your collection method and your intended analytical approach, then take it to your supervising teacher for comment before you begin.
- 💡Keep a brief record of advice given and decisions taken, so you can explain and justify your independent choices when writing up.
- 💡Pilot a small amount of collection first to test whether your method yields data that can actually answer your research question.
- 💡Write your research question first, then choose the data type or mixture that can actually answer it.
- 💡For a mixed data set, state clearly what is being compared and why the comparison is worth making.
- 💡Check that your chosen data allows you to demonstrate knowledge in your area of interest rather than only describing surface features.
Common Mistakes
- Assuming the teacher will supply the data set. Correction: the investigation requires you to collect your own data, using teacher consultation for guidance and approval rather than for provision.
- Treating the analysis method as fixed in advance by the specification. Correction: you select your own approach for analysis and justify why it suits your data and question.
- Collecting data first and only then asking whether it is ethical or feasible. Correction: consult your supervising teacher before collection so scope, consent and practicality are agreed early.
- Believing consultation removes your ownership of the project. Correction: consultation shapes and safeguards your decisions; the study remains your own independent work.
- Assuming only written texts are permitted. Correction: spoken, written and multimodal data are all allowed, as is a mixture of text types.
- Choosing a topic with no personal interest because it seems 'safer'. Correction: the investigation is designed to let you demonstrate knowledge in areas of individual interest, so choose a focus you can sustain.
- Collecting a very large or very varied data set that cannot be analysed in depth. Correction: select data that is rich enough for analysis but small enough to treat thoroughly.
- Treating multimodal data as only visual decoration. Correction: in multimodal data, modes such as image, layout and wording combine to make meaning, and analysis should address that combination.