AP English Language and Composition Syllabus 2023-2024
Mr. Ripatrazone nripatrazone@lvhs.org
Course Overview
From the College Board:
The AP English Language and Composition course focuses on the development and revision
of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing, the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction
texts, and the decisions writers make as they compose and revise. Students evaluate,
synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Additionally, they read and analyze
rhetorical elements and their effects in nonfiction texts—including images as forms of text—
from a range of disciplines and historical periods.
Students will read widely and deeply, and will always read with a focus on how the writer’s method and style of composition affects the content of texts and relates to the needs of an audience. Students will examine expository, analytical, personal, and argumentative texts; they will analyze speeches, letters, imaginative literature, and even images. Students will write often: annotations, short responses, timed essays, and long-term analyses. Students will learn how reading is generative of both thinking and writing, and will be able to approach texts as active participants in literary and intellectual conversations. The course prepares students for the AP English Language and Composition Exam, which, upon satisfactory performance, may result in advanced college placement, college credit, or both.
It is expected that all students enrolled in this course will take the AP Language exam. We have a tradition of scoring well above the state and national averages on this exam—but the exam is very challenging, and success requires your hard work and consistent engagement.
**Please note: the activities and assignments of this syllabus are subject to change.
Course Texts (planned)
—The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric by Shea, Scanlon, Aufses (this is the central course textbook, as it contains an anthology of essays to be examined across multiple units within the course).
—The Quiet American by Graham Greene
—1984 by George Orwell
—As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
— End Zone by Don DeLillo
—Beloved by Toni Morrison
—The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco
—No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
Course Structure
Unit 1: Introduction to Close-Reading and Rhetoric
Reading
The first unit of the course is both foundational and generative. Students will learn close-reading and annotating strategies, as well as the cornerstones of rhetorical analysis. During this first unit, students will observe the differences between passive and active reading; in order to accomplish the latter, they will employ various strategies, including the rhetorical triangle (speaker, audience, subject, text); SOAPS (subject, occasion, audience, purpose, speaker); rhetorical situation (occasion, context, purpose), and appeals to pathos, ethos, logos, and kairos. They will learn to annotate with purpose and engage texts. Course readings for this unit may include: “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, “On Black English” by James Baldwin, “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” by William Faulkner, President George W. Bush’s 9/11 speech, “On Self Respect” by Joan Didion, The Quiet American by Graham Greene, a fiction debate between John Gardner and William Gass, “Spring and Fall” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, “All Hallows” by Louise Glück, and other works.
Writing
In this first unit, the writing instruction is focused on developing a wide-ranging vocabulary for students to identify, understand, and employ in their own writing. This is achieved through close examination of the aforementioned readings, in addition to consideration of rhetorical “moves” utilized by writers—including, but not limited to, complex decisions regarding a variety of sentence structures and persuasive techniques—and how students may integrate those moves in their own texts.
Quotation Analysis Essay
Students will read the novel The Quiet American by Graham Greene, and will write an essay in which they select a quotation, introduce the quotation’s contextual significance within the broader text, complete a thorough explication of Greene’s linguistic and rhetorical choices within the quotation, and then develop a full-book thematic analysis using the quotation as a pivot point. Students will pay particular attention toward the variety of their sentence structures as they navigate a thorough analysis of the book.
Rhetorical Method Essay
Students will write an essay analyzing William Faulkner’s acceptance speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature. Students will examine Faulkner’s usage of rhetorical devices, his awareness of audience, and the occasion of the speech. Students will employ the wide-ranging vocabulary acquired during early course readings to scaffold their own thoughts. Teacher will respond to the first draft, with a particular attention toward rhetorical analysis and student vocabulary usage; students will then revise and submit a final draft.
Unit 2: Language, Information, and Knowledge
Reading
In this unit, students will examine the complex ways in which information and language are linked: how modulations in language affect the veracity and efficacy of information, how bias skews information, and how electronic media has transformed the way we perceive, process, and produce knowledge. Our readings in this unit will include written texts, visual texts, and multimodal texts: 1984 by George Orwell, “Is It OK to Be a Luddite?” by Thomas Pynchon, The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan (visual and textual excerpts), and various sources (see synthesis essay below). While reading these texts, the teacher will model explications of how these writers create logical organization and coherence through repetition, transitions, and emphasis.
Writing
Narrative Essay
Students will write a narrative essay chronicling their experiences as a consumer of digital information, ranging from social media to entertainment to screen reading. Students will integrate Pynchon and McLuhan into their narratives.
Quotation Analysis + Synthesis Essay
Students will read and analyze various sources, and then write an essay that synthesizes Pynchon and McLuhan with 1984 by George Orwell in order to defend, challenge, or qualify a claim that deals with language, information, and knowledge. Students will employ the learned balance between generalization (abstraction) and illustrative detail (specifics) as they ground larger claims in tangible examples. Peer editing and conferencing will be used on one or more of the above writing assignments. During the revision process, students will pay close attention to repetition, transition, and emphasis as methods of logical organization and coherence (at the sentence, paragraph, page, and full-text levels).
Unit 3: Writing the Body
Reading
In this unit, students will consider how writers rhetorically depict the human body as a source of identity, conflict, experience, and culture. Students will examine both literal and metaphorical depictions, as well as considerations of consciousness, history, and the way people are judged within a society based on physical appearances. We will reference Chapter Three in The Language of Composition in order to explore the various types of claims, thesis statements, methods of presenting evidence, logical fallacies, as well as induction and deduction. Students will write a researched argument paper that examines the theme of the body through the lenses of the various readings within the unit. Students will annotate and scaffold sources, develop a claim, and integrate textual evidence from sources, all using MLA format. Our readings in this unit will include written texts, visual texts, and multimodal texts: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, Hunger by Roxane Gay (excerpts), “The Cruelest Sport” by Joyce Carol Oates, End Zone by Don DeLillo, “A Woman’s Beauty” by Susan Sontag, Beloved by Toni Morrison, “The Women Who Knew Too Much” by Niela Orr, and other works.
Writing
Quotation Analysis Essays
Students will read the novels As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, End Zone by Don DeLillo, and Beloved by Toni Morrison, and will write a quotation analysis essay for each in which they select a quotation, introduce the quotation’s contextual significance within the broader text, complete a thorough explication of Faulkner, DeLillo, and Morrison’s linguistic and rhetorical choices within the quotation, and then develop a full-book thematic analysis using the quotation as a pivot point. During writing and revision, students will reference back to their previous quotation analysis essay (and teacher response) in order to refine their usage of a variety of sentence structures, a wide-ranging vocabulary, logical organization and coherence, as well as using illustrative details to specify broader, more general statements.
Unit 4: Satire
Reading
Writers create satirical narratives in order to use humor to expose and ridicule a source of vice and folly within culture. Since what constitutes a vice and folly is culture-specific, students will examine the historical and social contexts of the texts examined in this unit. Students will examine various methods of satire within this unit, so that they may both observe and employ the rhetorical methods of hyperbole, understatement, situational and verbal irony, and sarcasm. Readings will include “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, selections from The Onion, “Corn Pone Opinions” by Mark Twain, The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco, as well as other works (including short films).
Writing
Satirical Essay
After reading and examining the various satirical works of this unit, students will write an original satirical piece about a topic they have proposed.
Unit 5: Existentialism and the Search for Meaning
Reading
Some of the most difficult and rewarding literature arises from moments of great suffering, when the “big,” abstract ideas of life are grounded in the day-to-day experiences of artists. During this concluding unit, students will consider the philosophy of existentialism, as well as their own place in society. Reading will include excerpts from Paradise Lost by John Milton, Dante’s Inferno, No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, and other works.
Writing
Students will write their own narrative of existential consideration, in which they situate their own experiences along a continuum of philosophical thought, but also place themselves within a very specific contemporary experience.
Timed Writings
In order to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Language and Composition exam, they will regularly complete in-class timed writings. Early in the course, students will complete a practice essay, which will be the subject of class discussion and review. We will examine the College Board rubrics to understand their expectations, as well as sample released essays from previous exams for modeling purposes. Then, students will begin completing these timed writing essays for course grades. These timed-writing essays will include synthesis essays (students read multiple texts about a single topic and then synthesize several of the sources in order to support a thesis), rhetorical analysis essays (students read a nonfiction text and examine how a writer’s choice of language contributes to the text’s meaning), and argument essays (students develop a claim in response to a topic, using evidence from reading, observations, or experience). The essays will be assessed using the appropriate College Board rubrics.
Additional Exam Preparation
In addition to the comprehensive activities already explained in this syllabus, students will complete practice multiple-choice exams, and will create their own multiple-choice questions in small groups.