COURSE OVERVIEW
The AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way genre conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.
COURSE ORGANIZATION
The course, and the various readings and writings, is organized by themes with a constant presence of the understanding of rhetorical strategies and the application of these. The rhetorical strategies and fallacies found in various modes of persuasion (advertisements, speeches, poems, graphics, essays, and fiction) will be analyzed both verbally and in writing. Each unit requires students to acquire and use rich vocabulary, to use standard English grammar, and to understand the importance of diction and syntax in an author’s style. Therefore, students are expected to develop the following through reading, discussion, and writing assignments:
• a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively
• a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination;
• logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis;
• a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail; and
• an effective use of rhetoric including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.
(College Board AP English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008, p. 8)
COURSE OUTLINE
Unit 1: Rhetorical Analysis
Unit 2: Argumentative
Unit 3: Synthesis
Unit 4: Satire
Unit 5: AP Test Prep
Unit 6: Great Gatsby
This page should serve as an easy way to find information for AP Language and Composition at Garden Grove High. You will see the webpage has navigation to various things that will help you succeed in this course. One of the most helpful tools will be the calendar above. If you missed an assignment, it is up to you to obtain the missing work the following day.