This course is designed to give students frequent opportunities to learn about the ways rhetoric and argument shape and influence our lives, our community, and our world by examining rhetorical situations, author's purpose, as well as the audiences and the subjects in various themed and challenging texts. Students will write in a variety of modes for a variety of audiences, developing a sense of personal style and fluency, and cultivate an ability to analyze and articulate how the use of language operates in any given text. While the primary focus of this course is reading and analyzing nonfiction, we also read and study selections of fiction from the American Literature canon, analyzing for issues and themes within these texts. We also study the rhetoric of visual media such as photographs, films, advertisements, and comic strips, as recommended by the College Board.
What makes AP English Language & Composition different from other high school English courses is its focus on rhetoric. While promoting writing in many contexts for a variety of purposes, the English Language course is the place where nonfiction texts and contexts take center stage. Here students think deeply about language as a persuasive tool and about the dynamic relationship of writer, context, audience, and argument.