AP English Language focuses on rhetoric. Students will study language as a persuasive tool and examine the integral relationships of writer, context, audience, and argument. Focusing primarily on nonfiction works, students will write formally and informally through revised essays, journals, collaborative writing, and in-class responses as well as produce expository and argumentative compositions that introduce complex ideas developed through cogent and sustained reasoning.
Big Ideas
Big Ideas are the key elements covered in the AP Language and Composition course. Each of these ideas are covered in the AP Language and Composition Exam.
Rhetorical Situation: Individuals write within a particular situation and make strategic writing choices based on that situation.
Claims and Evidence: Writers make claims about subjects, rely on evidence that supports the reasoning that justifies the claim, and often acknowledge or respond to other, possibly opposing, arguments.
Reasoning and Organization: Writers guide understanding of a text’s lines of reasoning and claims through that text’s organization and integration of evidence.
Style: The rhetorical situation informs the strategic stylistic choices that writers make.