2014 AP English Language Summer Assignment
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition is a challenging and
rigorous college-level course that investigates the uses, purposes, and effects of
language. In order to prepare you for the material and skills you will encounter
throughout the year, we are requiring you to participate in the Summer Required
Assignment. Each summer, students taking honors-level English classes are required
to read assigned works of literary merit and works that provide the specific and
necessary literary background for later studies.
There are four distinct assignments. They are 1) reading The Elements of Style, 2)
completing a literary/rhetorical devices glossary, and 3) reading and responding to a
memoir. 4. Completing Frayer model vocabulary charts for SAT vocabulary.
Completion of this assignment is mandatory.
•
All assignments are to be submitted in a spiral notebook and
HANDWRITTEN
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The assignments are due on the first day of school. (There will
be quizzes too!)
GET AHEAD: I strongly recommend that you obtain a SAT study book and
begin memorizing vocabulary and practicing grammar rules and test questions. There
is an attached SAT vocabulary assignment. This will be a major focus of the first
semester.
Also you may wish to get a head start on the school year by selecting a book from
the following list and reading it before the school year begins.
Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain
The Awakening, Kate Chopin
Love In The Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Octopus, Frank Norris
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Nausea, Jean Paul Sartre
An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser
The Sea Wolf, Jack London
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Native Son, Richard Wright
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
No-No Boy, John Okada
Childhood’s End, Arthur C Clarke
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
White Noise, Don DeLillo
The Tortilla Curtain, TC Boyle
Rain of Gold, Victor Villanseñor
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X (with Alex Haley)
Life: The Movie, Neal Gabler
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Jared Diamond
A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
The Fall, Albert Camus
Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Edward O Wilson
How the Mind Works, Stephen Pinker
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
Assignment 1: The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White
You will certainly refer to this book for the rest of your educational journey.
Since this is a book about grammar, give yourself plenty of time to read it so that the
ideas can marinate.
Be sure to have a strong understanding of the book’s contents, as you will be tested
upon this material during the first week of school. Taking notes is strongly
encouraged; however, you will not be graded on any notes you take—these are for
your use only.
This book is widely available in bookstores (especially used and second hand
bookstores); it is also accessible online (and free!) at http://www.bartleby.com/141/
Assignment 2: Rhetorical Terms Glossary
Argument and literary analysis are important parts of the Advanced Placement
Language and Composition course. To prepare to analyze there are some common
terms that all students should know. Look up and record definitions for each of the
following terms. I’d highly recommend completing a Frayer Model Chart on each of
the words. You will have a test on these terms within the first week of class. As the
test will not only expect you to know the definitions, but also to recognize the use of
the devices in context, it may help you to find examples of the devices. This
notebook will serve as on ongoing glossary of rhetorical terms that you will use and
add to throughout the school year.
You may find help with rhetorical terms on the following sites:
• http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm
• http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html
• http://www.nt.armstrong.edu/terms.htm
•
http://www.haverford.edu/classics/courses/2006F/lat101a/handouts/GlossaryL
iteraryRhetoricalTerms.pdf
1. 1. 1)
a. a)
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
r.
s.
t.
u.
v.
w.
Style
allusion
b)
analogy
c)
anaphora
d)
antithesis
e)
aphorism
f)
apostrophe
g)
connotation
h)
denotation
i)
diction
j)
hyperbole
k)
imagery
l)
irony
m)
metaphor
n)
metonymy
o)
paradox
p)
parallelism
q)
personification
r)
pun
s)
repetition
t)
simile
u)
syntax
v)
tone
w)
understatement
a. 2) Logical Fallacies
b. a)
ad hominem
c.
b)
either/or fallacy
d.
c)
hasty generalization
e.
d)
post hoc ergo prompter hoc
f.
e)
red herring
a. 3) Aristotelian Appeals
b. a)
ethos
c.
b)
pathos
d.
c)
logos
Assignment 3: Dialectical Journal
Choose one of the following books from the list below. These books are personal
memoirs and deal with a variety of subject matters that require a mature reader.
Please research the choices and choose a book that suits your preferences.
As you read, you will be expected to complete a dialectical journal. Please refer to
the detailed instructions on the following pages. Journals written about other books
not on the list do not follow instructions.
Memoir Choices:
Joan Didion, Where I was From
• Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
• Albert Camus, The Plague (fiction)
• Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life
The Dialectical Journal
You’re going to write out a dialectical journal to keep track of your reading
responses. At times these seem impossibly tedious, but that is only when students
do not add their own wisdom, only when they prefer to sit back and have the answer
given to them. Dialectical Journals require that you, the reader, to add your own
meaning, interpretation, observation, wit, humor, and emotion.
It is a place for you to predict, comment, relate back to your life. It is NOT a place
for you to summarize what you have read. Summaries will not be read and will not
be counted towards your final score. So please, please, please (for your sake and
mine) do not summarize; instead analyze.
On the obverse of this sheet is a longer explanation of what’s supposed to appear in
the dialectical journal. Most of your responses should be in stages 2 & 3. If you’re
finding trouble starting responses, try the suggested starters which are in bold in the
top section.
Your page should be organized so that a quote (with page number) appears at the
top and then a response of approximately 300 words (about 1 pg handwritten). A
response is required for every 20-25 pages of your text.
Reading Response & Dialectical Journals
A dialectical journal is an effective way to keep a record of your reading responses - positive
or negative, sure or unsure. It offers a chance to respond personally, to ask questions, wonder,
predict, or reflect on the characters, events, literary elements, or language of a text. As you read take
time to record your observations. You may do this as ideas strike you or after you have read a
portion of the text. Write often and record as many of your observations as possible. Do not
summarize. Instead, record your textual observations.
If you are having trouble beginning an entry, try some of these "starters": I was impressed by... I
noticed that... I wonder about... Some questions I have are... I don't understand... I now
understand why/how/what... Something I notice appreciate/don't appreciate/wonder about is...
I predict... An interesting word/sentence/thought is...This reminds me of... I never thought ... I
was surprised by...
Please keep in mind that these logs are not meant to be a personal diary. They are meant to be read
by others and should relate only to the assigned material. When sharing you will have the
opportunity to confirm, clarify, and modify your responses through discussion.
Generally three stages of student work are exhibited in these journals. You should strive for stage
three.
Stage I: A literal surface encounter with the text. The work at this level will have some of
the following characteristics.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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lacks a critical interest in the narrative
primarily summarizes the selection
unsupported by evidence from the text or experience
predictions are unrealistic or improbable
fails to ask questions or hypothesize
uses stereotypical responses
uses images drawn from movies or television
entries are too short
confusion about the text and the story
off-topic responses
Stage II: Evidence and understanding and appreciation of text. The work at this level will
have some of the following characteristics:
•
•
made
•
reading)
•
•
•
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does not summarize, but rather reflects upon the narrative
personal connections between text and student's own experiences are
predictions are plausible given the scenario (but may change after further
demonstrates an ability to understand characters' motivations
quotes from text for support
ability to hypothesize and predict
evidence that students are engaged in the text
Stage III: Synthesis and evaluation of the test. The work of students at this level will have
some or many of these characteristics.
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•
•
•
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a strong interest in the material as evidenced through an awareness of levels of meaning
judgments are textually and experientially based
predictions are thoughtful and keenly observed
character analysis is consistent with the material presented
show an understanding of character motivation
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comparisons and connections are found between text and other literary and
artistic works
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recognizes the author's writing choices and reasons for those choices
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recognizes the energy and deliberateness of the writing process
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awareness that their own personal beliefs may differ from those expressed in the
text
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demonstrates an awareness of point of view
ASSIGNMENT 4: SAT Vocabulary Practice
Lookup SAT words online and complete Frayer model charts for at least 30 of the words. You may
have several charts on individual pages of your notebook.
Modified from Eldridge 2012