Hey there! Tasty username ahaha.
That sucks that Eng Lang was full this year! If you are really passionate about the subject and really enjoy discussing linguistics, and how people communicate and relate to each other, then I definitely think that Eng Lang is worth pursuing next year!
You'll enjoy 3/4 Eng Lang if you find these questions interesting:
- Why do we speak differently to different people?
- How do we show who we are through our language use?
- How has our Australian identity been influenced and shaped due to our colonial history?
- How do the texts I read try to relate or distance themselves from me? What do they want from me?
If you are interested and passionate enough about the subject, then you will put in the time and mental energy required to complete the Year 12 subject without the Year 11 foundations. With that being said, the biggest thing to prepare for this year before year 12, is learn your metalanguage. On the VCAA study design (
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/englishlanguage/2016EnglishLanguageSD.pdf), on pages 9 and 10, there is a list of all of the technical terms and language you will be required to use in order to describe the language that authors use when drafting texts. Talk to your friends, the Eng Lang teachers at your school, and ask them which terms they have learnt most thoroughly and which ones they use most frequently, and then familiarise yourself with these.
Further, just make sure that you begin looking at texts and speech not just from the receiving end as the reader/listener, but ask yourself why people have made specific language choices.
I think because you are doing mainstream English that there is no harm in doing both. I did two English subjects last year (Lit and Lang) and I found that they complemented each other really well, and that having practice writing essays really helped improve my scores for both subjects!
Good luck and I hope that you pick English Language!