Introduction to Paper 1 Assessment
To understand the importance of the terms 'audience' and 'purpose', we need
to ask ourselves: 'What do we know about the context in which a particular
text was written?' Often times we look for contextual clues, such as the title of
a work, the name of its author and the year of publication. These bits of
information carry a lot of meaning and help us interpret texts. In this lesson
you will come to understand their importance, as you look at a text out of
context and make educated guesses about the context. You will come to
realize that we often project our understanding of the world onto texts in order
to make them meaningful.
Assessment Activity - Decontextualized text
Task 1 - Here is an example of a decontextualized text, i.e. a text that has
been stripped of all its contextual clues. After reading this text, write a
300-400-word response in which you comment on the following. Give
evidence from the text to support your claims.
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•
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When was this text written?
Who wrote it?
Who was their target audience?
What kind of effect did this text have on its target audience?
Mystery text
In view of the difficulties that will have to be faced when catering in war-time it
is more than ever essential to bear in mind the importance of well-balanced
meals.
Good feeding means the provision of essential materials in the right
proportion. The diet must supply;- 1.Protective material for the maintenance of
health. 2. Building material for growth and repair of the body. 3. Fuel material
to provide the energy required for muscular work, and for the production of
heat.
Foods are made up of one or more of the following;-proteins, fat,
carbohydrate, mineral matter, vitamins, roughage and water.
These constituents may be grouped according to their function as follows;Protective material- vitamins, mineral matter, roughage, water. Building
materials - protein, mineral matter. Fuel material - fat, carbohydrates (starches
and sugars).
Vitamins. The most important of these from the point of view of diet planning
are A.D.B1. B2. and C.
Mineral matter. The most important of the forms of mineral matter, from the
point of view of diet planning are calcium, phosphorus, iron and iodine.
Roughage. Roughage is the name given to the indigestible matter in foods of
vegetable origin, which is excreted unchanged. Roughage plays a useful part
in stimulating the movement of the large intestine.
Protein. Protein can be obtained from both animal and vegetable sources.
That from animal sources is called first-class protein, that from vegetable
sources second-class protein. First class protein is of better quality. In "hardtimes" it may be necessary to increase the quantity of vegetable protein in the
diet and to reduce the quantity of animal protein. In the case of children,
however, who have not only to repair worn-out tissue, but also to create new
tissue, ie to grow, every effort must be made to maintain the necessary supply
of animal protein. The following table shows the richest sources of the more
important constituents of the diet.
PROTECTIVE CONSTITUENTS
VITAMINS
Vitamin A. Animal fats (except lard), fish roe, Dark green vegetables, e.g.
Spinach, Dark cabbage leaves, Dark lettuce leaves, Dandelion leaves, Nettle
leaves, carrots, tomatoes, halibut liver oil, cod liver oil.
Vitamin D. Animal fats (except lard), Halibut liver oil, cod liver oil.
Vitamin B1. Pulse vegetables, nuts, wholemeal flour, oatmeal, eggs, liver,
heart, kidney, yeast products e.g. marmite, bemax.
Vitamin B2. Foods of animal origin, whole meal flour, yeast products, e.g.
marmite, bemax.
Vitamin C. Raw liver, raw green vegetables, tomatoes, young raw carrots,
citrus fruits, e.g. oranges, lemons, grape fruit. Raspberries, blackberries, and
most other fruit to a lesser extent.
Task 2 - Sample student response
Below is one student's response to the example text. Try answering the
following questions after you have written your own response and after you
have read the student's response:
• What kinds of contextual clues did you manage to find in the text, even
though there were no titles, year of publication or name of author?
• How does your response compare to the student's response below? How is
your understanding of history different from the student's?
Student response
The text has some clear points, which tell us more about the situation during
the time it was written. These ‘clues’ help us see the specific audience and
purpose of the text. From “catering in war-time” we can note that during this
time period there was a war and in addition to this it mentions children, which
changes the possibility from the soldiers in warfare needing food supplies to
entire families in need.
Audience
As mentioned above we note that the text educates the reader on
how to keep the family strong during the war and how to “repair worn-out
tissue”. We can note that the English is without any major mistakes so we
would assume that this was in a time period in which there was war in an
English speaking country; most likely the US or Great Britain. This would
mean we are looking at most probably the Second World War (1939-1945).
During this time period it was the women, mothers, taking care of the families.
This makes them the most likely audience. During this period there was so
many deaths, so maybe shelters or orphanages that had to take care of
groups of people are also part of the targeted audience. Also we can see the
text is very clear, it is not written in too difficult manner and points out exactly
what is needed to keep on surviving as healthily as possible.
Purpose
The text itself is very clear on what its purpose is. It wants to tell
the readers, mothers in this case or any other type of caretakers, how to keep
the men and children and all others healthy. It focuses on specific ‘ingredients’
such as protein or carbohydrates. Going into the army was mandatory during
that time, so it might have been written with a purpose that they did not mean
for the audience to notice. Of course each nation wanted its army to be as
strong as possible, with its men and young boys (children) healthy. Not every
family wanted to participate and be part of the actual combat or whatever they
were required to do in the military, which is why this seems to be a hidden
purpose. The government or dictator, or whichever party or person that was
leading the nation at that time would have wanted its people to be strong.
With the mothers/caretakers thinking this was the way to stay healthy, the
leader(s) could be thinking of getting their people as strong as possible to
form part of the army.