Instructions for exam for ‘frequentanti’. i.e. those who have signed on
and followed the course. 4 credits.
How Evaluation and Attribution can contribute to stance in TV and press
items
By the end of the course you should be able to recognise and identify many of the features which are
involved in text reception and to be able to understand how they contribute to overall text meaning. In
particular we will be examining the features which express evaluative meanings, subjective language as it is
important to recognise how much in a text is subjective and evaluative, to understand a writer’s attitude, to
understand how figurative language is being used to reinforce such evaluations or whether there is some
ironical tone. We will also be examining different ways in which writers refer to what others have said and
how writers either aver or attribute by they bringing other peoples’ words into their own texts through
attribution. These two aspects, evaluation and attribution, are important for non-native readers of English
texts as they are often the aspects that readers find most difficult: what is the writers’ attitude and who is
taking responsibility for what is said?
The frontal lessons aim to provide more background to the process, providing information and
examples to illustrate the linguistic features involved in the reading process and which form the
content of our programme. It will provide you with metalanguage to talk about the linguistic features
and the knowledge of certain area important for discourse analysis such as evaluation, metaphor and
irony as engines of persuasion and evaluation, and attribution or the way in which different voices are
brought into an argument, evaluated and responsibility for positions is take (averred) by the writer or
attributed to someone else.
The course aims however do not consist of knowledge and comprehension only. There are objectives
involved about the ability to apply the knowledge and understanding to real texts in real time and to
make autonomous judgements about the aim of the text. Do not forget that it is the act of reading and
trying to construct meaning from a text which provides the practice necessary to become a competent
reader. This does not mean being able to recite what is contained in the dispensa or the slides so much
as the acquisition of the skills involved in engaging with texts, using that knowledge of linguistic
features, which can only come through practice. We will do a lot of text analysis in class and you are
expected to interact and engage both with the texts and the tasks and with other members of the
group. Remember ability to work in groups with others is an important objective in the university
programme and is requested by most work environments.
You are expected to have at least B1 competence in English and English is used in class. The interaction will
also improve your communicative skills and give you confidence. The final aim is for you to become
autonomous readers of texts (or listeners) and to be able to process texts competently. That is to say we
want you to have good receptive communicative competence in English. To communicate means to use
language with a purpose. Language is not seen as an abstract entity that we can study detached from its
users and contexts in which it is used. For this reason much of the course is taken up with actual texts and
your interaction and engagement with these texts is a fundamental part of the learning process. Some class
time is given over to the transcription exercises and the discussion of difficulties.
Work for final mark. The course is based on continual assessment of participation in class and two
tests based on work done in class and individually.
Your analysis should involve you selecting, and identifying (using appropriate metalanguage),
features which are interesting in terms of attribution or evaluation and but also commenting on
the effect in terms of framing or stance, saying why they are interesting. Remember you are
comparing and contrasting two media items. Your conclusions should provide a synthesis or
overview based on the accumulation of linguistic/discursive features and some comment which
involves comparison.
The tasks can be done well or less well. Your mark will reflect this. For example your analysis may
not include salient features or have irrelevant examples. You might not have noticed significant
features. The use of metalanguage may be inaccurate or absent. Your comments may be too
generic and not based on linguistic details in the texts. If you select relevant details, identify them
correctly and make significant generalizations about the text then your mark should be high.
You need to bring a USB pen to class to collect the data (a TG from AL jazeera or CCTV and one
other from the same day but another channel, ITV or BBC) Before the exam you need to send to
me via email (or deliver by hand)
1. List of contents and timings/counter numbers showing what was in the TV programme of
news from your assigned day (given out in class)
2. Transcription of your TG with word count (time is set aside for transcription practice during
class time in May)
3. Your analysis of one news item, selected by you, comparing it with an item on the same
topic from another TG which will be provided (with subtitles to help with the transcription)
Analysis in powerpoint or Word in annotated form, i.e not a long discursive essay (so using
symbols or colours and a key)
NB All these files should be labeled so as to identify with date and source and your name. A file
labeled Lingua inglese is not helpfully labeled for identification purposes. A file labeled TG is not
labeled correctly for identifying the date and news item. Think of how the file can be identified
from its label by someone who is not you.
In terms of the task: the files may be incorrectly labeled making identification difficult. The
contents list may be incomplete or not include the headlines or timing. The transcription may
have too many gaps and no attempt made to suggest possible phrases where there are difficulties.
All of the above are ways in which marks may be lost. You get marks by showing how well you can
follow instructions and how well you can apply what you learned during the course and from the
content of the slides and suggested reading. You need to demonstrate your knowledge and
understanding, ability to apply these to a real text and autonomous critical abilities.
Your knowledge should come from the lesson slides and discussions in class as well as the dispensa
and the two articles;
Voices in the text Geoff Thompson;
Discourses of European identity in British, Italian and French TV news
Joanna Thornborrow, Louann Haarman and Alison Duguid
So you have to do
a)
the analysis of newspaper articles in class to demonstrate your reading skills. (this takes
the form of continuous assessment plus a prova in itinere (you are exonerated from the
official prova scritta to be done by non-frequentanti) to be done in class.
b) the description of the contents of one television news programme
(from AL Jazeera) and
the transcription of two news items to demonstrate your listening skills.
c)
Your presentation of the comparison of two TGs for one news items ( in written form at
least one week before the exam) and ability to answer questions and interact in a prova
orale to demonstrate your oral interaction skills.
A: Prova in itinere (in class)
News article: Identify the source, triggering event, topic.
Select, identify and comment on the Linguistic features
(including evaluative lexis (who or what is evaluated, by whom and how), different kinds of attribution and
the effects, choices of thematisation, choices of modality, major semantic fields, figurative language,
upscaling, downscaling, irony, framing, coda)
You can use colours for the different features
Don’t forget if you have selected a feature there must be a reason for doing so. You need to comment. If
you have no comment to make then do not select the feature it is not interesting in discourse terms. Be
prepared to answer questions on the various features in the texts.
Conclusions and summarizing comments (capacità di sintesi):
The details of choice usually have some significance and choices are made for a reason and will build up to
give an overall effect. You should give an overview of the article, perhaps commenting on the source,
bringing out points of interest about stance based on the accumulation of features and overall effect.
B. Prova orale : Lingua inglese
Name
Numero di matricola
2 News items on the same topic from 2 different news channels. Analysis based on
the approach introduced in class and from the reading and transcriptions
(Thornborrow et al)
Any useful background information about the story
Source 1
Source 2
Date and name of channel
Date and name of channel
Length (Number of words and timing)
Length number of words and timing
Description of footage/interaction
Description of footage/interaction
Linguistic features
Linguistic features
Comment
(including evaluative lexis (who or what is evaluated, by whom and how), different kinds of attribution and
the effects, choices of framing, focusing, realization, closing)
Don’t forget if you have selected a feature there must be a reason for doing so. You need to comment. If
you have no comment to make then do not select the feature it is not interesting in discourse terms. Be
prepared to answer questions on the various features in the texts
Conclusions and summarizing comments:
The details of choice usually have some significance and choices are made for a reason. You should give an
overview of the two different sources bringing out points of interest about stance based on the
accumulation of features.
(comparing and contrasting)
For 6 credits: you need to transcribe the whole news programme (not just the news items to be
described) and to analyse the choices made by the channel in terms of content and presentation
compred with the second channel you analysed for Module A.
Module B. 4 credits
The discourse of broadcast news
Prova orale : The transcription of both the two news programmes (not just a single item), one from
subtitles, and the comparative analysis of the two programmes. Includes discussion of attribution and
evaluation, and the descriptive methodology described in Thornborrow et al. and in Montgomery The
discourse of broadcast news. To be handed in one week before the exam.