A guide to completing a successful language analysis
The task
 Analyse the use of language (both written and visual)
in persuasive texts that debate a current issue in the
Australian media.
The criteria
Knowledge and Skills
6.6 or 5.6
Use appropriate metalanguage to
identify, analyse and compare the
ways in which the language of
selected persuasive texts from the
Australian media is used to position
readers in particular ways
Sophisticated analysis and insightful
comparison of the ways in which the
language of selected persuasive texts is
used to position readers in particular
ways.
Construct a sustained, coherent and
logical argument
Sophisticated construction of a
sustained, coherent and logical
argument.
Review and edit written work for
expressiveness, fluency and
coherence
Highly expressive and coherent writing
with confident use of highly
appropriate metalanguage.
Need to know
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How to distinguish between different text types.
How headlines work to persuade.
How to identify persuasive techniques.
How each persuasive technique works.
How to articulate how the writer positions the reader to
agree with his/her POV.
How to identify a writer’s contention.
How to identify persuasive techniques in images.
Vocabulary that describes tone.
How to write an analytical essay (including embedding
quotes).
Activity
Confident
Kind of know
No idea. Help!
Different text types
Persuasive techniques
How to write essay
Handy to know
 How the media works (eg the types of issues/stories
different newspapers and magazines cover, how issues
get coverage in the first place, what is news etc).
 Who some of the more well-known columnists are and
how they write.
 Why someone would want to persuade someone else.
 Why someone would want to simply ‘stir the pot’.
 What is an issue.
 What the current topical issues are.
 Who the target audience is of particular
articles/certain publications.
What is a media issue?
 With the person next to you, try to define what an
issue is.
Definition: An issue is a
controversial subject with at least
two opposing sides. It is debated in
a range of media texts.
Issues Game
 You need to stand up and go to the side of the room
where your answer to the question is located.
 The question is always:
 Is this an issue?
 Your answer will be either Yes / No / Don’t know
1. Ben Cousins
NO!
 Ben Cousins is a high-profile person but Ben on his own is
not an issue. He may be in the media a lot but he is not an
issue. A recent issue related to him is: “Should he have
been allowed to profit from a documentary that showed
him taking illicit drugs?”
Does the AFL’s illicit drugs policy give
players the best chance at
rehabilitation?
YES!
 There are views for and against this topic.
 It has been in the media on and off for the past few years.
 It has been debated a lot recently due to the Ben Cousins
doco and the Travis Tuck story.
The Federal Election
NO!
 The Federal Election is a major event in Australia.
While it has been in the news a lot lately, the ‘Federal
Election’ is not an issue because you cannot have a
point of view for or against the Federal Election.
Should the voting age be dropped
from 18 to 16?
YES!
 There are views for and against this topic.
 It has been in the media on and off for the past few
years.
Other popular issues
 Should Australia become a republic?
 Should school uniform be compulsory?
 Should public transport be free?
 Whether Australia should have a cap on population.
 Whether Bert and Patti Newton should have gone on
ACA about their son’s troubles.
Different FORMS of persuasive writing
 Q: Where are persuasive texts most likely to be found?
 A: In the media.
 Q: Which types of media can the SAC material be
taken from?
 A: newspaper, magazine, online, blog, email, speech.
 Year 10 – Page 173 of text book.
 Year 11 – page 159
Different media text types (FORM)
 Opinion pieces
 Columns
 Letters to editor
 Editorials
 Feature articles
 Photographs
 Cartoons
 Speeches
Different media text types 2
 Year 10s: turn to page 169
 Year 11s: turn to page 159.
 Activity:
- Get into pairs.
- Using a copy of The Age find an example of each of
each text type.
YR 11 HOMEWORK: Answer the
discussion points questions from
page 162-167.
Headlines
 Headlines are written by the editor or sub-editors of a
newspaper.
 They are generally:
- Brief and designed to catch the eye of the reader
- Big and in a distinctive font.
- Dramatise and sometimes sensationalise an issue.
- Are designed to manipulate reader to feel something
toward issue.
- Use a range of persuasive techniques like: puns,
hyperbole, sensationalism.
Headlines continued...
 Year 10 – p. 171
 Year 11 – p.156
 Activity: Year 11 – using your copy of The Age, do the
activity on page 157.
 Activity: Year 10 – read page 171. Use your copy of The
Age to complete the same activity for three headlines
of your choice.
Points of view (contention)
 Once you’ve identified the issue, you need to identify
the writer’s point of view – their stance on the issue.
 A writer will be either support (for) the issue or be
against it.
 Year 11 – consider the example on pages 154-155.
 Year 10 – page 184
 Helpful vocabulary: The writer John Doe is
passionately in favour of ... ; adamantly against the
issue ... ; The writer claims in a ___ tone that ...
Tone
 Year 10 – page 201
 Year 11 – page 175
 Tone: The mood or feeling of the language used by the
writer.
 Tip for identifying and describing tone: Ask yourself
what the writer’s purpose is ... To inform? To ask
questions? To make people laugh? Then extend on that
verb and make it an adjective... Eg inform =
informative tone, ask questions = ________ tone; make
people laugh = ________ tone.
Tone 2
 Tone can be difficult to detect in writing.
 It is much easier to determine tone in a __________.
 All writers use tone to convey their attitude on an
issue. If you can identify a writer’s tone, you will easily
be able to identify their stance on the issue. Likewise,
if you can identify their stance, this will give you a hint
on what kind of tone is being used.
Tone 3
 It has been said that tone falls into two broad
categories, serious and non-serious OR approving
and disapproving.
APPROVING
DISAPPROVING
Tone – words to describe tone
Serious
Non serious
Concerned, informative, angry,
optimistic, pessimistic, calm, accusing,
aggressive, alarming, assertive,
authoritative, bitter, disappointed,
guarded, outraged, pleading,
reasonable, respectful, sympathetic,
empathetic, arrogant, cynical, sceptical.
Comical, mocking, sarcastic, flippant,
amusing, antagonistic, bemused,
condescending, dismissive, humorous,
satirical.
Approving
Disapproving
FILL IN THE TABLE
FILL IN THE TABLE
Tone 5
 Tones can shift throughout an article (p 175 – yr 11)
 Tone depends on context.
 You need to read between the lines to pick up on tone.
 Tone can be subtle or blunt.
 Tone handout – from ‘The Issues Book’
Persuasive techniques
 Writers use these – intentionally or not – to persuade
readers to agree with them.
 Indentifying persuasive techniques and merely listing
them is the easy part (believe it or not!)
 By doing this alone you will not get a very good grade.
 You need to show HOW they actually work by
explaining the intended effect of the language on the
intended audience. You need to provide three or four
good examples as evidence to show the writer has used
a PT you have identified.
Persuasive techniques
Alliteration
Appeal to
tradition and
custom
Connotations
and loaded
words
Irony
Appeal to hip
pocket nerve
Anecdote
Appeal to
justice
Emotive
language
Metaphor and
simile
Appeal to
loyalty and
patriotism
Appeal to
authority
Attacks
Evidence
(stats, graphs,
diagrams)
Pun
Voice: active
and passive
Reason and
logic
(10 book)
Appeal to
common
sense
Praise
Exaggeration
(hyperbole)
Appeal to
family values
Cliche
Generalisation Repetition
Appeal to fear
Colourful
language
Inclusive
language
Rhetorical
question
Persuasive language 2
 These are some more difficult terms:
 Pejorative language: language with negative connotations.
Eg: hooligan, lazy, stupid are all pejorative and make us think
negatively about the people who are described. Techniques
that come under the umbrella of ‘pejorative language’ include:
attacks, appeal to sense of fear, hyperbole etc.
 Figurative language: language that is not literal. These
include euphemism, metaphor, simile, analogy.
 Satire: the art of creating humour out of what is originally
intended to be serious.
 1st, 2nd person: read from little book.
 Understatement: when a lesser expression is used than
would be expected.
Emotional appeals
(little book page 17)
 Appeal to our sense of love
 Appeal to our sense of humanity
 Appeal to our sense of morality
 Appeal to our sense of social responsibility
 Appeal to environmental responsibility
 Appeal to sense of justice/injustice
 Appeal to self interest
 Appeal to tradition
 Appeal to sense of pride/vanity
 Appeal to people’s desire to be modern/fashionable
 Appeal to conformity
 Appeal to democracy
Persuasive techniques 3
 There are heaps of persuasive techniques.
 Year 11 – page 177
 Year 10 – page page 183
 Let’s do a quick revision test. Take 10 mins to
revise the persuasive techniques in your
books and we’ll do a test on them.
REMEMBER:
Your language analysis MUST NOT be
simply a list of persuasive techniques.
As you discuss which persuasive
techniques the writer uses, you need to
show HOW and WHY the techniques
are persuasive.
How the techniques work
 Year 11 – page 177-182
 Year 10 – page 206
Analysing single words or short phrases
 Handout from ‘The Issues Book’ p44.
Analysing images
 Images you are likely to get in a SAC include
- Cartoons
- Photographs
- Graphics
- Diagrams
- Graphs
Cartoons
How they persuade
They attract attention.
Cartoonists can often say with their pictures what writers
can’t with their words.
Cartoons provide a strong and succinct message
combining text with an image.
The text is often in a speech or thought bubble.
Persuasive techniques in cartoons include: exaggeration,
irony, attacks, emotional appeals, satire, puns and
humour.
Cartoons continued...
 Cartoons almost always use some kind of humour.
 Often a cartoonist will identify a humorous or absurd
element of the story/issue and draw a picture that
pokes fun at it.
Famous cartoonists
 Mark Knight
 Ron Tandberg
 Michael Leunig
 More Leunig...
 Leunig
 Bruce Petty
Photographs
 Generally have a powerful emotive impact on readers
 Photos can support a point of view by:
- Highlighting an extreme aspect of the issue
- Showing expressions on people’s faces that convey an emotion
-
•
•
and therefore having an impact on the reader.
Showing people in a familiar context that encourages the
reader to empathise with those people... Eg commuters
crowding on a platform waiting for train
Presenting a landscape – pretty or ugly – in a way that
provokes an emotional response to the issue.
Sometimes photos are not very persuasive but merely
complement the story by catching the reader’s attention and
sum up the story in a small space.
Further reading: page 193 of textbook.
Writing your response (1 article
only)
 INTRODUCTION
 Form (what type of media text is it?)
 Author (who wrote it, where was it published?)
 Contention (what is the writer’s point of view on the
issue?
 Tone (describe the tone/s writer uses in the piece).
 Techniques (which persuasive techniques will you be
focusing on in your essay?)
Body paragraph 1
 Start by analysing the Headline and any images that
are in the piece. A discussion on tone can take place
here too.
- Describe headline. Then say how it persuades/draws
reader in/gives you an idea of the contention/tone.
- Describe image. Say how it persuades/draws reader
in/gives an idea of the emotion of the piece etc...
Body paragraph 2
 Analysis of first persuasive technique.
- TEEL
• OR
• Analysis of first part of the piece.
• Continue this approach for Body paragraphs 3, 4, 5.
Conclusion
 Summarise your piece.
 Make a closing statement.
 Stretch it out.
Analysing more than one article
 Page 198
 Handout.
Things to NEVER do.
 Handout.
Weblogs/blogs
 What is a blog?
A blog (derived from the term web log) is a type of website
or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an
individual with regular entries of commentary,
descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics
or video.
 Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave
comments.
 What do they look like?
 How do you know it’s a blog?
 What persuasive techniques are found in Blogs?
Some examples of blogs
 Jessica Watson’s blog:
http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/_blog/Official_Jessica
_Watson_Blog/
• Andrew Bolt’s blog:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/
• Ricky Gervais blog:
http://www.rickygervais.com/thissideofthetruth.php
Putting it together...
 Let’s look at the example on page 205.
Extra reading
 Year 11 – 187-207.
 Bob Hillman article on the Education Age website
(talks about news articles and photos)
http://education.theage.com.au/cmspage.php?intid=1
36&intversion=259
 Bob Hillman article about Language Analysis task
http://education.theage.com.au/cmspage.php?intid=1
36&intversion=249
The 5 Steps to Language
Analysis Step 1
 Read the article carefully and take
notes.
You will need to read the article twice to get
the most out of it. Use the first reading to
identify the writer’s overall point of view;
then use the second reading to focus on how
the point of view is developed and presented
persuasively.
The 5 Steps to Language
Analysis
Step 2
 Prepare your ideas for writing.
 Rewrite the contention in your own words.
 List the supporting points or arguments
– also in your own words.
 Select the persuasive words, phrases and
techniques you are going to analyse.
 Select some quotations to use as evidence
– be selective, what are the most effective
examples to use?
The 5 Steps to Language
Analysis Step 3
 Plan your structure.
As in all essays, the analysis will have an
introduction, body paragraphs and a
conclusion.
The 5 Steps to Language
Analysis
Step 4
 Write your language analysis.
 Use the plan you have constructed and stick
to it.
 Use a range of ideas for sentences starters
and vary your vocabulary.
The 5 Steps to Language
Analysis Step 5
 Edit and proofread your work.
Use the editing and proofreading checklist.
If you use this in your practice examples
then it will become automatic when you do
your SAC and examination.
Language Analysis
Editing and proofreading checklist.
Check that you have:
 Included introduction details: type of text; who wrote it; when and where it was
published; the tone and main contention of the piece.
 Explained the context of the text (that is, relevant aspects of the issue) if needed.
 Identified persuasive techniques and strategies and shown how they persuade.
 Discussed any visual material included.
 Linked your paragraphs.
 Constructed a strong conclusion.
 Used clear expression.
 Corrected spelling and grammar.
 Varied your sentence structure and vocabulary.
Language Analysis Check List
Have you identified the FACTT
in your introduction?
 F – form
 A – author
 C – contention
 T – tone
 T – techniques
The 5 Steps to Language
Analysis  Step 1 – Read carefully and takes notes.
 Step 2 – Prepare your ideas.
 Step 3 – Plan your structure.
 Step 4 – Write your language analysis.
 Step 5 – Edit and proofread your work.
Examination criteria.
Section C - Language Analysis
 understanding of the ideas and points of view presented,
 analysis of ways in which language and visual features
are used to present a point of view and to persuade
readers,
 controlled and effective use of language appropriate to
the task.