AS Language computer room lesson 7/3/16

Afternoon everyone! I have lots of mock prep for you to do today, so by the end of this week you should all be experts on paper 1 ready for Monday!

First things first:

Make sure you have registered for Cambridge Elevate using the code I gave you.
This should give you access to the textbook; get familiar with how it works and read the section 13.5.1 up to and including 13.5.4. Make notes on some examples of how language is used in these sections to represent different groups and ideas. Try and apply terminology to the quotes. Put these notes onto your blog.

Make sure you do this properly: doing the actual task, looking up everything you need to in order to understand, blogging your notes and browsing the textbook (so you know what there is for you to look at independently). Your next task will be to build on what you've learned and written.


It's Fair Trade fortnight and I wanted to use resources linked to this to explore terms and ideas to use in Paper 1 (analyse two texts separately then compare them). This work should bring together some of the work on representation that we have done so far. you should be able to do most of the analysis and write-up in class. Use this opportunity to revise and practice your technique for the mock next week.

Task 2:

The question is 'how are meanings and representations communicated in the two texts?'

a) The first text is an official website (ActionAid) providing teaching resources for Fair Trade fortnight. Use the following questions and terms to help you explore it but your answer should be structured like an essay in PEE paragraphs:

• Select some key conventions/techniques across a range of frameworks/levels (grammar, lexis, discourse etc - particularly explore how graphology supports meanings made through language)

• Look at all the conventions of the form (website) and how these are used to make meanings and representations e.g. they might link to other reputable organisations to make them seems more reliable, or characterise the organisation in particular ways e.g. as professional ("get a job at ActionAid" hyperlink). Use the terms 'affordances' (benefits of the genre/mode i.e. what the technological aspects of the form allow the producer to do/achieve/communicate) and 'constraints' (the limitations of the form i.e. what the website cannot do or can only do in a limited way - try to tentatively establish the effect of constraints and how the producer mitigates/compensates for these).

• choose a range of points that cover meanings, representations and different aspects of the form (including affordances and constraints) and plan an answer. 

b) The second text is a Daily Mail article on research into fair trade.

• Again explore the language choices

• Then explore the representations of Fair Trade, the workers, the researchers, The Daily Mail etc.

• Look for significant patterns in the language (quotes you could group together that work in similar ways or for similar effects)

• choose a range of points that cover meanings, representations and different aspects of the form ensuring that you can use plenty of terminology across a range of frameworks (lexis, grammar, discourse, graphology etc.) and then plan an answer

c) compare the two texts

• spot connections and contrasts across the two texts, focussing on the theme they have in common but also considering how and why they diverge

• choose quotes that you can connect and contrast because they are comparable (e.g. they both use interrogatives/noun phrases/metaphors or other shared techniques; they both talk about the Fair Trade initiative; they are both critical of something; they both refer to outside agencies etc.) 

• ensure that you talk aboiut how the meanings and representations that are made are similar and different using terminology from a range of frameworks

Remember the mark scheme and AOs:

AO1 terminology, clear PEE with linked points and clustered (linked/grouped) quotesAO3 show how the context affects the linguistic techniques used (why those techniques are used in that way for that audience and purpose, and how the form/genre affects language use)