Meanings & Representations

Morning everyone; we're nearly there!

This term has been very full on, so well done for making it to the end (almost!). We've got 2 lessons left before we break, so we're going to be doing one last push to consolidate our study of language & technology and put this into practice using PEE.

As I discussed on Monday, as well as needing to have the ability to analyse the language used in any given text, you also need to be able to comment in detail on:

• The affordances of a particular text
• The constraints
• The context
• The way in which the text creates meanings and representations

We did a lot of this on Monday, and now with that foundation knowledge in place, you should be able to take a stab at answering an exam-style question using this framework.

Task 1

Get out your Mumsnet A3 sheets you annotated on Monday  - you-ll need those today - and for the first task, take 5 minutes to re-familiarise yourself with the content and your annotations. Can you make any more observations about the text? Remember the question: 

How does the text use language to create meanings and representations?

Task 2

Now, take a look at the exemplar response to the question and the text we are working on, which would receive an A grade in a real exam. Look at the way this response is structured, and how the student is using the PEE format. You will be writing PEE paragraphs in class tomorrow, so take a not of how it is done, and how the candidate includes a topic sentence,  point, evidence from the text and the explanation. 

Also, look at the examiner comments at the side, as this is a good way to ascertain how and what the examiner rewards (but don't worry about AO1 and AO3 for now). 

Go through the text and highlight the following in 2 different colours:

• Any identification of linguistic techniques
• Discussion of context, affordances and constraints, and meanings and representations.

(Note: You are not expected to be able to write to this standard at this point in your study. You should use this as an opportunity to see the standard that you will be working toward throughout the year)

Task 3

Using your feedback from me and the exemplar response for support, re-write your paragraphs from Monday. You should aim for at least 2 paragraphs. Email these to me by the end of the lesson and post to your blog.

As always, come and see me if you have any problems!

Computer room lesson 12th October

Morning everyone!

After our day off on Monday normal service resumes today. As we are working our way towards writing a full essay for the language and technology topic (I'll set this after we come back from half term), you can use today as a catch up session to fill in any gaps in knowledge that you may have. Work your way through the tasks below:

1. Spend around 10 minutes playing some grammar games as you did last week. Click the link to access them.

2. There are a few of you who have as of yet not handed me in any written work. This is very detrimental to your progress and needs to be rectified. If this is you, complete task 3 and hand me in some PEE analytical paragraphs by the end of the lesson.

3. Wider reading is very important to your study of language. With this in mind, I'd like you to find 3 articles relating to technology's impact on language, all from different news sources (The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Independent, The Telegraph etc., just google 'language and technology the guardian'). You can start with this one from the Daily Mail.

Decide whether or not the article demonstrates a prescriptivist or descriptivist attitude, and how you know this. Then write a few paragraphs of analysis in response to the article with some focus on the way it uses linguistic techniques, similar to the work you did on the A Level article.

4. Finally, if you finish all of these tasks, start trying to learn and revise your terminology. I have card here for you to make some flashcards, so come see me if you want some.

Plenty to be getting on with! Remember tomorrow we will be finishing off your technology posters and you will be presenting them to the class in your groups.

Language & Technology - Introduction

Morning all,

Today we are going to be picking up from where we left off on Monday with our introduction to language & technology.

You have a few tasks to do today, so these should keep you busy fore the entirety of the lesson. If you finish early, click the links below to have a go at some online grammar games!

First of all, here is the PowerPoint we went through on Monday:

PowerPoint

And here is the language & technology terminology sheet:

Terminology sheet

Then, re-watch the 2 TED talks we watched in class on Monday:

Erin McKean

Jon McWhorter

And write 2 paragraphs in which you summarise the content.

Secondly, finish off the analytical task on Monday directed at your own text messages. Turn each box into a paragraph of PEE analysis (click this link for the sheet), using the techniques you have picked up over the last 2 weeks and ensuring you are using terminology. Use the sheets you were given on Monday for guidance.

As usual, any problems let me know!

Extension: Grammar Games!

Click the link to play some grammatical revision games.