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!