Section A - ReadingQuestion 2: Presentational Features

Approaching and answering Question 2

Question 2: Presentational Features• 8 marks

• 15 minutes, including active reading time

• You need to briskly analyse the language of presentational

features such as headlines, sub-headlines or captions

• You need to briskly analyse the image

• You need to explain how presentational features are

effective, and how they link to the text itself

Match the headline to the picture!

1. Government bans calculators from primary maths tests

2. NHS Direct to close most call centres, cutting hundreds of jobs, says union

3. Britain to stop aid to India

4. Most UK ash trees will be diseased within 10 years, ministers told

5. Top five regrets of the dying

6. Anger over ‘harsh’ GCSE English grades

Match the headline to the picture!

1. Cost of university accommodation ‘doubles in 10 years’

2. Is the Six-Million-Dollar Man possible?

3. The consequences of having a ‘foreign’ name

4. The women living in Chernobyl's toxic wasteland

5. Coffee threatened by climate change

6. Don't like the licence fee? Simple. Don't pay it

• Burning questions on tunnel safety unanswered (About the possibility of fires in the Channel tunnel)

• Science friction (About an argument between scientists and the British government on the topic of BSE or mad cow disease)

• Between a Bok and a hard place (About the remote chances of the Welsh rugby team beating the South African team)

• Waugh cry as Aussies blast off (Waugh is an Australian cricket player)• Return to gender (About a reoccurrence of sexual harassment in London post offices)• A shot in the dark (About the murder of a Russian politician)• Dutch take courage and prepare for the Euro (About the introduction of the Euro

into the Netherlands)• Silent blight (On the incidence of sore throats among teachers)• No flies on this heart-stopper (A review of the play of The Lord of the Flies)• Why the Clyde offer is not so bonny (About a take-over offer by a Scottish engineering

company)• Resurgent Welsh dragon too fired up to lose its puff (About a game of rugby

involving the Welsh team)• On a whinge and a prayer (On the resignation of a minister of the British government)• Officials say atoll do nicely (About the fraudulent sale of small Pacific islands)

Headlines with puns…

…often contain an idiom (well known phrase / saying) or a cultural reference. Which of these do? Which don’t you understand?

Headlines with other devices…

Which use alliteration? The ‘rule of three’? Repetition? Personification? Cliché? Exaggeration? Rhetorical questions?

Figurative language?

• Merseyside derby: It's the hope that kills you• Starbucks wakes up and smells the stench of tax

avoidance controversy• Bargain Hunter: Pretty planters and rattan rocking chairs• Up, up and away in Bristol's beautiful balloons • The Philippines: The world's budget English teacher• Metropolitan Police declare war on anti-social behaviour • We've been on the back foot with the EU ever since we

joined • The end of a dream for Camelot?• Versatile venison recipes from Daylesford Organic• Sick as a parrot: Disease hits Hampshire pet stores

What can we always say about headlines (before we’ve even read the article)?

1.

2.

3.

Government bans calculators from primary maths tests

NHS Direct to close most call centres, cutting hundreds of jobs, says union

Britain to stop aid to India

Most UK ash trees will be diseased within 10 years, ministers told

Anger over ‘harsh’ GCSE English grades

Don't like the licence fee? Simple. Don't pay it

What can we always say about pictures?

1.

2.

3.

Link to article at The Guardian Online

Waste crime: Britain's war on illegal dumpingThere are more than 1,000 illegal waste sites in Britain, causing huge pollution and ruining people's lives. Are the authorities doing enough about the problem?

Pun / play on words. ‘Hate crime’ is a serious crime based on prejudice. Referring / alluding to this makes waste dumping seem more serious. Colon adds impact to what comes after it

Powerful words such as ‘war’, ‘huge’ and ‘ruining’ emphasise / exaggerate the seriousness of the issue

Statistic puts story into perspective and, again, emphasises seriousness

Rhetorical question leads into the article; it makes the reader curious

Analysing the effectiveness of presentational features…

Image is bright, colourful and vivid, giving a clear illustration of the issueThe image depicts

illegal dumping; this picture is unpleasant and messy and, again, gives the reader a clearer picture of the issue

Link to article on BBC Online News

Analysing the effectiveness of presentational features. Your turn…

The Philippines: The world's budget English teacher

Elizaveta is a Russian student taking courses taught in English in the Philippines - she says fees are a quarter of courses in Australia or Canada

Link to article at The Guardian Online

Analysing the effectiveness of presentational features. Your turn…

Starbucks wakes up and smells the stench of tax avoidance controversyCafe chain executive to face questions from MPs, while protesters plan to turn branches into creches and refuges

Police protect a Starbucks branch during an anti-cuts march last month after the company's low tax bill was revealed

1. • Highlight the key words in the question. This question asks you to do to two things, and is always very similar:

• It asks you to analyse the presentational features, noticing how they are effective.

• It asks you to link the presentational features to the content of the text.

Explain how the headline and picture are effective, and how they link to the text.

Explain how the headline, sub-headline and picture are effective, and how they link to the text.

Explain how the headline, picture and caption are effective, and how they link to the text.

2.

IN GROUPS

•Actively read the text: First, look at / read the things you’ve been asked to analyse (in this case, the headline and picture).

• Next, go through the text, highlighting the short quotes that most strongly link to the presentational features.

• Then, knowing what’s in the article, go back to the presentational

features and highlight / annotate them in terms of their effectiveness.

Text 17: Explain how the headline and picture are effective, and how they link to the text.

3.

IN GROUPS

•Now you’re ready to write up your ideas, you need a clear introductory sentence introducing your response (see next slide for a reminder).

• You then need to talk about each feature in turn. You’ll need to say more than one thing about each feature (making about 4-5 points about presentational features overall).

• Pepper your points with short quotes, linking the presentational features to the text with perceptive comments.

Writing up ideas

3.

WHAT TO WRITE

Remember! Keep it simple!

Why are these good openings?

Purpose and Audience

Text 2 aims to inform ‘Guardian’ readers about the serious tax avoidance allegations made against the coffee shop chain Starbucks.

This article makes readers of ‘The Guardian’ aware of the widespread problem of illegal waste sites in Britain. Its headline, sub-headline and image help convey how serious this issue is.

Text 2 explains to ‘BBC Online News’ readers that growing numbers of people are visiting The Philippines to learn English at a cut-price rate.

Connective The headline / image etc…

How they link to the text…

The reader…(or ‘we’…)

FirstlySecondlyThirdly

As well as thisFurthermore

MoreoverFinallyLastly

LikewiseSimilarly

AmusesAttracts

ConnotesDelights

DescribesDepicts

EmphasisesFascinatesHighlights

InformsInterestsIntrigues

Raises

Refers toReflectsRevealsSignifiesSuggests

SummarisesShocksShowsTells

Alludes toDemonstrates

EchoesIllustrates

LinksPortrays

ReinforcesReiterates

Reflects

Is made aware

Is informedIs told

Learns DiscoversRealises

3.

USEFUL WORDS & PHRASES

Text 20: Explain how the headline and pictures are effective, and how they link to the text.

IN PAIRS

Question 2: Presentational Devices – Sample Mark Scheme

ON YOUR OWN

Text 12: Explain how the headline, sub-headline (or lead) and picture are effective, and how they link to the text.