senior english skills year 11 - macmillan education … · the reporter does not express any...

ISBN 978 1 4202 3329 2 01 Communicating with texts | 1

1Communicating with texts

The key concepts of purpose, audience, form, context and values are interrelated in complex and interesting ways. This unit contains a wide variety of texts that show these concepts in action—how they can affect both communication and the interpretation of meaning.

Texts for different purposesAn understanding of purpose is the starting point for both analysing and creating texts. If a

writer, speaker or other creator of a text isn’t fully aware of what they want to achieve, then

they are likely to miss the mark with their intended audience by presenting the text in an

inappropriate form or by choosing language that doesn’t convey the message effectively. In

other words, purpose, form and audience work together to create meaning. It isn’t always easy

to determine the intention or purpose of a writer or speaker, so be prepared to discuss this as

you work through the texts in this unit.

Purpose The overall purpose of a text may be any of the following: to provide information, to

persuade, to give instructions, to analyse, to record events, to entertain, to express an opinion,

or to tell a story. The purpose of any individual text can be expressed in more specific and

detailed terms. For example:

The speaker’s purpose is to persuade an audience of doubting politicians that there is

enough scientific evidence to prove that human activity has caused climate change.

Many texts have more than one purpose. For example, the speaker referred to above might

seek to provide information to the politicians as well as to persuade them.

Form The form of a text—whether printed, spoken or digital—is how the content is presented;

that is, how it is structured and shaped for its intended purpose. This refers to the way it is

organised or laid out—for example, the stanzas of a poem, the paragraphs of an essay or the

layout of words and images in a brochure. Form is also associated with certain conventions

and language techniques within the text, such as dialogue and stage directions in a play or

hyperlinks on a web page. Examples of different forms include a letter to the editor, a novel,

a song, a play, a newspaper editorial, an interview, a television documentary, a web page, a

poster, an online opinion piece or a blog.

It is vital for the creator of a text to choose the right form to suit their purpose and audience.

For example, a web page for an audience that has little access to computers would clearly be an

inappropriate choice of form. It is possible to combine different forms to create texts. A travel

journal, for example, could include photos as well as real-life material such as news items or

tickets; a digital version might include all of this along with audio or video recordings.

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2 | Senior English Skills Year 11 ISBN 978 1 4202 3329 2

Audience The audience of a text is the group of people with whom the creator wants to

communicate. The choice of language, form, content and style will be influenced by the

target audience. The audience could be teenagers, women, retirees, a particular ethnic group,

surfers, the legal fraternity, rural communities or any number of other groups. Sometimes the

audience of a text is unknown. This is particularly the case with online publications such as

blogs and discussion forums.

Persuasive posterThe following persuasive poster is part of a Queensland workplace health and safety campaign

called ‘Zero harm at work’. Its overall purpose is to improve awareness of workplace safety.

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THE number of Australians ex-pected to die because of exces-sive heat will soar by 9000 people every year, warns a leaked draft copy of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s second and yet-to-be-released report.

And the number of days in Mel-bourne over 35°C will increase 20 to 40 per cent by 2030.

An estimated 800,000 more people will also fall ill with stom-ach bugs every year from con-taminated food and water and more than 270,000 homes will be at risk of collapsing into the ocean from rising sea levels.

The report also warns that $226 billion worth of coastal

Analysing the text1 What is the specific purpose of the poster?

2 Who is the intended audience?

3 Why is the photograph effective?

4 What is the purpose of the rhetorical question?

5 The chosen form is a printed poster. Why might posters be particularly useful in workplace campaigns?

6 Some safety posters focus on the negative outcomes of carelessness or negligence, such as terrible injuries. Explain the strategy that is used to achieve this poster’s purpose.

Informative news reportThe purpose of informative texts, such as a gardening guide or a science lecture, is to provide

factual information. They usually include some technical language that is specific to the

subject or topic. There is no attempt to arouse emotion or express opinions.

The purpose of the following newspaper report about climate change is clearly informative.

The reporter does not express any opinions on the issue; however, the report does have

emotional overtones and could influence the debate.

Warming could kill thousandsSimon Benson

Extreme heat and bushfires in Australia can be expected more often as our climate changes, the report says.

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assets including homes, rail and road infrastructure are at risk with just a 1.1 metre rise in sea levels.

It reveals that south-eastern Australia is now a global climate change ‘hot spot’ with the ocean

warming faster than anywhere else on the planet and set to in-crease by 10 per cent more than global average …

The section on Australasia, co-authored by 45 scientists from Australia, NZ and the US, runs to

more than 100 pages, and reveals what impacts these changes are expected to have on economies, industries, human health and ecosystems.

from The Herald Sun, 14 October 2013

Analysing the text 1 What is the purpose of this news report?

2 What is the purpose of the headline?

3 How does the photograph support the article?

4 What is the source of the information presented in the article?

5 From the information given in the first and last paragraphs, is the source document reliable? Explain.

6 What do the statistics indicate?

7 What is the effect of the words ‘expected’, ‘at risk of’ and ‘estimated’?

8 The issue of climate change is controversial, with public attitudes ranging from passionate belief in its existence to scepticism and denial, and positions in between. In what ways might the information, statistics and language choices in this article influence, or fail to influence, the following sectors of the audience?

a Believers in climate change:

b People who are undecided or indifferent:

c Climate change sceptics:

FableA fable is a short complete narrative that is usually about animals and always contains a

moral lesson—the purpose of the story. It is similar to an allegory, which is a more complex

story that operates on a literal level but also has a parallel yet separate meaning. In fables, the

animal story is very simple and represents a single aspect of human behaviour. Aesop’s fables

are thought of as moral tales for children, but the truths they contain apply to everyone.

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The stag at the pool

A thirsty Stag went down to a pool to drink. As he bent over the surface he saw his own reflection in the water, and was struck with admiration for his fine spreading antlers, but at the same time he felt nothing but disgust for the weakness and slenderness of his legs. While he stood there looking at himself, he was seen and attacked by a Lion; but in the chase which ensued, he soon drew away from his pursuer, and kept his lead as long as the ground over

which he ran was open and free of trees. But coming presently to a wood, he was caught by his antlers in the branches, and fell a victim to the teeth and claws of his enemy. ‘Woe is me!’ he cried with his last breath. ‘I despised my legs, which might have saved my life: but I gloried in my horns, and they have proved my ruin.’

Moral: What is worth most is often valued least.

from Aesop’s Fables, translated by VS Vernon Jones

Analysing the text1 What quality is shown by the stag when he sees the reflection of his antlers in the water?

2 What are his feelings about his legs?

3 What happens to the stag during the chase?

4 How does the stag feel at the end?

5 The purpose of the fable is contained in the moral. Use your own words to explain the purpose.

6 Aesop’s fables often have harsh or violent endings. Considering the ending of this fable, think of an alternative moral.

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Texts and contextsAll texts are created in a particular cultural, social and historical context. An understanding

of these contexts can help a present-day audience appreciate and interpret what the creator

of the text is trying to say. The way readers interpret and respond to a text depends on their

own cultural, social and historical context, which is often very different. Both the creator and

the audience of a text are also influenced by their own personal context—the experiences and

reactions that have helped shape their personal views and beliefs.

Personal contextAn individual’s personal context is affected by many aspects of their background and

experiences including their gender, religion, ethnicity, education, friendships, family life and

values. The following extract from Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography, I Am Malala, is set in 2009

when the Pakistan army began a military operation against the Taliban terrorist organisation

in the north. While it focuses on Malala’s personal context, her experiences are intertwined

with the historical, cultural and social contexts of life under the Taliban.

Context Malala Yousafzai comes from the Pashtun community in the remote Swat Valley

in Northern Pakistan. As a child, she watched her home gradually being taken over by the

Taliban and was horrified by the repression and violence that was inflicted on the people.

Hundreds were brutally murdered, women were persecuted, girls were forbidden to go to

school and 400 schools were blown up. Motivated by a strong sense of justice, and with

the support of her family, Malala gave interviews, wrote diary entries and featured in a

documentary for the international media that drew attention to her community’s plight and

to her passion for the right of girls to be educated. In October 2012, when she was 15 years

old, and after many death threats, she was targeted by the Taliban for speaking out and was

shot in the head as she travelled home from school. Miraculously, she survived.

In this extract, Malala explains how Abdul Hai Kakar, a BBC radio correspondent based

in Pakistan, was looking for a female teacher or schoolgirl to write a diary about the

everyday, human side of life under the Taliban. While others refused because of the risk

of the Taliban finding out, Malala agreed because she wanted to let everyone know what

was happening. It was January 2009 and the Taliban had just officially banned girls from

attending school.

The diary of Gul Makai

Hai Kakar told me it could be dangerous to use my real name and gave me the pseudonym Gul Makai, which means ‘cornflower’ and is the name of the heroine in a Pashtun folk story. It’s a kind of Romeo and Juliet story in which Gul Makai and Musa Khan meet at school and fall in love. But they are from different tribes so their love causes a war. However, unlike Shakespeare’s play their story doesn’t end in tragedy. Gul Makai uses the Quran to teach her elders that war is bad and they eventually stop fighting and allow the lovers to unite.

My first diary entry appeared on 3 January 2009 under the heading i am afaid: ‘I had a terrible dream last night filled with military helicopters and Taliban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat.’ I wrote about being afraid to go to school because of the Taliban edict and looking over my shoulder all the time. I also described something that happened on my way home from school: ‘I heard a man behind me saying, “I will kill you.” I quickened my pace and after a while I looked back to see if he was following me. To my huge

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relief I saw he was speaking on his phone, he must have been talking to someone else.’

It was thrilling to see my words on the website. I was a bit shy to start with but after a while I got to know the kind of things Hai Kakar wanted me to talk about and became more confident. He liked personal feelings and what he called my ‘pungent sentences’ and also the mix of everyday family life with the terror of the Taliban.

I wrote a lot about school as that was at the centre of our lives. I loved my royal-blue school uniform but we were advised to wear plain clothes instead and hide our books under our shawls. One extract was called do not wear colourful clothes. In it I wrote, ‘I was getting ready for school one day and was about to put on my uniform when I remembered the advice of our principal, so that day I decided to wear my favourite pink dress.’

I also wrote about the burqa. When you’re very young, you love the burqa because it’s great for dressing up. But when you are made to wear it, that’s a different matter. Also it makes walking difficult! One of my diary entries was about an incident that happened when I was out shopping with my mother and cousin in the Cheena Bazaar: ‘There we heard gossip that one day a woman was wearing a shuttlecock burqa and fell over. When a man tried to help her she refused and said. “Don’t help me, brother, as this will bring immense pleasure to Fazlullah.” When we entered the shop we were going to, the shopkeeper laughed and told us he got scared thinking we might be suicide bombers as many suicide bombers wore the burqa.’

At school people started talking about the diary. One girl even printed it out and brought it in to show my father.

‘It’s very good,’ he said with a knowing smile.I wanted to tell people it was me, but the

BBC correspondent had told me not to as it could be dangerous. I didn’t see why as I was

just a child and who would attack a child? But some of my friends recognised incidents in it. And I almost gave the game away in one entry when I said, ‘My mother liked my pen name Gul Makai and joked to my father we should change my name ... I also like the name because my real name means “grief-stricken”.’

The diary of Gul Makai received attention further afield. Some newspapers printed extracts. The BBC even made a recording of it using another girl’s voice, and I began to see that the pen and the words that come from it can be much more powerful than machine guns, tanks or helicopters. We were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak.

from I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Responding to the context1 Why does Malala need a pseudonym?

2 How is the ending of the Pashtun folk story about Gul Makai different from the ending of Romeo and Juliet?

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3 In the entry ‘i am afraid’, how does Malala’s personal context manifest itself in her dreams?

4 Malala can’t help ‘looking over her shoulder’. What happens on her way home from school?

5 Why do you think Hai Kakar likes ‘the mix of everyday family life with the terror of the Taliban’?

6 What advice are the girls given about coming to school? Why?

7 In her entry ‘do not wear colourful clothes’, Malala decides to wear her favourite pink dress to school. Why do you think she does this?

8 What is Malala’s attitude to the burqa? What does this reveal about her personal beliefs?

9 Why does Malala think it isn’t dangerous to reveal her real identity as the writer of the diary? What does this show about her character?

10 What lesson does Malala learn from the experience of writing the diary?

Historical context

The historical context of a text relates to the time and place in which it is set. The events of

that time, the attitudes of the society and the conditions in which people lived are all part

of the historical context. Many texts are about people or events from the past, or are inspired

by them. It can help you to understand the meaning of the text if you are aware of its historical

context through what is revealed in the text itself or by researching the period in other books

or on the internet.

As you read the following information and the extract, think about how aspects of Captain

Scott’s expedition to the South Pole could be different today.

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Context In 1912, British explorer Captain Robert Scott and his four companions failed

in their attempt to be the first humans to reach the South Pole. They arrived to find that

a Norwegian expedition had beaten them. On their return journey, Scott and his team

perished from lack of food and the terrible cold. The rescue team found Captain Scott’s

diary beside his body. In these final scrawled entries, he describes the horrific Antarctic

conditions and provides insights into the British character and values of the time.

Scott’s last expedition

March 17th, 1912Lost track of dates, but think the last correct. Tragedy all along the line. At lunch, the day before yesterday, poor Titus Oates said he couldn’t go on; he proposed we should leave him in his sleeping-bag. That we could not do, and induced him to come on, on the afternoon march. In spite of its awful nature for him he struggled on and we made a few miles. At night he was worse and we knew the end had come.

Should this be found I want these facts recorded. Oates’s last thoughts were of his Mother, but immediately before he took pride in thinking that his regiment would be pleased with the bold way in which he met his death. We can testify to his bravery. He has borne intense suffering for weeks without complaint, and to the very last was able and willing to discuss outside subjects. He did not—would not—give up hope to the very end. He was a brave soul. This was the end. He slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning—yesterday. It was blowing a blizzard. He said, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since.

I take this opportunity of saying that we have stuck to our sick companions to the last. In case of Edgar Evans, when absolutely out of food and he lay insensible, the safety of the remainder seemed to demand his abandonment, but Providence mercifully removed him at this

critical moment. He died a natural death, and we did not leave him till two hours after his death. We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman. We all hope to meet the end with a similar spirit, and assuredly the end is not far.

I can only write at lunch, and then only occasionally. The cold is intense, –40° at midday. My companions are unendingly cheerful, but we are all on the verge of serious frostbites, and though we constantly talk of fetching through I don’t think anyone of us believes it in his heart. We are cold on the march now, and at all times except meals. Yesterday we had to lay up for a blizzard and today we move dreadfully slowly …

March 29th, 1912Since the 21st we have had a continuous gale from W.S.W. and S.W. We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far.

It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.

R. SCOTTFor God’s sake look after our people.

A 1913 painting by JC Dollman of Captain Oates sacrificing his life

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Responding to the context 1 Why are Scott’s diary entries historically important?

2 ‘He proposed we should leave him in his sleeping-bag.’ Why wouldn’t Scott agree to Oates’s proposal?

3 What evidence in the diary entry reveals that Oates was a soldier?

4 What reason did Oates have for ‘going outside’?

5 What does this action of Oates show about his character?

6 Explain the meaning of ‘the safety of the remainder seemed to demand his abandonment’.

7 Why didn’t Scott have to make a decision about the fate of Evans?

8 What traditional values were held by Scott and his team?

9 Why were they unable to reach their depot, eleven miles away?

10 What do his diary entries reveal about the character of Captain Scott?

Cultural contextCultural context refers to traditions, customs, values and beliefs of a society, which are passed

down from generation to generation and shape people’s behaviour and way of thinking. For

example, traditional folk stories are part of a society’s culture, as are beliefs in such ideas as

freedom of speech and racial equality.

Cultural differences and misunderstandings often provide a rich source of material for

writers, comedians, cartoonists and others. The following extract from a blog entry explores the

cultural differences that come into play when a Westerner and his wife try to buy a car in Delhi.

Context Sydney-born journalist and photographer Jason Staines lives and works in New

Delhi. His blog ‘Gora! Gora! Gora!’ is subtitled ‘A pasty-faced Aussie becomes a Person of

Indian Origin’, which sums up his unusual circumstances. The Indian word ‘gora’ refers to

a white person, but as his wife is of Indian origin he is also entitled to a ‘Person of Indian

Origin’ card that allows him to live and work in India. His often amusing blog entries cover

many aspects of daily life in Delhi, from curries and festivals to renting a house.

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Buying a car in Delhi

Of course, buying a car in India—like doing anything—is not a straightforward matter.

Our first stop was a second-hand car ‘dealership’ in one of the less salubrious parts of Delhi on

a brutally hot summer day. We’d found it via a web search for the model car we were looking for.

The three of us—my wife, myself and our taxi driver, who was now our interpreter—squeezed

ourselves into the small, but mercifully air-conditioned office. Behind what was a somewhat

unnecessarily large desk given the dimensions of the office sat The Car Dealer. A large man,

he was squeezed in behind the desk—why not buy a smaller desk?—and sat beneath a

cavalcade of gold-coloured statues of various Hindu deities. The repository of all knowledge in

the modern world, aka Wikipedia, says there are some 330 million such deities. It was difficult

to name the three that were not present in the room with us. Beside him stood his assistant,

who was probably not standing out of respect, but because he was occupying the few vacant

inches left in the office.

We mentioned to The Car Dealer the model that we’d seen on the website and said we were

interested in taking a look at it, and any others he may have that were a similar make and/

or price. This may be a West is West-type thing, but it seemed a perfectly straightforward

proposition: we want to buy a car; you have a car to sell; ergo, let’s go look at the car. Perhaps

unsurprisingly, given that this is India, he failed to see things quite this way.

After sucking on his teeth for a bit and jabbing at his face with a plastic pen, he leaned back

in his chair—such as he could, given the confines of the room and the surfeit of gods and the

assistant—and said: ‘We have such a car. We will bring it here and you will give me a deposit.’

I looked at my wife, she looked at me, we both looked at our taxi driver/interpreter. He looked

at us with an expression of ‘Yes?’—which wasn’t really the role I expected him to play in this

farce. ‘Well, we’ll take a look at the car, and if we like it we’ll get our mechanic to look at it and

if it all works out and the price is right then we’ll give you a deposit.’

Shaking his head and doing an irritating little ‘tsk’, he said: ‘That is not how we do things

here, the car may be sold by the time all that happens.’ We pointed out to him that my wife

had called about the car a week ago. If it was still available for sale today, then we’d be happy

taking a bet that it would be available in a few days’ time. Anyway, we’d like to see more than

one car: ‘So let’s go see what else you’ve got.’

Again, the head shake and the patronising ‘tsk’. ‘We have no cars here. We must call the

owners, who will bring the cars. They will only bring the cars if they are going to be sold.’ At

this point, suffice to say, we lost it and after questioning his sanity in many and varied ways we

got up and left The Car Dealer in his tiny office, no doubt shaking his head and saying to his

assistant: ‘Foreigners. Tsk.’from www.gora-gora-gora.comSAMPLE

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