Using Language to Persuade

188 Pages·2013·19.481 MB·

by  Ryan Johnstone

Spine
JOHNSTONE ULP3 9780195522433 format: 280 x 210 Spine: 10mm 4 colour
10mm
Third Edition
Using Language to Persuade Third Edition is a blended print and digital
resource for English students in years 10 and 11. This comprehensive
text will prepare students for success in Area of Study 3: Using
Language to Persuade in VCE English. There are 7 parts:
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Issues and events, points of view and contentions
Part 3: Persuasive language
Part 4: Persuasive texts
Part 5: Language analysis
Part 6: Expressing your own point of view
Part 7: Toolkit
The third edition updates this best-selling text to provide the most up-
to-date and stimulating source material, with fresh new articles, images
and issues. It also has an accompanying digital obook for the fi rst time.

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Features include: h
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• up-to-date media texts on issues that will engage students, with a d

focus on digital and multimodal texts E
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• the full-colour, write-in print workbook is accompanied by a digital it
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obook, offering online and offl ine access to core student content as o
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well as a note-taking study tool and dynamic question blocks

• comprehensive coverage of persuasive language and techniques,

with annotated sample responses of language analysis tasks

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• student-centred content with activities designed to allow students
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to put into practice what they have learned, and to respond in a
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different formats appropriate to the tasks
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• toolkit containing practice SACs and exams, and a glossary of key o
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metalanguage. n
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e
ISBN 978-0-19-552243-3
4
Ryan Johnstone Third Edition
9 780195 522433
visit us at: oup.com.au or
contact customer service: [email protected]
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Untitled-1 1 2/01/13 10:54 AM
Using
Language
to Persuade
Ryan Johnstone Third Edition
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1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by
publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK
and in certain other countries.
Published in Australia by Oxford University Press
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© Oxford University Press 2013
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First published 2013
Reprinted 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of
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on any acquirer.
ISBN 978 0 19 552243 3
Reproduction and communication for educational purposes
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National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Johnstone, Ryan.
Using language to persuade / Ryan Johnstone.
3rd ed.
9780195522433 (pbk.)
For secondary students.
English language--Rhetoric.
Mass media--Australia.
808.042
Text design by Watershed Design
Typeset by diacriTech, Chennai, India
Proofread by Ian Sibley
Printed in China by Golden Cup Printing Co. Ltd
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only.
Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this
work

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C ontents
Part 1: Introduction 1
■ What is this book about? 1
■ Information for VCE students 3
■ Being ‘positioned’—considering context, purpose,
audience, language, form 4
■ Helpful habits to form 12
Part 2: Issues and events, points of view and contentions 13
■ Issues and events 13
■ Points of view 14
■ Contentions 16
Part 3: Persuasive language 21
■ Metalanguage and persuasive strategies 21
■ Verbal language 26
■ Non-verbal language 51
■ Visual language 53
■ Putting it all together 54
Part 4: Persuasive texts 59
■ Media text types 59
■ Print media sources 60
■ Media texts online 61
■ Finding reliable evidence online 61
■ Newspapers 62
■ Print texts in newspapers 71
■ Other print texts 86
■ Non-print texts 89
■ Visual and multimodal texts 90
■ Analysing visual and multimodal texts—note-taking 104
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Part 5: Language analysis 107
■ What is language analysis? 107
■ Critical questions of language analysis 108
■ Useful language 109
■ Style 111
■ Tone 114
■ How to construct an analysis 121
■ Writing your analysis: language focus 135
■ Language focus: avoid ‘says that’ 137
Part 6: Expressing your own point of view 138
■ Overview 138
■ Tips 139
■ Planning a point-of-view response 141
■ Oral presentation of a point of view 142
Part 7: Toolkit 151
■ Warm-ups 151
■ Practice SAC and examination tasks 155
■ Templates 166
■ Referencing 170
Glossary of key terms/metalanguage 172
Acknowledgements 180
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PART 1:
Introduction
What is this book about?
Every day of your life you are confronted with language designed to persuade you to either share ideas and information,
or to accept products and services. Parents, teachers and friends encourage you to believe certain things and behave
in particular ways; politicians strive to convince you of the validity of their arguments; media texts of seemingly infi nite
variety bombard you with words and images deemed persuasive enough to tell you (or sell you) something …
As a result, it’s a good idea for you to critically e valuate what you are being told or sold for yourself, rather than simply
accept things at face value. One way to do this is through the study of m edia texts and i ssues , as it is common to fi nd very
persuasive viewpoints expressed in these contexts. This book has been designed primarily to help you engage with, and
critically evaluate, a broad range of such texts and issues.
What exactly is meant by ‘media’?
The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary, Fourth Edition, defi nes media as ‘the main means of mass communication (especially
newspapers and broadcasting) regarded collectively’. The word is the plural form of m edium, which means ‘the means by
which something is communicated’. So really we are talking about p ublic sources of information, products and services,
and some examples of such sources include television advertisements, news and current affairs programs, radio talkback
programs, websites and newspapers.
What exactly is a ‘text’? Isn’t it just a book?
When you type ‘text’ into oxforddictionaries.com, this is what you get:
text
• noun 1 a written or printed work regarded in terms of content rather than form. 2 the main body of a book or a work
as distinct from appendices, illustrations, etc. 3 a written work chosen as a subject of study. 4 a text message. 5 fine,
large handwriting, used especially for manuscripts.
• ORIGIN Latin textus ‘tissue, literary style’, from texere ‘weave’.
Did you notice that most of the above defi nitions contain the word ‘written’? Whilst it’s
true that we have traditionally associated the word ‘text’ with words written down in
one form or another, to say that a text is only something containing written or printed
words is, in the context of this area of study, too narrow a defi nition. For a start, some
texts are spoken, not written; others contain visual language, but no actual words. So
when we watch TV, read a newspaper or magazine, surf the internet, look at any form
of advertisement, listen to the radio or a podcast of a speech, we are still receiving
information from a text. Furthermore, as we are interested in the art of persuasion, a
‘persuasive text’ could be defi ned as:
any p rint , non-print or multimodal source of information which aims to
position an audience to share a point of view, or to accept a product or service.
1
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The three words in bold could then be defi ned as follows:
Print texts
Texts that comprise print only or print and visual images, such as novels, plays, TV/fi lm/radio scripts, magazines, transcripts
of programs.
Non-print texts
1

T Texts that have no print or visual images, such as speeches, radio talkback programs.
R
A Multimodal texts
P
In English, the ‘modes’ of language are reading, writing, speaking and listening. A ‘multimodal’ text, therefore, combines
two or more of these, such as a web page offering visuals, written text, music and video footage, or a fi lm incorporating
voiceover, a soundtrack and subtitles.
The truth, the whole truth … ?
Consider the viewpoints expressed in the speech bubbles below—what is your opinion? Discuss your views with a partner,
if possible.
There are multiple Current affairs and Journalists are obliged to tell the Some lies are worse
sides to every story. advertising do not mix. truth and report objectively. than others.
Television current affairs shows The internet is an amazing source
are objective and factual. of factual information.
It is important to remember that the texts we are presented with in the media are usually ‘constructions’—that is, they
are r epresentations , recreations or r ecounts of reality. For example, news stories and editorials are drafted, polished and
edited, advertisements are carefully designed and formatted to appeal to particular groups and seemingly spontaneous
talkback radio segments are often scripted in advance. All media texts are created by subjective individuals (or groups of
individuals) with particular points of view and particular purposes in mind, and sometimes those purposes include the desire
to persuade , in addition to (or in place of) the desire to i nform, entertain, etc.
Therefore, to evaluate a media text critically, you need to think very carefully about the concept of ‘the truth’ and how
this concept is being handled by the text’s author/s. This may seem obvious, but when a text claims to be offering us the
truth it becomes important to ask:
• Who has constructed it?
• How has it been constructed?
• Why has it been constructed?
• For whom has it been constructed?
The exercises in this book are designed to help you establish answers to these challenging questions. Important terms
for you to know are included in the G lossary at the back of the book.
2 USING LANGUAGE TO PERSUADE
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YOUR TURN
1.1
Before you read on, try answering the following questions in relation to the media.
a
How truthful is the media? To what extent should we expect truth from the media?
b
What media sources do you engage with regularly? How truthful/reliable are these sources?
How can you tell?
1
c How effectively do you think you question (i.e. critically evaluate) what is presented by the media?
T
How important do you think it is to do this? R
A
P
YOUR TURN
1.2
With a partner, discuss exactly h ow you think language can be used to persuade. Refl ect on how you
go about persuading someone (for example, persuading your teacher to let you text message in class,
persuading a parent to drive you to a friend’s party on a Friday night). Identify some language strategies
you might use, thinking carefully about the context, purpose and audience. Share your ideas as a class.
Information for VCE students
Area of Study 3: Using Language to Persuade
All areas of English ask you to explore how language is used in different texts. In Area of Study 3, the focus is on how
language is used in ‘texts the main purpose of which is to persuade readers and viewers to share a point of view’
(Study Design).
One way to do this is through the study of media texts and issues, although in Units 1 and 2 there is no requirement
that your study be limited to only media texts; other texts, such as famous speeches and class debates, are also interesting
sources of persuasive language. You should endeavour to consider a broad range of text types.
Outcome 3: Using Language to Persuade
This book will help you improve your analytical and persuasive language skills, specifi cally those required to:
• achieve Outcome 3 in Units 1 to 3 of the 2006 VCE Study Design for English/ESL
• successfully complete the ‘Analysis of language use’ section of the end-of-year examination.
The Study Design states the following in relation to ‘Area of Study 3: Using Language to Persuade’:
Unit 1, Outcome 3
On completion of this unit the student should be able to identify and discuss, either in writing and/or orally, how language
can be used to persuade readers and/or viewers.
Unit 2, Outcome 3
On completion of this unit the student should be able to identify and analyse how language is used in a persuasive text and
to present a reasoned point of view in an oral or a written form.
U nit 3, Outcome 3
On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse the use of language in texts that present a point of view on
an issue currently debated in the Australian media, and to construct, orally or in writing, a sustained and reasoned point
of view on the selected issue.
PART 1: INTRODUCTION 3
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End-of-year English examination
There is no Outcome 3 requirement in Unit 4, but there is a task in the end-of-year examination. In Section C of the exam,
students will be required to ‘analyse the ways in which language and visual features are used to present a point of view in
unseen persuasive texts’.
Outcomes: what am I being asked to do?
1
Effectively, you are being asked to produce two distinct skills:

T
R • language analysis : discussion of how language is used in a persuasive text or texts to position audiences to share the
A
author’s point of view (can be done orally in Unit 1)
P
• point-of-view response : presentation of your own reasoned point of view on a specified issue (can be done orally in
Units 2 and 3).
With any written or oral task requiring an a nalysis of how language is used to persuade, you must be able to:
• identify the point/s of view and contention/s being expressed
• understand and analyse the structural features and conventions of specific media texts
• identify and analyse how persuasive techniques position readers and viewers to share the point/s of view presented.
With any written or oral point-of-view task, you should aim to demonstrate your knowledge and creative control of the
bullet points listed above by producing your own persuasive perspective on an issue.
Being ‘positioned’—considering context, purpose,
audience, language, form
When we talk about being ‘positioned’, we are referring to how or from what perspective people are being encouraged to
‘see’ the topic or issue at hand. Persuasive texts are created for specifi c contexts , purposes and a udiences , and a great
deal of thought goes into what l anguage and f orm (shape and/or style) will best accommodate these factors. As previously
mentioned, to effectively analyse a persuasive text it becomes important to bear its constructed nature in mind; to consider
exactly how a text’s language and form has been manipulated to best convince an audience of a particular point of view or
the ‘worthiness’ of a particular product or service.
Common questions to ask when considering positioning include:
• How is the audience being encouraged to think/feel?
• How is the author/language encouraging the audience to view … (a person/product/idea, etc.)?
We must also remember to consider ‘the whole package’; how all aspects of the text work together in a particular context
to achieve particular purposes, and the overall impact of the text. To establish exactly how an audience is being positioned,
you can start by asking:
• Why has this text been constructed? (context, purpose)
• For whom has this text been constructed? (audience)
• What type of text is this? W hat types of language does it employ? (form, language)
Ask these questions when you read or view a media text and you are already conducting effective analysis.
4 USING LANGUAGE TO PERSUADE
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