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Advice for teachers -
Bridging English as an Additional Language (EAL)

​Unit 2: English for life

Area of Study 2: English in the media

Outcome 2

Explain how a variety of media texts position audiences, and produce texts which attempt to position audiences.

Examples of learning activities

  • Annotate print or digital texts to identify their key features; for example, headlines, bylines, captions, sidebars and pull quotes. Discuss the purpose of each feature and how they differ between publication types.
  • Collect examples of both factual and opinion-based texts. Identify the language used in each context and produce a guide to differentiating between fact and opinion in the media.
  • Identify the different perspectives, values or priorities found in a collection of media texts on the same topic.
  • Create a series of short texts expressing the same point of view in different formats to respond to a variety of contexts and audiences.
  • Discuss a selected issue, focusing on strategies to promote respectful and reciprocal conversations, ways of expressing opinions and of providing supporting evidence.
  • Watch a video of someone giving a persuasive speech. Using a transcript of a section of the speech, present the same information but vary the delivery (including tone, body language, gesture, emphasis or pause). Discuss ways in which these changes impact communication effectiveness and how audiences may respond.
  • Adjust the modality of a text and discuss the impact these changes make. Use these findings to create a collection of posters that outline modal verbs and how to use them appropriately and effectively in order to share a point of view.
  • Use notes and flow charts to identify the structure of a text, including the order of arguments and when the writer or speaker returns to a point.
  • Debate an issue using formal debating conventions. Invite students in the audience to provide feedback and observations on the persuasive strategies used.
  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Explore the impact of delivery in speeches that aim to persuade an audience.
Example icon for advice for teachers

Detailed example

Examining the effect of delivery on persuasion

  1. Locate a suitable media text with a corresponding transcript, such as segments from ABC Radio National  programs, or transcribe a small section of a digital media text. The context of the text should be persuasive.
  2. Watch or listen to the text as a class, taking notes about the point/s of view being presented and the likely target audience. 
  3. Discuss the delivery used by the speaker/s to persuade the audience, focusing on aspects relevant to the specific text. This may include tone, body language, eye contact, gesture, pause or intonation. This discussion can cover a speaker’s intention as well as likely interpretations.
  4. Develop a shared vocabulary bank to describe the mode of delivery to be focused on. For example, create a list of ways to describe tone and vocabulary to describe common gestures.
  5. Prepare and present a section of the text with deliberate changes made to the delivery. Explain the choices made and the likely impact on an audience.
  6. Use the key points arising from the presentations to adapt a section of the text to make it appropriate for a context different to the original, justifying choices through the use of appropriate metalanguage. The adaptation may change the form, language and/or delivery as required for the new context.