Introduction: Analyse and discuss the following cartoon in your team.
What is humourous about this cartoon?
Is it true? Can we be anyone we want on the Internet?
What are the limits to this freedom? What are the dangers?
Can we be identified by our use of language on the Internet?
Do digital communities or social networking sites have a language of their own?
INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION: Take 10 minutes to write an individual reflection on the way identity can be tied to language.
VIDEO: Watch the following Ted Talk on how language identifies you. Select 5 points of interest from the video and write them down in your copybook. Finally, share your reaction to the video with the rest of the group.
READING: Read the section titled “Language and Identity” on pp. 111, 112.
The following activities are to be done in pairs. However, each student must write the answers in their own copybooks. Prepare to share with the rest of the group.
ACTIVITY 1: “UM AND OTHER DISFLUENCIES” (pp 113)
ACTIVITY 2: “THE MANY TEXTS OF STUDENT X” (pp 117, 118, 119, 120)
Decide who you want to work with (max. 3 per group)
Choose a focus for your FOA (eg accent, dialect, non-standard English, bilingualism, code switching, ethnic identity, new Englishes, textspeak, works in translation, evolution of language etc)
Find one or two key texts to analyze eg. song lyrics, poems, short stories, articles, Facebook pages, tweets, TV shows, movies, essays
Complete the FOA proposal form
Analyze the texts and research the topic
Write a script for your FOA – work collaboratively, with each group member taking responsibility for a specific role.
Rehearse your FOA – you may use only one small notecard per person when presenting.
Sample FOA topics to get you thinking . .
Examine the place of literature written in a “new English” in the curriculum at SFS. Use a text written in a “new English”, plus additional readings from secondary sources to explore the topic.
Interview a singer or author who uses non-standardized English or dialect in their works eg Paul Dunbar, Julia Alvarez, John Agard, Amy Tan, Eminem, Tupac Shakur etc. Explore how the author’s use of language expresses his/her cultural identity. (Please make sure that the language in the text is appropriate for class.)
Examine the place of bilingual literature in the IB English curriculum. Use the poetry of a bilingual author, plus additional readings from secondary sources to explore the role of bilingual literature.
Discuss how the use of the Internet has changed the English language and will continue to change it in the coming decades. In explaining your opinions on the topic, include analysis of core texts such as examples of texting, or Facebook, or Twitter. The Gr8 Db8 by David Crystal could serve as a secondary source.
Write two texts that make use of two different “languages” that you use and explain why these differences occur, when, where and with whom. In analyzing your texts, refer to secondary sources you have studied.
Compare and contrast two different translations of a text (a short story or a poem).What if the author could speak to the translator? What would he/she say? Pretend you are the author and interview two people who have translated your text.
Discuss the place of English literature written in Old English or Middle English such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Beowulf etc in English education. What is lost and what is gained when we study the text in standard modern English only? For example, your core text could be Shakespeare’s sonnets, or a chapter from The Canterbury Tales, or a play by Shakespeare, or the poem Beowulf written in Anglo-Saxon.
Compare and contrast two TV shows which Oprah Winfrey hosts and examine how she code switches depending on the guest she interviews. Analyze the changes in her language and explore why she does so.
Present a discussion of a movie in which dialect or code-switching is a key component. Analyze how the director uses this language to create characters, develop aspects of the plot, reinforce themes and/or elicit an audience response.
The further oral activities are intended to address the relationship between language, meaning and context.
Students are required to engage in at least two further oral activities, one based on Part 1 and one on Part 2 of the course. The mark of the best activity is submitted for final assessment; the marks of the other activities must be recorded and kept by the school.
These activities are an opportunity to explore some of the topics and learning outcomes in parts 1 and 2 of the course. Underpinning these is the issue of intercultural understanding. Through the examination of the cultural context of a text, including the way and the medium through which it is communicated, students will be able to engage with the process of intercultural understanding and thereby reflect on their own cultural practices. A wide variety of activities can be undertaken and these may be individual presentations or interactive in nature, integrating both listening and speaking skills. Students are expected to choose their activity in consultation with the teacher and link it to one (or more) specific learning outcome(s).
Following the completion of the activity students are required to complete a reflective statement on the oral, commenting on their performance and the progress they made in achieving the aims they had set themselves. This must be retained by the school and may be required by the IB’s assessment operations department.
There must be a clear link between the activity and the texts that have been studied in a particular part of the course.
The maximum mark for the assessed further oral activity is 30.
Examples of further oral activities
The following is a list of possible activities. This list is neither exhaustive nor compulsory.
Structured group discussion
Discussion arising from materials prepared by a small group of students, for example, identifying the social, cultural and economic position taken by a particular text
Class discussion where two or three students have been given special responsibilities (advance preparation, particular topics, a short report, a provocative position)—the whole class may participate, but only those two or three students should be assessed independently
The presentation of material lending itself to discussion within the class, for example, the offering of two opposing readings of a text
Formal debate
Role play
A dialogue between two public figures with a follow-up discussion highlighting the way meaning is constructed
A public figure interviewed by the student as him/herself, or in another role (for example, a fellow politician)
Advertising or public relations figures using language in a meeting to shape the view of a product, brand or public figure
Dramatic presentation
Writing and performing a scene concerning an issue encountered in the study of part 1 or part 2 of the course
Re-enacting a particular cultural or historical moment with a different focus or interpretation in mind
Oral presentation
A formal speech based on an aspect studied in part 1 or part 2 of the course
A report related to an aspect of part 1 or part 2 of the course, for example, comparing two newspaper articles on the same topic and identifying the stance taken by the newspapers
An introduction to a particular topic, for example, the social and cultural contexts of a text
The examination of a particular interpretation of a text or event
The setting of a particular writer’s text against another body of material, for example, details on social background or political views
A commentary on the use of a particular image, idea or symbol in a text or texts studied
A comparison of two texts in part 1 or part 2 of the course
An account of a student’s developing response to a text
A presentation on image as text
A presentation highlighting the codes used in a particular visual text
To analyse means to break down in order to bring out the essential elements or structure of a text.
1. Audience and Purpose Context of composition
– Describe the time and place that this text was produced in.
– Who wrote the text?
– Why was the text produced? (purpose) What makes you say this?
Intended audience – Who was this text aimed at? How can you tell?
Context of interpretation / reception – What are your circumstances? (time and place)
– How do these factors influence your reading of the text?
2. Content and Theme Content is what is in a text. Themes are more what a text is about (big ideas).
– Describe what is going on in the text (key features).
– What is this text about?
– What is the author’s message?
– What is the significance of the text to its audience?
– What is the text actually saying?
3. Tone and Mood Tone refers to the implied attitude of the author of a text and the ‘voice’ which shows this attitude. Mood refers more to the emotional atmosphere that is produced for a reader when experiencing a text.
– What is the writer’s tone?
– How does the author sound?
– What kind of diction does the author use to create this tone?
– How does the text make the reader feel? (mood)
– How does the diction contribute to this effect?
4. Stylistic Devices Style refers to the ‘how’ of a text – how do the writers say whatever it is that they say? (e.g. rhetorical devices, diction, figurative language, syntax etc…)
– What stylistic devices does the writer use? What effects do these devices have on a reader?
5. Structure / Layout Structure refers to the form of a text.
– What kind of text is it? What features let you know this?
– What structural conventions for that text type are used?
– Does this text conform to, or deviate from, the standard conventions for that particular text type?
Here is a suggested framework for completing your FOA process:
1. Choose a primary source (an actual piece of text to be studied) that is rich and relevant to the topic (language and gender, English as a global language, the British Empire, economic factors, language and fashion, social influences on English – CULTURE AND CONTEXT).
2. Analyse the source using the ‘Big 5′. (This will be the ‘content’ of your presentation.)
3. Think about the best form for your presentation – persuasive speech, informal oral presentation, creative skit, or something else? Watch the following to get some ideas (these relate to part 2 of the course, but they do give us some ideas about the difference between ‘form’ and ‘content’):
Jay Walker is an American inventor, entrepeneur and chairman of Walker Digital, a privately held research and development lab focused on using digital networks to create new business systems.
In the following clip, he talks about the mania for learning English at the beginning of the 21st century and illustrates his talk with some fascinating images of stadiums full of Chinese people learning English. He explains how English is seen as a ticket to a better future in a lot of countries around the world.
QUESTIONS TO THE TEXT
Why is English considered the most important language to learn, according to the presenter?
Is English mania good or bad?
It is stated that now English is becoming the language of problem-solving., not because America is pushing it,but because the world is pulling it. What does this mean? Explain.
Key concepts
Anglophone world
Text
Culture
Context
2.1 The British Empire
Marshall McLuhan (1911-80) popularised the term “global village”.
The Port of Hong Kong is a modern-day example of the influence of the British Empire on the language of seafaring.
Lingua franca
Global village
Convergence
2.2 Economic Factors
Many Indians learn English in order to work in call centres. They deal with phone calls from all over the Anglophone world, regarding everything from insurance queries to customer service.
Language currency
Instrumental motivation
Integrative motivation
Bilingualism
2.3 Fashion
“There is no more reason for language to change than there is for automobiles to add fins one year and remove them the next, for jackets to have three buttons one year and two the next.” – Paul Postal, American Linguist (1936-)
Cosmo Girl (Dutch Edition), August 2009
Language borrowing
loanwords
2.4 Social influences on English
Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins (the Note Taker) and Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle (the Flower Girl) in My Fair Lady, the classic 1964 film rendition of George Bernard Shaw’s play ‘Pygmalion’.
In October of 2017, the New York Times and the New Yorker published damning reports about the atrocious behavior of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Multiple women accused him of sexual assault and harassment in the articles. Many more have come forward since the original stories broke.It was within that climate of speaking up and out that Alyssa Milano – on October 15th – asks women to tweet “me too” if they have been sexually harassed or assaulted. Women do. And they flood Twitter, blogs, Facebook and the rest of the Internet with their stories of abuse at the hands of powerful men.A media firestorm ensued.This initial post will allow you to immerse themselves in the scandal and to read up on how the #MeToo movement started. Once you have that background knowledge, you will then close-read and analyse three key texts. The first is an opinion-editorial by actress Salma Hayek accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment. The second is a fiery speech by actress Rose McGowan at the Women’s Convention in Detroit. The third is a rousing speech by Oprah Winfrey at the 2018 Golden Globes Awards.As you read each text, look closely at the language being used and analyse it in detail.
Essential Background Reading
It is necessary to increase your background knowledge about the #MeToo movement before closely analysing more specific texts. You will probably associate #MeToo with the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The New York Times and the New Yorker both published articles that go into great depth about his actions as a producer and Hollywood titan.
1. Read the explosive New York Timesexpose about Harvey Weinstein.
2. Read the New Yorker article that added to the claims made in the above news article.
3. Read the Wikipedia page about #MeToo to get an overview of it all.
The Tweet That Caught Fire
Questions
1. What is the power in asking people to respond to this tweet with “me too”?
2. What is the denotation of “magnitude” in this tweet? What’s the subtext?
3. Why do you think this went viral and the media coalesced around this phrase to discuss sexual assault and harassement?
Salma Hayek writes an opinion editorial in the New York Times detailing specific accusations against Harvey Weinstein while they worked together on her film Frida. Read her opinion titled “Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too” and answer the questions below.
1. Pick the two most powerful words from the title of this opinion editorial. Why do you think they are the most powerful? What is the effect?
2. Hayek opens her opinion editorial with a list of five traits in her first sentence. Which word doesn’t match the others and what effect does that have on the audience?
3. Give two reasons why Hayek didn’t speak out earlier. Should she have?
4. What is the effect of short, one sentence paragraphs early on in the piece? Why does Hayek use them?
5. Hayek writes several paragraphs starting with “no.” What is the effect of this repetition?
6. Analyse the line, “I was a thing: not a nobody, but a body.” How does Hayek use language and punctuation and what effect does it have on the reader?
7. Hayek’s body shuts down in the filming of a sex scene she doesn’t want to do. How does she describe this experience and what effect does it have on the audience?
8. Near the end of the opinion editorial, Hayek asks two rhetorical questions: “But why do so many of us, as female artists, have to go to war to tell our stories when we have so much to offer? Why do we have to fight tooth and nail to maintain our dignity?” What answers can you provide to both questions, in addition to what she says in the next paragraph?
9. In the last two sentences, Hayek changes verb tenses (from “could” to “can”). Why and what effect does this have on the reader?
Rose McGowan’s Speech
At the 2017 Women’s Convention in Detroit, Rose McGowan spoke about the #MeToo movement. Watch it below.
1. Why begin with the word “allies”? What effect does it have on McGowan’s audience?
2. In paragraph two, McGowan repeats “I have” or a version of it 4 times. What’s the effect of this repetition (anaphora)?
3. McGowan uses a metaphor – comparing females who have been harassed and assaulted to roses and thorns. Why?
4. Who is the monster in paragraph three and why must it die? What effect does that have on the audience?
5. McGowan says “No more. Name it. Shame it. Call it out.” Discuss her choices here and the effect on the audience?
6. McGowan discusses Hollywood. What are her larger, broader arguments about the influence of Hollywood on everyday individuals? Do you agree with her claim? How does the statistic help support her argument?
7. What does McGowan mean by the metaphor “it’s time to clean house.” Why does she use it and what’s the effect?
8. McGowan makes an allusion to The Scarlet Letter. Why?
9. At times, McGowan curses. Why and what effect does this have on the audience? Is a well-placed swear word a good idea in a speech of this type? Why or why not? How does the audience matter – the context – in this situation?
Oprah’s Rousing Speech at the Golden Globe Awards
At the 2018 Golden Globe Awards, Oprah Winfrey addressed the #MeToo movement among other topics. Watch her speech below.
1. Winfrey begins with a narrative – a story from her life. Why is that an effective opening and what effect does it have on the audience – both live and at home watching it?
2. Winfrey says “what I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not?
3. What is the “story” Winfrey refers to and do you believe this “story” is universal, that is transcends all that Winfrey argues it transcends?
4. Why does Winfrey use the anecdote of Recy Taylor and how does it support her claims? What effect does it have on the audience as well?
5. “Their time is up” is a powerful line. Why? And how does Winfrey set up this line?
6. Near the end of the speech, Winfrey mentions “metoo” for the first time. What effect does this have on the audience and why?
7. Winfrey ends on a discussion of “hope.” Why? As well, how does she use light and dark imagery and for what effect?
8. Analyse a portion of the last line: “that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say “Me too” again.” Discuss Winfrey’s choices and the effect on the audience?
Part 1 – Language in cultural context is the study of non-literary texts. We look at how culture and context both shape texts and their interpretations. Here are several aspects to consider when exploring Part 1.
Texts
For Part 1 you will explore a great range of text types, from brochures to blogs. As Part 1 is used to prepare for the Paper 1 exam, you will practise close-reading skills with these texts.
Close-reading?
Furthermore, you will study how culture and context affect the composition and interpretation of texts. For this reason, it is interesting to study texts that express cultural values from all over the Anglophone world. This is to say that throughout the course, we should become enlightened on the cultures and histories of countries like South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, India, Liberia, Australia and New Zealand, just to mention a few.
We will also be exploring several types of non-literary texts, such as the following:
Below are the three learning outcomes that we will aim to meet while studying Language and Cultural Context:
Analyse how audience and purpose affect the structure and content of texts.
Here we focus on how a text is inseparable from its context. By looking at an array of texts from children’s stories to brochures, we learn not only about various types of texts, but also how they target different audiences and achieve different purposes. Besides asking questions like: “What makes a speech a typical speech?” we should ask: “What makes a speech unique to its context?” You may find yourself looking at several newspaper articles covering the same current event and discussing how and why they are different.
Analyse the impact of language changes.
Language does not stand still. Every day people are using old words in new ways. People are coining words and reshaping the language. They do this in order to express their identity, to fit in with a group or stand out from a crowd. Language is a social, regional and historical phenomenon. We cannot avoid the discussion on linguistic decay, especially when talking about things like ‘netspeak’ or texting. Typical lessons that meet this learning outcome will present old and new texts, such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and samples of text messages.
Demonstrate an awareness of how language and meaning are shaped by culture and context. Imagine you are an archeologist collecting artifacts. Each time you pick up an artifact you wonder what it says about its once-existing culture. You will need the same attitude in English A: Language and Literature. Each time we pick up a text, we ask what it says about the English-speaking world. Therefore we should examine texts from the cultures of South Africa, North America, Australia, India, and the UK, just to mention a few. By analysing texts from these cultures, we gain some understanding of their traditions, histories and values.
TASK 1
Remember how important is close-readingin this course? You will discover that this skill is essential in all your IB courses! In other words, it is a cross-disciplinary skill.
Individually, carry out an internet research about close-reading. Once you gather enough information, design a poster in your copybook to be placed in a classroom in your school, in which you:
Explain what close-reading is
Emphasise its importance
Describe what you need to do to close-read a text
Invite your fellow classmates to practice the skill.
Be informative, creative and motivating enough to entice your audience! And don’t forget to acknowledge your sources! Make a list of materials and bring them next class to make your poster. To assess your piece, I’ll be looking at:
G20 English A: Language and Literature 