Lesson objective: to prepare for Paper 1 Section A of the English Language exam by understanding the terms purpose & audience and being able to answer an exam question on them. Your starter question for 10 (or a merit): Q: How many papers do you sit in your English Language exam and how many sections are there? Your bonus question – Q: what do these sections test?

Reading non-fiction and media texts Paper 1 – Section A 8th June, 9am 1 hour Testing your READING skills 15% of your final mark

Assessed skills – you need to: Know the difference between fact and opinion; Be able to pick out pieces of information from the text and understand what texts say and in what order; Understand how texts use presentational devices; Understand how the writers use language; Be able to comment on how the purpose and audience of a text can influence the way the article has been written and presented; Select quotations or examples from the text to support your points; Compare the different texts.

KEY tips for the exam …. Read the questions through twice and underline key words; Be clear whether a question is a HOW or a WHAT question (a HOW question is looking at HOW something has been written, a WHAT question is looking at WHAT has been said (the content). For example: HOW has the writer used presentational devices to good effect? WHAT is the writer saying about the link between global warming and recycling?

KEY tips for the exam …. Read the text(s), underlining, highlighting or annotating anything that you notice, e.g, use of language, presentational devices, facts and opinions; Look at how many marks are available (27 marks in 60 minutes - allow up to 2 minutes per mark) and think about how you are going to spend your time; Remember that this paper is testing your reading ability, so where appropriate, write your answers as bullet points – it will save you valuable time

Answering the question.. Answer in full sentences; Focus on key words from the question; Make your point clearly, using the correct terminology (P); Use examples and quotations from the text to support points you make (E); Say what the writer is trying to do and/or how effective they are (E) – in detail if the mark scheme requires it (E).

(Point, using the correct terminology): The writer uses alliteration in his headline: Evidence: “Sued for saying something”. Explain & Explore: This catches our attention and makes us ask, what was so bad that it got this person the sack? The effect of the repeated S sound could also sound like someone saying ‘shush’ which creates the idea of the person involved trying to cover up what they said. Answering the question..

So, to recap on the key topics that can appear in this exam… Information Retrieval (picking out key bits of information from the texts) and following an argument (what texts say and in what order) Facts and opinions Presentational devices Language And purpose and audience – there won’t be an explicit question on this but you will need to know what they mean and identify the purpose and audience of a text.

What type of texts might you be asked to look at? Leaflets/brochures Websites Newspaper/magazine articles Advertisements Extracts from books Letters

Purpose and Audience TASK: Write down in your books a definition of each. Hopefully they look like this…. PURPOSE: why the text has been written AUDIENCE: who the text has been written for QUESTION: for what different purposes do we write?

To analyse To review To advise To persuade To argue To describe To explain To entertain To inform

Purpose and Audience QUESTION: what details should you be thinking of when writing about purpose and audience? PURPOSE: Primary and secondary purpose What purpose and about what, e.g. to inform people about the declining quality of cars AUDIENCE: Define their: age, sex and interests, plus class and income (if appropriate)

Purpose and Audience TASK: you have two texts in front of you. Answer the following questions: QUESTION: 1 (a) Who is the intended audience for each of these texts? 1 (b) How are the purposes of the two texts different? Now let’s hear your answers please.