1. Elena Minelli Isabella Stefanutti University of Bath
Mr Berlusconi’s abbronzato gaffe: using frame analysis to teach the political implications of language in the Italian press.
Elena Minelli
Isabella Stefanutti
University of Bath

2. Outline The gaffe and its political context.
Schema and Frame analysis.
Evidence of framing techniques from two different texts.
Results from in class reading activity.
Conclusion.

3. The gaffe and its political context.
President Obama’s election.
Mr Berlusconi’s state visit to Russia.
USA-Russia relations.
The abbronzato gaffe

4. Reasons behind the selection of this event and these articles.
This event had international resonance
Italian political parties expressed strong opinions either pro and against Berlusconi
Berlusconi is well known to the students of Italian
It is interesting to see how the students use their schemata of Berlusconi to interpret the texts

5. Framing/Frame Analysis
Sociocognitive process
SCHEMATA (Gestalt Psychology)
Process information
Organise information
Make sense of reality

6. Frame analysis
“To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make more salient in communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (R.M.Etman, 1991, p. 51) Sources ↔ journalists ↔audience

7. Framing Devices Text analysis:
(Pan & Kosicki, 1993, “Framing analysis: An approach to news discourse”, in Political Communication, 10, 55-75)
Syntactical Structures
Script Structures
Thematic Structures
Rhetorical Structures

8. Objectivity: empirical validity, authority, official sources, facts
Syntactical Structures:
How the news story is structured like an inverted pyramid = information presented in inverted order of importance.
The headline is the lead in the news story, the most powerful framing device
Objectivity: empirical validity, authority, official sources, facts

9. How the sequence of events and the actors are presented
Script Structures:
How the sequence of events and the actors are presented
The 5 WH:
Who, What, When, Where, Why
Capture attention: drama, action, actors, human emotions – climax, anticlimax..
News reporter= storyteller
Beginning, climax, anticlimax, end
Not all WH are used in an article
The audience internalises them and form a mental picture
Some elements are omitted 9

10. 3. Thematic Structures How hypotheses are tested and supported rationally (hypothesis-testing attributes) Support the hypothesis: observation of actions or events, explicit propositions, background information Thematic structure: summarised in the headline, lead and conclusions Emotional themes can be used and thematic structures can be combined
It is the most difficult level of frame analysis as themes may be combined, there may start with one theme and lead to a broader coverage 10

11. Rhetorical Structures How rhetorical structures are used in the text:
metaphors, exemplars, catchphrases, depictions, visual images….
It is the most difficult level of frame analysis as themes may be combined, there may start with one theme and lead to a broader coverage 11

12. Frame analysis: Political discourse
George Lakoff: Moral Politics: how Liberal and Conservative thinks (1966)
Cognitive metaphor of Governance = Family
Conservatives = “strict father model” (government=dominant father)
Liberals = “nurturant parent model”
(government=both mother and father) 12

13. For more reading…
George Lakoff “Metaphor and War: The Metaphor System Used to Justify War in the Gulf” (1991, available online)
Cost-benefit analysis metaphor of war:
The political “gains” are to be weighed against acceptable “costs.” When the costs of war exceed the political gains, the war should cease.

16. Main themes L’Unità Berlusconi’s inappropriate language
His antidemocratic politics – (Lakoff’s patriarcal model)
Family – Mediaset
The responsibility the government has in Education
IL GIORNALE
Over reaction of the opposition
Berlusconi’s vital role as a mediator between USA and Russia

17. Evidence from the class
Classroom activities.
Readers of Il Giornale and readers of L’unità.

18. Conclusions Frame analysis in language teaching is relevant to:
Understand how ideologies and key points are conveyed in different texts
Reflect on how linguistic and textual structures are used in the texts

19. Conclusions
Reflect on how the students interpret the different texts using their schemata
Introduce cultural and socio/political elements in language classes

20. THANK YOU