Introduction
Welcome to your year 12 English WEBQUEST
Unit: The Power of Persuasion
Throughout this unit you have studied the persuasion power held by the media and the affects this has on society. Today you will be using the skills you have learnt including your knowledge of evaluative language to find examples of postive and negative portayals within the media. You may find is helpful to use your hand outs. Remember, the information you find in this task will prove useful when completing your upcoming assessment piece so please use this time wisely.
Good luck!
Task
For this task you are required to find two positive representations of climate change in the media and two negative representations of climate change in the media. Use the suggested websites and conduct your own research to find a variety of newspaper articles, advertisements, television shows or websites. Once you have found a total of four examples of positive and negative representations of climate change in the media you must you them to answer the questions.
Remember to think about what we have learnt about Al Gore and how he has been represented in the media!
Process
Use the following websites to assist you in your global warming research. Remember to check the website for credibility by asking yourself:
- Is the author listed?
- When was the research published? Was it recent or no longer valid?
- Does it use credible sources such as, books or scholarlary articles?
- Does the web address end in .gov or .org?
- Is the site profesionally presented?
- Is it well written and free from spelling and grammar errors?
You may find the following websites useful:
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming#.VFNfY00cSmQ
http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/2010.31.pdf
Once you have found four (4) articles that portray climate change in a postive and a negative way, create a word document with the links to your article with a brief explanation that may include the author, date, and key argument. In the same document you must now answer the following questions.
- Documentary title:
- Important presenters/speakers/writers:
- What is the documentary about?
- Where is it set, or what locations are used?
- What techniques are used to influence the audience’s opinion? (celebrity, sequencing, binary opposition, emotional language)
- What point of views are presented and why?
- How are audiences positioned to respond to information presented?
- Is equal time given to different points of view? Why/why not?
- Is the documentary subjective or objective? (use of narrator / voiceover / interviewer)
- What gaps are evident? (Assumed knowledge the viewer has to supply to make meaning)
- What silences are evident? (Whose voice is not heard?)
- What information is foregrounded or privileged? (Degree of subjectivity / objectivity)
- Identify the discourses in the documentary, e.g. violence, fear, war, racism, etc.
- Explain what ideologies are explored. (An ideology is a way of thinking characteristic of a class or individual and it may be an economic, social, political or religious in its approach.)
- How much emotive language is used? Give examples.
- Who is to blame? Who is to be punished? Who is to be rewarded? Who is to be commended? (This will be constructed by the doco maker.)
Evaluation
Well done, you have now completed this WebQuest and have begun your assessment research. To evaluate your work, answer the following questions in your word document:
- What is something I discovered through my research that I already knew?
- What is something that I learnt today?
- Has my stance on the issue changed/ been reinforced? Why?
- What do I want to learn more about?
Now save your word document to your home drive, print the document and hand it to your teacher.
Conclusion
Next week we will begin to focus on your assessment, due at the end of week 6. Start to think about your research and how you can use this to create an opinionitive article in response to an issue in the media. Your issue is climate change.
Credits
Image from: www.theguardian.com
Teacher Page
This WebQuest was created for grade 12 English: The Power of Persuasion by Mrs. Prior.
It is aligned with the QCAA English syllabus dimension: Understanding and responding to texts. https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/senior/snr_english_10_syll.pdf