Introduction
The English used in the news - in reports, articles, reviews - show some peculiar linguistic features, such as the extensive use of the passive voice or nominalization. These can be analyzed and extrapolated in order to follow them as models for crea
ting journalistic texts from scratch. Let's have a look at the most popular newspapers in English.
Task
A local newspaper has asked our school some help to fill in a new section with news articles from the city residents. Our students' article should fulfill the newspaper minimum requirements in terms of style, vocabulary and structure.
In order to carry out this assignment, students will investigate the linguistic features of news articles, to reproduce an effective piece of writing, worth of appearing on the above-mentioned newspaper.
Process
Step 1
Look at the articles layout, focusing on the headings and the main text. Do both answer the 5 wh- questions?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
UK newspapers
http://www.theguardian.com/international
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
USA newspapers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Step 2
Research linguistic features of the English used in the news (passive voice, nominalisation, use of verb tenses, expressions)
Step 3
Write your own article about some piece of local news by introducing the linguistic features found and answering the 5 Wh- questions.
Evaluation
|
1 Beginning |
3 Developing |
5 Accomplished |
|
| Article | The article was created but did not follow the layout and linguistic features observed in the process of analysis of journalistic texts. Grammar and stylistic errors were present. | The article created followed the layout and linguistic features obsrved in the analysis process. Minor grammar and stylistic mistakes were present. The student did not make an effort for look up in a thesaurus synonyms for the words used in the article n order to differetiate his/her vocabulary and do not repeat words. | The article created was an original piece of journalistic writing, accomplishing fully the task propsed. New words and expressions were found in the article, making it more engaging for the readers. |
| Analysis of linguistic features and layout | No analysis was carried out. | The analysis was quite accurate. The student accomplished the task and learnt new vocabulary. | The analysis had been carried at an extremely deep level, leading the student to a further investigation and detailed complilation of linguistic data about newspaper articles. |
Conclusion
Nowadays the media are part of our life, especially if we think of the news reports on TV or the online newspapers. By analysing news texts we can understand how news articles are being redacted and appreciate the effort journalists have to make when writing them.
After completing this Webquest, you will be more aware of the characteristics of journalistic writing and be able to create a news article from scratch.