WRITTEN TEXTS, VISUAL TEXTS, UNFAMILIAR TEXTS · Level 1 English Essay Writing ... However,...

NCEA | Walkthrough GuideLevel 1English

WRITTEN TEXTS, VISUAL TEXTS,UNFAMILIAR TEXTS

Essay Writing 3

What Makes a Good Essay? 4Perception 5Breaking Down the Question 9The Thesis 11Introductions 12Paragraphs 13Conclusions 16Style 17

Written and Visual Text 20

What are Written and Visual Texts? 21Questions 22Authors, Directors, and Context 23Literary Aspects 24Film Techniques 27Applying Evidence 30

Unfamiliar Texts 32

Text Types 33How to Read the Texts 35Language Features 39

Level 1 English

3 Level 1 English | Essay Writing | © Inspiration Education Limited 2018. All rights reserved.

Level 1 English | Essay Writing

ESSAY WRITING

Before you can write about visual, written, or unfamiliar text, you’ve got to know how to write.

Essay-writing is a skill that isn’t unique to English - it will serve you well in all walks of NCEA and life beyond it (yes, that exists) - but it’s the crux of how you’re examined in all three external standards. As such, it’s vitally important that we know the structure and style of effective essays, because that’s how you make the marker happy.

Then, and only then, your analysis of The Great Gatsby comes into it.

What will you learn in this part of the walkthrough guide?

In this part, we’re going to embark on a Gulliver’s Travels-esque journey through the most broad, daunting, and often confusing part of the English student’s experience: how to write an essay.

We’re going to start by breaking down what essays are, and what makes a good one. What’s the point of them? What makes up “essays”? How are they marked?

Then, we’re going to deconstruct those ambiguous, loaded essay questions to figure out what they want us to write about, and how to go about thinking of your answer.

We’re going to take a look at the marker’s favourite word: perception. What it is, why it’s the requirement for Excellence in the marking schedules, and how to convey it in your essay.



Finally, we’re going to construct an essay from the ground up together. We’ll cover each component part separately, one after the other, paying attention to structural and stylistic techniques that will make a good introduction an awesome one.

Sound good? Maybe not, but let’s get involved anyway.

What Makes a Good Essay?

If you had to guess whether the essays you write in your exams are informative or persuasive, what would you say?

The answer is persuasive.

But wait, anonymous StudyTime writer! I’m informing the reader about my text and a theme or symbol or character in it! How is that not informative?

Your essays will inform readers, in that you are providing evidence from A Christmas Carol to answer a question. But the purpose of essays is to convince the reader that the ideas you’ve developed from the text can be backed up by evidence - the essay is essentially about your opinion.

Essays are informative

There are no wrong answers in English; just opinions that aren’t well backed-up.

If you take a look at the 2017 marking schedule for written text (the piece of paper that the markers had with them when marking the external in 2017), you’ll notice that a requirement for excellence is that the essay “is organised and develops a perceptive case or argument”.



This is because English essays aren’t about proving that you’ve read the book and can write down some symbols. They’re about your own idea, not the evidence.

If we take a look at one of the questions from the 2017 written text paper, we can kind of see it:

“Describe the ending of the written text. Explain how this part of the text was predictable or unexpected.”

The question, like every question, is essentially split into two parts. The first is the describe part, which is where you inform the marker about the ending of the text. However, that’s not where you get your higher marks - that’s just about setting the scene for your argument.

The second part (the explain) is really the purpose of your essay. It’s here that you spend the bulk of your analysis (the creation of your argument and presentation of evidence to back it up) and it’s also where you persuade the reader that you know what you’re talking about.

The explain is deliberately set up so that every answer will be an original opinion.

Your opinion as to whether the ending was predictable or unexpected, how it was so, and why it was, is what will separate your essay from Becky’s next to you. Then, the strength of your argument is what will make it better.

We’ll get into how we do that later on, when we talk about perception, the thesis, and writing structure. For now, just make sure that you’ve got the purpose of essays on lock.

The purpose of your essay is to persuade the reader that your idea that you got from the text is well-backed up by evidence.

Now we’ve got the overarching purpose down, we can move on to how we come up with an excellence-worthy idea and prove it.

Perception

Perception is the English marker’s favourite word, and it’s how they separate the good essays from the great. As such, it’s step one in making sure yours is the latter.

If you take a look at that quote from the marking schedule again, you’ll notice that to get excellence, your case or argument has to be perceptive.



Perception basically means being able to see below the surface of the text and accurately point out deeper ideas.

It’s the difference between writing about how A Christmas Carol is about ghosts that haunt an old guy at Christmas, and writing about how A Christmas Carol is about the way that the past informs the future, and that selflessness is the best way to shape a better one.

You’ll notice that the first is heavily evidence-based: it’s about the story. On the other hand, the more perceptive response is idea-based: it’s about an opinion of the deeper ideas beneath the surface of the story.

Perceptive stuff

Plot

A perceptive essay will, over three-ish paragraphs, flesh out that opinion into a well-proven argument that will knock the stockings off the marker. That’s easily said in theory, but how do you actually do that in practice? The answer is by making sure you’re incorporating three things into your writing, and making sure to analyse them by explaining how and why:

Author’s purpose Appreciation The big three

Author’s Purpose

The first piece of NCEA gold basically comes down to the reason that you’re being asked to study texts in the first place: the author’s purpose.

The answer to the age old question, “Why do I have to write an essay about Animal Farm?”, is that literature is one of the best art forms to understand the opinions, ideas, and experiences of those who came before us. Whether we like it or not, George



Orwell’s story about some pigs who get up to communist mischief is an eternal piece of history, namely an English criticism of communism in WWII.

In the words of Orwell himself, the purpose of writing was “to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole.”

It’s your job to extract what the political and artistic purposes were, how those purposes were conveyed, and why those purposes existed.

Remember, we analyse by explaining the how and the why.

Appreciation

The next piece of the perceptive puzzle closely follows the author’s purpose, and that’s appreciation of the author’s purpose and the text.

This doesn’t mean that you have to end your essay with “10/10 would highly recommend for people who like animals and not-communism”. It means that you have to show the marker that the author’s purpose is demonstrated by x, y, and z, and that the purpose is important. For example, it was a powerful move to counter communist propaganda, and Orwell did that effectively through a simple metaphor of a farm.

Wait, itʼs not justabout a farm?



Another form of appreciation is for the significance of the text, or why the text is important. Why study this text, as opposed to Puss n’ Boots? The answer is because NCEA markers have no taste. The type of answer you have to write in your essay is that Animal Farm remains a timeless example of artistic political criticism, or Shakespeare is evidence of human flaws being relevant in any society.

Deep

Stuff like that. Basically, books are important. And your markers have English literature degrees.

The Big Three

The big three are the things you can always relate messages and meaning within the text to.

A crucial part of English is relating what’s in the text to what’s outside of it, and that’s why perception is such a big deal: going beneath the surface and then telling the marker what you’ve found.

The first thing is society. This is obvious, and the root of that cliche that “you’ll get E if you bring it back to society somehow”. While that’s not entirely true, because you’ve got to have a solid argument that explains how and why it relates to society, it does have a point.



Writers often write to highlight issues in society or give messages for society to follow in order to create a better one. Whether it’s to show readers that racism is still a problem, that certain people can often fall through the cracks of the system, or that there exists patriarchal elements in the world today, society is often at the root of the author’s purpose.

The next big thing that never fails to be yarn-able is the human condition. This is a fancy way of describing the feelings, flaws, and experiences that make us human. For example, key themes in Macbeth are jealousy and corruption, and The Great Gatsby tells us about the power of hope.

If you can spot where an author has emphasised emotions or aspects of life that are relevant to everyone, you can bring it back to the human condition.

Lastly, you can talk about literature in general. This basically means comparing and contrasting the text you’ve studied with other texts, along with how and why it’s similar or different.

Are there links you can make with other texts? Why has the author chosen to create something that doesn’t really fit the mould? Has this text inspired others or was it inspired by others?

To conclude our yarn about perception, if you’ve managed to weave any of the above in, you’ve just made your essay a whole lot more perceptive.

Breaking Down the Question

There’s no point having the most deep and philosophical societal commentary in the world if it doesn’t help you actually answer the question. Before you build your answer, though, you have to first break the question down.



Whereas with maths it’s painfully obvious that they want you to find x, English questions are often a bit abstract, which can be pretty daunting. Breaking down the question into its component parts that can be ticked off when you plan your essay is the ideal strategy for making life a whole lot easier.

The first thing you want to do when you read the question is highlight the key words. This is essential for ensuring that you’re answering exactly what’s being asked: is it asking you to talk about a relationship in the text, or is it asking you to talk about a significant relationship? What makes a relationship significant? How can you prove that the one you’re discussing is? Is there room for you to agree or disagree?

Afterwards, take note of whether the question is split into two parts. Often, external questions will first ask you to ‘describe’ something and then ‘explain’ how this links into something else. This means that you have to first show what you know by providing evidence, before explaining how and why this is relevant to a bigger idea.

To summarise, here’s the five steps:

1. Highlight the key words.2. Define them if need be.3. Is there room for personal interpretation?4. Make sure your idea covers all parts of the question.5. Think about the how and the why

Let’s take another look at that question from the 2017 written text paper:

“Describe the ending of the written text. Explain how this part of the text was predictable or unexpected.”

Before you read on, have a go at spotting the key words. By “key words”, we mean the essential words that your essay needs to have in them in order to be actually answering the question.

The key words are: “ending” and “predictable” or “unexpected”.



This is what you absolutely have to explain in your essay, because it fundamentally comes down to how and why the ending was either predictable or unexpected.

Now that we have the key words, the next step is to define them in order to make sure you’ve got your own original take. For example, what makes an ending predictable? Although the obvious answer is “one that’s easy to predict”, you’ve got to go a bit deeper than that. Perhaps a predictable ending is one that follows classic narrative stereotypes or one that doesn’t make us think or feel anything.

A bit of an extra for experts element is to decide if there’s any room for you to place yourself somewhere in the middle. Maybe some aspects of the ending were predictable (e.g., the guy and the girl end up together) but some weren’t (it was the hero and the villain).

Step four is pretty much just a stop and check moment. Once you’ve got your idea in your head about how you’re going to go about answering the question using the key words, it’s a good call to make sure it covers the whole thing. The only thing here we’ve got to keep note of is that we need to explain how it’s predictable or not.

Although the “why” isn’t specified, you also need to include this in your analysis for it to be perceptive enough for excellence. This goes for pretty much every question.

As such, the last thing you want to think about is how an ending is predictable or unexpected, and why an author may want a predictable or unexpected ending. Are there pros and cons for both? Is the ending unexpected because of some deeper underlying message that would surprise a lot of people?

Once you’ve got all of these circling in your head, you’ll be good to fill up some pages.

The Thesis

The thesis is the most important part of the planning process, because it’s the purpose of your essay. When your essay is marked, it’s based on how well the purpose comes across and how successful it was: basically, how well you’ve proven your thesis.



After breaking down the question, you should have some idea for how you’re going to answer the question. A thesis effectively means the idea that you’re going to prove.

When you’ve got an answer to the question and know what evidence you’re going to use to prove it, summarise this in one sentence. A great trick for doing this is to say in your head, “In my essay, I am going to prove that …” and whatever follows is your thesis.

Write that down at the top of the planning box and refer back to it often. A lot of the time, we make the mistake of getting lost in the yarn and going on tangents. Whilst it’s sometimes good to get a bit abstract and see where it takes you, everything you write should be helping you prove your thesis.

This all links back to that quote from the marking schedule earlier: the requirement of a “perceptive case or argument”. For there to be an argument, there’s got to be an opinion - that’s why the thesis is the foundational pillar of every English essay.

To recap, your thesis is the idea that your essay is going to prove.

Introductions

Growing up, you may have seen the food pyramid: that triangle split into different sized chunks, with all the whole grains you’re supposed to eat at the base and doritos at the tip. The idea is that you spend the most amount of time on the important stuff, and then you chuck the Malteser on top at the end. Well, introductions are kind of like that.

Every time a marker opens an essay that begins with “In the book x, written by y, a theme is…“, they groan a little bit. Having the marker groan at your essay is less than ideal. This should still be included in your thesis but should be reworded creatively and integrated into the introduction to make it unique and memorable such as “Friendship is an integral part of the human experience, y explores this theme in their book x by manipulating the readers expectations of friendship....“ That’s why we use the upside-down triangle introduction structure.

PHILOSOPHICALYARN

THESIS3

MAINPOINTS



The aim is to get our essay going on the right foot, rather than having to fight our way up to excellence in the rest of the essay, and so we want to hit them with all the important excellence-level stuff right from the first sentence! Also, because this is our triangle’s quinoa (“keen-wah”), we spend the most amount of time on it.

Let’s recap for a bit.

As we know, we get excellence by demonstrating perception: how deep our interpretation of the text is. How do you get deep? By relating it to the Big Three: literature (other texts), the human condition (what makes us human and what people go through in life), and society (the wider world). In order to do that, we need to show appreciation for the text – we need to tell the marker that Shakespeare’s Othello is a powerful written symbol of racism’s presence in society throughout time, and the protagonist’s experience is just as relevant today as it was in the Victorian era.

All this is the philosophical yarn, and it’s the biggest chunk of your introduction.

Next, we tell the marker what idea we’re going to prove in our essay in a sentence – our thesis, which is your opinion about the question.

Finally, we end by giving our three main points: the purposes of each of our three paragraphs.

And we’re done!

Paragraphs

If your introduction is your clothes hanger, it’s time to fill this wardrobe with some clothes. And by clothes, we mean exceptionally well-written main paragraphs with powerful use of evidence and analysis.

As a general rule of thumb, you want about three paragraphs for an external essay. Less and you risk an undeveloped argument, more and you risk going over time in one paper and your others suffering. This isn’t always the case, so feel free to make an executive decision, but you can’t go wrong with three.

IntroductionParagraphs

ParagraphsParagraphs



You know by now that your essay revolves around proving your thesis. Let’s say that our thesis for answering the question about a surprising or unexpected ending is:

The Great Gatsby concludes with the protagonist’s surprise death at the hands of a minor character while the narrator sadly contemplates that people nostalgically seek lives that no longer and should not exist. This was surprising to readers who assumed that Gatsby would finally get what he hoped for in Daisy, because heroes are expected to end up with the romantic interest as that is what is deserved.

Sorry if we just spoilt The Great Gatsby for you. Anyway, this is a solid thesis because it answers both parts of the question along with “how” and “why”. It explains how the ending was a surprise in the story and why it is that readers would find such an ending surprising.

Now, we need three main points to prove this. Each point needs to have evidence to back it up, and the points need to link together to eventually prove our argument.

These could be:

1. It is surprising that the hero is killed by a minor character when, unfairly, the reason for his murder was not his fault.

2. Daisy is married to the villain of the story when she loves Gatsby, and therefore it is unexpected that love does not prevail.

3. A theme in The Great Gatsby is hope, and Gatsby hoped to end up with Daisy; this is what readers expected and hoped for.

Let’s go with the last point as an example paragraph.

You may have heard a few different acronyms for paragraph structure thrown around: TED, SEX (quiet at the back, please), SEXY, TEXAS. The list goes on. And to be honest, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you’re structuring your argument in a clear and logical way.

Imagine that you’re arguing with your friend about who’s trying to tell you that they predicted the ending of The Great Gatsby all along and you know that they’re full of it. What are you going to do to prove them wrong?

You’re going to tell them that you’re right for x reason, show them evidence from the book, explain how it proves you right, tell them why x reason is the reason, and drop the mic.

A helpful structure that we’re going to use to make sure that we’re doing this is TEXAS:



Topic sentence Evidence eXplanation Author’s purpose Summary

Your topic sentence is the main point of that paragraph. Just like your thesis is what you’re trying to prove in your essay, your topic sentence is what you’re trying to prove in your paragraph.

You need to bring in evidence from the text. Evidence comes in the form of “aspects of written or visual text” - we’ll get into that later on in the book, but for now, this is includes things like quotes, symbolism, and themes. The evidence needs to back up your main point to show you know what you’re on about (and that you’ve read the right book).

You then need to explain how your evidence backs up your main point. It’s not enough to say that “the green light symbolises hope”. You need to show how the green light symbolises hope, and how this relates back to your point about why hope is even relevant in the first place.

For bonus points, bring in why the author did this. What’s the meaning behind it? If you can show that the author intended what you’re arguing, it gives your argument weight. Hint: link it back to society, the human condition, or literature as a whole.

Finally, summarise how this all comes together to prove the point of the paragraph, and how this point in turn helps prove your thesis.

Here’s an example paragraph for our third point from before:

As the overarching theme in The Great Gatsby is hope, and Gatsby hoped to end up with Daisy, this is what readers in turn hoped for and expected. Therefore, when Gatsby dies without his life’s hope being realised, the unjustness provides a shocking conclusion for the reader. The narrator ends the book by contemplating, “And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” With this quote, he is reflecting on the sad truth of how Gatsby lived his life. Instead of focusing on what was ahead of him, Gatsby fought reality and better judgement to chase what only existed in the past: his lost romance with Daisy. This did not allow him to live his life, and in the end, it killed him. By writing a book about hope but dashing the readers’ hope for the hero, Fitzgerald is providing a commentary on how people too often try to live in the past and are blinded by nostalgia. By fixating on what no longer exists and what should not exist, what people hope and dream for can



sometimes be a fatal downfall. Therefore, Fitzgerald is distinguishing hope for a better future from hope to reclaim a nostalgic reality that does not exist, and this is unexpected for readers who shared Gatsby’s hope for a happy ending to a classic love story.

Tip: when writing titles of texts in handwritten essays, underline them (because italicising by hand is hard).

Let’s break down that paragraph.

The green text is our topic sentence: the main point of that paragraph. Reading it, the marker knows that the paragraph is going to be about how The Great Gatsby is about hope but what the audience hopes for is thrown out the window, and this is unexpected. We’re clearly providing one argument to help answer the question.

The blue is our evidence: a quote from the text. We’re providing some actual evidence from the book to help back up our argument on how and why the ending is unexpected.

In purple, we’ve got our explanation: how this quote actually does back up the topic sentence. Without our explanation, this would just be a random line about boats. With it, the marker understands that the quote represents Gatsby’s attitude towards life and how this relates to the book’s ending (his death).

The red is our author’s purpose: why Fitzgerald wrote the ending to be like this. Why did he not just do the predictable thing and end with Gatsby and Daisy getting married? Because his underlying message is that people are obsessed with the past because we think it will make us happy, when in reality it’s actually preventing us from being happy. As such, we’re bringing in the human condition.

Finally, we’ve got our summary sentence in orange. We’re ending the paragraph by linking the main point of that paragraph (the readers’ hope for Gatsby) to our thesis (the unexpected ending of The Great Gatsby). That way, the marker knows we’ve just nicely tied up one argument in a little bow.Conclusions

You’ll be pleased to know that we don’t have to spend much time here.

We’re almost done with our analysis of a good essay, woo!

Conclusions are actually pretty simple. It’s just a matter of reminding the marker what they’ve just read and really hammering it in that you’ve done your job, that you’ve achieved the purpose of your essay by presenting a strong argument. And they



should reward you with some juicy NCEA credits.

The important things to bear in mind when you’re up to your conclusion are your thesis and your three main points. We also want to end with perception - by bringing in appreciation, the author’s purpose, and the Big Three.

Now, we just have to explain how they all link together.

A solid way of starting your conclusion is to chuck in some appreciation (remember this little buzz word from the perception chapter) for the author. For example, you might start by saying: “Fitzgerald unfairly concludes The Great Gatsby to convey the truth of how so many people live their lives: in the past; which is a shocking thing for readers to be confronted with.”

Then, simply repeat your three main points. This is demonstrated by x, y, and z.

Finally, link it back to your thesis: “As such, the ending of The Great Gatsby represents Fitzgerald’s attitude towards real and false hope, and how it is easy to focus on the latter. When Gatsby never gets what he hoped for throughout the whole story, neither does the reader, and this is incredibly unexpected in a book that is fundamentally about hope.”

Conclusions are all about showing the marker that you have proven your thesis.

Style

Okay, let’s end this section of the walkthrough guide with style.

Sorry, had to.

Although you’re mainly being marked on how you prove your thesis, you’re also being marked on the style of your writing - it’s really difficult to present a mint written argument without the written part being on point.

Your writing should be clear, formal, structured, and show engaging personal voice.

That’s easier said than done, so let’s take a look at how to do that. Afterwards, you’ll be fully equipped to bang out excellent essays like it’s your day job.

Firstly, your writing should be clear. This means no abstract yarns that don’t really go anywhere. We’ve all read pieces of writing (cough, most textbooks, cough) where



you’ll read the same page eight times and still have no idea what’s going on. Every sentence should have a point to it - no random tangents chucked in when you’re trying to kill time and the word count. Moreover, everything you say should clearly link together for the same purpose: to prove your paragraph’s point or to explain how it proves your thesis.

It’s an essay, so your writing has to be formal. This means a few things that often get missed:

Don’t use contractions, like “don’t.” It’s “do not,” and “it is”. Avoid personal pronouns (“we, I, us”) unless the question asks for your opinion or

feelings personally. Instead, use “the reader(s), society, or people”. Often, adjectives are unnecessary. If the question asks you to explain how the

ending was unexpected, you can say that it’s shocking - but this doesn’t mean you need to say it was fantastic.

Unless the question asks for it, you don’t need to say “I think …” or “This made me feel …” Instead, just say it like it’s a fact and back it up with evidence or explanation.

Your writing should also be structured. Luckily, we’ve got that covered now! #TEXAS

Lastly, it’s a good idea (a really good one) to show engaging personal voice. Personal voice just means that the writing doesn’t sound like a robot wrote it using a computer software. Your ideas are wonderful and you write beautifully (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise), so show the marker that. You can do this by making sure your writing is varied and interesting.

We’ve heard it before: don’t start sentences the same way. If every sentence in a paragraph starts with, “This is”, the marker will feel a little bit nauseous. Instead, try to bring in something fresh each time - this goes for repeating the same words, too. If you find you’ve said the word “shows” four times in one paragraph, it’s probably obvious.

Conjunctions are a really powerful tool. With them, we can combine two simple sentences together to form a much better sentence. This is a little thing called flow. Here’s an example:

“Puss n’ Boots is objectively the best movie of all time because the protagonist is more human than hero. This is rare as heroes often sacrifice being human with being perfect. This is extremely clever storytelling as the character is a cat but has human flaws. This conveys the theme that anyone can be a hero.”

OR



“Puss n’ Boots is objectively the best movie of all time because the protagonist is more human than hero, which is rare as heroes often sacrifice being human with being perfect. This is extremely clever storytelling as the character is a cat but has human flaws, conveying the theme that anyone can be a hero.”

Which is better? The second one, right? Even though it’s pretty much the same wording, the sentences flow together rather than following a monotonous rhythm, which keeps it way more interesting.

Another way of keeping your writing interesting is using interesting vocabulary.

If you want to practice this skill, simply Google synonyms for the word you want to replace, and Google Thesaurus will literally throw some up at you. This is an absolutely great way of adding some spice to your essay.

Simply switching “This shows” to “This demonstrates” turns your essay from lemon pepper to at least medium hot. Use “This elucidates” and congratulations, your essay just got hot.

A great tip is to spend some time every once in a while writing down your own list of vocab to use in your essays, especially words that replace boring ones that you find yourself using all the time (like “shows” or “also”).

If you’ve made it this far, you’re a legend.

You’ve also got everything you need to know about essay-writing! When you’ve got everything sussed, we’re ready to continue our journey through the wonderful world of words by moving on to analysing some texts.

20 Level 1 English | © Inspiration Education Limited 2017. All rights reserved.

Level 1 English | Written and Visual Texts

WRITTEN AND VISUAL TEXTSo upon concluding the essay-writing segment of our time together, we’re now moving on to analysing written and visual texts, AKA the two essays of the NCEA English exam.

Written and visual texts share a lot of commonalities, which is why we’ve grouped them together. We could use that cliche, “they’re best friends”, but between you and me, I think written text is salty that everyone just watches the film now.

The essay-writing component is exactly the same, which is why it’s important to nail down that foundation first. You’ve still got to have a thesis, you’re still writing about your idea, you’re still using evidence to prove your argument. Much of the stuff you’ll talk about when you show understanding (we’ll get into that) also remains the same, like symbolism and themes; however, there are differences between them.

What will you learn in this part of the walkthrough guide?

In this part, we’re going to figure out how to show understanding of aspects of written and visual texts.

We’re going to clearly outline what that requires, and what’s required to do so excellently. We’re going to define what these aspects are, and take a look at some of them. It’s also important that we suss some of the differences between written and visual texts.

We’re then going to visit how we use those aspects to come up with our perceptive ideas.

A lot of the information we’re going to cover comes from the NZQA website; namely the assessment schedules and assessment reports. Here, the markers are practically begging you to give them what they want. However, some of the language is still a



bit confusing (what is “mature appreciation of the importance to the text as a whole of aspects described?”) - so we’ll get amongst that as well.

Written and visual text is all about showing your understanding is perceptive, which involves skillful yarns on the evidence and the purpose of your chosen works. Whether it’s The Great Gatsby or Shrek II, nothing is accidental, and there are no wrong answers - just understanding that wasn’t shown properly.

What are Written and Visual Texts?

There are two minor points we need to address right away: what the differences between them are and why we study them.

Written texts are basically books, poems, short stories, or scripts. Visual or oral texts are pretty much everything on a screen. We recommend books and films for the most yarn-able content.

Your teacher should have given you at least one of each - if not, it’s important that you select texts that allow you to “engage with it at a deeper level.” This effectively means that they need to have intentional and skilful use of aspects (like symbolism, etc.) that will allow you to bring in perceptive ideas. This effectively means you shouldn’t write your essay on Bad Neighbours II.

Jacinda (at time of writing) wants us to study texts in English because written and visual texts are all examples of literature, and literature is a vehicle for people before us to express their ideas and commentary on society. Whether it’s Homer in second century BC, Shakespeare in Elizabethan England, Siegfried Sassoon during World War II, or Steven Spielberg now, writers have important things to say that were written in important eras of our world.



If you think about it, storytelling as a way of conveying human messages began with oral myths and fables in ancient societies, before writing became popular when printing and paper allowed for them to be written down as poems and books. Now, we’ve got film and no one reads the book anymore.

This brings us back to the purpose of our essays: to present ideas on literature (written or visual) taken from the ways that authors or directors have created them.

Questions

Okay, so let’s get to the first thing you’re going to look at when you open the exam booklet: the questions. We’ve already looked at how Level 1 essay questions are split into two parts: the describe and the explain.

The describe is the on the lines response (as opposed to between the lines). This is asking you to present your evidence from the text using aspects, and is informative.

The explain is the between or beyond the lines response. This is asking you to use your evidence to present an idea or argument, and is persuasive.

It’s absolutely crucial that your thesis (and therefore your whole essay) answers both. It’s also crucial that you don’t memorise and rewrite essays. Just because you got E8 in a mock doesn’t mean you’ll get the repeat on exam day, because your essay needs to break down and answer the question directly.

It’s a common misconception that you’ll get a “theme question” or “character question”, and so if you write with those broad ideas in mind, you’ll succeed. This is false - you need to be able to shape your evidence around a new question, because this is what critical thinking is all about!



However, the ‘describe’ part of each question will be about an aspect of the text. Let’s look at what aspects are:

Themes Settings Characters Ideas (relationships, challenges/conflicts) Narrative structure (beginnings, endings, story arc, moments) Language features (symbolism, metaphors, vocabulary, style, etc.) Language features of visual text (film techniques)

We’ll go into a bit more detail on the last one when we cover visual text specifically, but for now, just bear in mind that your question will be asking you about one of these aspects.

As such, it’s important that you’ve got evidence to support your description of these aspects. If you’ve got an idea about the character Gatsby, make sure you’ve got a few quotes to support it, and maybe something about the author’s purpose, too. Same with symbolism: make sure you’ve got some examples of symbols and how and why you know they represent something.

After that, it’s time to present your perceptive understanding of these aspects by arguing your perceptive idea on them, using how and why. This is where you’ll bring in stuff like author or director’s purpose, and show appreciation. If you want a refresher on those, flip back to the essay-writing section!

The best thing you can do to prepare yourself is to look at past exam questions on the NZQA website as well as exemplars (just Google ‘NZQA English’ and click ‘past exams and exemplars’).

Authors, Directors, and Context

So you’ve got your aspects sorted (you could yarn for hours about the green light and the billboard in Gatsby), and you’ve got some ideas about them you’re just waiting to confidently present to the lucky marker who gets the privilege of reading your essay.

But how do you know that your ideas are really valid? Is it true that the billboard represents the sad decline of religious devotion, or is that just silly? How can you actually argue this?



We’ve mentioned this before, but what you need is some author or director’s purpose.

From reading about F. Scott Fitzgerald, we know that he wrote The Great Gatsby to criticise the ‘American Dream’, and how it’s really nothing more than a pursuit of money and fame over morals and family. We also know that he was really religious.

Fitzgerald also wrote during the ‘Roaring 20s’ (1920s America), where people were getting rich off gold and Wall Street and having massive parties rather than going to Church. This is the historical context: the society in which the author was writing.

Of course, Fitzgerald and Shakespeare were writing in very different societies and so with very different purposes. However, what do those societies tell us about ours? Are they really that different? Either way, this is how we spice up our essay and get some extra marks.

Remember, we can use the author or director’s purpose and the context behind them as evidence for backing up our perceptive ideas about the world.

Literary Aspects

This is the part where we bring in all that juicy knowledge from unfamiliar texts. However, this time, the text isn’t so unfamiliar. You’ve probably been studying it with Mr. Roberts the whole year and you’ve come to realise that The Great Gatsby is the best book out since The Good Gatsby.

As you’ll remember, language features are all those things that create the images, the feelings and ideas in the text. You could just throw in a quote a couple times throughout your essay, but you could also blow the NCEA marker’s ankle socks off by showing you know your symbols from your motifs and the effects they create.

Because to get those higher marks, (all hail E8), what we really need to be doing is going beyond the quote, by commenting on the style, symbolism and narrative point of view; basically all the things that come together to create the NCEA fave: the author’s purpose.

So, what are the language features and how do they express the author’s ideas?

Themes, settings, characters and ideas are your bread and butter when it comes to essay writing, for both written and visual texts.

Then the things symbols, motifs, dialogue and figurative language are the peanut



butter, nutella, or basil pesto (if you roll that way).

With essays, be it written or visual texts, it’s all about creating layers of depth; it’s awesome to bring in things like ideas and setting, but bring in the little bits and pieces, those tasty literary fillings we talked about earlier, and you’re on your way to s t a c k e d NCEA sandwich.

It’s the things like symbolism, figurative language, narrative point of view, and diction that build on aspects like settings, themes and characters to enhance our understanding of the central ideas, underlying message(s) and/or author’s purpose.

So let’s start with a a couple slices of good ol’ budget white loaf and some marg: Themes and ideas often gets confused. Theme is kind of like the less talkative version of ideas. An idea shown in The Very Hungry Caterpillar is ‘one can only grow from struggle’ (remember, he gets a really bad tummy ache) whereas a theme would be something like change or transformation.

The easy way to differentiate between the two, is that a theme is usually just a word or two, while an idea can be a sentence: it’s not just “love” because that would be a theme, rather an idea could be “love conquers all.”

Themes and ideas are your stepping stones to author’s purpose; they’re an element of what the writer is trying to convey to us.

Theme gives us something to latch on to, it’s a vibe. But an idea is more something that we, as readers, grapple with and maybe even debate.

Going back to the caterpillar example, do we necessarily agree that we can only grow and transform into a beautiful butterfly if we binge eat our way through doughnuts and custard pies?

Even though we would all love for this to be the case, contemplating and discussing these ideas is what leads us to the author’s purpose; so if you have an issue with an idea, say it!

Setting is one of those all-encompassing aspects. Setting can be the time period, the country, the city, the place or even room that a text takes place in. As we talked about earlier, context matters. “The Great Gatsby” wouldn’t communicate the same ideas or themes if it were set in 2002; we could imagine their costumes would be way more of a meme for a start, but also, the 1920s presents us with a different set of social norms and historical events.



When talking about setting, try to think about how this unique place or time projects meaning onto the text. Try asking yourself, “If this book had a different setting, would we still understand it in the same way?”

Character is basically anyone mentioned in the text, right down to “Angry Man #2” when the credits roll (say, if we’re watching a movie). The likelihood is, if you’re going to mention a character, it’s going to be the protagonist or a central character to the plot.

When looking at a character, it could be helpful to think of them more as a “mouthpiece” for the author. Why is this? Because whoever is talking is not literally a person, it’s someone who the author has created and added to the story to show us something.

It’s cool to know that Darth Vader is a guy with a funky helmet who breathes really loudly, but so what? What is it that Darth Vader does or experienced in the past that communicates to us an idea? What does his prior struggle between the dark and light side tell us about society? About the director’s intention?

Now, that we have our base sussed, let’s pile on some bacon (or not), lettuce, and tomato; A.K.A our figurative language, symbolism, and narrative point of view.

Hopefully, we’re already familiar with figurative language and language techniques. If not, you can always take a sneak peel at the unfamiliar texts section on pg 32. Basically, figurative language is what an author may choose to use when describing or explaining something.

The kind of figurative language they use, be it a metaphor or personification, may create different effects on the reading experience and emphasise different themes or ideas.

If take a look at the poem on pg 36/37, the writer uses repetition to emphasise that the tree was little and precious to him. His immense care and affection toward the tree is shown through such repetition and thus shows us that even the smallest things in life can make one happy.

Narrative point of view is referring to who is doing the story-telling. It could be:

• First-person narration: Told from a personal perspective, allowing us to get inside the head of the character.

• “I went to the dairy and bought a $2 lolly mix. I know really shouldn’t because I’m meant to be on a diet, but they just look so good!”



• Third-person narration: This is when the story is told from an outsider’s perspective, who doesn’t necessarily have a lot of insight into characters’ thoughts.

• Donny went to the library and bought a $2 lolly mix.

• Omniscient narration: This is the “eye of God” narration, where whomever is talking knows everything about everything and can get inside the heads of characters.

• As Donny walked to the library he told himself he wouldn’t buy any lollies. But Donny was weak-willed, he couldn’t say no to array of sweets that sat at the counter. Plus Dale the shop-keeper knew this to be true and seemed to place them there just to tempt him.

A symbol is a thing (object, character, setting) that is representative of another thing (usually an idea) somehow.

Take the green light in The Great Gatsby for instance. Some have interpreted the green light as a symbol of hope.

How does this create flavour in our literary sandwich? By using symbols, the writer can be more subtle in communicating their ideas and purpose. Rather than having a character say outright “the American dream is a straight up meme,” Fitzgerald created a more nuanced and elegant way of showing us what he thought about life and the human condition.

Film Techniques

Remember from before, where we used the term ‘language features of visual text’ in our list of aspects? This is the main difference between written and visual text, and is pretty much another way of saying film techniques.

It’s also an aspect that you definitely should include in your visual text essay.



Whilst you can also talk about symbols and characters and what not, film techniques are an extra element of evidence for visual texts. Too many students just use quotes, which is fine for written text (isn’t it all just one big quote?), but for visual text, this pretty much means they’re only using one piece of evidence: dialogue.

And to really set yourself up for achieving highly, you need a range of evidence.

We talked before about how film is a new medium for directors to express their ideas, and it’s a pretty unique one - instead of words, it’s now a camera. This is a whole new territory that we must explore. So let’s explore it.

We can split aspects of visual text into two sections:

1. Ideas and purposes 2. Film techniques

Ideas and purposes include everything we talked about earlier, like characters, themes, and symbols, which are the same across written and visual text. You can definitely bring these in! Themes and symbols, for example, are really powerful tools for bringing in director’s purpose and historical context.

However, because you’re studying film, you need to be able to analyse film-specific techniques when you’re describing your visual text and explaining its ideas.

Let’s look at the most common film techniques. Cinematography includes things like camera angles, zooms, colour, and a whole lot more. Cinematography is pretty much everything the camera does. For example, horror movies often use shaky cameras or quick cuts, and that gives us a sense of the fear and chaos in the scene. However, if that was used in Love Actually, it’d be weird.

Mise-en-scene is pretty much everything that is in a shot. It’s a French term for how and why everything is presented to the audience - does the vase in American Beauty give audiences the forced impression of homeliness? (Who knows, but write about it.) This means it’s closely linked with design: how the set is designed and presented, the props and extras that we can see, it’s the world as seen in the film.

Cinematography, mise-en-scene and design are ways in which directors give their own personal touch to their films, and it’s always intentional. For example, you might bring in colour palette: Wes Anderson uses a pastel colour palette, which gives the Grand Budapest Hotel a real 1900s luxury vibe. Quentin Tarantino, on the other hand, uses a whole lot of red, and so his movies feel violent.



Sound is a huge one, and includes ambience (footsteps in a big empty space is a favourite for creepy scenes, as is phones ringing in a boring and stressful office environment the character doesn’t want to be a part of), sound effects, and music (horror movies without music are about 82% less scary).

It’s crucial that we don’t just chuck a camera angle in and hope the marker froths it. You’re not going to get E if you just say that x represents y and here’s a mid-shot that shows x.

What we mean by this is that if you’re bringing in a mid-shot, it needs to be a technical choice made by the director for the purpose of improving the director-audience relationship. You don’t need to spend heaps of time analysing all the nuances of a camera angle, but you do need to prove to the marker that you know exactly why the director used that specific angle and how it has an effect on the whole text itself.

This is what we mean when we mentioned “mature appreciation of the importance to the text as a whole of aspects described” in the introduction.

You don’t need to write lines and lines about the specific type of angle, but you need to clearly explain how and why it contributes to your overall understanding of the whole text.

How and why has the director used film techniques to fulfill their purpose in their text?

What was their intention, why did they use this specific film technique, and what is the effect on an audience?



Applying Evidence

This is one of the trickier parts of essay-writing; not only are we trying to figure out which quote, scene, or evidence to use to demonstrate our point, but we have to integrate it smoothly.

So here’s our checklist for this section:

Making sure our example is helping to prove our point Integrating our example into the paragraph

It’s crucial that we’re not just listing some examples, but checking that they clarify and prove our point in some way.

We can do this in the planning process of our essay by simply asking ourselves “How does this prove my argument?”

Like this:

How does this quote from The Very Hungry Caterpillar show that a turning point in the text was when he got a tummy ache?

Or

How does this particular camera angle in this particular scene tell us that our favourite sci-fi characters are more complex than we first think?

If we can justify its place in our argument, then chuck it in on. This is also the place where we combine all of our knowledge about setting, camera techniques and the like to make some comment on the director’s or writer’s purpose.

But we’re not going to stop there. One of the things a lot of students struggle with is



actually weaving their chosen evidence into their argument. This is important because it improves the flow of an essay and can make your point much clearer, the less time the marker has to spend interpreting your essay, the more likely they are to enjoy it and give you those sweet, sweet NCEA credits.

If this is something you find tricky, maybe having a couple different phrases up your sleeve would be helpful when you’re in the middle of an exam and are out of ways to say “we see this when…”

Some phrases you could use might be:

“[Director’s name here] reveals this to us in his use of P.O.V shots such as…”

“This idea is exemplified in the metaphor ‘...’”

“The symbol of the green light alludes to the difficulty of …”

“[Director’s name here]’s repetition of the word “little” in the lines ‘...’ highlight the idea that…”

Before we finish up, maybe take a minute to see if you can recognise any similarities between these examples.

What you may have noticed is that all of the examples refer to the technique being used. This is absolutely crucial when aiming for those higher marks. For starters, it lets the marker know that YOU know what you’re on about. On top of that, it gives you a little springboard for further discussion.

Instead of just saying that the shot shows a character’s facial expression, by explicitly naming the technique the author or director used, you’re priming your essay to head into why the technique was used by the creator… and then all of a sudden you’re talking about the author’s purpose and what it means for humanity and raking in an E.

Try coming up with a few of these phrases on your own that fit your style of writing so you can have them handy when it comes to game time.

Now, you’ll be heading in with a solid arsenal at your disposal to nail whatever abstract question is thrown at you! Debra the NZQA marker won’t know what hit her (or where her ankle socks are), because no one knows more about The Great Gatsby than you do.


Level 1 English | Unfamiliar Texts

UNFAMILIAR TEXTSNo standard in NCEA gets as much shade as unfamiliar texts; it is truly the meme of NCEA English. But much like a meme, unfamiliar texts is about the bigger picture - it requires you to zoom in on the language an author uses to get their point across and how it’s connected to their purpose.

Something as small as a simple metaphor becomes the vehicle for ideas and feelings that speak to something greater than the mere words on the page.

But getting to that bigger picture requires a few steps.

First, we’ll go through the texts you’ll find when you excitedly tear open that NCEA exam pack and how to read the different kinds of texts to maximise your meme-score.

Once we’ve got that out of the way, we’ll take a look at how to structure your response and dissect what’s in the text.

We also need to know what we’re looking for, all the language techniques a writer may use to transport you into their head space. These could include onomatopoeia, similes, metaphors, alliteration, repetition, you know the drill.

Even though this unfamiliar texts section of is an absolute page turner, try to slow down and be conscious of the fact that successfully completing unfamiliar texts is a skill.

Learning and identifying these techniques and their effects takes time and practice. Just as it takes a writer practice to use language effectively, it’ll take a bit of time to figure out how these writers craft and articulate their ideas.

While sometimes NCEA wants some specific things out of you, when writing your unfamiliar texts external, try to put that to the back of your mind and just get to know the text on a personal level, y’know, mano a mano.

So, with that in mind, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of unfamiliar texts.



Text Types

Before we try to explain how the author’s use of alliteration is meant to symbolise the Auckland housing crisis, we have to know what kind of text we’re looking at.

Think about how you’d describe the most delicious custard creme doughnut to your mate versus how you would tell them that pineapple does not belong on top of a pizza. There’s a difference in the communication, right?

This leads us to the big idea here: as the age old saying goes: “Don’t put anything on social media you wouldn’t want granny to see”.

The same rule kind of applies to writing. There’s a time and a place for everything: sometimes you want a matter-of-fact-let’s-throw-in-a-statistic-here kind of tone, and sometimes it’s about just like, making it y’know like, relatable, like it’s just about creating, like, casual vibes, aye, bro.

Or sometimes the ebb and flow of NCEA’sunfamiliar textscreate those vast crevassesbetween which we mustread.

Anyway, if you read the last few chunks of wisdom you might have picked up that the big point is, different text types use different language techniques to create different effects.

The three kinds of texts you’ll find in the exam will be:

A poem A piece of prose fiction A piece of prose non-fiction

Don’t fret if you don’t recognise these right now. In fact, you shouldn’t worry at all. The more you read the different types of texts, the more intuitive identifying the differences between these will become obvious.

Poetry

While there are lots of different forms out there, what you’ll probably get in the exam is a fairly short poem by a modern New Zealand writer.



One of the key things to think about when reading poetry is that the writer has chosen their words with extreme care. A poem is like a puzzle; each word has its own spot. Writers are usually quite precise with the words they use, but generally in poetry, we see this in quite an exaggerated way.

Maybe the writer is trying to create rhyme in their poem. Or maybe they’ve written a short and sweet poem in which each word has special place, so special that if it were taken out or replaced, the effect or meaning would be quite different.

What does this mean for unfamiliar texts? It means we should have a look at how the words work together to create an effect on the reader.

Try reading a poem out loud, feel the words in your mouth and how it sounds when you say it. You’ll probably get told off by Cheryl the exam supervisor if you do mid-exam, so maybe get in some practice beforehand.

Top tip: They usually provide a little background info on the writer like their date and place of birth, profession and a couple of things that they liked to write about. Don’t ignore this! This part can be super helpful and provides us with valuable insight into the intentions of the writer!

Prose Fiction

Prose is the kind of writing we see pretty much everyday. Basically, prose is any piece of writing that isn’t a poem, and you’ve probably encountered prose fiction in the novels you read.

Prose fiction can be descriptive: telling you what something looks and feels like; and it can also be a narrative: telling the reader a story. So with this in mind, you’re likely to find a lot of imagery in prose fiction, the writer pulling the old “show, don’t tell.”

The writer may use lots of figurative language (metaphors, similes, personification etc.) to paint a picture in our minds.

Here’s an example:

Instead of the writer saying, “she was nervous to see the dentist,” they might say: “her stomach began to churn with that familiar feeling of butterflies; she wiped the sweat of her palms on her jeans as she paced the floor of the waiting

room.”

In the above, the writer doesn’t simply tell us that the person hates going to the dentist, but rather describes her body’s physical reaction to going to the dentist through the



use of imagery. Try doing this yourself - instead of saying “he was happy,” think of another way you could create the image of this.

Prose Non-Fiction

Now we know what prose is, prose non-fiction is like the last article you read in a magazine or the news. Usually, NCEA gives you an opinion piece.

An opinion wants to convince you, the reader, that the author’s point of view is the right point of view. The good thing is, the author’s point is usually pretty clear and easy to pick out. It’ll probably be apparent in the first few sentences.

Finding the author’s opinion is one half of your task, the other is to figure out how they express and reinforce this opinion. One of the best ways to do this is to scan the piece for sentences that jump out at you, then see if you can find a language feature hidden in there.

Because the writer is trying to make their opinion as clear as possible to convince us, they like to involve us in their piece, maybe using personal pronouns frequently or posing rhetorical questions that have an implied answer. By involving the audience, it’s easier for the writer to get us on side. Language features like irony, puns, hyperbole and sarcasm are also used to humorously disprove an opposing viewpoint.

Try to think about how these languages features either reinforce or prove the writer’s point and the effect it has on the reader.

Sometimes the writer might strike a very serious tone, and sometimes they’re basically just making fun of something.

How To Read The Texts

. . . and spit those literary yarns.

Now that we’ve had a look at these unfamiliar thingys individually, we’re going to talk about how to read them.

Let’s just say after smashing out two killer E8 essays on Transformers: The Last Knight and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (jk, please don’t write your essays on these two texts), you’ve left unfamiliar texts until last with 45 minutes to go. What do we do?

Firstly, take a deep breath and as you calmly exhale, say to yourself (obviously in your



head ‘cos it’s an exam), “I can do this, all I need to do now is spin a massive yarn about metaphors and alliteration.”

After that, it’s a matter of reading through the texts efficiently. We know it can be a big ask to do this while under pressure, and while it can be difficult to simulate the exam atmosphere at home, it’s a swell idea to try and read a number different texts under time pressure.

Like we said earlier, even though you can’t practice for a particular set of texts, you can sharpen up your reading technique through practice.

Even if it’s just the day before, get your brain into the habit of scouting out techniques, reading under time-pressure, and picking out the key themes and ideas. Try it with film reviews, the first page from your favourite book or even your aunty’s rants on social media.

Before we go any further, let’s have a look at what NCEA themselves are saying about the goals of this external so we’re clear about what we’re actually looking for.

Show perceptive understanding involves explaining how significant aspects of written text(s) communicate ideas about the text in relation to the writer’s purpose as well as wider contexts, such as human experience, society and the

wider world.

This is still a little vague, so what do they really want from us?

Maybe it’d be best to demonstrate with an example:

Your first step is to figure out what the author is trying to say. Is it an opinion they’re trying to communicate? A message? An idea or theme? This is the “ideas in relation to the writer’s purpose…” part of NCEA is talking about. So give this little piece a read:

Little Tree by E.E. Cummings

little treelittle silent Christmas treeyou are so littleyou are more like a flower

who found you in the green forestand were you very sorry to come away?see i will comfort youbecause you smell so sweetly



i will kiss your cool barkand hug you safe and tightjust as your mother would,only don’t be afraid

look the spanglesthat sleep all the year in a dark boxdreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little armsand i’ll give them all to you to hold.every finger shall have its ringand there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you’re quite dressedyou’ll stand in the window for everyone to seeand how they’ll stare!oh but you’ll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take handsand looking up at our beautiful treewe’ll dance and sing“Noel Noel”

After you finish reading the text, ask yourself: “What’s this text all about?”

If you can’t pinpoint what it is, then try this one: “What’s the general vibe?”

What we’re doing is summarising our own thoughts about what we think the author is saying. This helps to streamline our discussion later on, providing a direction for where our answer is going.

Now we’re going to introduce an NCEA style question to help you get your analysis going:

1. Select ONE language feature the writer uses to describe the Christmas tree.Give an example of this language feature from the text.

2. Explain how this and/or other language feature(s) helps you understand the writer’s attitude towards Christmas time throughout the text. You might consider:• How the writer describes the Christmas tree• How the writer feels about the Christmas tree• Why the writer feels this way about the Christmas tree



So, now that we have some kind of direction of what we feel the poem is trying to say, and what the question wants from us, we can go a little deeper.

Next, it’s a good idea to underline and/or annotate the poem. Underline specific language features you can identify and name them. If you need a little help remembering what these might be, you can refer to the handy dandy “Language Features” section of this guide.

When you’re underlining language features, make sure they’re related to the points that the question has asked. Here, you’ll want to underline language features where the writer describes the Christmas tree and ones that show his feelings toward the Christmas tree.

Phew! That’s your first hurdle done and dusted. Now it’s time to use what you’ve got to get a bit personal with the poem.

The other thing NCEA talks about is significant aspects of the text.

Significant aspects are:

Purposes and audiences Ideas (eg character, theme, setting) Language features (eg figurative language, style, syntax, symbolism, vocabulary) Structures (eg part text, whole text, narrative) Text conventions (spelling, punctuation, grammar).”

Basically, what they’re telling you to do, is:

1. Explain the effect a language feature has in the context of the piece2. Explain how the above creates meaning outside the text

The first part is looking at how the author conjures certain images or ideas in our heads, while the second part is asking us to explain why this is actually important, not just in the text, but what it means for real, living human beings.

Here’s a little something we’ve cooked up to show you how these steps work:

Language feature: Repetition

Example: little tree/little silent Christmas tree/you are so little

Effect: The repetition of the word “little” reinforces how petite and delicate the tree is. It creates the impression that the writer almost adores the Christmas tree and how



small it is; it is as though he is describing a small, helpless infant that he must care for and looks after.

How it creates meaning outside the text: By the mere repetition of the word “little” in relation to the Christmas tree, it becomes apparent that the author has a childlike sense of wonder and awe for such a simple thing as this. It is not necessarily Christmas time that the writer has a sense of anticipation for, (knowing that they might be lucky enough to receive a gift) but rather the presence of the tree and the rituals that come with Christmas time such as decorating the tree. The writer marvels at something that some may consider to be insignificant and suggests to the reader it is indeed the small things in life that can bring the most authentic sense of joy and happiness.

Now you give it a go. Pick out a language feature and see if you can answer the practice question.

A little note of encouragement

Yet, even though we’ve just talked a whole lot about which text types are more likely to use certain language features, it’s equally as important to remember that when writing your response to Unfamiliar Texts, you are in control. The words and language features the author uses are important, but it’s YOU that’s interpreting them. Basically, what we’re trying to say is, don’t worry about what yarn Tammy is spinning a couple seats over from you. You do you, hun.

Language Features

In this section we’ll start putting together a customised literary tool kit, if you will, that we can have at the ready to deconstruct what the writer is saying.

Knowing the many language techniques writers use is all fine and dandy, but it’s not enough for a carpenter to merely know what an angle-grinder is; they have to know how to use it and what the tool is doing.

Our first tool is knowing what each language feature is, examples and the effect it creates.



Term

Formal language

Colloquial language

Slang

Jargon

WHAT the term is

The most “acceptable” level of language.

Excludes slang, colloquialisms, contractions and most jargon.

Best (most efficient) use of vocabulary, structure and syntax

Words we use in everyday, casual conversation.

Abbreviations and convenient language. Easily understood.

Words and expressions used by a specific group of people e.g. New Zealanders; skaters; teens; Italian mobsters.

Specialised or technical language used by a specific group or profession; language specific to a certain subject

Examples/Context

Used in official speeches, the radio news and at formal occasions.

Think essay writing, government policy wedding ceremonies, the meeting with your boss Cheryl.

Contractions like can’t; don’t, isn’t and abbreviations like TV, Uni.

Used in informal writing.

“Skuxx hair bro!”

Jason: “That exam question was buzzy”Ben: “Oi, hard out!”

Biology: Cell, DNA, mitosis

Cars: Piston, carburetor, glovebox, radiator

Lawyers: subpoena, prima facie, tort

WHY it’s used

To convey the seriousness of the occasion or message.

To provide clarity to the reader.

People feel a little more comfortable with this language; it’s friendlier, relaxed and is understood by most people.

When used well, it creates a sense of belonging to a certain group. Gives the reader insight into where a text might be set.

It’s easy to use but you won’t find it in any formal pieces.

Bonds people from the same group or profession: direct clarity

Expresses a level of expertise, knowledge or authority regarding the subject matter.



Imagery:

(The pictures or images created in our imaginations by a writer’s choice of words)

Term

Simile

Metaphor

Person-ification

WHAT the term is

A comparison of one thing to another using ‘like’ or ‘as...as’.

Says that one thing is like/as another.

A strong and powerful comparison between unlike things.

States that one thing is another and is not literally true.

When inanimate or non-human objects or ideas are given human qualities

WHEN you’ll see it

“As snug as a bug in a rug”

“As dank as a NCEA meme.”

“I was like a kid in a candy shop.”

“There was no limit to what he could eat, indeed, his stomach was a bottomless pit.”

“He was toxic and useless, an appendix inflamed and waiting to be removed.”

“The engine wheezed and coughed;”

“The plate hesitated before escaping my hand and shattering into hundreds of little pieces;”

“The words sailed out of his mouth.”

WHY it’s used

Draws us into the text by making us think about the connections between two things.

Creates more clear, vivid images in our heads. We can visualise the writer’s thoughts.

Can be more word-efficient by allowing readers to visualise ideas.

Certain ideas can be reinforced by using an extended metaphor: the same comparison is used throughout the text.

It may surprise us by associating an inanimate object with human qualities.

Pairing two distant things together in this way can even be funny or amusing.



Sound Effects:

The sounds our mouths make when we say the words.

Term

Alliteration

Assonance

Rhyme

WHAT the term is

Repetition of consonants, usually at the beginning of words. These words are linked together by a common sound.

Might be interrupted by a few words, but closeness is important

Repetition of vowel sounds close together.

They don’t necessarily have to be at the start of the words, just close together

Repetition of sound at the ends of words.

The rhyme may follow a certain structure.


Tongue-twisters: “She sells seashells by the seashore”

Used in advertising: “Get silky smooth skin.”

Newspaper headlines: “Diana, dead.”

Everyday use:“Hit the hay;” “Fit as a fiddle.”

“The moon moved over mountains;”

Some forms of poetry like a ballad, a sonnet or a limerick.

Typical of songs and raps: “Tick-tock on the clock, but the party don’t stop no”

WHY it’s used

Appeals to our sense of rhythm.

Makes a text more attractive and invites the ear in when read aloud.

The lines may sound connected to bring a sense of “completeness” to the text.

Texts can become lyrical, almost, and may feel like a song.

Sounds are intentionally pieced together to connect ideas or to create a vivid picture/feeling of the thing in question.

Certain letters create certain feelings or emotions: p gives a bright, short and sharp popping sound; s might sound slippery, or like hissing; m and n sounds can have a yummy, warm sound, maybe like a big hug.



Term

Onomatopoeia

Rhythm

WHAT the term is

Where the sound of the word is the same as its meaning. The word suggests the noise of the action described.

Repetition of vowel sounds close together.

Choosing words and placing them in a certain order to create patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.


“Meow,” “buzz,” “whip.”

“Swish, swish, swish, went the washing machine.”

Think sonnets, each have 10 syllables in each of the 14 lines.

“And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas”(The Highwayman, Alfred Noyes)

WHY it’s used

It gives a certain concreteness to the word or action.

Prescribes a particular feeling for the thing being described or provokes a particular reaction.

Gives the text a sense of life, of movement, like it has its own heartbeat.

When read aloud, it carries the text and builds suspense or sense of direction in the text.



Involving the Audience:

Using different parts of speech to address the audience in slightly different ways.

Term

Rhetorical question

Question

Cliche

WHAT the term is

It’s a question asked with no expected response.

Usually asked with an answer in mind, or one obvious answer.

A question with no intended answer or for which the answer is not obvious or is left to the readers interpretation.

Trite, overused expression that has lost its originality through frequent use.


Used in speeches and debates by politicians: “Who doesn’t want memes to become national currency?”

An alternative form of an imperative (command):“Sheesh, eaten enough donuts?”

“Suffering from meme fatigue? See one of our specialists for guidance.”

“What would you do if you won the lottery?”

“Bright as a button”; “It cost an arm and a leg!”; “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

WHY it’s used

A very persuasive form of speech and prompts a particular response from the audience.

Aims to get audience thinking from a certain perspective to gain support.

Can also be quite dramatic.

Encourages the reader/audience to think about their answer to the question.

They’re easy to understand but a lil’ boring.

However, there’s a certain familiarity created by cliches and they can be used to form a better connection with the audience.



Term

Personal Pronouns

Imperative

Emotive Language

WHAT the term is

Parts of speech that refer to a person or people, I, me, my, you, your, he, him, she, her, they, them, we, us, our.

A direct request or command. Telling someone to do something.

Language with the intent to evoke a certain emotional response or reaction from the reader.


Often used in ads and speeches e.g. “Your contribution can make a difference.”

“They may make fun of us and call us terrible names, but they can never take our memes!”;

“We need to make sure that we all do our part to save the planet. We only have one.”

Used in ads: “Call now for your free sample”; “Don’t let the flu get you.”

Some words evoke certain positive reactions: “dainty”, “delicate”, “pure”, “impressive”.Some words have negative associations: “He lived in squalor, in a dilapidated shack on the edge of society.”

WHY it’s used

Personal pronouns can make readers feel a part of something by using we, us and our. Can also work to exclude others through using they and them.

Persuasive and direct; it is a command not a request.

Some words evoke certain positive reactions: “dainty”, “delicate”, “pure”, “impressive”.

Some words have negative associations: “He lived in squalor, in a dilapidated shack on the edge of society.”



Diction (Word choice) and Syntax (Sentence structure):

Choice of words or sentence structures to emphasise ideas.

Term

Hyperbole

Repetition

Parallel Structure

Comparative/Superlative

WHAT the term is

Exaggeration for effect.

Exactly how it sounds - repeating words, phrases, lines or verses in a text.

Repeating phrases of similar structure within or over a number of sentences.

Degrees of the adjective or adverb that indicate the level of a quality


“He smiled from ear to ear.”

Advertising: “Everything must go, go, go!”;

Speeches like Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”.

“Billions and billions and billions and millions of dollars.” (Donald Trump on many, many occasions).

“So I go ahead, and I get mine, and I cash cheques, and I get fly.”(Princess Nokia, G.O.A.T)

Comparative: “Harder, better, faster, stronger.”(Daft Punk)

Superlative: “best”, “tallest”, funniest”, “most beautiful”.

WHY it’s used

To emphasise a point

Stresses major points and makes sure the listener gets the message.

Can even create rhythm to produce a more inviting and memorable text.

Patterns are used to increase clarity for the reader and makes the text more impactful.

Emphasises the positive.

Allows a wider comparison of a quality; something can be better or the best rather than just “good”.



Term

Slogan

WHAT the term is

A phrase associated with a group, company or product.

Usually a compact phrase that distills the spirit of the thing in question.


“You’ll never buy better.”(Briscoes)

“Peace, Bread, Land.”(Bolshevik political slogan)

WHY it’s used

Memorable through repetition.

Associates certain words and phrases with a product, person or group.

Other Language Features:

Term

Pun

Irony

WHAT the term is

Phrases that play on different meanings of a word giving clever or humorous double meanings. A deliberate confusion of words.

The use of words that are clearly the opposite of what is really meant.The opposite of sincerity.


May exploit the difference in meanings of words which look alike.

May exploit meanings of words which sound alike but have different spellings (homophones)

“What a lovely day it is,” she said as she removed her rain jacket.

“I hate children, glad I never was one.”(Mrs. Trunchbull in Roald Dahl’s Matilda)

WHY it’s used

Usually for humour.

Can capture a wider meaning.

Can be used to retain attention through clever construction and associated meanings.

Source of humour.

Often used in sarcasm to belittle or ridicule.

Can create contrast by placing two opposites side by side.



Term

Euphemism

Neologism

WHAT the term is

An expression used to avoid saying something embarrassing or uncomfortable.

New or made-up word often created by combining existing words.


Anything to do with the body, sex or death (e.g. “number 1’s and 2’s”, “passed away”).

Used by politicians or corporations e.g “draining the swamp.”

Names created for new inventions like “SatNav” or “Weet-bix”

Terms created for political reasons e.g. “war on drugs” or “Neoliberal”

WHY it’s used

People may avoid directly confronting death, sex and bodily functions. It can be more polite, gentle and less abrupt.

Used to make actions sound a little more palatable.

Used for identifying new inventions or phenomena

To capture attention

Allows for a cliched level of thought to develop.

WRITTEN TEXTS, VISUAL TEXTS, UNFAMILIAR TEXTS · Level 1 English Essay Writing ... However,...

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