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If you’re struggling to find your way through the NCEA Achievement Standard, 1.1 Context Shapes Language, you’re not alone. I’ve been playing around with it as both a teacher and a resource writer since it was first put on the table. I’m no authority on the new standards; I just have some experience, so here’s my two cents worth.
Logistics:
To begin with, you should have a context in mind. Eg: protest speeches, social issue podcasts, war poetry, advertorials, sports commentary, social media…
Next, gather half a dozen texts (including transcripts for speeches – this is why YouTube is great because you can get the transcripts BUT you’ll need to edit and format them properly. Use two as teaching tools. Put the other four away for students' assessments (ie, they’ll choose one from that selection). As the years role on, you'll gather more texts for your repertoire! I also leave it open for students to choose their own if they feel confident to do so, but they must get the text approved by me first.
Have your set of language features ready - categorised (eg: figurative language, sound devices, sentence structures…) rather than alphabetically listed as this helps students better understand how features work.
Know the assessment and how you’ll 'get there' – scaffold to help yourself think your way through it. Then scaffold the students through with carefully created lessons and resources.
It’s aaaaaallllllll about the context.
Students need a detailed understanding of context. Practice this with the two text you set aside for teaching purposes. Later, students will discuss these things about the text they've chosen for their assessment. Contexts is about:
The background – what’s the political, historical, social situation here? Those three concepts are tough for Year 11s to comprehend so present this as related events and issues from:
The past,
The present
Our possible future.
For example, students studying Pania Newton’s Ted Talk about Ihumātao need to understand issues surrounding the colonisation of Aotearoa New Zealand, conflict over and confiscation of land (particularly Ihumātao) and Pania Newton’s role as an activist at Ihumātao.
The audience – To whom is the speaker (or writer) talking? What groups do they represent (eg: New Zealanders hoping for… the elderly, teenagers, world leaders etc). With the background explored above in mind, how is the audience approaching this speech/text? Consider their:
Feelings (emotions)
Values
Beliefs
Wants/ hopes
Needs
Experiences
Knowledge points (What do they already know…or think they know?)
The speaker/writer - What's the point of view (role, experience, cultural and/or political values) of the creator, and how does this lens determine things such as their:
Feelings (emotions)
Values
Beliefs
Wants/ hopes
Needs
Aim (purpose). What are they trying to do here?
Reframe how students see speakers/writers with some powerful metaphors.
Instead of students seeing speakers/writers as just that (yaaaawwwwwnnnnn) have them imagine them as something more powerful. For example:
A puppeteer who controls their audience with powerful strings (ie language features), to make them feel a certain way, believe in a specific ideal, understand a concept or take action.
A superhero who controls/helps their audience with superpowers (language features) to make them feel a certain way, believe in a specific ideal, understand a concept or take action.
Tawhirimatea who controls people with wind, rain, hail (language features) to manipulate them.
Te marama – the moon – pushing and pulling its people (like it does with the tides) with it’s invisible forces (language features) – to manipulate them.
Tūmatauenga (god of war, hunting, fishing) who has an arsenal of language features to manipulate (to catch!) his audience.
A builder with his tool box (of language features) … and artist with her paints…
The key is to find a metaphorical vision of a being who deliberately manipulates others with specific 'tools/weapons'. (Sounds a bit evil but I think it’s important for students to realise that, even if a creator is making us laugh, that’s still a form of manipulation!)
Reframing speakers/writers as powerful, manipulative beings also helps students with their own writing and with reading comprehension (unfamiliar texts) too!
Language features typical of that context
If something is typical is commonly found or expected. Have students understand that idea first. I introduce students to language features typical of the generic context. For example, if we study motivational speeches I’d look at the context in general to first brainstorm what students might expect to find.
Here's a trick to get students started:
Get students to write a motivational (persuasive) speech that really takes the mickey – eg: motivating teens to tidy their room or to volunteer to clean the school toilets. Students will intuitively use the language features of that context without realising it. Then, identify the language features they’ve used (tease it out of them/tell them), making a list on the whiteboard (include an example beside each). You’ve now got a list of features that are typical of motivational speeches.
Then move into a discussion about why these features are typically found in motivational speeches. Remember, it’s all about the effects the speaker wants to have on the audience.
What about a kaikorero’s welcome to manuhiri – you’ll typically find reference to the gods, thanks to the house, acknowledgement of ancestors, a whakataukī or whakatauākī…
Advertorials? Imperatives, repetition, promises, statistics, action verbs…
Annotation
Annotation creates a map for students to refer to when they write about the text. Gold - who doesn't love a visual!
Students MUST have a hard copy of the transcript or poem or…whatever text they’ve chosen. Ensure there are wide margins - plenty of room to write notes in. Teach them how to annotate. They should identify not just the language features they can name, but also anything that stands out to them as being particularly effective (ie in manipulating the audience) – for example, a phrase. Encourage students to make a note of:
The effect that language feature has on the audience and/or
What it suggests about the speaker.
Remember, students will need that set of language features sitting beside them for this.
Unpacking language features.
I get my students to choose four. This is a throwback to the 1.11 Close Viewing days!
To achieve the standard, students must:
Describe the characteristics of the language feature. In my mind, this means describing what the language feature does to an audience (speaking generically). Eg: A simile compares something with an object we are familiar with to help us ‘see’ it and understand it better…(something like that!).
Describe how this language feature is typical of this type of context. Eg: Similes are typically used in cooking demonstrations because the chef wants their audience to have something to compare their creation with. This helps them see if it’s ready or not. More able students might have identified a language feature that is atypical of such a context.
Identify (use the word ‘find’ if it makes life easier for strugglers) at least one example of that language feature. Teach students to put this example in quotation marks – the 66 and the 99!
Describe the effect of this example. Make it clear to students that they must talk about that specific example, not the language feature in general. Fall back on your puppeteer and manipulated puppets here - that manipulation. Consider:
What this example helps this specific audience:
Feel
Believe
Understand and even
Do.
Perhaps, even what this example helps us understand about the speaker/writer.
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To achieve with merit, students must:
Clearly link that specific example to the context. This is where that background work on the nitty-gritty details of context is so vital! They must understand and appreciate that context. So, ask students to explain in more detail why this example is particularly effective:
In this situation (eg: political climate).
You'll find this leads students to expand their thinking about the effect:
For this speaker and their purpose.
On this audience.
Again, make it clear to students that they should be talking about that example, not just the language feature, to avoid them talking about the power of metaphors in general rather than the power of “this tsunami of plastic”.
An example of explaining the link between the context and the example might be Because the audience is already anxious about climate change, using an image that invokes fear - such as a tsunami - causes alarm, playing on that fear to hopefully rethink purchasing plastic-wrapped goods. This audience will already understand the devastation of plastic, so linking it with a tsunami adds to the idea that consumer behaviour could 'drown them', wiping out the population. It plays on a fear and understanding that is already there but that the audience probably likes to pretend won't happen, just as we do when we build houses in tsunami zones! They are already aware of, and no doubt feel guilty about, plastic in their shopping trolleys, so the image of the tsunami gives a visible consequence.
Explain also how this language feature (example) works well with another language feature to enhance the idea, better enable the speaker to achieve their purpose. In other words to have that combined impact. Again, I like resorting to metaphors students will understand. Eg: Ice cream is beautiful, and chocolate is divine, but put them together and you get the wow factor! So, this imperative is intimidating and exclamatives command attention, ergo when the writer puts them together and you blow the audience away making them feel controlled and belittled.
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To achieve with excellence, students must:
Draw conclusions about the relationship between the context (situation, speaker, audience) and the language features (the deliberate choice to use them and their effects). This involves closer examination - really getting down with this study. The verb associated with excellence is 'examine'.
First, I discuss with my students what a conclusion is. Keep it simple. Tim is standing beside the pool. He and his clothes are soaking wet. The conclusion I come to is that Tim jumped in the pool in all his clothes. Now, if I take this further (thinking critically) did he jump or was he pushed? If he was alone, are the bullies hiding? Did he jump or slip?... Here I show how questioning helps push thinking further.
Next, I give students angles to draw conclusions about. For example, what conclusion can you draw about:
How the perspective of the speaker affected their decision to use this language feature.
How this language feature might have more effect on some members of the audience/other audiences than others.
An ongoing impact of using this language feature. (Eg: What if the speaker has risked belittling the audience with this rhetorical questioning, or offending the audience with this inappropriate reference?)
How this language feature might reflect or affect the relationship between the speaker and the audience.
Introducing ‘hedging’ words/phrases will help students express their thoughts. Give them a list. For example:
This suggests…
This illustrates…
It’s reasonable to believe that…
This is possibly…
This is likely…
Perhaps…
Ideally…
This move into excellence might sound tough for your Year 11 students, but it is supposed to be tough. NZQA has said that is should be difficult to reach a level of excellence.
Scaffolding
As you know, I’m a fan of scaffolding. As one who struggled to write at school I would have loved a table to complete or a guide to show me what to write in each paragraph for an essay or report.
Use what you know about the requirement of the standard to design your own template. Doing this will not only help your students, but it will help YOU get to know the standard better.
Once YOU feel confident with this standard, you’ll be better able to teach how context shapes language and better able to guide students through the requirements. Just like the old standards, you’ll know them like the back of your hand in no time if you sit down and think it through. Enjoy!
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