For example, a student may wrote: I reckon TV is fully crap.

This is certainly persuasive, and they are clearly showing their point of view. However, this is not the sort of writing that is valued in formal writing assessments.  Words like “reckon”, “fully” and “crap” are too colloquial and they may not be highly valued by the NAPLAN markers.

So, here’s a suggestion for reminding students how to write.  Suggest that they “write like a professor”.  I have tried this with Year 10 students and they immediately understood that a professor would not say the words “crap” or “fully”.  A professor takes a step back and uses written-type language, not the language of the playground.  Naturally, writing like a professor is age-appropriate.  You will also need to explain that writing like a professor does not necessarily mean using long, confusing words.

Here is how to write like a professor:

• Use written language not spoken language, not slang (kind of, heaps) or contractions (I’ve, don’t).
• Use subject words not commonsense terms.
• Use evidence to support your opinions and avoid strong emotions.
• Write about ideas and people from a distance.
• Do not overuse “I” or “you” or “we”.
• Do not address your audience directly.

Let’s continue to use the example of the NAPLAN persuasive text such as “Reading books is better than TV” and imagine that our thesis agrees with the proposition (i.e. we love books!)

Judging people

When we write a persuasive text, we can make our judgement clear about types of people. We may judge these groups of people negatively:

• people who don’t read books
• young people who watch too much TV.

Therefore, we might use evaluative language that shows our judgement.

People who don’t read books might be:

• unimaginative
• bored
• unintelligent.

Young people who watch too much TV might be:

• sedentary
• overweight
• dull
• ininspired.

On the other hand, we can show our evaluation of people who read books and don’t watch TV as:

• curious
• intelligent
• imaginative
• interested
• interesting.

These words will show our judgement and they create a form of persuasion. The writer uses evaluative language to create a version of the world that the reader must engage with (and hopefully agree with!)

Think about other groups of people whom you could judge for this topic: people who make TV programs, network executives, advertisers, writers, booksellers, parents, teachers…  and more.

Evaluating things

In addition to judging people, we can also judge things negatively or positively.  Television might be:

• light
• shallow
• entertaining
• unintelligent
• unimaginative rubbish for the lowest common denominator.

Books may be:

• engaging
• deep
• creative
• entire worlds of potential.

Our evaluation can be shown by what we say about DOING.  Television can trap us on the couch and stop us from thinking for ourselves while books can draw us in and make our brains work hard. Television can give us pre-digested information while books can make us digest information. You can use opposites or doubles like this to show positive and negative evaluations and build very strong persuasive texts.

Showing emotion

In persuasive texts, it is common to show emotion to help persuade the reader. The writer might be outraged at poor television shows or they might adore reading books.

Emotion is a powerful tool and it should be used sparingly in formal academic texts like the NAPLAN writing exercise. See the next blog for how to avoid too much emotion.

You might be familiar with another word: conjunctions.  These are the words that link parts of the same sentence and occur within a sentence e.g. and, but, so, or.  In this post, we are looking at linking words between sentences or paragraphs.

Have a look at the paragraph from the last post. Can you see any linking words?

Watching too much TV is extremely bad for your health. Teenagers can spend 5 or 6 hours per day sitting or lying around watching TV and it is probable that this contributes to obesity.  On the other hand, reading books has never been associated with health problems. Therefore, reading books is completely safe for your health, while TV may cause problems.

There are two – on the other hand and therefore.

Here are some examples of types of text connectives.

Clarifying                     in other words, for example, for instance, in fact

Showing cause/result  therefore, consequently, as a result, for that reason

Time                            then, finally, at this point, previously, earlier

Sequencing ideas         firstly, secondly, finally, briefly, to conclude, in conclusion, to summarise

Adding information                 in addition, indeed, furthermore

Condition/concession                        in that case, however, nevertheless, despite this

(These are taken from the excellent resource by Beverly Derewianka, A Grammar Companion published by PETA.)

There are worksheets on linking words in these Literacy Works resources:

• Paragraphs
• Text Types
• Literacy Works for Geography Book 2
• Literacy Works for History Book 2
• Literacy Works for Commerce Book 2
• Literacy Works for Visual Arts Book 2
• Literacy Works for Drama Book 2
• Literacy Works for Technology Book 2
• Literacy Works for PDHPE Book 2
• Literacy Works for Religious Education Book 2

might could                                                     may                                                      should  must

Low                                                                 Medium                                               High

As you can see, high modality is certain and definite, while low modality is uncertain and indefinite.  In a persuasive text, high modality is common.

Modality can be found in:

verbs e.g. must, shall, has to, will, should, ought to

adjectives e.g. obvious, definite, sure, required, necessary, probable

adverbs e.g. completely, entirely, rarely, always, extremely, total, probably

nouns e.g. probability, possibility, certainty, requirement

Modality is a tool we use to make our writing persuasive.  Look at these examples to see how modal language can change the meaning of the NAPLAN example thesis:  Reading books is better than TV.  By using modal language (in bold), the writer can show how much they agree or disagree with the thesis.

Reading books might be better than TV. (verb)

Reading books must be better than TV. (verb)

It is obvious that reading books is better than TV. (adjective)

Reading books is always better than TV. (adverb)

Reading books is slightly better than TV. (adverb)

It is a certainty that reading books is better than TV. (noun)

Can you spot the modal language in this paragraph?

Watching too much TV is extremely bad for your health. Teenagers can spend 5 or 6 hours per day sitting or lying around watching TV and it is probable that this contributes to obesity.  On the other hand, reading books has never been associated with health problems. Therefore, reading books is completely safe for your health, while TV may cause problems.

Answers

Watching too much TV is always bad for your health. Teenagers can spend 5 or 6 hours per day sitting or lying around watching TV and it is probable that this contributes to obesity.  On the other hand, reading books has never been associated with health problems. Therefore, reading books is completely safe for your health, while TV may cause problems.

If you want to see more about modality, you might like to purchase these Literacy Works resources.

There is a chapter on Exposition in each of these books:

• Basic Grammar Skills Book 2
• Paragraphs
• Text Types
• Literacy Works for Geography Book 2
• Literacy Works for History Book 2
• Literacy Works for Commerce Book 2
• Literacy Works for Visual Arts Book 2
• Literacy Works for Drama Book 2
• Literacy Works for Technology Book 2
• Literacy Works for PDHPE Book 2
• Literacy Works for Religious Education Book 2

To create a persuasive text, students have to present a series of arguments in a logical order.  AS an example, let’s use the sample from the NAPLAN website. Here is a link.

http://www.naplan.edu.au/writing_2011_-_domains.html

Students are given a proposition to consider. It is a statement of opinion or point of view called a THESIS:  Reading books is better than TV

Students have to agree or disagree with the THESIS.  They have to agree that books are better, or disagree and argue that TV is better.  Let’s try agreeing for now. Imagine that we have come up with four arguments in favour of the thesis:

·         most TV shows are not good for you

·         watching too much TV is bad for your health

·         reading books has an educational benefit

·         books are easy to access and free – from library.

Each argument should be presented as a paragraph. There are many ways to teach paragraph structure. Here is one way using the mnemonic (memory device) PEEL. This visual of banana peel can remind you.

PEEL

P

Point – make your main point in the first sentence. This is the topic sentence.

E

Expand and elaborate – explain what you mean in more detail.

E

Evidence and examples – support your statement with facts, evidence and examples.

L

Link your point back to the thesis statement.

Here is an example: Point – underlined; Expand – in italics; Example/Evidence- in bold; Link to the thesis – final sentence.

Most TV shows watched by young people have little benefit or educational value.  Popular TV shows are light entertainment and they do not develop any literacy skills or knowledge about the world that might be helpful for a young person’s future. The most popular TV shows for teenagers are reality shows like The Biggest Loser and Big Brother, or sit-coms like Two and a Half Men. As a result, these TV shows are not as beneficial or valuable as reading books.

In my experience, students can be taught this structure quickly and easily.  While it is not the only persuasive paragraph structure, it is a good one to start with. When students build their argument -writing skills, they can develop and adapt this structure.

In the next blog, there will be more language skills for the persuasive NAPLAN text and I will give you more examples of arguments for and against the thesis.

Trish

Here are some ideas about how to understand the features of a persuasive text and how to teach it. These postings will be updated with examples for each subject over the next few weeks.

What is a persuasive text?

It is writing that persuades or makes someone do something or think something. There are many types of writing that can be persuasive.

“Get over here now!”

This is an instruction or command. An instruction is very persuasive, especially if someone in authority is telling you what to do!

“Could you please lend me twenty dollars?”

This is a question and it can be persuasive, depending on who is doing the asking.

Persuasive types of writing also include complaint letters/emails, letters to the editor, debate notes, all kinds of advertising (direct mail, print ads, radio ad scripts, TV ad scripts)… and so many more.

However, for NAPLAN, it seems that students will be most likely write an EXPOSITION. They will have to take a point of view or develop an opinion about a topic and write a series of arguments in favour of their point of view.

The structure of an Exposition is:

THESIS

State the main point of view

ARGUMENTS

Present a series of statements to support the main point of view, using examples or evidence to support the statement. Each argument should be in a separate paragraph.

REINFORCEMENT

Finish with one final paragraph restating the point of view and summarising the main arguments.

If you have Literacy Works resources, you can look at Expositions in Book 2 and in Paragraphs and Text Types. The next posting will cover Language features of persuasive texts. If you have any specific questions, email me trish@literacyworks.com.au and I’ll send you a reply as well as posting answers on the blog.

1. Give each student 2 blank pieces of paper. The pieces of paper must be identical (ie. all white, or all blue, no printing on either side).

2. Ask students to write an important vocab word from your topic on both pieces of paper. Writing should be large enough to read from a distance.

eg. rainforest, rainforest

or canopy, canopy

3. Put students in groups of around 6 students. Shuffle the words and place them face down on the floor.

4.  A student chooses two pieces of paper and turns them over.

eg.                                               rainforest

canopy

5. If the words don’t match, the student turns over the words so they are face down again.

6. The next student chooses 2 pieces of paper.

eg.                                     rainforest

rainforest

If the words match, the student picks up the words and gains 1 point. The student writes the word on the board while the other students in the group spell the word together in syllables. The students say the syllable first, then the letters in the syllable like this:

rain

r

a

i

n

fo

f

o

rest

r

e

s

t

1. Check overall performance in bands versus the state

Look at the student performance in bands by area – Overall Literacy, Numeracy. (It’s the bar chart called : Overall Literacy percentages in bands for Year 5/7/9: All students) Check if your school is above the state or below the state in each band. Of course, we want the red lines to be above the state averages in the higher bands and below the state averages in the lower bands! This will highlight any obvious weakness areas. It’s interesting to see if there are many students in the second highest band, and not many in the top band. This probably means that quite a few students could be extended and “pushed over” into the top band.

2. Look closely at test items below state average

You can export the data to an excel spreadsheet and come up with a table that shows you how your students are performing.

eg.

This example shows that in these two items, students performed significantly lower than the state average. Then it’s worth looking at these two items in detail. Actually look at the test paper and see what the problem was.

3. Look at test items above the state average

It’s not all gloom and doom. Have a look at the items in which your students performed above the state average (more than 10 points is terrific!) Highlight these at a staff meeting and discuss why your students might be doing well in these areas. Be careful of some items, especially spelling, as these can pop up above and below the state averages and the descriptors are not detailed enough to be helpful.

4. Individual student growth

Have a look at the Top 30 students in the cohort and the Bottom 30. Of these, how many achieved the expected growth from the last NAPLAN? This will give you an indicator to show you if you’re extending your top students and supporting your students with special needs.

If you’re in a secondary school looking at Year 7, it’s worth remembering that the students had been at the school for only 4 months before the test so the results probably don’t reflect your school’s efforts. However, for Year 9, it’s all you! For that reason, I look at individual student growth in detail for Year 9 and just have a glance at Year 7.

You may like to draw up your own table showing the number of students who did/did not show demonstrated learning gain.

	Number who did not show expected literacy gain
	Overall literacy
Lowest 30	5
Top 30	26

For example, these results would suggest that the least able students are being supported well and they are achieving learning gains, as 25 out of 30 achieved the expected literacy gain and only 5 did not. However, the top 30 students are a different story. Most of them did not achieve the expected literacy gain, so perhaps you could consider more extension of able students.

Good luck with your analysis!

Sophia, Science