Close Analysis and Short Answers - PowerPoint Presentation

Close Analysis and Short Answers ATAR English Exam 1

Aims To help you: Understand the nature of close analysis Identify different types of question Structure your answers clearly 2

Close Analysis Involves: d etermining the s ubject/s of the text i dentifying significant aspects of the construction of the textexplaining the responses you believe are encouraged by these aspects – ideas, attitudes, feelings about the subject 3 = making up cool-sounding stuff!!!!! = the creative part

Closed questions provide you with both the subject and the responses encouraged, but leave you to identify aspects of construction e.g.Explain three ways Aang San Sauui Kyi has used speech-making conventions in Text 1 to persuade her audience of the need to strive for a peaceful world. Types of Question 4

Partially open questions provide you with the subject of the text and the aspects of construction, but leave you to work out the responses e.g. Identify the three narrative points of view in Text 1 and explain how each constructs a particular perspective on the city of Troy. 5

Fully open questions require you to work out all three of subject, a spects of construction and r esponses e.g. Explain how McGinnis has used three techniques to influence your interpretation of Text 3. 6

Some Terms Which Might Appear in Open Questions conventions language choices stylistic choices techniques language conventions language features conventions of genrechoice of language 7

Aspects of Construction: generic conventions employed in in all varieties of prose d iction (vocabulary/lexical choice) syntax punctuation imagery narrative point of view/persona8 cool vocab alert!

More generic conventions of prose figurative language simile metaphor personification m etonymy 9 cool vocab alert!

Metonymy An Important Addition to Your Analytical Toolbox Using a part or aspect of something to stand for the whole e.g. ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’ ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ 10

Metonymy = conveying a sense of something larger through the use of a specific part or example e.g.Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the court-house sagged in the square. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird . 11

Explaining the responses encouraged involves asking questions like: What is the possible effect of: t his word or phrase?this sentence structure? t his use of figurative language? this narrative point of view?12 = asking yourself:‘W hat cool-sounding stuff can I make up????’

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the court-house sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then; a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the shelter of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o’clock naps and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum. People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the shops around it, took their time about everything. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird . 13

Two Possible Structures The technique-led approach The idea-led approach 14

The Technique-Led Approach A brief statement of your understanding of the subject of the text Followed by A series of well- structured, analytic paragraphs, using the ISEE approach. Reminder: Be Specific! 15 Identifying Statement, Example, Effect

Explain how the author has used three techniques to influence your interpretation of Text 3. The technique-led approach This text offers a depiction of X ( Only needed sometimes)One technique used to influence our interpretation of X is … For example, the author …. This encourages us to see/think/believe … (identifying statement, example, effect) A second technique is ….A third technique is …. 16

This passage offers a depiction of the town of Maycomb. One technique used to depict Maycomb is lexical choice. For example, the author describes the town as ‘tired’. This encourages us to interpret the town as a lethargic environment, one lacking in energy. words ‘ ambled’ and ‘shuffled’ to describe the movement of the people, thus reinforcing the air of lethargy .17 The author also uses the (65 words)

18 After five years of high school the final November arrives and leaves as suddenly as a spring storm. Exams. Graduation. Huge beach parties. Biggie and me, we’re feverish with antici­pation; we steel ourselves for a season of pandemonium. But after the initial celebrations, nothing really happens, not even summer itself. Week after week an endless misting drizzle wafts in from the sea. Tim Winton ‘Big World’, The Turning .

The passage suggests that Maycomb is a place where some people try to maintain, unsuccessfully, an old-fashioned air of respectability and gentility. This is conveyed through the reference to ‘stiff collars’, which can be read as a metonym for highly formal clothing and behaviour which seems out of place, given the previous emphasis on heat and lethargy. 19 Idea-led Approach Idea statement Evidence Explanation (57 words )