this is from a past theage newspaper,note: for ESL only
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Plan your attack
Effective planning will help you maintain your focus, writes Glynis Rose.
AS STUDENTS doing your VCE English as a Second Language exam this year, your study of English over the past two years has been organised around the Study Design that began at the start of last year.
The exam requirements this year are different from previous years. Past exam papers are only partly helpful in preparing for this year's exam, but the sample exam published on the VCAA website in April 2007 is helpful.
In book shops and libraries and on websites you will find lots of articles and exam preparation materials. Check that these materials have been prepared for this year's exam requirements.
This article offers some suggestions about how to focus your preparation for the exam.
Thorough preparation, including plenty of writing practice, will help you to sit the exam with confidence. To improve your chances of doing well in the exam, combine this preparation with a planned approach to doing the tasks in the three-hour time limit.
There are three tasks, in three sections of the exam. Two of these tasks involve using different selected texts you have studied. In the exam, only one of these texts can be a film.
The text response
The first task is a piece of analytical or expository writing about one text. There will be a choice of two questions for each text.
The focus of the questions may be on the characters and themes, on how the text is constructed, on how values and points of view are expressed or on how and why readers' interpretations of text differ.
The key words in the question will indicate the focus of the question, e.g. "'Despite the often light-hearted tone of Maestro, there is an underlying sadness.' Discuss."
The focus of this question is on discussing the tone of the text.
A "discuss" question expects you to sift the considerations for and against the ideas in the statement.
Before you begin writing, take a few minutes to brainstorm the key words. Then list the main points you want to make in your essay and think about the best order in which to present them.
Effective planning will help you to keep the focus of your writing on the question. The task is about using the text to support your essay, not about telling someone the story.
A good response will be organised as a structured essay. It will have an introduction to set up how you intend to respond, a number of paragraphs that each have a clear main point, and a conclusion. For fluency you need to be able to use a variety of linking words, such as "however", "likewise", "consequently", "in contrast" and "similarly".
In addition, appropriate use of a range of vocabulary that shows how you've reflected on the text is one feature that distinguishes a good response from a mediocre one. Section A is worth 40% of the marks, so you may spend a little more time on your Text response than on the other two sections.
Writing in context
The task in the second section is also an extended piece of writing but with much more flexibility than the text response piece. This task provides a prompt as a focus for you to demonstrate how you have reflected on the ideas and/or arguments suggested by the Context you studied in a piece of writing, which can be expository, persuasive or imaginative.
The task will specify the form and audience for your writing.
You must draw on ideas suggested by your selected text from the VCAA list as well as use ideas from other sources and your own experiences. The key difference from the first task is that the selected text is a source of ideas related to the prompt, rather than the main focus of the task.
Your own experiences could be used very effectively in this piece of writing. Look for ways to connect your own experiences to the ideas suggested in texts you have studied. The planning skills recommended for the text response task are useful for this task too.
It is important to have confidence in your views. There is no correct answer.
Your own ideas and reflections presented in a lively and spontaneous response is the best approach for responding to this task.
Using language to persuade
In this section of the paper you must complete two distinctly different tasks using previously unseen written and visual material. You need a clear idea of how to approach each one.
The first is note-taking and developing the skills for this task takes practice. The task material is intended to persuade a reader so it will contain a point of view or line of argument. After reading the material, process it by responding to these questions - What is the overall main point of this piece of writing, i.e. what is the writer's contention? How has the writer supported this view? Look for four supporting points in the passage.
Good note-taking will show your understanding of the material by identifying these points and presenting this information in a meaningful and concise way. This can be done by the use of headings/sub-headings, abbreviations and choosing a layout that demonstrates processing of the information.
Your teacher will be able to show you good examples of a variety of ways to make notes.
The second part of this section requires you to explain how language and visual features have been used to attempt to persuade readers about three of the main points in the material.
Your response is to be a piece of prose, probably a paragraph, to address each of these points. You have barely half an hour to do this task so it is not expected to be a crafted essay.
The task requires you to explain the language and the visual features, not the argument. After you identify the point of argument, make sure your explanation focuses on how language and visual features are being used for persuasive effect. Your approach for each paragraph could be:
In the first sentence indicate the point of argument you are considering. You could use sentence stems such as "The writer concludes...", "The writer asserts that...", "The writer points out that ", "The writer argues that...".
Then move on to explain the various ways language and visual features have been used to present that point. This is a shift from "argument" to "analysis of language".
You are expected to refer to the persuasive effect of the visual material - it does not have to be used with every point.
This is a challenging task so knowing what to look for will help, e.g. the use of emotive language, anecdote, exaggeration, inclusive language, the use of photographs, cartoons or other pictorial material. Use this knowledge to explain how the writer of the unseen material is attempting to persuade the reader.
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