Communications 12

Comprehend and Respond
(Critical Analysis)

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

It is expected that students will:

• assess the effectiveness of persuasive techniques
• assess information for completeness, accuracy, currency, relevance, balance of perspectives, and bias
• analyse different presentations of the same information to reconsider positions
• assess ways in which language reflects and influences values and behaviours
• assess how mass media influence individual perceptions and social behaviours

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Comprehend and Respond (Critical Analysis) in grade 11 click below.

Suggested Instructional Strategies

• Have students collect and label print ads that use the following basic appeals: testimonial, “bandwagon, “plain folks,” status, stereotype, health, and safety. As a final assignment, ask them to write reports in which they explain how one ad manipulates the audience.
• Have students collect examples of persuasive language they have found, such as campaigns against smoking, drug use, or speeding. Ask them which ones are effective and why, and what emotions are being appealed to. Then have students make a list of the features that are most effective. Ask each student to select an effective example and describe what makes it effective.
• Give students information about one side of an argument. For example, provide magazine or newspaper articles that support capital punishment. Ask students to read the articles and, as a class, discuss their views about capital punishment. Next, provide students with articles which oppose capital punishment. Ask students to identify which information was the most persuasive and whether they reconsidered their positions as a result of obtaining more information about the other side of the argument. Complete the activity by having students write multi-paragraph compositions about their findings.
• Ask pairs of students to script and present two phone conversations on the same subject (e.g., about a new appliance that has broken down). In the first call, students are to be polite and diplomatic. In the second call, they are to be angry and abusive. Ask the class to identify how each call reflects the values and behaviour of the speaker and to indicate which they think is most effective and why.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• Have students apply their knowledge of persuasive strategies and techniques to assess their own communications. Ask them to record the strategies they use in their work and then summarize what they notice in charts, notes, or written reports. Look for evidence that students are able to:
  • identify persuasive techniques
  • analyse their impact
  • draw conclusions about purpose and accuracy
• Work with students to develop criteria to assess assignments in which they analyse samples of persuasive language. For example, effective work might be characterized by:
  • clear focus on the issue
  • specific examples
  • objective and detailed explanation
  • logical analysis of purpose and potential impact
  • explicit conclusion(s) supported by examples and explanations
• When students discuss the effect of different telephone conversation styles, check that they support their statements with specific references to:
  • differences in vocabulary
  • differences in tone
  • connections to their personal lives
  • what they have learned

Recommended Learning Resources

Print Material

• Canadian Writer’s Companion
• Mass Media and Popular Culture, Version 2

Video

• Scanning Television: Videos for Media Literacy in Class