Cambridge Language and Literature Notes

PART ONELANGUAGE IN CULTURAL CONTEXT

Chapter 1 – The English LanguagePg1

Unit 1.1 – English as a global LanguageReasons for English as a Language of Power

Dangers, language deathsConvergence

Economic benefits British Empire Fashion / cool factor American fashion and TV

1.2 – Varieties of EnglishJargonWhat is your idiolect?

Divergence Social Historical Regional

Social Language, accent, dialect Judgment of Language – Forrest Gump, Snatch, Pygmalion –

My Fair Lady Appropriate registers – formality – TESLMC stuff Colloquialisms Do you believe in Sapir Wharf?

Historical Appalachia / south British Degeneration of language – text/emails p12 Orwell

Regional World Englishes Mutually intelligible language vs individuality Regional identity Fela Kuti vs Chinua Achebe Pidgins vs creoles – research paper Code switching Continuum local vernacular global lingua franca

Text 1.6 pg 13

Resources

World in Words PBS podcast Language Magazine English as a Global Language David Crystal Jay Walker Ted talks “World’s English Movies” The Story of English on tv

Assessments – Part 1 written task 1 CREATIVE WRITING Imitate a certain form of writing and Demonstrate your understanding of the topics covered in

class Ideas – letter to an organization, brochure for an ad campaign,

transcribed interview for a magazineWritten task proposal:

What type of text do you plan to write? What topic do you plan to write about? How does this type of text lend itself to this topic? How do you think your written task will how the examiner that

you have understood the coursework?

Assessment – part 1 further oral activityTwo further oral activities – one for part 1 and one for part 2. Need to:

Demonstrate your understanding of the coursework and Perform a speech act alone or together with classmates

o Perform a sketch, have a conversation on topics discussed in class, presentations, debates, interviews

Ideas for part 1 further oral activitieso Find an interesting or moving speech. Take roles of

interviewer and speaker or speech writer. Ask about the choice of language, explain the effects. Need equal parts for both students

o Explore a text related to a particular culture. For example, Aussies and Anzac Day, Gallipoli. Analyze a travel brochure.

o Find a text from the times of expansion and exploration in the British Empire, “White Man’s Burden” by Kipling. Explain how the post colonial reading is different from the original interpretation.

o Rap lyrics – racial inclusion or exclusion. Explain how contextual information helped you better understand the identities and culture of authors.

o Internet language – The Gr8 Db8 by David Crystal.

Chapter 2 –Close ReadingPg 35

Analytical Tools – Big 5 Audience and purpose – who and why

Content and theme – what is the text about Tone and mood Stylistic devices Structure

2.1 Audience and purposeFind a text about cultural values pg 37 tips pg39Context of interpretation and composition

2.3 Content vs Theme Deductive – general specific outcome Inductive – specific general

2.3 Tone and mood activities Denotation / connotation The Things They Carried

2.4 Stylistic Devices Irony

o Verbal – say one thing and mean another Surface vs underlying Sarcasm – humor and criticism Rhetorical question – no answer required Double entendre – ambiguous language double

meaning Figurative speech

o Analogy and Metaphoro Activity 2.6 poem with stylistic devices

2.5 Structurenewspaper brochure, film posterdifferent types of text = media literacyactivity – compare letters 2.6 2.73 types of sentences – PIE

Points Illustrations Examples Compare and contrast pg 67 table

Assessment, Paper 1, SL Textual Analysis: Write an analysis on one of the following texts. Include

comments on the significance of context, audience, purpose, and formal and stylistic features.

Guiding Questions:o What kind of audience is targeted by this text?o How does this text create a particular effect on the

reader?

Assessment, Paper 1, HL Comparative textual analysis Choose either Section A or Section B

o Analyze, compare and contrast the following two texts. Include comments on the similarities and differences between the texts and the significance of the context, audience, purpose, and formal and stylistic devices.

PART TWOLANGUAGE AND MASS COMMUNICATION

Chapter 3 – The Mediapg68

Media literacy is the skill of analyzing various texts in relation to the media in which they are published.How is public opinion formed through language? Top down effectMedia is both the devices and the people that carry the messageSpectrum – corporate business who decide what the public will watch or read ordinary people with access to distribution channels

3.1 JournalismBias is a skewed presentation of a story from a particular ideological position.

Manufactured consent is a term by Chomsky that describes a small ruling elite that shapes public opinion by controlling the media.

o Fox news vs PBS vs NPR To be unbiased is difficult because

o Journalists under pressure to break a storyo “ “ write stories that sello tempting to tell public what they want to hear rather

than just the facts or what they need to hear. Activity 3.2 pg 70 – Differing Headlines

NewsworthinessSensational, relevant or extraordinary or combination

Sensationalismo A style of writing that is exaggerated, emotive or

controversialo If it bleeds, it leadso Balance with advertisers

Relevanceo Why should I care?

Extraordinarinesso “Man bites dog”

Journalism and Linguistic Devices Emotive Language

o uses connotations which seem more extreme and appeals to our emotions, “loaded”.

Euphemismso “Filter” censorship?o Used to make unpleasant things sound more mild or less

offensive.o Examples pg 73

Vague Languageo Used to avoid honest reporting

Activity 3.3 looks for emotive language, euphemisms and vague language pg 74

Tabloid article layoutMasthead, ears, copy, image, headline, subheading

Unit 3.2 The InternetQuestions Activity 3.5 pg 78

Can one medium kill another?

Internet dumbing us down / lazier?

Internet trustworthy? What is the internet doing

to copyright laws? Are we using the internet,

or is the internet using us?

Web page layout Personalization

o Super crunching is data driven decision makingo Crowdsourcing is outsourcing research to a large

audience Adverstising

o Pay-per-click – advertisers pay host website only when ad is clicked on

Long tail marketingo Selling a large range of products for which there is a

small demand in small quantities. There are more people with specialized interests than people with popular interests.

Social networkingo Follow, subscribe, like, notifyo Activity 3.6 looking for terms on websites

Assessments Part 2 written task 1Points to remember:

Make it plausibleo For parts 1 and 2, focus on a real event, place, or

person.

o Step into someone else’s shoes – imitate someone else’s style to show you have researched your topic and you understand the relationship between text and context.

Be knowledgeableo Use the syllabus, use terms and concepts

Keep it relevant to the Anglophone cultureo Event, writer or theme in English

Know the right conventions for the text typeo Make it authentic

Ideas for part 2 written task 11. Give an imaginary speech as a famous journalist about good

journalism. Use an appropriate topic and context that reflect an understanding of Anglophone culture

2. Predictions of media future by Marshall McLuhan, Bill Gates or Clifford Stoll. Write a personal letter on whether their predictions were right or wrong based on cultural practices today.

3. Write a letter to the editor of a magazine like Wired or .Net about an article on the cultural ramifications of the Internet.

Resources:Wag the Dog movieRobert Greenwald’s documentary OutfoxedThe Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen The Truth According to Wikipedia and Behind the Scenes documentariesBowling for Columbine and Marilyn Manson’s article

“Getting information from the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” Mitch Kapor

Chapter 4 – The Language of Persuasionpg89

Bernay’s “Torches of Freedom”

Unit 4.1 – PropagandaPropaganda is the conscious effort to shape public opinion to conform to an ideological position

Seven propaganda techniquesAssertion –

Bold statement that does not invite questioning. Delivered with confidence and enthusiasm

False Dilemma – The claim that there are only two answers to a problem

Plain Folks –

Relies on information gapsName calling and pin-pointing the enemy –

Stirs up anger, gives audience a sense of right and wrongSimplification –

Forming stereotypical images which are distortions of truthGlittering generalities

Words connected to abstract concepts like freedom, democracy, justice. Difficult, if not impossible, to oppose.

Card Stacking – Selectively include arguments that support your cause and

ignore others.Ideas – WWII Donald Duck propaganda, WWI Lusitania pg 93

Unit 4.2 RhetoricRhetoric is the art of effective communication, involving appeals to the audience and persuasive devices

AppealEthos

Refers to the trustworthiness of the speaker or writer. Credibility, expertness, confidence

Pathos Appeals to the emotions. Emotional language for an

emotional response.Logos

Appeals to sense of logic

Nine rhetorical devicesParallelism

Grammatically parallelHypophora

Asking a question first and answering it in your speechRepetition

Repeating words or small phrases for effectivenessAntithesis

Saying what your idea is notFigurative Speech

Metaphors, etcTricolon and polysyndeton

Tricolon is a list of three Polysyndeton – using “and” between them for effect

Juxtaposition Placing two things of opposite nature together

Allusion When your work echoes another. Creates a bond between you

and famous author and ideasVaried sentence length

Strengthens writing

Ideas – watch speeches by famous people and look for the rhetorical devices mentioned. Pg 98

Unit 4.3 AdvertisingCulture is a common system of values.Brand is a product’s identity and the feelings and values customers associate with itMarketing is the process of creating, developing, promoting and selling goods and services to customers, managing the customer’s interest in and need for the product.

Activity 4.4 pg99 Advertising Questions1. How can ad effectiveness be measured? Success?2. Does sex sell?3. Are we just creatures of imitation?4. Can ads instigate social progress? Emancipate a group?

Affect opinion?5. Is culture for sale? Can (or should) the spaces around us be

branded or sponsored?

BuyologyFocus group is a group of people who are asked by a company to talk about their likes and dislikes concerning a product or ad.Brand loyalty is a consumer’s allegiance to a product and their habit of buying it regularly.

Advertising TechniquesProblem and benefit

Blurs the line between needs and wantsBandwagon effect

Becomes popular quickly as people follow other’s exampleTestimonials

Statements from ordinary people recommending a certain product

Celebrities Be like them!

Association Linking products with certain values

Ad layoutSlogan, image, copy, signature

Counter-advertisingWhat harm can advertising do? Should society protect itself from the harmful effects of ads? Can there be too much influence?

Anti-adso Breaks the conventions of advertising

Philanthropic Adso Foundations, non-profits, philanthropists.

o Dove, Product (RED). Culture Jamming

o Distorting of messages and ads produced by large corporations

Parody and pasticheo Changing the meaning of a well-known ad.o Parody – mocking someone or something by imitating

them or their style.o Pastiche – imitates but not by obviously parodying a

particular text in a genre. Could almost be a genuine example

Negative Ads and ad hominen

Assessment Part 2 further oral activityDebates, sketches, television shows, plays, interviews, presentationsIdeas:

1. Create a conversation between two influential people (could be from different time periods) about how the media has changed for better and for worse. Be sure to discuss a particular text.

2. Watch documentaries and interview the producer.3. Create a court scene in which culture jammers are being sued

by a large corporation for manipulating their ad.

PART THREETEXTS AND CONTEXTS

Chapter 5 – The context of interpretation pg118

Culture – fine arts and a society’s appreciation of the various form of art.Interpret art differently than author’s intention – Famous novelists on symbolism and their intention - http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/130315

Why do we read literature?Literature is a term used for a text that does more than entertain.Activity 5.1 pg 119 “pass it on” story

Communication Message is open to communication and different readers get

different readings.Imitation

Mimesis is copying the real world in literature or art. Artist – van der Weyden

Paradox of fiction is a contradiction when a reader empathizes with a fictional character even though they know they are not real.

Education Fiction teaches us about human nature and we have a better

understanding of our world through literature.Catharsis

Aristotle thought we could cleanse our emotions through art Escape from reality – 1930s cinema

How should we approach literature?1. Focus on reader and reader’s reactions or responses to text2. Focus on the text – “what you see is what you get”3. Learning about the context in which the author wrote the text.

Reader-response criticism Influenced by reader’s context – personal history, culture,

surroundingsFormalism

Free from personal experience or feelings from author or reader

Good for exercising literacy and analytical skills, not the best for understanding the author’s intention.

Historical-biographical criticism Understanding of author’s history and background Like Mary Shelley’s lost baby New and modern interpretations of old books are discounted –

for example, Huck Finn was not offensive when it was published in 1885 because readers understood the context.

5.2 Traditions of literary criticism

Psychoanalytical literary criticism Reveals the internal conflicts of the author, characters

embody suppressed emotion. Settings are full of symbols. Storylines represent the battle between our animal urges, Id, and our self-regulating habits, Ego and Superego.

Social literary criticism and the Marxist approach Tries to understand how the ruling majorities oppress

suffering minorities. Constant struggle between classes.

Feminist literary criticism Aims for a clearer understanding of gender inequality Gender bias is the tendency to favor one gender over another,

often manifested in language.Activity 5.3 pg 129

Which tradition is best?

Assessment Part 3 or 4 written task 1You will need to:

Imitate a certain form of writing and Demonstrate your understanding of the topics covered in

class.Ideas:

1. Write a letter from one character to another2. Write an extract from a novel of a scene that happened off-

stage.3. Write a speech of a character4. Write diary entries of a character that shows how the

character has changed throughout the novel.Resources:London Review of BooksNew York Times book review

Chapter 6 – The context of compositionPg 137

What was the writer thinking when writing this text?Which literary forms inspired the writer to shape the text in this way?What experiences, topics, or ideas inspired the writer to write?

Genre describes a category of literature that can be defined by the structural and stylistic conventions that are frequently found in that category.Zeitgeist is the spirit of the times.

Types of novelDystopian literature

Main character is an oppressed individual Main character suffers at the hands of an oppressive, often

totalitarian, state. Major themes could be justice, freedom, or happiness. Text’s purpose is to warn its readers about certain trends in

politics or society at the time it was published. Examples – Fahrenheit 451, Gulliver’s Travels

Other genres: Anti-novel – ignores conventions bildungsroman – coming of age crime documentary fantasy gothic – horror and romance 18th, 19th century historical horror

magic realism – from south America, realistic setting with a few highly unrealistic elements. Love in the time of Cholera

pyscological romance social novel – importance of real social and economical

circumstances of characters to persuade the reader towards an ideological position.

Speculative Spy Thriller

Activity 6.3 pg143 Questions about Context1. What inspired the author of the text you are reading?2. Learn ore about the characteristics that define the genre of

your text. Why did the author pick that genre?3. How do stylistic and structural devices reflect the context of

the composition?4. Create a table like pg 143.

6.2 Literary movements Movement, in the literary sense, is a collection of works which seek to address similar concerns or express similar ideas, or which come out of a certain period of history.

Modernism Subjective experience is more important than valuable than

objective reality Rejection of notions of natural order and authority Form and convention are there to be broken. Existentialism – philosophy that individuals are responsible for

defining their own existence and giving their life meaning.Examples of literary movements:

Beat poetry Dadaism Existentialism First world war poetry Harlem renaissance Imagism Lost generation writers Metaphysical poetry Modernism Post-colonialism Post-modernism Realism Renaissance Romanticism Surrealism Victorian literature

Assessment: Paper 2Answer one essay question. You must base your answer on at least two of the Part 3 works you have studied. Your answer should address the ways in which language, context and structure contribute to your reading of each work.

1. How can we explain the continued interest in a particular work in different contexts and at different times?

2. What do you think of the assertion that meaning of a text is fixed and does not change over time?

3. To what extent do male and female literary characters accurately reflect the role of men and women in society?

4. How can a literary text’s style and structure reflect the context in which it was written?

5. How can political pressure or censorship shape the way literary texts are both written and read?

6. How do literary texts capture the spirit of the times and the values of a culture?

7. How do different forms of publishing affect the way literary texts are written and received?

8. How are changing family values reflected in literary texts?9. How have certain philosophical movements influenced writers

of literary texts?10. How has one of the universal themes, like love, murder,

jealousy, been treated similarly or differently by writers in different cultures and in different times?

11. How have dominant and minority social groups been portrayed similarly and differently by writers in different cultures in different times?

12. How have literary texts been used over time as a form of social protest?

Parts of an essay:Introduction

attention grabber, factual information about what the essay will respond to, thesis or main idea and purpose.

Body paragraphs topic sentence, illustrations, examples

Conclusion link ideas to intro signposts like In conclusion, summarize but don’t repeat wider context

Resources:The Little, Brown Compact Handbook by Jane E. Aaron

PART FOURLITERATURE: A CRITICAL STUDY

Chapter 7 – The mechanics of fictionPg 160

7.1 Engaging the reader Analyze a novel opening for reasons to read. See

questions pg 161.7.2 Plot, character and settingPlot is the series of events and actions.

Plot structure – Freytag’s pyramid has five elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement or resolution

Types of plot – quest, love, comedy, tragedy, monster, overcoming the monster, rags to riches, voyage and return, rebirth

Character Protagonists move the action forward Antagonists prevent the action from happening Foils are characters that have character traits in contrast to

those of the main character Characterization

o Static and flat or complex and round? Bring characters to life through dialogue, action, thought.

Setting describes the physical and emotional landscape. Mirror reflects the atmosphere of the story Mould shows when characters are influenced by their

surroundings, like Lord of the Flies. Escape settings often end up reflecting on the reality of the

reader. Alienation has hostile settings without basic needs met.

7.3 Conflict and themeConflictThe individual vs society

Characters are victims of time and placeOne individual vs another

Characters usually stand for somethingIndividual vs circumstances

Circumstances beyond control like war or aliensIndividual vs himself

Self-destructive

Theme is the underlying message of a literary text. Can be shown through:Symbols

Physical objects represent abstract ideasMotifs

Recurring symbols, structures or stylistic devices that comment on the theme. For example, bathing.

Title Author chose it carefully

7.4 Narrative VoiceNarrative voice refers to the manner in which a story is told, including point of view, narration, speech and tense.

Point of view1st person

Best way to get into a narrator’s head but could be an unreliable narrator where you need to question the storyteller’s accounts.

Used in crime and coming of age novels, stream of consciousness

Frame narrator – peripheral character who reveals someone else’s story to use – Gatsby, Wuthering Heights

2nd person Better for instructional texts Example – Bright Lights, Big City by McInerney

3rd person Omniscient – all knowing, God-like narrator who knows

everything about how everyone thinks and what the future holds

Limited narration – the story follows one character, the protagonist. Detective stories rely on this uncertainty

Objective narration – reader observes character’s actions like a camera. Also known as fly-on-the-wall narration.

Subjective narration – readers are subjected to a biased account of events that are partial to one character.

NarrationNarration is who the story is told to. Direct narration – when the story is directed at you, for example The Series of Unfortunate Events.

Frame narration – two stories are going on at once. The reader ‘listens’ as a story within a story is told to the narrator.

Indirect narration – the reader is a witness to the story and watching it from the outside. For example, Hills Like White Elephants. Most dramatic narration is indirect.

An aside is direct narration inside indirect.

Speech Direct speech is used with quotes.

Indirect speech is reported.

Free indirect speech are thoughts. For example, Madame Bovary.

TensePast tense

Hindsight wisdom is where the author looks back knowing more now than at the time of the events. A Christmas Story?

Flashbacks is a story telling technique in which the reader is taken back to events before the main story.

Historical present – tells about the past using the present tense. For example, a man walks into a bar and asks… Allows reader to experience events as the character confronts them.

Present tense The difference between present tense and historical present is

the narrator’s understanding of the situation.

See chart pg 185

7.3 RevisionAssessmentsCritical response to text(s). Answer one of six questions.

Resources:How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C FosterPerrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense by Arp and JohnsonThe Riverside Anthology of Short Fiction by BaldwinNovels that tell a story through multiple narrators and points of view:

Frankenstein Dracula by Bram Stoker The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde As I Lay Dying The Collector by John Fowles

Graphic novels: A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories Ghost World by Daniel Clowes Maus by Art Spiegelman Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Watchmen by Ala Moore and David Gibbons

Chapter 8 What makes English poetic?

8.1 Sound and structureAlliterationAssonanceConsonance repeating consonants in the middle

OnomatopoeiaRhythm – created by patterns of stressed and unstressed syllablesMetric foot is a group of stressed and/or unstressed syllables that form the basic unit of rhythm in a poem. See the five sorts of feet pg 196

Verse and meterScansion is the process of finding patters of stressed and unstressed syllables in lines of poetry.Verse is a line of poetryEnjambment is the style of continuing a sentence from one line to the next without a pause.Meter – rhythmic structure of a verse of poetry.Match verses to meters activity pg 197.

Rhyme and stanzaFree verse has no rhyme or consistent meterBlank verse describes poetry that has a consistent meter but no rhyming schemeHalf rhyme describes lines of poetry that have words that sound similar but do not entirely rhyme.

Types of poemsBallad is a form of rhyming verse (abcb) that tells a narrative and can be set to music.Sonnet – 14 line poem in iambic pentameter with three quatrains and a heroic coupletHeroic couplet – two lines of rhyming verse at the end of a sonnet, which are closed and self-contained. Never was there a tale more full of woe…See more pg 201

Imagery and figurative languageImagery is the use of descriptive language to evoke sensory experience.

Figurative language is not to be taken literally but uses references to one thing to express ideas about something else.

SimileMetaphorPersonification is a type of metaphor where human qualities are given to an animal, object or conceptApostrophe is the device that allows the poet to address something inanimate or someone dead or absent.Metonymy describes references to things or ideas not by name but by something closely associated with them. Green = environmentalism.

Synechdoche is referring to an entire thing or concept by referring to one of its parts.

Assessment – The individual oral commentaryUse the Big 5 method, pg 35The mechanics of fiction ch 7Poetic devices pg 202-209

ResourcesA Glossary of Literary Terms by MH AbramsPoetry.orgPoetryarchive.orgPoetryfoundation.org