Rationale

Targeted Year Group: Stage 5, 9-10

Unit Topic: Advertising, Can you read between the lines?

Syllabus Outcomes: 4, 7 &9(NSW BOS, 2003)

Specialisation: English

Reason for selection:

This activity has been designed to engage students into a critical analysis of advertising using the critical media literacy framework (Kellner & Share, 2005). The reason I have chosen this topic is because advertising is a big part of everyday life and engages in various mediums in which the students need to be competent in understanding. These activities will not only require students to decode the sign and signifiers of the advert (Anstey & Bull, 2004) but also consider its multimodal aspects (Thoman, 2003). Furthermore, this task is designed to be an online lesson and could be utilised on the smart board in class or accessed at home. This presentation was important in ensuring that the students engage in Multiliteracies (Cope& Kalantzis, 2000). However I have also designed this activity in this manner because it gives the students access to a technology and a world they are a familiar with. The internet use of the teenagers is fast taking over television time and as such the retail and business sector are now targeting groups in these ages through advertising on the internet and social networking pages. This is why it’s essential that students have a set of skills to navigate through this world of advertising so that they understand the pros and con when being a consumer.

As the NSW English syllabus requires students to: 

“Developing proficiency in English which enables students to take their place as confident communicators, critical and imaginative thinkers, lifelong learners and active participants in Australian society” (NSW BOS, 2003)

These lessons aim to achieve these goals. When planning these activities I have also selected specific outcomes. These outcomes are as follows:

“4: selects and uses language forms and features, and structures of texts according to different purposes, audiences and contexts, and describes and explains their effects on meaning” (NSW BOS, 2003).

“7: thinks critically and interpretively using information, ideas and increasingly complex arguments to respond to and compose texts in a range of contexts” (NSW BOS, 2003).

“9: demonstrates understanding of the ways texts reflect personal and public worlds” (NSW BOS, 2003).

Thus this unit and these three activities could be useful in meeting the requirements of the stage 5 syllabus.

This activity is also designed for students to participate in a class dialogue with their peers about the perspectives of these texts (Killen, 2007). I wanted the students to realise that each person brings their own social capital to a text and that when deconstructing these texts there is no homogenous answer, every student has their own understanding, experiences and literacy (Lankshear & Lawler, 1987). This was especially important in ensuring that the students understood and articulated how the reader has his or her perspective defined by their own Social, critical, cultural, personal and functional literacies. This also aimed to make evident to students that Advertising and the people who design it use this Power to persuade and manipulate the viewer (Wells, 1998).

Another reason I have chosen this topic and the samples and TV broadcast was because it was an interesting way to get students to engage with texts that they find interesting or clever. The freedom of choice allows students some student direction and will let the student be creativity in what they present to the class blog (NSW DET, 2003).

Therefore the skills that these activities require students to complete have a great relevance to the real world and possible situations they will face. Even at a young age they are becoming a consumer and as result are target by companies selling a product. However with these skills and understanding the students are less likely to fall into the hype of a sales pitch and more likely to step back and analyse what is really being sold to them and for what purpose.

Sample Analysis of Media Message:

Applying this framework to one activity I have set for the class, a possible answer to the following questions would maybe look like the following:

A Current Affairs Broadcast- Tuesday 8^th June 2010

Who created this message and why are they sending it?

This message was created by A Current Affair, a television program which airs nightly on channel Nine network. This program is aimed at an older audience  and presents sensationalist stories from very narrow and sometimes misleading points of view .This trashy news program appeals to the consumer with programs about stories on celebrities, ‘dodgy’ businesses and tradespeople, diets, budgeting, neighbourhood disputes. Therefore the program about infomercials was created and sent as way of making viewers aware of the persuasive nature of advertising, however it only presents this idea in conjunction with sales and not other media institution like the show and how they present biases or push agendas.

What techniques are being used?

This program uses a range of techniques in presenting this segment. It uses examples of prolific commercials to de mystify the gimmicks and techniques that infomercials use. The program also gets expert testimonial to explain the formula. This report is catchy and appeals to the everyday person using colloquial language and shows the viewer how they can be manipulated by parodying the infomercial technique with the stumper.

What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in the message?

This program presents a point of view that is aimed at informing the viewer about the traps of advertising. It has a colloquial tone that appeals to the viewer and makes fun of the people who fall for these gimmicks.

How might different people understand this message differently from me?

This message could be understood as making fun of the people who buy these products and that they do so because you can sell anything if you use the sample formula.

What is omitted from this message?

What is omitted is an analysis of how these things are used in other types of mass media. For example programs like a current affair.

References:

Anstey, M., & Bull, G. (2004). “Chapter 11: Visual Texts” in the Literacy Labyrinth (pp. 279-305). Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia.

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Multiliteracies: The beginning of an idea. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 3-8). London: Routledge.

Freebody, P., & Luke, A. (2000).Literate futures: Report of the literacy review for Queensland state Schools. Brisbane, Qld: Queensland Department of Education.

Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Toward Critical Media Literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 26(3), 369-386.

Killen, R. (2007). Effective Teaching Strategies: lessons from research and practice.    Melbourne: Thomson Social Science Press. Chp. 2.

Lankshear, C., & Lawler, M. (1987) Literacy, schooling and revolution. Falmers press, London.

Luke, C. (2007). As seen on TV or was that my phone? New media literacy. Policy Futures in Education, 5(1), 50-58.

Morrell, E. (2002). Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Popular Culture: Literacy Development among Urban Youth. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 46(1), 72-77.

NSW BOS. (2003). English Years 7 – 10 Syllabus.  Sydney: Board of Studies New South

Wales.

NSW DET. (2003). Quality Teaching in NSW public schools: A classroom practice guide. Ryde: NSW Department of Education and Training Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate.

Thoman, E. (2003). Skills and strategies for media education. Centre for Media Literacy. Available online: https://www.medialit.org

Wells, G. (1990). Talk about Text: Where Literacy Is Learned and Taught. Curriculum Inquiry, 20(4), pp.369-405.