TEACHING WRITING: Persuasive Text

Curriculum Team CSO

2011 NAPLAN Writing“In the 2011 NAPLAN Writing test, students in Years 3,5, 7 and 9 will write a persuasive text.

Persuasive writing is writing in which the writer needsto convince someone of his or her point of view oropinion.

For example, a student may be asked whetherreading books or watching TV is better.

The student would present his or her opinion on thistopic and would include reasons for thatopinion.

In writing this way, the student is attempting topersuade the reader to agree with his or her opinion.”

http://www.naplan.edu.au/verve/_resources/NAPLAN_2011_Writing_Fact_Sheet.pdf

Persuasive writing The topic and task will be the same for

Years 3 5 7 and 9 It will be marked in a way that closely

resembles narrative writing as there is common criteria

Talking & listening

Reading

Writing

“In the literate citizen…..all these repertoires are variously mixed and orchestrated in proficient reading and writing, speaking

and listening, viewing and representing”

Luke and Freebody 1999

Note

Whenever the word text is used it includes

written, visual, oral/aural, digital and multimodal texts

Persuasive vs Narrative

persuasive writing assesses rhetorical techniques (writer’s viewpoint)

narrative writing assesses the development of character and setting.

*Text types / Purpose

Exposition To present an opinion; to argue a case for or against a particular position or point of view

Discussion To look at more than one side of an issue; to present arguments for and against a position, based on evidence, before coming to a conclusion

Personal Response

To summarise and respond personally to a text

Review To summarise / analyse a literary text and assess its appeal and value

Activity Task cards

What do we ask of our students?

Middle class

Anglo Saxon

English

Structure Exposition State thesis or position:

Write a series of paragraphs to argue the position:

Sum up, restate the position or provide a recommendation:

Grammar-Exposition General nouns ears zoos Abstract nouns policy government Technical words species of animals Relating verbs It is important Action verbs We must save Thinking verbs Many people believe Modal verbs We must preserve Modal adverbs Certainly we must try Connectives firstly secondly Evaluative language important significant

Structure - Discussion State the issue:

A series of paragraphs to argue for the issue:

A series of paragraphs to argue against the issue:

Concludes by summing up or providing a recommendation:

Grammar - Discussion General nouns uniforms alcohol Relating verbs is are have Thinking verbs feel believe hope Connectives

Additive similarly Contrastive on the other hand Causal however

Noun groups unwanted kittens Modality perhaps must should

may Adverbs of manner deliberately hopefully

Structure_Personal Response

Context for the response:

Writes an opinion or reaction:

Grammar – Personal Response All types of verbs Noun groups describing characters Present tense Past tense if historical setting Temporal sequence of events Persuasive language used in

judgement Clause or sentence themes that are

often title of the book. Author

Structure - Review Context – giving information about

author, work, setting and summary:

Paragraphs describing main characters, relationships and theme of text:

Judgement by evaluating the work giving opinion or recommendation:

Grammar - Review As per Response

NB. Students are encouraged to speak and write Personal responses in Stage 1.

By stages 2 and 3, students should be speaking and writing reviews

Language features / Grammar Opinion adjective

Generalised nouns

Words that qualify-usually, probably, some, most

Connectives also, another reason, as well, however, therefore

Thinking & feeling verbs

Emotive language-hero, champion, bloodshed, disaster

Adjectives (modal)

Evaluative language

conjunctions

Persuasive Texts-Criteria Audience

The writer’s capacity to orient, engage and persuade the reader

Text structure The organisation of the structural

components of a persuasive text (introduction, body and conclusion) into an appropriate and effective text structure

Ideas The creation, selection and crafting of

ideas for a persuasive argument

Persuasive devices The use of a range of persuasive devices

to enhance the writer’s position and persuade the reader

Vocabulary The range and precision of language

choices

Cohesion The control of multiple threads and

relationships over the whole text, achieved through the use of referring words, substitutions, word associations and text connectives

Paragraphing The segmenting of text into paragraphs

that assists the reader to follow the line of argument

Sentence structure The production of grammatically correct,

structurally sound and meaningful sentences

Punctuation The use of correct and appropriate

punctuation to aid the reading of the text

Spelling The accuracy of spelling and the difficulty

of the words used

Activity

Assisting students in improving their writing

Sample Task

http://www.naplan.edu.au/verve/_resources/persuasive_prompt.pdf

Useful websites http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-r

esources/student-interactives/persuasion-30034.html

http://www.writingfun.com/writingfun2010.html

Exploring the Modules

What is the expectation for each stage?