12

ATAR ENGLISH UNIT 3

2017
SAMPLE ASSESSMENT TASK 1

Name: ________________ Teacher: __________________

Due Date: ______________ Date Submitted: _____________

Parent Signature: _______________________________________

DESCRIPTION OF TASK- RESPONDING

The aim of this task is to focus your study on the comparison of texts from similar or different genres and
contexts.
This task is based on Section One of the Exam.



QUESTIONS

Read the following texts and answer the questions given.

1. Discuss how the author persuades a reader to accept the ideas of Text One. (10 marks)

2. Discuss how visual conventions are used to present particular ideas about Australia Day in
Text Two. (10 marks)

3. Compare the representation of Australia in Text One and Text Two. (10 marks)


DUE: Week 4
N.B. Weighting 8.75%



All sample responses from Miss Pettigrew, Sem 1 2016.









Text One
This is an article written by Western Australian author Griffin Longley. It was published in The Weekend West,
the day before Australia Day in 2016.


We reached peak flag in January 2007. The flag plume turned and left a tideline of plastic flags, tattoo ink and
alco-pop cans along the shores and carparks of our beautiful, flat country.

It happened just in time. Our streets were being choked by motorcades of tinted and flag bedazzled sedans,
and you couldnt buy a six-pack, a newspaper or a $2 shop bumper sticker without being presented with an
Australian flag, made in China, and full of sideshow alley charm.

People flew them, wore them, and fake tattooed them to their childrens faces. It was a strangely American
demonstration of Australian pride. It felt borrowed and confused like the bloke who loves nothing in this
world more than Jack Daniels, Harley-Davidsons, Chevy big-blocks and cricket. The guy with the American
Civil war Rebel flag on his wall and a Southern Cross tattoo on his shoulder.

This year the flag tide has receded further. The only flags I have seen adorned the entrance to my local bottle-
mega-ultra-palace-mart or streamed from the passenger side window of a Jeep Renegade.

Not that flag love is uniquely American. Our flag is our own except for the bit in the top left corner that is
Britains and there is no right or wrong way to express a connection to it. But flag reverence, verging on
worship, is something Americans do in a way unlike anyone else (except, perhaps, Australians circa 2001-
2007).

I saw it every second period for the three years I spent in American high schools. The little speaker in the
classroom would mark the moment and kids throughout the school, and the country, would stand behind
their desks, put their hands on their hearts and recite: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
America spotty chins tilted to the stars and stripesand to the Republic for which it standsearnest
eyesone nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

It was a solemn little ceremony, but as an Australian kid who had grown up with a distrust of unexamined
allegiance, it felt cultish and a little sinister. It was like being an extra in black-and-white archival footage of a
crowd fervently saluting their leader.

So for me Australia has never been about the icons of patriotism flags, oaths and burnt sausages but a
time to toast the extraordinary gift of being born to a country of beauty in a time of peace, and to celebrate
the things I love about this place and the people who call it home.

None of it is left uncomplicated by history or politics. But you dont dwell on your mothers shortcomings at
her birthday and I will not dwell on this countrys faults and challenges on Australia Day.

There is a lot to love, allow me to name some of it.

I love the irreverence and courage that permeate the many-flavoured thing that is Australian culture when it
is at its best. Traits that come, in part, from our history of immigration.

It is a particular kind of person who chooses to move to the far corner of the globe. Someone who is not afraid
of change, or hard work and who chooses not to be bound by the gateau layers of culture and family history.

Collectively, it makes for a disdain for the power of precedent, a freedom from expectation and a horizon of
possibility so vast that a young man from this hot, flat and dry country could not only conceive, but actually
achieve becoming the world snowboarding champion as Scotty James from the suburbs of Melbourne did in
Austria this week.

How many Australians would allow themselves to imagine being a surfing world champion?

I love the resilience of Australians that is best demonstrated by Aboriginal people whose culture has survived
despite all that has worked against it. And I am immensely proud to share a nationality and a story, as difficult
and contested as that story is, with a people whose culture is not only the most ancient on the planet but is
rich, beautiful and diverse.

I also love that we are one of the few cultures that doesnt confuse wealth with worth. The car you drive
doesnt determine your dating chances here. Being poor doesnt indicate a fault in your character.

In Australia you can have $2.50 to your name, be wearing a four-year-old T-shirt and thongs and be accorded
the same respect by the caf staff as the guy in the Armani suit next to you. That is a beautiful thing.

I love that we all (most of us) believe in the principles of decency that mandate health care and education be
available to all even if we disagree on what is required to deliver that into the future.

And I love our humour and underdog traits that allow us to make a national hero of Steven Bradbury. We
dont mind glory but we also love a bloke who can win a gold medal despite being 15m behind all the other
competitors with just 50m to go in a 1000m race because everyone else fell down.

Onya Bradders! Only in Australia.


END OF TEXT ONE



















Question One: Discuss how the author persuades a reader to accept the ideas of Text One.
(10 marks)


Griffin Longley, the author of Go Beyond the Flag to Find Us, persuades an

Australian reader to accept the idea that Australian culture, and what our

people represent, surpasses any superfluous waving of, or undying devotion to,

the Australian flag. Longley opens the article with the suggestion that our

devotion to the Australian flag hit its peak in 2007 by describing it as a flag

plume that left a tideline of plastic flags (and) tattoo ink () along the shore of

our beautiful, flat country. This exaggeration creates the image of a country

being choked by excessive displays of patriotism- as if its polluting our beautiful

Australian landscape. A reader is provided with the sense that our streets, being

choked by motorcades of tinted bedazzled sedans, is tacky commercialism and

diverts Australians from what we really represent as a nation.

The writer furthers his point with an anecdote of his time spent in American

schools where American students ceremoniously pledge an unexamined

allegiance to their flag. Longley is suspicious of this unquestionable patriotism

and provides his own opinion, that through his own experiences, this type of

patriotism is cultish and a little sinister. The emotive words cultish and

sinister create the image of a society that places complete blind trust in their

government. Longley reminds an Australian reader of the more appealing image

that Aussies come from more irreverent stock. He sets up a comparison between

American society and Australian society- the depiction of American society

being unappealing, as it does not align with what we consider to be Australian.

Australians would never pledge undying allegiance to any authority because it

has never been part of our tradition.

Longley concludes his article with a flattering depiction of Australia and its

people. He persuades a reader to accept the idea that Australia is an inclusive

and multicultural country with a resilient and diverse people. The writer
suggests that Australia is an egalitarian society and that is what he loves about

this nation. Longley repeats this phrase I love as he outlines a set of principles

that would be appealing to the humble Australian reader. He loves that

Australians have a disdain for power, that they arent afraid of hard work and

that Australian culture is one of the few cultures that doesnt confuse wealth

with worth. These generalisations build an idealistic and positive portrait of

Australia that is in stark contrast to the image of the tacky, plastic flag waving

fanatics in the opening of the article. He reinforces this Australian myth that

everybody in our country receives a fair go and that everybody in our nation

works hard, even if this is not the reality. Thus cementing his argument that

Australian culture runs much deeper than a tacky $2.50 tattoo bought at the

local bottle-o.

 WHAT THIS STUDENT HAS DONE WELL
They have clearly read the question and addressed it straight away in the opening sentence.
They have written, Griffin Longley persuades an Australian reader to accept the idea that
Australian culture, and what our people represent, surpasses any superfluous waving of, or
undying devotion to, the Australian flag.
This is a good thesis because the question asks to discuss what idea the author has attempted
to discuss. Instead of vaguely stating that Langley promotes an idea, the student has been clear
and specific about EXACTLY what that idea is.


They have attacked the question by working chronologically (from top to bottom of the article).
This helps to keep your ideas clear and focussed, instead of jumping back and forth between the
beginning, middle and end of the article. The student has found the best uses of language to
support her thesis (that Longley believes that Australian culture, and what our people represent,
surpasses any superfluous waving of, or undying devotion to, the Australian flag,) and discussed
the language features that appeared first, first, followed by the second.


They have both IDENTIFIED and EXPLAINED the two chosen language features. It would be easy
to simply write that, Longley uses emotive language to reinforce his argument. You would only
be addressing one aspect of the question and would get a single mark for identifying losing other
possible marks by not explaining.
The student goes one step further to explain why emotive language is an effective use of
language, The emotive words cultish and sinister create the image of a society that places
complete blind trust in their government.


The student completes each paragraph by effectively tying their example back to their thesis,
(that Longley believes that Australian culture, and what our people represent, surpasses any
excessive displays of patriotism).


Their spelling and grammar is correct and their expression is clear, confident and mature.














Text Two:
This is an image produced by the National Australia Day Organisation in preparation for Australia Day 2013.















































Question Two: Discuss how visual conventions are used to present particular ideas about
Australia Day in Text Two.
(10 marks)


Text Two, produced by the National Australia Day Organisation,

represents Australia Day as a day that brings the family together to

celebrate our love of Australia. The image constructs a familiar and

picturesque portrait of the Australian beach with long stretches of sand

and open water set against a wide-open sky. This archetypal construction

of the Australian beach elicits an appreciation of our sunburnt country

and links Australia Day with not only celebrating our people, but also

celebrating the beautiful landscapes in our country. In the foreground,

the beach towels and the beach umbrellas lined up on the sand (and

reaching into the distance) suggest that Australia Day is a day that all

Australian families celebrate, and the Anglo-Saxon family standing on

the beach are just one family of many. This image also evokes a sense of

patriotic duty through its allusion to the calls to action used in old war

propaganda posters We Shall Fight on the Beaches through the tagline

Fellow Countrymen Storm the Beaches. It calls Australians to action

and establishes the day as a day of national pride and unity. The family

in the foreground are gazing into the distance, their proximity to each

other close, implying that they are a happy and united family. The

mother holding her daughter is smiling, and the young boy is holding a

toy gun- linking back to this notion of soldiers storming the beaches to

protect a nation.

This image is constructed like an age-old propaganda poster that seeks to

incite an audience to fulfil their duty as citizens and serve their nation

by celebrating Australia Day together as a family.

 WHAT THIS STUDENT HAS DONE WELL
They have clearly read the question and addressed it straight away in the opening sentence.
They have written that it, represents Australia Day as a day that brings the family together to
celebrate our love of Australia.
This is a good thesis because the question asks to discuss what ideas the image has been
constructed to present. Instead of vaguely stating that the advertisement presents an idea, the
student has been clear and specific about EXACTLY what that idea is.


They have attacked the question by grouping similar elements of construction together. This
helps to keep your ideas clear and focussed, instead of jumping back and forth between various
parts of the image with no link.


The question has not specified how many visual conventions the student must discuss, so they
have found the best visual conventions to support their thesis (that the image is constructed like
an age-old propaganda poster that seeks to incite an audience to fulfil their duty as citizens and
serve their nation by celebrating Australia Day together as a family).


They have both IDENTIFIED and EXPLAINED their chosen techniques. It would be easy to simply
write that, The image is in the style of an old war propaganda poster to create an effect. You
would only be addressing one aspect of the question and would get a single mark for identifying
losing all other possible marks by not explaining.
The student goes one step further to explain why the style of this advertisement is an effective
visual element. This image also evokes a sense of patriotic duty through its allusion to the calls to
action used in old war propaganda posters We Shall Fight on the Beaches through the tagline
Fellow Countrymen Storm the Beaches. It calls Australians to action and establishes the day as a
day of national pride and unity.

The student completes each paragraph by effectively tying their example back to their thesis,
(that the image is constructed like an age-old propaganda poster that seeks to incite an audience
to fulfil their duty as citizens and serve their nation by celebrating Australia Day together as a
family).


Their spelling and grammar is correct and their expression is clear, confident and mature.










Question Three: Compare the representation of Australia in Text One and Text Two.
(10 marks)


Text One and Text Two differ in their representations of Australia and its people. Text

One invites readers to look beyond common stereotypes and superficial displays of

patriotism. The author depicts Australian culture as one that is inclusive and diverse-

that we have an assortment of people living within Australia who all contribute

different traditions and customs. The writer honours our Indigenous heritage and

Aboriginal people by acknowledging how, as a people and a culture, they have faced true

adversity, yet managed to survive. Longley also suggests that there are some underlying

qualities that seem to be uniquely Australian such as our willingness to see past status

and class and our ability to be self-deprecating and humble as a people. These are

qualities that are appealing to Australian readers as it traces back to early colonial days

where people needed resilience, courage and determination in order to survive. The

author constructs Australian people as a nation of underdogs with that story of the

classic underdog Australian hero Steven Bradbury at the Winter Olympics who won a

Gold medal because everybody else fell down. He concludes his article with an

endearing and humorous image of what it is to be Australian that would certainly win

the hearts of readers.

Text Two reinforces the common image of beach-loving Australians celebrating

Australia Day as a family. Through its construction, it draws upon values of patriotism,

national pride and it appeals to a viewers sense of family values. However, the family is

a very archetypal Anglo-Saxon representation- it excludes this notion of Australia being

diverse in culture and ethnicity as raised in Text One. It is a text that polarises

Australian identity and only represents one fraction of the people who join together to

celebrate Australia Day. It doesnt challenge a viewer to look beyond a stereotypical

representation of Australian identity. This advertisement is also exclusionary of our

Indigenous heritage- it does not include Aboriginal people in its representation of

Australian families celebrating Australia Day. Therefore, although Text Two engages in

a similar representation of the Australian landscape, it differs in its representation of

Australian people.

 WHAT THIS STUDENT HAS DONE WELL
They have clearly read the question and addressed it straight away in the opening sentence.
They have written that they, differ in their representations of Australia and its people.
This is a good way to begin because the question asks to compare the representation. Instead
of vaguely stating that the advertisement and article compare to one another, it is important to
state whether they differ or promote the same ideals.
They could have gone one step further to include a more solid thesis of how they differ.


They have attacked the question by discussing each text mainly in its own paragraph, but brings
in the comparison in the second paragraph.

You will possibly be able to discuss more about a feature article or a narrative than you will
about a still image, so it is a good idea to write about the written text first.

This helps to keep your ideas clear and focussed, instead of jumping back and forth between
various parts of the text and the image with no link.


Again, in the first paragraph the student goes through the article chronologically to sort out their
ideas.


The student completes the response by effectively showing how the texts differ. Therefore,
although Text Two engages in a similar representation of the Australian landscape, it differs in its
representation of Australian people.


Their spelling and grammar is correct and their expression is clear, confident and mature.

















 STUDENT PREPARATION FOR ASSESSMENT


Question 1 /10


PREP TEXTS ONE: (FEATURE ARTICLE)
(NARRATIVE)

Explain two ways in which the author has manipulated their language
to persuade readers to agree with their position about the
representation of Australia.


How has the author been able to effectively convey the typical
Australian experience?

Question 2 /20

PREP TEXTS TWO: (STILL IMAGES)

Identify and discuss how visual conventions in the image have
highlighted how Australians are stereotypically viewed.

Identify and discuss how visual conventions in the image have
highlighted either Australias good attributes or shortcomings.

How has the image been constructed to elicit a particular response
from the viewer?


Question 3 /20

Compare the ways stereotypes are used in Text 1 and Text 2.
Compare the ways in which Text 1 and Text 2 discuss the issue of
modern patriotism.