Final assignment (due 28 June)

Final task: from theory to practice

You will work in groups of three.

In the Media Literacy course we have discussed a framework that interfacing a discourse-based
approach to written discourse, Social Semiotics and Critical Discourse Analysis characterizes
literacy as a situated social practice, involving complex processes of negotiation for meaning.
Resorting to the theory introduced in the course and working cooperatively in groups of three:

I) Write a short essay (approximately 1000 words) arguing for the necessity to develop media
literacy awareness in foreign language schools and to work with themes such as gender identities.
You might like to think about the following questions:

 Why should contemporary language education work with critical approaches?

 What messages about gender are suggested by the media to contemporary audiences?

 What is the connection between media, gender and identity? What has discourse got to do
with it?

 How does this discussion relate to the foreign language classroom?

 What are the gains involved in this discussion?

You will be required to construct your own argument with reference to the series of questions set
out above and to use the theoretical texts read in class to back up your views (See Annex 1 for
reminders).

To illustrate your argument, you will refer to an EFL activity previously prepared by the group (and
included as an ANNEX), whose aim is to lead EFL students to develop critical media awareness.
Check guidelines below.

II) Designing an activity. Follow these procedures:

- Select one media text in which gender is a salient factor.

- Using the theory on critical discourse analysis and the semiotic framework so far covered
concerning media discourse and gender, develop 1(one) activity, using the chosen text.

- Prepare a chart containing the following information (See Annex 2 for an example):

 level of students (beginners, intermediate, advanced)

 selected text(s)
 purpose of the activity
 aspect so be focused on
 Procedures for the teacher

- Prepare a student handout (containing the selected text and instructions for students)
Observation concerning the student handout:
On ILE you will find several activities designed by English VII students in previous years. Check the
following area: “Resources for the current group => media awareness in the classroom”.

The following topics are offered as a possible focus of the activity to be designed, but you are free
to develop your own ideas:

Advertising in men's and women's lifestyle magazines; reproducing the gender binary; constructions
of femininity in magazines for teenagers; synthetic womanhood or manhood in advertising /
magazines; constructions of gender on TV adverts; gender ideology in advertising; positive
politeness strategies in women’s / men’s magazines; text population in women’s / men’s magazines

Check ANNEX 3 for the obligatory sections of your paper.

 ANNEX 1

REMINDERS

1. Don’t forget to include: a title and an introductory section to your work, containing the
argument to be developed in your essay. This is a way to make the reader tune in to the
specific topic of your essay, which should be made explicit in this introductory part.
2. Don’t forget to write a concluding section, articulating the ideas introduced in your essay
and stating their relevance / importance concerning your argument.
3. Don’t forget to specify the theoretical framework that is guiding your work, by making
reference to some of the readings you have done in the course.
4. When quoting, don’t forget to use quotation marks and the conventions for citation: e.g.
“We all write and speak from a particular place and time, from a history and culture which is
specific. What we say is always in ‘context’, positioned” (Hall, 1990:222). => (author, date:
page).
5. Include all references used at the end of your paper.
 ANNEX 2

Level: intermediate
Resources: Shampoo ad (Sugar, 2007) and Moisturizing cream ad (Cosmo Girl!,
2008)
handout
Aspect to be focused on: synthetic womanhood in magazines for teenagers
Purpose: To encourage students to 1) identify the intended readership of texts
and understand how it influences textual choices; and 2) analyse how
intercolcutors’ identities are constructed
Authors: William Shakespeare
William Wordsworth

Procedures for the teacher:

1. Divide the class into two groups and give each group copies of one ad.
2. Members of each group, working in pairs, read the text and try to answer the first set of
questions in the handout (section A), which locate the text in the social world.
3. Pairs proceed to section B and C, trying to detect the discourses that integrate the text.
4. Partners answer the final question (section D), trying to observe the process of identity
construction at play.
5. Members of each group compare and discuss answers.
6. Students sit in a big circle and carry out a whole-group discussion, sharing and comparing
information on the texts’ texturing process: How are women constructed in each text?
 ANNEX 3

FINAL ASSIGNMENT – OBLIGATORY SECTIONS

1) Cover (title of the essay – name of students in the group)

2) Short Essay
3) References
4) Annex containing the designed activity
=> chart in Annex 2
=> student handout
=> Procedures for the teacher