UNIVERSITE ALASSANE OUATTARA DE BOUAKE

UFR-Communication, Milieu et Société

Département d’Anglais

2022-2023

LICENCE 1
ORAL COMMENTARY

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PRESENTATION AND COURSE OBJECTIVE

The course of Oral Commentary is designed to allow students to understand the

meaning of a piece of literary text, pointing out the implicit and the explicit in a spoken English
language. It is based on a methodical study that combines both explicative/explaining and
interpreting steps, and focuses on the use of resources taught in the course of initiation to literary
analysis. Because it is performed in oral, the commentary requires a good mastery of specific
skills like diction, fluency, etc. In the term of the course of Oral Commentary, students should
be able to:
- understand any piece of literary text out of a methodical study
- point out the implicit and explicit with the help of critical literary tools/items (figurative
language, metaphors, etc.)
- express out ideas in a rich, clear, and fluent spoken English.

I/ WHAT IS A COMMENTARY?

A commentary is an intellectual activity in which you point out the meaning of a work
of art; generally, this is a literary text, after a critical reading of it. As an exercise,
commentary has become important in the academic tasks because it permits to increase
the learner’s knowledge about literary works while growing his critical potentiality/abilities.
When writers write, indeed, they do so to express ideas about issues in society or about
any other field. Some of these ideas appear explicitly and are easily grasped by the reader,
but a lot of them are given in an implicit manner for many reasons, censorship for example.
And you cannot grasp the real meaning of such writings until you have done a careful
reading. Commentary is an exercise that teaches you how to make such a critical reading.
You have two forms of commentary: Written Commentary, and Oral Commentary. Both types
generally share the same principles except that Oral Commentary is performed orally
and requires specific steps/measures in connection with the preparation and presentation.

II/ METHODOLOGY OF PREPARATION

In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, you have to follow different
steps of preparation:

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1- Reading.
The first step in preparing a commentary is to read the text. Reading helps to make
two things clear:
a/ Determine the type of text

Is the text a newspaper item, an extract from some fiction work, a passage from a
historical speech, or an excerpt from a study or an essay? It is only in reading the text that you
can determine one of these types. Students should pay attention to references. They are
helpful elements to know the origin of the text. It is also the type that teaches about the style of
the writer. A literary text (fiction/poem) is richer in figurative languages (metaphors,
etc.) than an ordinary newspaper article.

b/ The topic of the text

One other important thing that the reading of the text allows to do is to know about
the topic, the main subject it develops. In some cases, particularly in articles and essays,
the topic is clearly announced either in the title or in the presentation of the subject. In
fiction passages on the other hand, the main subject is most times simply evoked; in this
case it is your duty as commentator to articulate/name it clearly.

2- Writing draft

After reading the text to know about the type and the main topic/idea, another key
step is to put down the main points which are developed in its different sections. These
points are central in determining the type of study you will conduct. When the same ideas
are found in different parts of the text, it is advisable to link them together into one or two or a
maximum of three themes and then conduct a thematic study. Otherwise, you had
better make a line-by-line study. Sometimes too, the same ideas are found in the sections
of the text; in this case you will divide your work according to these sections (please avoid
too long developments). Some texts also often present subject in causal way. Here too, you have
to be careful enough to use a cause-and –effect/ Cause-and-Consequence study.
NB: Regardless of the type of study, make sure that you haven’t missed the style of the
writing.

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III/ METHODOLOGY OF PRESENTATION

1- INTRODUCTION

The introduction of your work will cover three main steps:

a/ The situation of the text

- indicating the type of the text (article, fiction, etc.)

- situate the text in time and space (to be found in the references and in the text itself).

b/ Pointing out the subject

This consists stating in a few words what the text is about. It is useless telling the
whole story or paraphrasing the text. Here are some expressions that can be used to state the
topic/main idea:
- The text deals with the issue/problem of …..
- The text raises the question of ….
- The text throws light on …..
- The text provides us with an analysis of …..
- The text brings into light the issue of …………

NB: Sometimes, the main idea can be stated in the form of a brief summary; in this case you
have to see that the statement is very brief.

c/ Announcing the plan of the commentary

The announcement of the plan is closely related to the evolution of the text and ideas. In the
example above the plan appears almost obviously through the brief presentation of the main
point. As a matter of fact, the student will need to make a well articulated statement that shows
the different parts of his work.

Example:
- The study/analysis/commentary has been divided into two/three parts. First, second, and third,
- In our study, we will analyze first ., and then … - We will deal with first, ….; and second …

NB: Because the presentation is oral, everything must be read/said aloud.

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Example of an introduction of a commentary

The text under study is an article written by the American journalist Art Buchwald
and issued in the American newspaper The Washington Post (situation of the text).The
journalist reports a conversation he witnessed between a teen-age boy, Rolf and his
parents. Rolf has made up his mind not to go to college, but to engage in football career
(pointing out the subject of the text). The conversation opposing parents and son puts
into relief Rolf’s motivations and determination on the one hand, and his parents’ reactions,
on the other hand (announcing the plan).

2- BODY OF THE COMMENTARY

The body is either thematic or a line-by-line analysis/explanation. But the thematic work will
be preferred here because it is easier and practical with the oral presentation.

CONCLUSION

The conclusion is not simply a summary of what has been said, but a statement of
the salient points of the analysis. This generally serves to enlarge the topic into a personal
judgment on the subject or to relate this subject to a wider or closer topic.

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 TEXT N° 1
POLITICAL MOBILIZATION IN AFRICA
Politicians mobilize people to vote by devising messages and imparting
them to those people. Many studies examine African electioneering through a
framework that distinguishes between programmatic, clientelist and charismatic
appeals. Some, but not all, African politicians appeal to people by adopting
particular policy positions, the strict sense of “programmatic appeals.” However,
almost all solicit peoples’ support by stressing their sincere intentions and their
abilities to pursue uncontroversial aspects of public policy, otherwise known as
“valence appeals.” Parties’ historic records and their locations in government or
opposition affect which issues they can claim to own and which they stress in their
campaigns.

While appeals over public policy are commonplace in African electoral

politics, so too is clientelism. Many politicians give voters gifts, in the form of
favorable distributions of public service delivery, in-kind goods, and cash.
However, few of these gifts constitute contingent exchanges of goods for votes.
Instead, political largesse is used to flatter, to impress and to convince voters of
politicians’ virtue. In this respect, public policy and clientelism frequently appear
in African elections side-by-side.

James Julbart, The Conversation Africa, Inc. 2020

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TEXT N° 2
OKONKWO AND HIS FATHER

Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame
rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his
village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years
was unbeaten, from Umuofia to Mbaino. He was called the Cat because his back would never
touch the earth. It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed
was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven
days and seven nights.
He was tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe
look. He breathed heavily, and it was said that, when he slept, his wives and children in their
houses could hear him breathe. When he walked, his heels hardly touched the ground
and he seemed to walk on springs, as if he was going to pounce on somebody. And he did
pounce on people quite often. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could
not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience with
unsuccessful men. He had had no patience with his father.
Unoka, for that was his father's name, had died ten years ago. In his day he was lazy and
improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. If any money came his way,
and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine, called round his neighbors and
made merry. He always said that whenever he saw a dead man's mouth he saw the folly of not
eating what one had in one's lifetime. Unoka was, of course, a debtor, and he owed every
neighbor some money, from a few cowries to quite substantial amounts.
He was tall but very thin and had a slight stoop. He wore a haggard and mournful look
except when he was drinking or playing on his flute. He was very good on his flute, and his
happiest moments were the two or three moons after the harvest when the village
musicians brought down their instruments, hung above the fireplace. Unoka would play with
them, his face beaming with blessedness and peace.

Chinua Achebe (1959). Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books

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TEXT N° 3

WHY DO STUDENTS NEED TO FAIL?

In the world of education, “failure” is about as dirty a word as you’ll find,

short of four letters. Heavy with negative baggage, considered by some a
motivation killer, failure is the term that gets shushed out of the room – the thing
that’s best not talked about.

Nevertheless, there are those willing to not only talk about failure but
embrace it as a positive learning tool whose time has come. And they’re not just
talking about failure as a “teachable moment,” a situation when students have the
opportunity to rise above the humiliation of screwing up and pull themselves up
by the bootstraps. No, proponents of failure’s value say something quite different:
that working through experiences that do not result in immediate success can
unleash deeper problem-solving skills, help integrate old and new knowledge, and
engender a capacity for persistence.

Last fall, Concordia University cognitive scientist and educational

technology professor Vivek Venkatesh turned the tables on a small group of
graduate education students taking his advanced quantitative statistical
methodologies class. Instead of his usual approach of lecturing and setting
problems for students to solve, Dr. Venkatesh told the four students that they
would be taking over the teaching and would be doing so with the goal of falling
flat on their academic faces.

Moira MacDonald, Toronto-based reporter in writing about education, Toronto

University, 2019.

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TEXT N° 4

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: WHAT MAKES TEENS COMMIT CRIMES?

Juvenile delinquency is the act of committing a crime at a very young age.

A juvenile delinquent is a young person, particularly a teenager under the age of
eighteen, who breaks a state or federal law by committing a crime.

Teens are still immatures and do not think like adults, therefore they are
prone to making mistakes or committing crimes that are not fully in their control.
Teens can break laws for various reasons, and there are a number of factors that
can lead them to juvenile delinquency.

In this article, we have listed down some of the reasons why teens become
juvenile delinquents and what causes them to commit crimes. Let’s have a look at
the

A teen adopts moral and ethical values from his parents and other family
members. It goes without saying that family plays a vital role in shaping a teen’s
behavior and grooming his/her personality. However, teens become violent or
show signs of juvenile delinquency only when they’re facing disturbance at home.
Broken or disturbed families with bad relations can cause teens to go astray and
become violent. Single parents are often busy working, therefore they’re not able
to spend quality time with their children. This causes teens to seek attention from
others, especially their peers.

Copyright © 2017 I-India NGO Jaipur - Giving Street Children a Future. All rights reserved.

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TEXT N° 5

LACK OF COMMUNICATION
Often lack of discourse in the family can lead children to find solace other
than homes. When they are not having any communication with their parents or
family members at home, they may lose unity, trust, and understanding, which
can eventually lower their self-esteem or self-confidence. Once they feel they’re
losing their individuality, they tend to do things they shouldn’t do to boost their
self-confidence. They blindly follow their peers and adopt their unhealthy
lifestyles. They shoplift and consume drugs to look cool in the eyes of their peers

Young or adult, may lead to a wrong path to improve their financial

conditions. Teens become juvenile delinquents due to lack of finances. When they
experience poor economic conditions, they start engaging in the wrong activities.
They may start selling drugs or steal things to improve their economic conditions.

Teens who have not given any social or moral training often lead to juvenile
delinquency. It is the parent’s duty to teach moral and ethical values to their
children. They should teach them the difference between right and wrong
behavior. Lack of social and moral values can lead children to poor interaction
with others and make them less confident. They may become selfish and arrogant.
They would not know how to respect the laws of the state. Parents often neglect
their children and pay more focus on working hard to earn money for them.

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