Explore the topic of migration through the lens of language, the words and images people use to frame the migration debate in ways that further certain ideological positions. Encounter language that dehumanises and objectifies, language that categorises, assumes, derides, divides, and villainises – and also language that rehumanises, cutting through the media noise to tell stories of living people with hopes, dreams and dignity.
Despite what people say, advertisers know that language and images work at both the conscious and the unconscious level, and a person unaware of advertising’s claim on him or her is the person least well equipped to resist its insidious attack, no matter how forthright they may sound. An essential underpinning to the language and literature course is the aim for you to become media-literate and an important purpose of a classroom study of advertising is to raise the level of awareness about the persuasive techniques used in ads. Ads can be studied to detect ‘hooks,’ they can be used to gauge values of consumers, and they can be analysed for symbols, colour, and imagery. And don’t neglect the simplest and most direct way of studying ads – the words themselves.
Five thousand years ago, the Babylonians hung symbols over their shop doors depicting what kind of trade went on inside and, voila, the first advertisements were born. Advertising may have become more prevalent over the years, but wherever communities and commerce exit, so too does advertising.
Racial stereotyping is the act of classifying individuals or putting them into imaginary boxes based on their nationality, ethnicity or skin colour. It is the oversimplification of a person of a particular race. The problem of racial stereotyping occurs when one person’s behaviour is ascribed to a group’s tendencies instead of the causes of an immediate situation.Racial stereotyping is the act of classifying individuals or putting them into imaginary boxes based on their nationality, ethnicity or skin colour. It is the oversimplification of a person of a particular race. The problem of racial stereotyping occurs when one person’s behaviour is ascribed to a group’s tendencies instead of the causes of an immediate situation.
What changes will the internet bring to the types of news we encounter? As you read this, several large newspapers are under threat. Over the past decades news organizations have been bought by multinational corporations. What are the positive and negative effects of centralizing the news?
examine how conventional uses of journalistic language affects the presentation of news stories. The most important concepts in this section are emotive language, euphemism and vague language and you will also learn about the distinctions between broadsheet and tabloid journalism.
Have you ever wondered why only bad news gets reported? Or why some bad news gets more coverage than other bad news? Learn the criteria by which analysts agree the news is ‘selected’ or chosen.
Learn some underlying theories of the news (whether print, online or televised) which will teach you to be critical about the information you receive via news media and ‘official’ outlets like mainstream newspapers, BBC, Sky or Fox news. You will learn the key concepts of bias and how the news is narrativized – turned into stories for public consumption.
You can think of a speaker as an artist or craftsperson and ethos, pathos and logos as the framework upon which the artisan works. Hone your own knowledge of these rhetorical tools, and how to recognize and appreciate them in speeches you study.
Propaganda can be dangerous when it is used on an uninformed public: people are easily persuaded because they do not have counter-arguments to the information they are being given. You may think you are immune to propaganda – but living in a digital age does not always make it easier to detect the techniques involved. It requires a conscious effort to be critical, work on your media literacy, and to stay alert for argumentative fallacies.
IB Language and Literature 2.0 