SAMPLE ANSWER FOR MODULE 3 (SPEAKING and WRITING) CAPE COMMUNICATIONSTUDIES

SCENARIO: A group of farmers from a rural village in your country has invited you to give the Opening Address at their workshop titled The Effects of Harmful Chemicals.

In an essay, discuss how you will develop your presentation looking specifically at:

I)The communication challenges that you most likely will encounter as youaddress the members of this rural farming community

II)The language variety, register and vocabulary that you will take intoConsideration

III) Such factors as your organizational strategies, visual/audio visual aids andany other resources that you may use in your presentation.

Main challenges can be in the form of some farmers being unwillingto make a paradigm shift as they prefer to stay doing and using thesame old chemicals. Another way this can be said is that amongthe farmers have an unwillingness to embrace/adopt change

There is a likelihood that some farmers may harbour mistrust foroutsiders coming into their village

Lack of interest /an air of complacency which can lead to boredomwith your presentation

The challenge of how do you get the message of the need forchange from harmful chemicals that they have been using for solong to newer and safer/more effective chemicals/ even eco-friendlychemicals

The challenge of not coming across to the farmers as either tooeducated and complex or on the other hand making your messagetoo simplistic/ finding the right balance is the key

The register can be moved between casual and formal

The content of your presentation must be relevant and clearlydefined

Presentation must not be too long as to bore and confused

Find out before hand if there were other issues dealing with harmful effects of the chemicals

Try to fit in with the audience, pay attention to dress code do notover dress etc ...be as natural as possible

When speaking make eye contact with the audience

Provide a question answer session so as to give the farmers time tohave their say

Ask them to work with you – sensitive to their needs and concerns

Remember that your visual aids are just that aids –do not makethem your focus!

Your presentation must have a clear introduction, body andConclusion

 

This is in an ESSAY format (p. 28 in syllabus) requiring

Content, Expression and Organization that has introduction, development, conclusion, coherence, transition or linking words from paragraph to paragraph

SUGGESTIONS FOR BEGINNING YOUR ESSAY

You may look at the questions and summarize what they have asked you for and you are going to write about AND You may make an Introduction/Thesis Statement using general information about question BUT Do not get carried away! Your introduction/thesis statement is just pointing the direction! So be BRIEF!

Very importantly before you begin to explain/justify your responses please first identify or name what you are going to write about! For example if the question asks you something about the language (tone, context, register) used by the author or the characters then the first thing you need to do is to identify the language (some students just jump right in and begin to write about the language/tone/context/register but they never identify what language they are writing about)

SOME TRANSITION OR LINKING WORDS

generally speaking , consequently, clearly, then furthermore, additionally and in addition, in general at this level, in this situation, however, on the other hand nevertheless, on the contrary

SUGGESTIONS FOR SOME PAST PAPER QUESTIONS

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE USE OF LANGUAGE AND THECONTEXT OF THE NARRATIVE

If you are asked to discuss a broad term (language, register, tone, context or setting) you must first specifically name or identify the term before entering into a discussion (problem is that some student either forget or do not know and cover try to cover this lack by just writing about “the register this and the register that” The teacher or the CAPE marker would ask, what register are you writing about?

IDENTIFY THE REGISTER (LEVEL OF FORMALITY) USED/CHOSEN 

The choice of register can seem automatic to many persons but there are always certain factors influencing a person’s choice of register(s). For example in this piece the person utilizes 2 registers, namely formal and consultative. (Now you give the evidence from piece and you make a possible justification for the choice)

If you are with strangers or persons of authority you’d use a FORMAL register (audience influencing register)

The content (what you have to say) also influence register choice

Setting also influences register (subject to many factors such as relationship, location, content)

WHAT A CHARACTER HOPES TO ACHIEVE BY ADDRESSING ANOTHER PERSON IN “GOOD ENGLISH”? OR WHAT POSSIBLE MOTIVATION IS THERE FOR ACHIEVING A GOOD CPMMAND OF ENGLISH? 

 (POSSIBLE INTRODUCTION OR THESIS STATEMENT) In many cases a Creole speaker sets out to communicate in what he/she believes is “good English” but which under scrutiny would be seen to contain errors. This was the case of Tiger when in his anxiety to appear as…

Persons may hope to appear as a competent speaker of the language he/she is attempting (to impress)

Persons may hope to appear confident, mature

Person may hope to send a message that “I am your equal or you are not better than I am” 

May be motivated by their ambition and aspirations to be successful

Because of their career choice

By their parent who though is not able to speak the language motivates their child to speak Std because of the perceptions about the benefits of having a good command of English

The exposure in their school situation to speak only the Standard English

May believe that both learning and having a ‘good command’ of the Std which is the official language will give one the opportunities for upward mobility

EXPLAINING HOW TECHNOLOGY (VIDEO, TELEVISION) WILL ENHANCE OR HIGHLIGHT SITUATIONS (discomfort/the fact that they are Caribbean speakers in a similar setting) or THE MEANING OF THE WRITTEN PIECE.  (POSSIBLE INTRODUCTION OR THESIS STATEMENT) Each medium has itsown benefits for the audience but one cannot deny that technology when effectively applied to a written piece enhances it in many ways. For example in this piece…

In this exercise you need to write about how technology will allow the audience to see and hear certain situations found in the written piece.

After identifying the situation give examples from the passage (the audience will be able to see the startled expression on Tantie’s face as she reacted to the clerk’s comment or that the audience will hear how comical Busboy sound as he tried to say the word ‘Saterde’ )