Higher Close Reading

Higher Close Reading All you need to know but were too shy to ask!

Types of Questions • Understanding – the ‘WHAT’ • Analysis – the ‘HOW’ • Evaluation – the ‘HOW EFFECTIVE’

Understanding (U) • The simplest of the three types. These questions come in five types: • Meaning • Identifying points • Following arguments and tracing developments • Summarising a number of points • Links

Understanding (cont.) • These questions usually start with: • Explain what the writer means by... • Explain the significance of the word... • Show how you are helped towards the meaning of... • How does the context help you understand the meaning of... • Explain the expression in your own words...

Understanding (U) • Key to understanding questions is to remember you: • MUST USE YOUR OWN WORDS • The best way to expand your vocabulary is to... ...READ, READ, READ

Example Understanding Question – Summary type Read lines 25 -43 What I really object to about the book is what I object to about sex education as a whole. Sex education – particularly compulsory and standardised sex education – is based on mistaken assumptions. Thefirst is the pervasive assumption of equality – that is, that all six-year-olds or all 11-year-olds or 15-year-olds can discuss the complexities in the same form in the same way. That’s nonsense. Children vary in intelligence and progress. Children and teenagers mature at different ages and come from different backgrounds. You cannot talk the same way to a shy 13-year-old who hasn’t had her first period as to another who is well acquainted with the darker recesses of the school bike shed. Some boys are men at 11 and 12, physically; others are children until much later. You cannot talk to all these children together. And it undermines the authority of those parents who do not share the same values as the teacher. CONT…

Cont. Another mistaken assumption is that sex education ought, necessarily, to be entrusted to teachers, given how wildly they vary in ability and in moral attitudes. The thought that the government is considering making sex and relationship education compulsory in schools is terrifying. I can hardly imagine anything worse than subjecting a sensitive child to guidance on such matters from an inexperienced and politically correct teacher, who is neither well informed nor self-critical. The relationships between sex, love, babies, and disease are too explosive to be left primarily to such a person, or to any person apart from the parents. • Summarise the writer’s main objections to sex education. 4U • The writer’s main objection is that it is is forced on children regardless of whether or not they want it. It also takes no account of individual needs as it is the same for everyone. Thirdly, it is delivered by teachers who are not necessarily equipped to teach it and lastly it leads to disempowerment of parents as they become excluded from the process.

Now try this one yourself: Perhaps the state needs to step in, and we must demand that it legislates to help us rebalance our lives as social beings and citizens, rather than simply as shoppers. A good start would be legal restrictions on advertising – particularly to children, who shouldn’t be subjected to the full force of the branding psychologists. Just as Sweden has banned advertising to under-12s, we need to do the same. Other governmental measures could include increased taxation on luxury goods – thus signalling that status isn’t gained by buying top-end merchandise. Finally, happiness – not wealth – must become the number one priority, which means replacing the GDP (gross domestic product) with GWP (general wellbeing) as a measure of the nation’s prosperity. The quality of our lives, not the quantity of our consumption, should be the measure of political success. Q. Summarise the three measures which the writer suggests should be the responsibility of the Government. 3U

Analysis (A) • These questions look at HOW the writer has written the piece – the language features. You will get NOTHING for commenting on WHAT has been written!!

Analysis (cont.)Language Features • Imagery – simile/metaphor/personification... • Word choice • Tone • Point of View • Onomatopoeia/Alliteration • Sentence Structure • Etcetera....

Analysis (cont.) • With analysis you should always try to use words like... • Suggests/implies/has connotations of...

Example Analysis Question – Word Choice At the same time, this constant reassurance – that you are listened to, recognised, and important – is coupled with a distancing from the stress of face-to-face, real-life conversation. Real-life conversations are, after all, far more perilous than those in the cyber world. They occur in real time, with no opportunity to think up clever or witty responses, and they require a sensitivity to voice tone and body language. Moreover, according to the context, and indeed, the person with whom we are conversing, our own delivery will need to adapt. None of these skills are required when chatting on a social networking site. Q. Show how the writer’s word choice in the whole paragraph makes clear the difference between the two types of communication (real life and cyber world). 4A A. “Stress” indicates the strain and anxiety the writer feels can be caused by face to face conversation. “Perilous” also describes face to face; this suggests extreme danger and threat. “Chatting” describes the safer world of cyberspace as it connotes warm, easy-going friendships and relationships. “Reassurance” establishes the online world as calming, comforting and encouraging.

Now try this one yourself It’s not that nothing has changed in that time, of course. There has been turbo-charged economic growth, wave upon wave of migration, a massive shift from an industrial to a service economy, and a generation of unprecedented change in sexual politics and family life. Q. Show how the writer’s word choice in lines 7 – 10 (“It’s not…family life”) emphasises the extent of changes she describes. 2A

Evaluation (E) • These questions ask you to judge how effective the piece of writing is. • You should try to think of what the writer’s PURPOSE is and how well they have achieved that purpose. • Remember - it is very difficult to evaluate without also analysing. • There are three main kinds of ‘E’ questions...

The three kinds of Evaluation questions • How effective do you find/To what extent...successful in... regarding a TECHNIQUE like word choice/ imagery/ tone • How effective do you find/To what extent...successful in... regarding an EXAMPLE/ ANECDOTE/ CONCLUSION • Evaluating the merits of both papers in the comparison type questions

Example Evaluation Question The UK is not a group of nations swamped by a tidal wave of immigration. Relatively speaking, Europe contends with a trickle of refugees compared with countries who border areas of famine, desperate poverty, or violent political upheaval.

Discuss how effective you find the writer’s use of imagery (or discuss to what extent you find the writer’s use of imagery effective) in these lines in making her point clear. (2E) The imagery of ‘swamped’, ‘tidal wave’ and ‘trickle’are effective in helping to illustrate the point the writer is making – that in fact there are very few immigrants or refugees. The connotations of tidal waves and swamped are to do with a mass of water rushing with unstoppable force and drowning the land, as if the number of immigrants is so great that the people of Britain will be overwhelmed by the force, which is untrue. In contrast ‘trickle of refugees’ suggests a very small volume of water, which would have very little effect on the landscape, like the refugees who are so few in number that they would be almost unnoticeable.The images of ‘tidal wave’ and ‘trickle’ are exaggerated enough to convinceus of the writer’s point, that the UK is not in danger.

QUESTIONS ON BOTH PAPERS • Usually worth 5 marks • Often E or A/E • Will probably take you AT LEAST 10 minutes • Should be tackled like a mini essay • MUST look at BOTH passages • Will often expect you to consider the IDEAS (what) and STYLE (how)

Higher Close Reading