National 4

1
National 4

• Added Value Unit

2
Aims

• To demonstrate your skills in studying literature
  and media.
• Understand and evaluate straightforward texts
  (1.1)
• Select relevant information from texts (1.2)
• Present your findings on your topic (1.3)
• Respond to spoken questions relevant to the topic
  (1.4)

3
You need to

• Choose 3 texts on a shared topic or theme
• Show you clearly understand these texts, their
  purpose and audience
• Identify and analyse the techniques used by the
  writers to convey the chosen topic or theme
• Evaluate the effectiveness of each text
• You have to write an essay which explores the
  different ways each text deals the same theme or
  topic

4
Choosing Your Texts and Topic

• The broad focus of your Added Value Unit is World
  War One.
• However, you need to narrow this focus and decide
  on a topic or theme within this focus.

5
Ideas for a Topic
6

• Complete p.2 of your booklet.
• The texts we have studied on WW1 are
• White Poppies (Drama)
• War Horse (Media)
• Dulce et Decorum Est (Poetry)
• Private Peaceful (Prose)
• You need to decide on a topic or theme which
  links youre the three texts you have chosen.

7
Choosing Your Own Text

• One of your texts must be your own choice!
• You will then need to read and study this text
  independently.
• The text you have chosen must suit your theme.

8
Understanding Your Texts

• You need to demonstrate your understanding of the
  texts.
• If you need more space, use paper.
• Be as in-depth and specific as you can

9

• Summary of Text
• Exposure by Wilfred Owen is a poem about the
  pointless loss of life during World War One. The
  poem describes how a soldier dies while waiting
  for orders or fighting to begin in the trenches.
  Owen helps the reader understand how soldiers
  often didnt die being brave in battle, but from
  the terrible conditions. At the end of the poem
  the reader is left thinking about how the soldier
  in the poem dies for nothing.

10

• How does this text link to the topic?
• Owen describes the terrible conditions the
  soldiers had to face, which leads the reader to
  question whether they need to be there at all.
• Owen shows how often soldiers died as a result of
  the conditions and not in battle.
• The poem describes a soldiers last moments before
  death which helps them think about why they are
  dying and whether it is worth it/

11

• Purpose of Text
• The purpose of this text is to help readers
  understand the terrible conditions of World War
  One and how sometimes a soldiers death was a
  pointless waste.
• Audience of Text
• The audience of the text is anybody with an
  interest in the First World War and what it was
  really like for the soldiers. I think this
  because Owen is describing what it was like very
  vividly, to help his readers imagine the
  conditions.
• Reason for Choosing this Text
• I found this poem very moving and it made me feel
  very angry about the way soldiers were treated in
  World War One. I like the way Owen uses language
  to make the reader really know what it was like
  in the trenches.

12
Studying Texts in Detail

• You need to zoom in on particular aspects of each
  text which help explore your topic/theme.
• Use an adapted version of STAR to help structure
  your notes.

13

• S imagery
• T Pale flakes with lingering stealth come
  feeling for our faces
• A In this image, Owen uses personification to
  help the reader imagine how bad it is for the
  soldiers now that it has started to snow. The
  word choice of lingering suggests the snow is
  not melting and therefore making the soldiers
  cold. Furthermore, the word stealth makes it
  seem as if is not enemy soldiers sneaking up on
  them to kill them, but the wintery conditions.
• R - This image makes the reader feel like the
  soldiers are being attacked by the conditions,
  and that something should be done to keep them
  warm and dry while they are waiting for orders

14
Comparing and Contrasting

• Write down all the ways the texts are similar in
  the way they deal with your topic/theme.