YEAR NINE ENGLISH CLASS TASK1# Letter to the Editor
BOOKLET CONTENTS 1.
Table of contents
page 1
2. Outline of task
page 2
3. Structure& language features
page 3
4. What is a letter to the editor
page 4
5. Types of Letters to the Editor
pages 5-6
6. Samples
pages 7-8
7. Questions
pages 9-13
8. Scaffold
page 14
9. Marking Criteria
page 15
TASK: Write a 250 word letter to the Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald persuading readers to change their negative views on youth. You will use as evidence for your opinion reference to at least one text that you have studied in the Area of Study “Growing Up”.
INSTRUCTIONS: After reading all of the information about letters to the editor as well as completing the question tasks you are to draft your own letter to the editor responding to the task above. • •
Your typed published copy of this class task is due – Monday 7th March 2011 Your typed copy should be uploaded into your personal folder in the student submission folder of the class documents section of our class page in the Year 9 Growing Up virtual classroom.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR (Response genre)
A letter to the editor is an example of a formal letter expressing an opinion, a complaint, an argument or giving information Structure o o o o o o
Use the conventions of a formal letter Introduce the topic and your opinion early May be a reference to a previous letter or article Usually a mix of fact and opinion Organise paragraphs with details to support your opinion Paragraph length may vary
Language features o o o o o
Formal term of address (Dear Sir or Dear Editor) Persuasive language Subjective but not too emotional Language should be formal A direct appeal to the editor or readers
More information
More ideas and examples of formal letters can be found in o Targeting text (series), Blake Education, Glebe N.S.W. o Anderson, M 1997, Text types in English, Macmillan, South Melbourne. o English Elements (series), Jacaranda Wiley, Milton, Qld. o Whitfield, M 2001, Targeting writing across the curriculum, Blake Education, Glebe, N.S.W. o Schill, J 1998, On track: working with texts, Heinemann, Port Melbourne. o Excel essential skills (series), Pascal, Glebe, N.S.W.
Types of Letters to the Editor In a newspaper, usually in the same page as the editorial (it’s the editor’s page!), you will find a series of letters on all manner of topics. These letters are addressed to the editor, but are, of course, meant for a general readership. They can roughly be divided into these types: a) (i) personal grievances
(ii) personal messages
b) Matters of public interest and controversy c) Replies to other people’s letters For example: A (i) A complaint about a noisy construction site near your home. After failing to get anything done about the noise by contacting those directly concerned, you put pressure on them by giving them bad publicity in the letters page of the newspaper. A (ii) You wish to contact friends from the past or people who may help you with a project. B You wish to express your opinion on some current ‘hot topic’ such as refugees or educational standards C What someone else has written affects you, annoys you or you feel the arguments put forward are false
Persuasive writing aims to make readers take a position on an issue or situation. Letters to the editor aim to persuade and are written in response to current news items or issues. 1. These letters are usually restricted to fewer than 200 words, although occasionally the editor may choose to publish a longer letter that is of particular interest or which is particularly well written. Some papers have a very brief letter section restricted to 50 words or less. 2. Letters to the editor do not present the original view on an issue or situation. They are reactive as the writer responds to an editorial, an opinionative article that has given in-depth information and/or a point of view, or another person’s previous letter. 3. The editor selects a key idea from the letter to use as a heading. Writers do not provide headings. They would begin with ‘To the editor’ or ‘Dear editor’.
4. Letters: • Adopt the form of an argument as the purpose is to persuade others to share the view of the writer • Use varying styles ranging from very formal to facetious (lighthearted, joking) and may use provocative openings including questions or exclamations • Expose an individual’s view on an on-going issue or situation • Have a contention (point of view) on the issue or situation, which the writer hopes readers will adopt; however, the contention is not always in the introductory paragraph, as in formal argument • Support the point of view with various reasons/grounds • Use evidence to support these reasons • Often conclude with a suggestion that readers, the government, others involved in the issue/situation take certain actions
SAMPLE 1
SAMPLE 2
QUESTIONS
Persuasive genre Audience The writer’s capacity to orient, engage and persuade the reader 0-6 Text structure 0-4
The organisation of the structural components of a persuasive text (introduction, body and conclusion) into an appropriate and effective text structure
Ideas 0-5
The selection, relevance and elaboration of ideas for a persuasive argument
Persuasive devices 0-4
The use of a range of persuasive devices to enhance the writer’s position and persuade the reader
Vocabulary 0-5
The range and precision of contextually appropriate language choices
Cohesion
0-4
The control of multiple threads and relationships across the text, achieved through the use of grammatical elements (referring words, text connectives, conjunctions) and lexical elements (substitutions, repetitions, word associations)
Paragraphing 0-3
The segmenting of text into paragraphs that assists the reader to follow the line of argument
Sentence structure 0-6
The production of grammatically correct, structurally sound and meaningful sentences
Punctuation 0-5 Spelling 0-6
The use of correct and appropriate punctuation to aid the reading of the text The accuracy of spelling and the difficulty of the words used