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Advice for teachers -
Foundation English

Unit 1 - Area of Study 3​: Listening to and presenting persuasive texts

Outcome 3

Listen, interact and speak in different formal contexts, for a range of audiences and persuasive purposes.

Examples of learning activities

  • Example icon for advice for teachers
    Deliver a brief oral presentation on a controversial statement or topic, stating a position and justifying it with at least one supporting argument..
  • Deconstruct an advertisement, discussing the strategies it uses to influence an audience to purchase the product.
  • Develop an advertisement or sales pitch, drawing on knowledge of persuasive oral strategies and awareness of target audience.
  • Role-play a job interview while the remainder of the class take notes on strengths and weaknesses and offer feedback to the students presenting.
  • Read aloud some letters to the editor, aiming to express the tone of the piece through vocal delivery; then, discuss words that describe the tone and why the writer chose to employ it.
  • Practise using various vocal strategies for engaging an audience by expressively reading a passage from a literary text of suitable complexity to the class.
  • Make a video-recording of yourself delivering a speech and write a reflection on your own strengths and goals for improving.
  • View an episode from a current affairs program that involves interaction and debate between participants (for example, ‘Q&A’ on the ABC) and explore different conventions of debate.
  • View a number of video-clips of a prominent politician addressing various audiences (for example, parliament, their local constituency, an international conference) and compare how their language and delivery varies in the different situations.
Example icon for advice for teachers 

Detailed example

Impromptu persuasive speaking

Teachers follow the steps below to assist students. 

  1. Allocate (or allow students to select) a broad, open-ended topic on which a diversity of opinions is possible. Topics such as the following might be suitable:
    • Technology is making life harder rather than easier
    • Sport is taken far too seriously in Australia
    • School does not prepare students for real life
    • Social media leads to isolation and unhappiness rather than meaningful relationships
    • Advertising has become too influential in daily life.
  2. Give students 5–10 minutes to prepare a 1–2 minute oral presentation to the class. In the presentation, students should state their position and justify it with at least one supporting argument.
  3. At the conclusion of each oral presentation, the teacher can offer some observations about the broad strategy that the student has adopted to justify their case. Patterns such as the following can be discussed:
    • references to personal experience
    • allusions to well-known current events
    • citing of experts or trusted figures in the community
    • acknowledgement or rebuttal of opposing arguments
    • appeals to self-interest.
N.B. The effectiveness of each strategy can be discussed either with each individual student or as a group. In this way, the student receives affirming and constructive feedback from the teacher and peers, while at the same time allowing the class to explore the effect of different persuasive devices.