Communication
Outcome 1: Written Communication (Reading)
[HIGHER]

Part 1:
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Part 10:
Part 11:
Appendix
Appendix

Introduction to the section
Assessment information for this section
Reading complex texts
Defining the writer’s purpose
Identifying the source of a text
Identifying the target audience
Summarising texts
Identifying the writer’s attitude
Evaluating a written communication
Summary of this Study Section
Answers to SAQs
A
B

3
7
9
13
19
31
37
45
49
55
63
69
70

Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks are given for permission to use the following copyright materials.
‘Excluded by the system’ © The Sunday Times 7/5/2000 (http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/)
‘Fair Trade spotlight falls on pricey CDs’ © Adam Sherwin/The Times 10/2/2001
‘Fan moves 5,000 miles to be nearer Man U’ © John Mahoney/Daily Star 12/2/2001
‘Man or Mouse’ © Daily Star 12/2/2001
‘Pay per view TV at the Beeb’ © George Cole/Computer Buyer November 2000
‘Improving the hell holes’ © The Guardian (leader) 7/2/2001
‘How to pay for a free lunch’ Ian Burley/Personal Computer World March 2001
‘A leopard can't rebrand its spots’ © Charlie Fletcher/Scotland on Sunday 4/3/2001
‘He loves me! He thinks I’m an old Land Rover’ © Sue Hepworth/The Times (Weekend
Supplement) 10/2/2001. Illustration © Maria Colino.
‘A ruined life given heroic status’ Kirsty Scott/The Herald 5/5/1999
Every attempt has been made to contact copyright owners. Learning and Teaching Scotland apologise for any omission which, if notified, we will be pleased to rectify at the earliest opportunity. INTRODUCTION TO THE SECTION

PART 1

What this section is about
This Study Section is one of three which together cover all of the skills required to complete the SQA National Unit Communication (Higher). This Study Section focuses on Outcome 1, which asks you to respond to complex written communication.
The learning material that you will be working through is the same as that provided for the
Communication (Intermediate 2) pack, with extra material added to help you to develop the skills at Higher. All of the SAQs, Activities, summaries and TAs have been rewritten to focus on the skills required for Communication (Higher).
The materials in this Study Section can be used in a number of different ways, depending on your current qualifications in Communication. Select the statement that best describes your situation from the table below.

I have recently passed
Communication
(Intermediate 2)

I passed
Communication
(Intermediate 2) or
Communication 3 over a year ago

I have not passed
Communication
(Intermediate 2) or
Communication 3

You may be able to pass this unit by skim-reading the main sections – but read them in detail if you are at all unsure.

You should read all of the main sections. Some of the information will be familiar to you, and you may be able to skim-read parts. You should read all of the sections of this Study
Section.

You must read all of the sections called ‘What else you need to know’, and all of the summaries.

You must read all of the sections called ‘What else you need to know’.

You must also try all of the SAQs, Activities and
TAs.

You must also try all of the SAQs, Activities and
TAs.

You should keep in regular contact with your teacher/tutor to let him/ her know of your progress, and to discuss any difficulties you may be having.

You must try all of the
SAQs, Activities and TAs.

If none of these categories describes you, or you are at all unsure, speak to your teacher/ tutor now.

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3

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECTION

Outcome, aims and objectives of this section
Communication (Higher)
Outcome 1: Respond to complex written communication.
Performance criteria
a)
Identify the type and purpose of a communication and justify in terms of the main conventions used.
b)
Identify all significant information, ideas and supporting details and provide a full explanation of their relationships.
c)
Draw inferences from the communication about the writer’s point of view, and justify by detailed reference to the text.
d)
Evaluate fully the effectiveness of the communication in meeting its purpose.
Aims
This Study Section aims to:
•
•
•
•
•

Encourage you to read a range of complex texts
Help you to identify the type of text, writer’s purpose and writer’s attitude
Show you the conventions that apply to different written communications
Show you how to interpret the writer’s attitude
Show you how to summarise important ideas and evaluate texts.

Objectives
By the end of this Study Section, you should be able to:
•
•
•
•

Identify different types of writing, by describing features of the text.
Identify the writer’s purpose, by looking at the content and features of the text
Identify who would find the text of interest, and say why
Summarise the text, including all the main points, and give a basic explanation of their relationship • Describe the writer’s attitude, and refer to the text to justify your answer
• Evaluate the way in which the writer has met the purpose.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand all of these ideas yet. The purpose of this Study Section is to help you to develop the skills required to achieve these objectives.

Approximate study time for this section
This Study Section will take you approximately 10–12 hours to complete. This time will vary from individual to individual, and depending on other circumstances. Additional time will be required to complete the assessment.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE SECTION

Other resources required for this section
Access to a good dictionary and a good thesaurus is recommended. In addition, buying and reading a broadsheet newspaper such as The Scotsman, The Herald, The Guardian, The
Independent, The Times, etc. will be useful in allowing you to extend the scope of your reading, and to encourage you to respond to complex written articles.

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OUTCOME 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (READING)/HIGHER

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION FOR THIS SECTION

PART 2

How you will be assessed for this section
The assessment for Outcome 1 of the unit Communication (Higher) asks you to read an unseen, complex text, and to answer questions covering the following key areas:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Writer’s purpose or purposes
Type of text
Intended readership
Conventions of the text
Summarising the text
Identifying the writer’s attitude
Evaluating the text in terms of how well it met its purpose.

Your tutor will discuss the details of the assessment with you.

When and where you will be assessed for this section
Assessment for this unit should normally be done under supervision in your school or college. What you have to achieve for this section
This Study Section is made up of a mix of the following:

A

Activities. Activities ask you to do something – for example read an article or apply the skills you’ve just learned to a text. Responses to these Activities are given on the following page.

?

Self-Assessed Questions. SAQs enable you to check your understanding of the information that you’ve just read. You should try all SAQs before moving on to the next part of the Study Section, as they allow you to monitor your own progress. Answers to SAQs are included at the end of the Study Section.

T

Tutor Assignments. TAs require you to submit work to your tutor, who will mark it and give you feedback. These are important, as they pull together all of the skills covered in the Study Section, and give you a feeling for the main summative assessment(s) associated with the outcome covered in the Study
Section.

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ASSESSMENT INFORMATION FOR THIS SECTION

As you work through this Study Section, you’ll come across a mix of these. You should try all Activities, Self-Assessed Questions and Tutor Assignments. Only by working through all of these will you have full understanding of the tasks set.

Opportunities for reassessment for this section
You are normally allowed one opportunity to be re-assessed if you don’t meet the performance criteria at your first attempt. You should discuss this with your tutor.

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OUTCOME 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (READING)/HIGHER

READING COMPLEX TEXTS

PART 3

What is a complex text?
This Study Section is all about reading. As you work through this pack, you’ll be asked to read several pieces of work – articles from newspapers, magazines, books and so on (for convenience, we’ll refer to all of these as ‘texts’).
People write because they have some information that they want to communicate, and then the readers absorb this information by reading and interpreting the text. Different writers write in different ways, and we as readers read for different purposes.
In Communication (Intermediate 2) you were asked to read accessible texts, and now for
Higher you’re going to be asked to read complex texts. So, what is a complex text?
A text can be complex for a number of reasons:
•
•
•
•

It discusses complex issues in some detail
It uses complicated vocabulary, sentence structure, sentences or phrases
It is detailed, and discusses several sets of information
It has several purposes.

Complex texts may have several of these features.

A1
To try to define what we mean by complex written communications, read the two communications overleaf. One article is a complex communication, and the other is an accessible communication.
1.
2.

Which text is complex?
What features of the text helped you to decide this? (Think about words used, sentence structures, phraseology, formality, detail of the arguments, etc.)

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READING COMPLEX TEXTS

Text A

Text B

School uniform should be compulsory.
Thirty years ago, every school had a uniform policy, and they all enforced the policy. Boys and girls were proud to wear the uniform, and when they strolled down the streets, it was easy to see at a glance which school they came from. This meant that there was very little trouble from children, as it was much easier to identify which school they’d come from.
Nowadays, children go to school wearing their best clothes. It’s important to have the right trainers on the feet and the correct brand name on the shirt. Children whose parents can’t afford brand name clothes and footwear find themselves sent to Coventry. Occasionally we hear of playground crimes, as young people are robbed of their expensive trainers.
This system is doing nothing to help our youngsters. Kids are being branded at school – there’s the in crowd who wear the right clothes, and there’s the others who don’t. Is this preparing kids for life? Or is it preparing them for lifelong low self-esteem?

School uniform should be compulsory.
Thirty years ago all schools had and enforced a school uniform policy.
School children seemed happy with the uniform, and it was easy to tell which school any would-be trouble maker came from, thus helping to ensure that children became involved in fewer troublesome acts.
Going to school now seems to involve wearing one’s best garments. Many go to school wearing trainers that cost more than a man’s suit. Brand names are everywhere, and rather than advertising the school they attend, many children now look like walking advertisements for large multi-national corporations. Children with wealthy parents wear the right clothes, and are accepted by their peers. Others are not so lucky, and they find themselves excluded because their parents got change out of £30 when they bought their trainers.
Playground thefts of trainers have been reported, and whether these are apocryphal or not is a moot point – the point is that the differences between the haves and the have-nots are such that incidents like these are all too believable.
The wearing of school uniforms has the advantage of reducing everyone to a common denominator. This is not to say that children should all be treated the same.
Instead of judging them by what they wear, let us treat them according to effort and achievement. Bringing back school uniforms will benefit all children – and their parents’ wallets. 10

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READING COMPLEX TEXTS

A 1: Comment
1.

Which text is complex?
The second text is a complex text.

2.

What features of the text helped you to decide this? (Think about words used, sentence structures, phraseology, formality, detail of the arguments, etc.)
The second text is complex because:
• It uses a more complicated vocabulary (e.g. words like apocryphal, moot point, common denominator)
• It uses complex sentences (sentences with a main and subordinate clause)
• It discusses the issue in some depth
• It is written in formal tones
• It is an analytical piece
• It contains several sets of information
• The arguments are well presented and supporting detail is offered
• It has more than one purpose. One purpose is to argue for the re-introduction of school uniforms. Another purpose is for the writer to voice his opinion.

Text A uses an easy-to-understand vocabulary, and doesn’t have complicated phrases or sentences. It’s not very formal (words like ‘kids’ are used). It’s not a detailed analysis
(although the writer does present his point of view). The argument is quite straightforward.
To summarise, texts are complicated for a variety of reasons, including language used, detail of analysis and argument, and complexity of language.

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DEFINING THE WRITER’S PURPOSE

PART 4

Defining the writer’s purpose
It’s always useful to begin your analysis of a text by identifying the writer’s purpose. When you come to sit the assessment, you will be asked to identify the purpose or purposes of a communication, and to give reasons for your answers.

Purposes in writing
Writing always has a purpose – whether you’re writing a short note or a complicated essay, you are doing so for a purpose. This is true of all writers and all writing. Writers write to achieve a purpose.
Purposes usually fall into some of the following categories:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

To give information or to inform
To explain something
To demonstrate something
To express a point of view
To give an opinion
To argue for a particular case
To examine a range of views
To judge the worth of different points of view
To encourage people to think about things in different ways
To highlight an issue
To draw attention to something
To publicise an issue
To make people think about something that they would normally ignore or be unaware of
To persuade people
To try to convince people of a view
To make people change their opinions
To win people over to a cause
To entertain

These are the common purposes that writers have when they write. Many of the purposes in this list are closely related – several mean much the same thing.
Sometimes writers have more than one purpose – sometimes there are two or more purposes in their writing. For example, a writer might want to draw attention to an issue, while at the same time trying to make you change your opinion about it.

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DEFINING THE WRITER’S PURPOSE

How to define a purpose
Purposes usually begin with the word ‘to’. A common mistake is to provide an answer such as the one below (it doesn’t matter what the article was, just read the answers):
The purpose of the article was about the possibility of banning smoking in restaurants.
This can’t be a correct answer, as a purpose should have a ‘to’ word in it. A better answer is this one:
The purpose of the article was to inform readers about the possibility of banning smoking in restaurants. Another good answer would be:
The writer’s purpose was to argue that smoking should be banned in restaurants.

What else you need to know: purpose and content
Sometimes people confuse purpose (what the writer was trying to do) with content (what the writing is all about). It’s important that you explain the purpose clearly, and then back it up with some reference to the content.
As an example, think what the purpose of last night’s Coronation Street was.
The purpose was to entertain.
The content was about the lives of the residents of Coronation Street.

How to identify a writer ’s purpose
As you read a written communication, you should ask yourself what that writer’s purpose is.
Remember that the text may have more than one purpose.
To identify the writer’s purpose, you should look at the following points:
1.

14

Introductory paragraph(s)
Often the introductory paragraph gives you sufficient information to allow you to work out the writer’s purpose. Writers often use the first paragraph to introduce the
‘who’ of the discussion (the people or topic the article is about) and the ‘what’ of the discussion (what is happening that makes it worth writing about). Similarly, writers often use the closing paragraph(s) to offer their solutions or answers.

OUTCOME 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (READING)/HIGHER

DEFINING THE WRITER’S PURPOSE

2.

Stated purpose
Many writers state their purpose at the start of the writing, particularly in reports and essays. For example, you might see someone saying ‘This report examines the rate of illness among babies from different social classes’; or ‘This report compares the fuel consumption of diesel and petrol cars’. Similarly, in essays writers often
‘signpost’ their work, by explaining in an introduction what the essay will show or discuss. This doesn’t mean that the writer has only one purpose, and you should be aware that other purposes may be possible as well, even if these are not stated.

3.

Implied purpose
Implied means suggested but not stated. Many writers don’t say what they hope to achieve, but, by ‘reading between the lines’, we can work out what it is they are trying to achieve. Reading between the lines means that we need to think about more than what words were used, and to start thinking about why certain words were used, or certain examples were given.

4.

Title or headline
The title of an article can often tell you about what the writer’s purpose is. For example, the purpose of an article titled ‘Anger at price of petrol’ is probably to discuss different points of view on the price of petrol. On the other hand, an article titled ‘Petrol prices help pay for the NHS’ is probably intended to allow the writer to defend the price of petrol.

5.

People quoted
The people or sources the writer chooses to quote from give a clue to the writer’s purpose. If a writer quotes from people on different sides of the debate, then you can safely assume that his intention is to discuss a range of views. If the writer only quotes from one side of the argument, then you can assume that the intention was to make a particular point.

6.

Pictures, charts and other graphic material
The use of pictures, charts and graphic material can give you a clue to the writer’s purpose. For example, a picture of a car engine and a headline saying ‘Service charge rip-off’ would immediately tell you that the writer was going to discuss the costs of having cars serviced. A picture of a young person smoking a cigarette would suggest that the writer was going to discuss the issue of young people and smoking.

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DEFINING THE WRITER’S PURPOSE

A2
Read the article in Appendix A on page 69. After reading it, read my analysis below. To show you how to identify the writer’s purpose, I’ve analysed the article for you in terms of the points discussed above. Read these carefully, and observe how I’ve used the ‘clues’ to help me to decide what the writer’s purpose was.
1.

Introductory paragraph(s) and closing paragraphs
The author of the article in Appendix A uses the opening paragraph to tell us that there is something wrong with an education system that allows a boy to attend school for only three hours a day. From this, we can conclude that the writer’s purpose is to discuss what is wrong with this practice.
The writer tells us in the closing paragraph that the Labour Party must look again at its policies. From this, we can say that the purpose is to attack the government’s policy on education.

2.

Stated purposes
The article in Appendix A has no stated purpose.

3.

Implied purposes
In the article in Appendix A, the writer says ‘He is not taught English or maths because his school cannot provide him with a support teacher.’ Reading between the lines, we can infer that the writer would like to see more support teachers, although this isn’t stated openly. Therefore, it’s possible that one purpose of the article is to argue that more support teachers should be employed in schools. Also inferred is an attack on the government, as the writer claims schools devise ‘elaborate ways’ of not going against government policy. This suggests that the writer feels government policy is wrong.

4.

Title or headline
The title of the article in Appendix A is ‘Excluded by the system’ and this immediately suggests that the purpose of the article is to discuss exclusions, although we can’t tell by the title alone what or who is being excluded.

5.

People quoted
In the article in Appendix A, the writer quotes directly from the mother of a boy who has been excluded from school. This suggests that part of the purpose was to make us see things from the excluded boy’s point of view. It suggests that maybe we should feel sympathetic towards him.

6.

Pictures, charts and other graphic material
(There is no picture with the article in Appendix A.)

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DEFINING THE WRITER’S PURPOSE

What is the writer’s purpose?
Let’s pull all of the points together, and make them into one answer.
In the article ‘Excluded by the system’ the author’s first purpose was to discuss what is wrong with the practice of partially excluding children from schools. Three examples that prove this are:
1.

The author uses the opening paragraph to tell us that there is something wrong with an education system that allows a boy to attend school for only three hours a day.

2.

The writer says ‘He is not taught English or maths because his school cannot provide him with a support teacher’. Reading between the lines, we can infer that the writer would like to see more support teachers, although this isn’t stated openly.

3.

The writer quotes directly from the mother of a boy who has been excluded from school. The mother says ‘It is supposed to be an education, but he learns nothing at all’. By quoting the boy’s mother, the writer is showing us how real people are affected by the problem.

The writer’s second purpose was to attack the government’s policy on education. Three examples that prove this are:
1.

The writer claims that schools are loathe to go against government policy and exclude troublesome children, and they are finding elaborate ways of minimising the disruption caused by such pupils while keeping their exclusion figures low. Reading between the lines, we can see that this means the writer thinks that the government’s policy is wrong.

2.

The writer claims that the Scottish Executive is not funding its policies properly. This shows the writer feels that more funding should be provided, or that the policies are wrong. 3.

The writer tells us in the closing paragraph that the Labour Party must look again at its policies. From this, we can say that the purpose is to attack the government’s policy on education.

N.B. When you sit the assessment, you will be expected to give at least two purposes, and to support each purpose with three references to the text. The answers here are typical of the kind of answers that you should provide.

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DEFINING THE WRITER’S PURPOSE

Identifying the writer’s purpose: summary
To help you to identify the writer’s purpose in writing the communication, you should look at some of the following:
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•
•
•
•
•

Introductory paragraph(s)
Stated purpose
Implied purpose
Title or headline
People quoted
Pictures, charts and other graphic material.

Common purposes in writing include:
•
•
•
•
•

To give information
To express a point of view
To highlight an issue
To examine a range of views
To persuade people.

You should say clearly what the writer’s purpose was, and explain how the examples you give help you to identify the purpose.
A good answer will suggest at least two purposes, and be supported by three examples or references to the text for each purpose.

?1
Read the article in Appendix B on page 70, ‘A ruined life given heroic status’, and answer the following question in about 200–300 words:
‘Identify two purposes in the article, and support each purpose with three references to the text. Explain how the references you give helped you to identify the purpose.’
You may wish to refer to the section ‘How to identify a writer’s purpose’ on pages 14 and
15 to help you with this activity.
After you’ve written your answer, check it with the SAQ answers (on page 63).

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IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

PART 5

Identifying the source of a text
Features to look at when identifying type and source
When you’re talking about the source of a text, you usually have to refer to conventions of the genre. This phrase simply refers to those features of the text that make clear what type of writing it is. Different written articles have different styles.
These different styles can be broken down into three areas: layout, content and language.
For example, a tabloid newspaper1 usually has large photos and informal language. Many tabloid newspaper stories are concerned with less important issues.
Broadsheet newspapers2 (sometimes called the quality press) usually go into detail in their stories, have fewer graphics and have a more formal tone.
Magazines usually have many colour photos. They may use a specialised language which discusses the content, and they usually have a tone appropriate for the readership. For example, a magazine about knitting would expect its readers to be able to follow a knitting pattern; a cycling magazine would expect you to understand what a Shimano gear set is.
Readers for whom the magazine is not intended may not understand this specialised language. The table overleaf shows you some of conventions you are likely to come across.

It’s easy to identify the source of a text if you know what clues to look for.

1

A tabloid newspaper is so-called because of the size of its pages – typically about A3 in size. The
Sun, Mirror, Star and Record are all examples of tabloids.

2

Broadsheets are so-called as they are much larger than tabloids. Examples include The Times, The
Scotsman, The Herald and The Guardian.

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IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

Type of writing

Conventions:

Conventions:

Conventions:

Layout

Content

Language

Tabloid

• Columns and headlines

• Stories often focus on

• Informal language

Newspaper

• Large pictures

‘personalities’, gossip,

• Easy to read

(e.g. Daily

• Fewer words

showbiz, scandal, etc.

• May be

Record,

• The paper is smaller

Daily Mirror,
The Star)

than a broadsheet
• Generally more graphics than text

• Many stories have

sensationalist

a ‘human interest’

• Puns (play on

• Important issues

words) often used

discussed in less detail than in a broadsheet

Broadsheet

• Columns and headlines

Newspaper

• Generally fewer

• Stories often focus on politics,

• Formal language
• Complex

(e.g. Scotsman,

graphics used, but

international matters,

sentence

Herald, Guardian)

some broadsheets use

finance, social issues

structures

large pictures to

and serious news

illustrate stories

• Detailed, analytical

• Detailed discussion
• Larger page than a tabloid • Requires time and concentration to read
• Often uses serif fonts
• Writers may be

• Complex vocabulary look at the issue
• Usually well researched (e.g. quotes from a variety of sources)
• Some content is column based, where

‘personalities’, and

writers give their

have their own column,

personal opinion or

often accompanied

views on issues

by a photograph
• Author’s name may appear as a byline3
Magazines

• Sometimes wider

• Usually based on a

• May use a

columns than

theme (e.g. women’s

specialist language

newspapers

magazines, computer

which is

magazines, television

appropriate for

guides, hobbies,

the readership

• Full colour, usually glossy pages

cycling, etc.)

(Table continues on next page)

3

20

A byline is a small subheading, placed after the headline, giving the author’s name. Traditionally these were used by the best known writers only. Broadsheets use this feature more than do tabloids. OUTCOME 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (READING)/HIGHER

IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

Type of writing

Conventions:

Conventions:

Layout
Pamphlets

Conventions:

Content

Language

• Usually printed on

• Usually aimed at giving • Usually

paper about A5 size

information on one

appropriate to the

• Usually comprises a

topic (e.g. a holiday

purpose and

few pages (pamphlet)

guide to Fife; a healthy

readership –

or a single page

eating booklet; a guide

written so that it

(leaflet)

to protecting your

will be easy for the

home from burglars;

target readers to

a booklet advertising

understand.

products for sale, etc.) • May be formal (e.g. a guide to preventing crime) or informal (e.g. a holiday leaflet)
Books

• Usually printed across

• Usually themed on a

• Language

the page, not in

topic (e.g. Economics

appropriate to the

columns

for Beginners; Nursery

topic and reader

• May have charts,

Nursing in Britain;

diagrams relevant to

Social Sciences;

the purpose

Mastering Windows
98, etc.)

Reports

• Usually few if any pictures • Detailed in-depth analysis of the theme

• Some use of charts,

• Clearly stated purpose

tables and diagrams

(often called Terms of

• Clearly structured, usually in numbered sections Reference)
• Often includes charts, graphs and similar

• Formal language
• Some specialist language • Usually formal tone • Concise and to the point

graphics

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IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

A3
On the pages that follow, you will find a selection of articles. Analyse them, and describe the layout, content and language of each.
Describe the layout
For example:
Columns
Headlines
Bylines
Graphics
Length

Article

Describe the content
For example:
Issue under discussion
The purpose
Is it specialised?
The size of the article versus the importance of it

Describe the language For example:
Formality and tone
Easy or hard to read?
Complexity of sentences Straightforward or difficult vocabulary?
Specialised vocabulary?
Is it meant for a specialist readership?

Fair trade spotlight… (Broadsheet)

Fan moves 5,000 miles… (Tabloid)

Man or mouse?
(Tabloid)

Pay-per-view…
(Magazine)

The table on pages 20 and 21 will help you with this Activity. Comments accompany each of the four articles, and these too will help you with this Activity.

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IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

Typical broadsheet newspaper article
© The Times
10 Feb 2001

Bold headline in a serif font →

No graphics present

Author’s name in the byline →
Narrow columns

This article is a detailed discussion on the topic – the price of CDs and how British consumers may be paying more than consumers in the EU
Formal language →
(e.g. ‘It is alleged … cheaper imports’)
No use of contracted words
Notice how the word ‘doctor’ has been placed in quotation marks – this is not the language that the writer would normally use →

There are many examples of complex sentences such as the one here: ‘An OFT spokesman … other
EU member states’
This article has quotations from many different sources – this suggests a lot of research has gone into it, and shows how detailed it is

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The man is referred to as Kevin and not Mr Goddaer.

The bold headline takes up about one third of the article

The caption under the picture refers to Giggsy and not Ryan
Giggs.

The headline is informal – referring to
‘Man U’.

© The Daily Star
12 Feb 2001

There is some play on words
(‘he’s warmed up’) and use of informal and contracted words.

The byline contains the writer’s name, and also tells us this story is an ‘exclusive’. This is a sensationalised term.

The subject is not serious or important, and it’s more of a people story than a news story.

The day this story appeared, the same newspaper included the article overleaf about the mapping of genetic structure of human beings – a much more important news story. This story is much more detailed than the genetics story. This is a typical of the ‘story treatment’ given to news stories by tabloids.

IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

Typical tabloid newspaper article
The headline is a play on words →

Man or mouse? This was important news on the day it was released. It is a medical and social issue yet the
Daily Star doesn’t go into a lot of detail →

SCIENTISTS have proved that the question “Are you a man or a mouse?” is not so ridiculous. Work on the “Book of
Life” project has produced a genetic map of the human body, showing we have
60,000 fewer genes than we thought, between 30,000 and
40,000 – about the same as
MICE.
MICE
The work could help with the detection and treatment of cancer; heart disease and diabetes could be revolutionised; inherited disorders rubbed out; and treatments tailored to a person’s genetic make-up.
And it could mean we live
25 years longer.
Treatments for asthma,
Alzheimer’s, depression and other mood disorders should all be boosted by the project.

Compare this to the amount of detail given to the story ‘Fan moves 5,000 miles to be near
Man U’

The phrase ‘rubbed out’ is a very informal or colloquial way of saying eradicated →

© The Daily Star 12 Feb 2001

← The tone of the article is informal – stressing the issue of man’s closeness to mice, and not stressing the more important implications of the story – that this research could lead to new medical treatments ← Starting a sentence with the word ‘and’ is an example of informal use of language OUTCOME 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (READING)/HIGHER

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IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

Typical magazine article
© Computer Buyer, November 2000
This was originally a full colour article.
The title hints at the specialist nature of the topic. The article is on a specialised topic
(broadcasting on the Internet), which is typical of the articles in this magazine – they’re all themed in some way on computers.
There is evidence of a specialised vocabulary, e.g. Quicktime, RealVideo, ADSL, digital phone lines, etc. It’s quite formally written, but words such as the ‘Beeb’ and the ‘net’ are somewhat informal.

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What else you need to know: language content and type
When you’re asked to identify the type of writing by referring to the conventions of the form, you are being asked to say what type of publication the communication came from.
We've looked at the conventions you should identify for this question. Here I want to stress how important it is that you refer to content and language as well as layout.
You must remember that:
Broadsheets
Broadsheets usually provide opinion columns, world news and home news; all presented as detailed analyses. Many of the issues discussed in a broadsheet might not be commented on at all in a tabloid.
Broadsheets use complex sentences and vocabulary.
Tabloids
Tabloids usually provide stories about people, celebrities and gossip. Serious stories are reported, but not usually in any great depth. Photographs accompany many stories, and these can sometimes be as big as the main story.
Tabloids use a straightforward, easy-to-read vocabulary, with no complex words or sentences. Magazines
Magazines provide features on topics related to the theme of the magazine. Most magazines are themed on one topic (TV Times, Woman’s Weekly, Loaded, etc.).
Magazines use a vocabulary that suits the topic of the magazine. This will usually be specialised in some way. Language is not necessarily complex, but it usually requires some degree of inside knowledge to understand.
Other written forms
When you define the source or type, you must consider the content and type of language and vocabulary used.

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IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE OF A TEXT

A4
Read the article in Appendix A (page 69) again. After reading it, read the analysis below. To show you how to identify what type of text it is, the article is analysed for you in terms of layout, content and language. Read these sections carefully, and observe how the ‘clues’ are used, to help to ‘place’ where the article came from.
Layout
• It is written in columns.
• It has a bold headline.
• It uses a serif font.
Content
• This is a fairly detailed discussion (it is almost 400 words in length).
• It is all about a social issue (i.e. how to deal with pupils with behavioural problems).
• The issue is analysed in depth, and the writer has done research into the subject.
Language
• It uses a serious tone, and the register is formal.
• It uses fairly formal language (e.g. ‘Either they should be sent to special schools or they should be in ordinary schools reinforced with investment to create special units, special projects and to hire support teachers.’).
• It uses some complex sentences (e.g. ‘So, instead of going against the grain of government policy to keep troublemakers in the mainstream, schools are discovering elaborate ways of minimising the disruption to themselves while at the same time keeping their exclusion figures low.’).
All of these points suggest that the text comes from a broadsheet newspaper.
What type of text is this?
Let’s pull all of the points together, and make them into one answer.
The article ‘Excluded by the system’ is written in columns, and has a bold headline. This suggests it is from a newspaper. Closer analysis reveals that it is a detailed discussion of a serious social issue – how to cope with pupils who are disruptive in schools. It uses a formal language and some complex sentences (e.g. ‘So, instead of going against the grain of government policy to keep troublemakers in the mainstream, schools are discovering elaborate ways of minimising the disruption to themselves while at the same time keeping their exclusion figures low.’) These features all suggest that it is a broadsheet newspaper article.
N.B. When you sit the assessment you will be expected to give an answer of similar detail to this one here.

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Identifying the type of writing: summary
When you are asked to identify the type of writing, you are being asked to say what type of publication the text came from.
To do this, you should analyse the communication in terms of these conventions:
• Layout – the way the communication looks on the page
• Content – the topic being discussed
• Language – the level of formality, the tone and the complexity of words and sentences.

?2
Read again the article in Appendix B ‘A ruined life given heroic status’ (page 70) and answer the following question in about 75–150 words:
‘Identify the type of writing, by referring to the conventions of the form (layout, the content and the language used).’
You may wish to refer to the section ‘Identifying the source of a text’ on pages 19 to 21 to help you with this activity.
After you’ve written your answer, check it with the SAQ answers (on page 64).

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IDENTIFYING THE TARGET AUDIENCE

PART 6

Identifying the target audience
Writing with particular readerships in mind
As well as having a purpose in writing articles, writers also aim their writing at particular readerships or audiences. When you’re asked to identify a target audience, you’re being asked to say which group of people the author wrote it for and also to say who would find the text interesting.
Different target audiences have different expectations and different abilities. Writers attempt to meet the readers’ needs, by writing in a way that is appropriate for them, and that explains the message in a suitable way.
Another issue you should consider is who would be interested in the text – think about the content and who would be interested in reading it.
When you analyse a text to work out who the target audience is, you should consider some of the following points:
1.

Content
The content of the text – i.e. what it is about – often tells you who the target audience is. For example, a text about cruelty to animals would be of interest to pet owners, vets, farmers and anyone else who cares about animals. A text about teenage pregnancy would be of interest to teenagers, health workers, social workers, teachers, parents and other people who have contact with teenagers.

People (and parrots!) read texts that give them the information they want or need. 2.

Layout
The layout of a text can tell you a lot about where it came from, and therefore who it is aimed at. An article from a tabloid newspaper is generally aimed at the people who read tabloids (people who don’t want in-depth analyses, or people who find that the focus on human interest, gossip and so on satisfies their needs). A broadsheet article is usually aimed at people who read such papers (those who want in-depth coverage of news, finance, culture, politics, social issues, etc.).

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3.

Headlines and titles
Headlines and article titles often give a clue to the content of the piece, and therefore you can work out who the text is aimed at. For example, the headline ‘Too much fat in the British diet’ would suggest the text was about what people eat, and therefore the target audience would be people on diets, or those who are otherwise concerned with what they eat. The headline ‘Interest rates to rise again’ suggests the text is about financial issues and interest rates, and therefore the target audience would be people who borrow or invest money such as those with a loan or savings; people who work in the finance industry, and people with an interest in economic matters.

4.

Pictures and other graphics
In the same way as headlines and titles give clues to the content, so too do pictures and other graphic materials. For example, a text accompanied by a picture of a young person dancing would suggest that the purpose was to discuss leisure pursuits of young people, and so the target audience would be young people and their parents. 5.

Vocabulary and register
Vocabulary can exclude or embrace people. A complicated, difficult-to-read vocabulary will exclude some readers who don’t want to put in the effort to read, or who can’t understand it. Similarly, a straightforward vocabulary might exclude people who feel that the level of language used suggests the article is not a detailed enough analysis for them. Paragraphs and sentences which are complex (containing many pieces of information for example) can be difficult to read, and might put readers off.
A specialised vocabulary will only appeal to people who are ‘in the know’, or who share the inside knowledge needed to understand the text.
Register is the variety of language that is appropriate to a particular topic or occasion. Register, too, can determine readership. A formally written piece might seem stuffy to some readers, and an informal piece might seem inappropriate or too light-hearted to others.

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A5
Read the article in Appendix A (page 69) again. After reading it, read the analysis below. To show you how to identify the target readership, the article is analysed in terms of the points discussed above. Read these carefully, and observe how the ‘clues’ are used to help to determine who the target audience is.
1.

Content
The article in Appendix A is all about school children with behavioural problems, and therefore parents, schoolchildren, teachers, and others interested in education would be amongst the target readership. These groups would be interested because the article provides a way of interpreting school policy on exclusion, and this potentially affects all parents, children and education professionals.

2.

Layout
We’ve already agreed that the article in Appendix A came from a broadsheet newspaper (the layout is in columns, the subject is a social issue and the text is quite detailed) and so the target audience could be broadsheet readers such as members of the ‘middle classes’; people who are reasonably well educated; business people, etc. 3.

Headlines and titles
The title of the article in Appendix A suggests that the text is in some way about exclusion, and the phrase ‘the system’ hints at social structures. People involved in education and schooling would understand the word ‘excluded’ in the sense intended here. Others might think that the headline refers to social exclusion in some other way. The title would therefore attract people who are interested in social affairs.

4.

Pictures and other graphic material
There are no graphics with the article in Appendix A.

5.

Vocabulary, register and complexity
The article in Appendix A does not use an overly complicated vocabulary, and it uses only a few specialised terms such as ‘exclusion’ and ‘mainstream education’.
However, these are sufficiently well known so they would not inhibit any readers.
The article is reasonably formal, but it is written in a thought-provoking way, and uses some relaxed language (e.g. ‘fobs off’) to get its message across. There are some detailed sentences, but none is particularly difficult to read.
All of this suggests that the article is aimed at a general readership. The vocabulary, register and complexity are such that most people would find this article to be accessible. OUTCOME 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (READING)/HIGHER

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IDENTIFYING THE TARGET AUDIENCE

For what group of readers is this text written?
Again let’s pull all of this together into one answer.
The article ‘Excluded by the system’ is all about school children with behavioural problems, and therefore parents, schoolchildren, teachers, and others interested in education would be amongst the target readership.
The article is laid out in columns, and the text is quite detailed, suggesting it comes from a broadsheet newspaper and so the target audience could members of the ‘middle classes’ and people who are reasonably well educated. However, the vocabulary, register and level of complexity are such that most people would find this article to be accessible, and this suggests that the article is aimed at a general readership.
The article’s title suggests that the text is about some form of social issue, and so people with an interest in social affairs would be interested.
N.B. When you sit the assessment you will be expected to give an answer of similar detail to this one here.

What else you need to know: identifying target readership
The phrase ‘target readership’ refers to who would find the article of interest. In
Communication (Higher), you should refer to the text and to the conventions of the type of writing. We talked about conventions of writing on pages 19–29. If you’ve forgotten what the word ‘conventions’ refers to, have a quick look through these pages now.

Identifying the target readership: summary
When identifying the target readership, you should consider:
• Content – what the communication is about
• Layout – what type of publication has it come from, and who would read this type of writing? • Headlines and titles – what they say, and who would be interested by them
• Pictures and other graphics – what they contain, and who would find them of interest
• Conventions of the text – aspects of the text which suggest its source, and hence its readership. You must give detailed reasons for your answer. Explain who the target readership is, and explain why you feel that this group would be interested in the piece of writing.

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?3
Read again the article in Appendix B ‘A ruined life given heroic status’ (page 70) and answer the following question in about 75–150 words:
‘Identify at least two groups of intended readers. Give reasons for your answer by referring to content, layout, language, register and conventions of the text.’
You may wish to refer to the section ‘Identifying the target audience’ on pages 31 to 34 to help you with this activity.
After you’ve written your answer, check it with the one given on page 64.

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SUMMARISING TEXTS

PART 7

Summarising texts
Identifying important details
When reading a text, you need to be able to identify what the important points are, and what the less important points are. When you are asked to write a summary of a text, you're being asked to identify the main points only.
A summary is a shortened version of the original text, in which the main points are discussed, along with a few of the supporting examples. When summarising, you should ensure that the meaning of the original article is not changed.
Summarising requires you to read the article, and then to decide what the main points are, and what the less important points are. You should then write up the summary, covering the main points only.
Using your own words
A summary should be written in your own words – but reporting the events that someone else has written about. You must not give your own opinion in a summary. A useful way to help you to do this is to refer to the author. Begin your summary with a line such as:
‘In the article 'My Gran was a Monster’ by Michael North, the author starts off by telling us that …’
And as you write your summary, use linking phrases such as those in bold here:
‘The writer then goes on to claim that his grandmother used to eat babies whole.’
‘North then argues that grandmothers are ferocious as a race, and that false teeth should only be dispensed on special licence.’
Writers often give opinions in their writing and for this reason you should avoid repeating something as if it is a fact. Use phrases such as the bold ones here:
‘The author says that grandmothers are all devious.’
‘The author states that his grandmother was quite mean.’
‘The writer feels that it’s strange what they get away with.’
‘The author argues that grandmothers have a lot to answer for.’

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What else you need to know: summarising texts
As well as providing a summary of the main points, you need to show the relationship between the important points. This means that it’s important that you discuss ideas in the order in which the writer has written them. You must also write your summary so that the writer’s original meaning is kept intact, even though you’ve used your own words.
You are only being asked to identify important ideas and supporting details. An idea is a point or argument that the writer makes. Supporting details are the examples used to back up the main ideas.
Try to be clear in your mind about the difference between an important idea and supporting examples. All of the main ideas must go into your summary. Only some of the examples or supporting details need to go in.

A summary is a shorter version of the original text. You must include all of the main points of the original story.

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?4
Read the short passage below, and summarise it in your own words. Try to keep your summary to about 100–150 words (the original article is about 310 words long).

For many people, animals provide their first experience of love and of death.
Children get to care, to feed, to exercise, to love and to talk to animals. Children learn the importance of these things, and animals give a lot back to their owners.
Children learn about powerlessness and responsibility. They learn about unconditional love.
Then, one day, the animal dies or more usually a vet performs euthanasia. The language used covers up the reality – the animal is put to sleep, or the animal goes to a better place.
This is where most people first face death, and the way it’s described mirrors the language used to describe human death.
Suddenly children learn about death, and life is never the same again. The child goes through a rite of passage, and parents face a new question. Most children will by this time have asked ‘Where do babies come from?’ and now they will be asking ‘Why do people die?’

Parents find the babies question hard to answer, out of embarrassment or not knowing what to say. But the question of death is much harder to answer, for in answering it, we face our own mortality, our own future, and we remember not only the pets we’ve lost, but also the people who died before us.
We do not want our children to be sullied with knowledge of the adult world.
We do not want them to be burdened with thoughts of death. But we must tell them about death, and what it means. In life we are in death, and children are learning how to live all the time. We must tell the children the truth.
Animals are good for children. Animals teach them things about life that we as parents do not. Equally, animals’ deaths give them new insights. They become aware that the world has its darker side.

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A6
Once again, let’s use the article in Appendix A as an example of how to summarise a text.
Overleaf, you will see the original article from Appendix A in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column is a summary.
Look carefully at the original and summarised versions, and notice what parts have been chosen for inclusion in the summary. Pay attention as well to how the words in the summary are used. They try to include only the main arguments or points being made.
Consider these questions.
1.
2.

The summary has missed out a lot of the detail. What parts have been missed out?
Why have these parts been missed out?

The original article was about 380 words, and the summary is about 215 words.
No comment is given after this activity – the answers to these two questions are clear to see if you look carefully at the original article and the summary.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

SUMMARY

Excluded by the system
Something is wrong with an education system that allows a 12-year-old boy to attend school for only three hours a day for art, PE, home economics and to play on computers. He is not taught English or maths because his school cannot provide him with a support teacher. Without one he would probably disrupt the other pupils in his class: they would learn nothing and he would learn nothing.

In the article, ‘Excluded by the system’, the writer starts off by telling us about a 12-year-old boy who attends school for only three hours a day, because the school can’t provide the support teacher he needs. He would disrupt classes without such support.

There are no easy solutions for teachers when they are confronted with troublesome children like this, but his part-time existence at school is no solution at all. An education system that fobs off troublemakers with a few hours of so-called schooling a day, rather than educate them, is failing itself, its misfit pupils and, in the end, society.
Rightly, the boy’s mother complains: ‘It is supposed to be an education, but he learns nothing at all.’

The writer feels that for the teachers, there are no easy answers, but that it’s not fair on the boy. He feels that the current system is failing the school, the boy and society.

The writer quotes the boy’s mother who says that he is learning nothing.

If this boy’s predicament was unusual, it would be less worrying. But he is one of many such children.
They are supposed to receive a mainstream education but, because they are so difficult to handle, schools cannot cope with them. So, instead of going against the grain of government policy to keep troublemakers in the mainstream, schools are discovering elaborate ways of minimising the disruption to themselves while at the same time keeping their exclusion figures low.

The writer goes on to claim that this boy is only one of many in the same situation – difficult to handle. He claims that schools use this system because it means they don’t have to exclude pupils.

Common sense dictates that there are two principal options for education policy-makers grappling with persistently disruptive pupils. Either they should be sent to special schools or they should be in ordinary schools reinforced with investment to create special units, special projects and to hire support teachers.

The writer feels that for pupils in this situation, there are two options – special schools or special units in existing schools.

The Scottish Executive has chosen the latter option, but does not seem to be funding it sufficiently for it to work, despite £23m in the excellence fund for schools to set up ‘alternatives to exclusion’. Money is not the only answer, but it helps. The lack of it, and the government’s target to cut exclusions by one third by 2002, is having the effect of increasing the number of halfway-house children who are being neither educated nor excluded. The minister must look at the policy again. Unless, of course, Labour intends to modify its mantra
‘education, education, education’ by adding the words ‘except for children who cause trouble’.

The Scottish Executive favours the special unit model, but isn’t funding it properly. Partly because of a lack of appropriate funding, and because schools are trying to cut exclusion figures, the number of what the author refers to as ‘halfwayhouse children’ who are neither excluded nor being educated will grow.
The writer concludes by attacking government education policies, saying that they ignore troublesome children.

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SUMMARISING TEXTS

Writing a summary for this text
The article summary is written in the right-hand column on page 41. Here it’s written again so you can see at a glance how the article has been summarised.
In the article, ‘Excluded by the system’, the writer starts off by telling us about a 12-yearold boy who attends school for only three hours a day, because the school can’t provide the support teacher he needs. He would disrupt classes without such support. The writer feels that for the teachers, there are no easy answers, but that it’s not fair on the boy. The writer feels that the current system is failing the school, the boy and society.
The writer quotes the boy’s mother who says that he is learning nothing. The writer goes on to claim that this boy is only one of many in the same situation – difficult to handle. He claims that schools use this system because it means they don’t have to exclude pupils.
The writer feels that there are two options for pupils in this situation – special schools or special units in existing schools. The Scottish Executive favours the special unit model, but isn’t funding it properly. Partly because of a lack of appropriate funding, and because schools are trying to cut exclusion figures, the number of what the author refers to as
‘halfway-house children’ who are neither excluded nor being educated will grow.
The writer concludes by attacking government education policies, saying that they ignore troublesome children.
N.B. When you sit the assessment you will be asked to write a full summary similar to this one. Alternatively, the assessment will ask you to identify and explain the main points only.
Whatever the assessment asks you to do, you should be sure that you retell the story, in brief, in your own words, and focus on the main points of the information. Be sure to read the assessment carefully so that you know what you are expected to do.

How to write summaries: summary
•
•
•
•

Summaries should be a shortened version of the writer’s article.
You should include the main points only, with a few supporting details or examples.
They should be written in your own words, but reflecting the author’s views.
Name the author and article title in your answer (e.g. In the article ‘My Gran was a
Monster’ by Michael North, the author starts off by telling us that …).
• Refer to the author as you summarise (e.g. The writer claims…).
• Never put in your own opinion.

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?5
Read again the article in Appendix B (page 70), ‘A ruined life given heroic status’, and answer the following question in about 150–250 words:
‘Give a summary in your own words of the main information and ideas in the text.’
You may wish to refer to the section ‘Summarising texts’ on pages 37 to 42 to help you with this activity.
After you’ve written your answer, check it with the SAQ answers (on page 65).

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IDENTIFYING THE WRITER’S ATTITUDE

PART 8

Identifying the writer’s attitude
Stating and implying attitude
Sometimes writers make clear what they feel about something. They state their feelings openly. At other times, they imply or suggest what they feel – and this means we have to read between the lines to work out what they think.
When you are asked to identify the writer’s attitude or feelings, you’re being asked to say what the writer thinks about the issue. To do this, you should consider some of the following: 1.

The writer’s stated attitude
This is the easiest one to identify. If a writer says what he or she feels, then you’re left in little doubt about his/her view. However, your answers shouldn’t focus on this type of answer alone. You should also refer to other aspects of the text (discussed below) that imply or suggest what the writer thinks.

2.

The words used by the writer
Writers pick words carefully to express themselves. The choice of words that a writer uses can tell you a lot about what the writer thinks. For example, if you describe an incident as ‘an unfortunate accident’, you clearly feel less strongly about it than someone who describes it as ‘the result of carelessness’.

3.

The balance of views reported
A good writer usually discusses ideas for and against what is being discussed. If the writer discusses more ideas for one point of view, then you can infer that he/she is in support of that viewpoint.

4.

The people and sources quoted
When putting together an argument, most writers quote different people and different sources. If a lot of the quotations come from one side of the debate, then again you can infer that the writer favours this side of the argument.
Think about the people quoted – writers don’t always openly give their point of view, but may quote other people to make certain points.

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5.

The tone and level of formality
If someone writes in a very light tone about a serious subject, then it’s safe to assume that he/she doesn’t take the subject seriously. Similarly, if the writer uses a very formal tone to discuss an apparently trivial matter, it suggests that the writer may feel that this is a serious issue.

A7
Read the article in Appendix A (on page 69). After reading it, read the analysis below. To show you how to identify the writer’s attitude, the article is analysed for you in terms of the points discussed above. Read these carefully, and observe how the ‘clues’ have been used to help to determine what the writer really thinks.
1.

Stated attitude
In the sample article, the writer states his opinion openly. He says that there is something wrong with the education system (first paragraph) and that the government needs to do something about it (last paragraph).

2.

Words used
The article in Appendix A contains many examples of words and phrases that tell us about the writer’s attitude. In the first paragraph, he says that the boy attends school for ‘only’ three hours a day. This word shows that he feels this is not enough. He uses the phrase ‘fobs off troublemakers with a few hours of so-called schooling’.
This phrase shows that he feels pupils are being given poor treatment, and the ‘socalled’ schooling they are given is not of a good quality. In the middle of the article, he refers to the situation as ‘worrying’, and this tells us he feels it is a serious concern. The words that the writer is using imply what his attitude is to the issue.

3.

Balance of views
Looking at the article in Appendix A, it’s clear that the writer feels that children with behavioural problems are being let down by the system. The writer quotes from the mother, and gives several examples of how the 12-year-old boy’s education is suffering. He also points out that schools are failing many children like him. Nowhere in the article does he criticise the boy himself. The writer doesn’t allow anyone from the government to speak either, and this suggests that the writer wanted to emphasise one side of the argument.

4.

People and sources quoted
In the article in Appendix A, the writer quotes the mother, and quotes from a policy document which discusses ‘alternatives to exclusion’. Once again, it seems clear that the writer is sympathetic to the boy’s plight.

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Tone and level of formality
The article in Appendix A is written in a fairly formal tone, and this suggests the writer feels quite strongly about the subject. Also, the last sentence ‘Unless, of course, Labour intends to modify its mantra “education, education, education” by adding the words “except for children who cause trouble”’ is almost sarcastic in tone. This suggests that he feels that the Labour Party doesn’t give this issue as much attention as it should. The tone is less formal in a few parts – phrases such as ‘fobs off’ and ‘so-called’ are also sarcastic in tone, showing how strongly the writer feels about the issue.

5.

What is the writer’s attitude?
Once again, let’s pull all of this together into one answer.
In the article ‘Excluded by the system’, the writer states that there is something wrong with the education system and that the government needs to do something about it. He refers to the situation as ‘worrying’. In the first paragraph, he says that the boy attends school for ‘only’ three hours a day. The word ‘only’ shows that he feels this is not enough. He uses the phrase ‘fobs off troublemakers with a few hours of so-called schooling’. This phrase shows that he feels pupils are being given poor treatment, and the ‘so-called’ schooling they are given is not of a good quality.
The writer quotes from the mother, and gives several examples of how the boy’s education is suffering. He points out that schools are failing children like him. Nowhere in the article does he criticise the boy himself. This suggests that the writer is sympathetic to the boy’s plight. The writer’s use of a fairly formal tone suggests he feels quite strongly about the subject. Also, the last sentence ‘Unless, of course, Labour intends to modify its mantra “education, education, education …4 except for children who cause trouble”’ is sarcastic in tone. This suggests that he feels that the Labour Party doesn’t give this issue as much attention as it should.
N.B. When you sit the assessment you will be expected to give an answer of similar detail to this. You must explain the writer’s attitude to the events reported, and give examples from the text to prove this, referring to both stated and implied attitude. You should be able to do this in about 100–200 words.

4

This punctuation mark … is called ellipsis, and it is used to show that you have removed some unimportant words from the original quotation. This is useful in achieving brevity in your work.

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What else you need to know: identifying the writer ’s attitude
When you discuss the writer’s attitude in Communication (Higher), you are expected to make detailed references to the article. You must also identify the writer’s implied attitude.
This means that you should look in some detail at the ways in which the writer suggests his/ her attitude, as well as looking at what the writer states.
Word choice, tone and balance of the article are all areas (discussed above) which help you to identify the writer’s implied attitude.

Identifying the writer’s attitude: summary
When you are asked to identify the writer’s attitude, you should look at some of these points: • The writer’s stated attitude – what s/he says openly (this should not be the main part of your answer, however).
• The words used by the writer – what the words imply about the writer’s attitude.
• The balance of views reported – whether the viewpoint is biased or attempts equal discussion of views. If there is bias what does this suggest about the writer’s attitude? If there is no bias, what does this say about the writer’s attitude?
• The people and sources quoted – has the writer chosen people who agree with his/her point of view? What do the sources say about the writer’s attitude?
• The tone and level of formality – whether these suggest the writer feels seriously or strongly about the subject.

?6
Read the article in Appendix B (page 70), ‘A ruined life given heroic status’, and answer the following question in about 100–200 words:
‘What is the attitude of the writer to the subject?’
(Justify your answer with reference to the text. You are not being asked to look for a direct statement, but for what you can infer. Think about whether the writing is objective or subjective, the balance of the argument, if the words used are emotional or neutral, the feelings as reflected in the general tone or style, etc.)
You may wish to refer to the section ‘Identifying the writer’s attitude’ on pages 45 to 47 to help you with this activity. After you’ve written your answer, check it with the SAQ answers (on page 66).

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PART 9

Evaluating a written communication
Deciding how well the writer achieved the purpose
When you are asked to evaluate a written communication, you are being asked to decide how well the writer wrote it and to what extent s/he achieved the purpose of the writing.
You should say what the strengths and weaknesses of the communication are. To do these things, you should ask yourself the following questions.
1.

What was the writer’s purpose?
Before you can begin to decide how well the writer met the purpose, you need to remind yourself of what the writer’s purpose was. Look over your answer to the question that asked you what the purpose was, and remind yourself of why you gave that answer before you go any further.

2.

Was the communication biased?
A biased communication may be less effective than a communication that examines both sides of the argument. If the writer has only looked at one side of the debate, and has ignored obvious weaknesses in the argument, then the communication as a whole may be less effective than one that addresses points for and against.

Some writers get so wrapped in their argument that they fail to give a balanced view.

3.

Were the sources quoted relevant?
Where a writer has quoted from people or from documents, you should ask yourself if these sources are relevant. It’s always easy to provide quotations, but these should be from people or organisations whose opinions come from experience of the subject. 4.

Were the examples used clear and relevant?
Examples are useful for making points clear. A good example makes the point very easy to follow, whilst a bad example simply obscures the main point.

5.

Did the writer stick to the point?
If the writer sticks to the point, and works through his/her argument clearly, the piece is more effective than one where the writer goes off at tangents, or starts to talk about things that are not really relevant to the issue.

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6.

Was the communication well structured?
All written communications follow some form of structure. A well written communication has a structure that helps the reader to understand what is being said, and uses linking phrases to move from one point to another. A badly structured piece is difficult to follow, and you may find yourself asking why the writer has said something, or you may find you need to go back a few lines to make sense of what the writer was trying to say.

7.

How effective were the graphics?
Pictures, charts, diagrams, etc. should add to the meaning of the message, by making a point easier to follow, or by providing extra information to the text. If the graphic is difficult to understand, or is not clearly related to the issue, then it’s probably not very effective.

8.

How effective were the headlines/bylines/titles?
A headline or title should give you some idea of what is to come in the text. Their purpose is usually to interest the reader, and they should suggest something about what is to come in the written communication. If they are obscure, or apparently not directly related to the text, then they’re probably not very effective.

9.

Was the layout effective?
Layout refers to the way that the communication is presented on the page. As such, it refers to text size, fonts used, headline/title size, the position of graphics and so on.
You should look at the layout and decide if it helped to make the communication appealing and something that you would want to read. Something that is cluttered and untidy on the page is less inviting than something that has a clear and attractive layout. 10.

Were the language, tone and register appropriate?
Language refers to the vocabulary (word choices) and to the complexity of sentences, etc. Language should be appropriate for the subject being discussed. Also the language used should be appropriate for the target readers. The same is true of the complexity of the sentences used. Register refers to level of formality. An inappropriate register (such as talking informally about a serious subject) usually makes the text less effective.

11.

To what extent were you convinced by the article?
Think about what the writer was trying to do, and then ask yourself if you feel that the writer has succeeded. What parts of the text worked well? Why? What parts were less effective? Why?

This is a long list of questions, and usually you'll be asked to evaluate the communication in
150 words (as opposed to 100 words in Intermediate 2). This means that there is no way you can cover all of the points listed here! The purpose of providing you with such a

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detailed list is to allow you to consider all of the points that you can use when you evaluate a communication.
Each article that you're given will need to be evaluated in different ways. The questions here will not apply to every article, but when you come to evaluate a written communication, you should be able to select the most relevant questions from this list.
Having read the communication, think about which of these points can be used to evaluate the communication.

A8
Read the article ‘Excluded by the system’ on page 69 (Appendix A). After reading it, read the analysis below. To show you how to evaluate a text, the article is analysed for you in terms of the points discussed above. Read these carefully, and observe how the ‘clues’ are used to help determine how effective the text is.
1.

What was the writer’s purpose?
In the article in Appendix A, the writer’s purpose was to argue that more support is required for ‘troublesome’ children.

2.

Was the communication biased?
In the article, the writer only really gives one side of the story. He criticises the government for failing to adequately fund special support, but he doesn’t allow the government a chance to defend its position. This makes the article one-sided, and less effective.

3.

Were the sources quoted relevant?
The writer has quoted from one woman whose son is not getting the support that he needs in the school. This is a relevant source, as the woman clearly has a relevant contribution to make, and so makes the article more effective. However, the writer quotes from no-one else, and so it seems that this article is largely made up of the writer’s opinion – maybe quoting from a range of more relevant sources would have made this article more effective.

4.

Were the examples used clear and relevant?
The writer uses the example of the 12-year-old boy, and his case is explained well and is easy to understand. This is a strength of the article.

5.

Did the writer stick to the point?
The writer sticks to the point. He uses the example of the boy to introduce the wider issue of how this problem affects many children. There is a clear focus to this article, and we’re not led off at tangents.

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6.

Was the communication well structured?
The article is well structured – it’s introduced with a good example, and then goes on to explain the wider problem. The writer also implies possible solutions – increased funding and a rethink of policy.

7.

How effective were the graphics?
There are no graphics with the article.

8.

Were the headline/byline/title effective?
The title ‘Excluded by the system’ is quite effective. ‘Excluded’ is a word used by schools to refer to pupils who have been temporarily barred from school as a punishment, and so the title refers to the issue being discussed.

9.

Was the layout effective?
The article is laid out in straightforward columns, which are easy to read, but some pictures or other graphics would have added interest to the piece.

10.

Were the language, tone and register appropriate?
The article uses a formal and somewhat specialised language, and some of the sentences are quite complex (e.g. ‘So, instead of going against the grain of government policy to keep troublemakers in the mainstream, schools are discovering elaborate ways of minimising the disruption to themselves while at the same time keeping their exclusion figures low.’). All of this is appropriate to the subject – because the subject is serious it needs to be discussed in a formal way. Also, it’s appropriate for the target readers (people involved in education) – it uses some specialised language that these readers would understand, and the complex sentences would also be suitable for the target readers. The register is formal. Some parents may find it overly complex, however. Overall the article has an appropriate language, register and tone. 11.

To what extent were you convinced by the article?
This is a personal question, and your answer is going to be unique to you. When saying to what extent the article convinced you, you must say what it was that made you feel that way.
For example, I felt quite convinced by the writer’s points, although overall I was left feeling that he raised issues but didn’t provide real solutions. By not allowing the government to speak, I felt that I was being asked to believe the writer, and that I wasn’t being given enough information to make up my mind for myself.

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What else you need to know: evaluating communications
Evaluation means analysing a text in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. You must make reference to the following when you evaluate a text in Communication (Higher):
•
•
•
•
•

Layout
Graphics
Vocabulary
Structure
Tone (general mood of the piece) and register (level of formality).

These are all discussed above.
Evaluating the text
Having examined the article in Appendix A, we can evaluate it as follows.
In the article ‘Excluded by the system’, the writer's purpose was to argue that more support is required for ‘troublesome’ children. The writer only gives one side of the story. He criticises the government for failing to adequately fund special support, but he doesn't allow the government a chance to defend its position. This makes the article one-sided. There is a clear focus to this article, and it is well structured – it’s introduced with a good example, and then explains the wider problem. The writer implies possible solutions – increased funding and a rethink of policy. The article is laid out in straightforward columns, which are easy to read, but some pictures or other graphics would have added interest to the piece.
The writer uses a formal and somewhat specialised language, and some of the sentences are quite complex (e.g. ‘So, instead of going against the grain of government policy to keep troublemakers in the mainstream, schools are discovering elaborate ways of minimising the disruption to themselves while at the same time keeping their exclusion figures low.’). All of this is appropriate for the serious nature of the subject. Also, it’s appropriate for the target readership as it uses some specialised language and complex sentences that the readers would understand. The register is formal, and the tone suggests that the writer feels that it is a serious problem. Overall, the article lacks balance, but the writer was using the piece to present his argument, and he has achieved this goal well.
N.B. When you sit the assessment you will be expected to give an answer similar to this one.
The assessment asks for an evaluation of at least 150 words – you may find you go over this word count. (This answer is about 250 words, but it includes a quotation of about 40 words.) OUTCOME 1: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (READING)/HIGHER

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Evaluating a written communication: summary
Evaluating a written communication is all about judging its strengths and weaknesses. The issues you consider should ask how effective a written communication was:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

What was the writer’s purpose?
Was the communication biased?
Were the sources quoted relevant?
Were the examples used clear and relevant?
Did the writer stick to the point?
Was the communication well structured?
How effective were the graphics?
How effective were the headlines/titles?
Was the layout effective?
Were the language and tone appropriate?

You do not need to use every one of these questions to evaluate any one communication.
Once you’ve read a piece, you will be able to identify which of the questions are relevant to the communication.

?7
Read the article in Appendix B (page 70), ‘A ruined life given heroic status’, and answer the following question:
‘How effective is the piece of writing in meeting the purpose(s) you identified in your answer to Question I? ‘
(Justify your answer with reference to the text. Analyse the strengths and any weaknesses.
Consider whether the style and tone could have been more effective in terms of layout, graphics, vocabulary and structure. Consider how you or other people may have responded and make a detailed evaluation of at least 150 words. Link your evidence to the points made in your answer to Question 1.)
You may wish to refer to the section ‘Evaluating a written communication’ on pages 49 to
53 to help you with this activity.
After you’ve written your answer, check it with the SAQ answers (on page 67).

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SUMMARY OF THIS STUDY SECTION

PART 10

Summary of this Study Section
When you read a text, you should now be able to do the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Identify the purpose of the communication
Identify the type of writing
Identify the intended readership
Summarise the text
Describe the writer’s attitude to the events reported
Evaluate the communication.

This Study Section has looked at each of these tasks, and you should refer back to the relevant part if you’re unsure about how to do that particular task.
In your answers, you need to provide supporting detail to back up your answers. This means you need to refer to the text, quote from the text, and show your understanding of the text.
This Study Section looked in detail at the article ‘Excluded by the system’ as an example.
Many of the answers given in this Study Section are more detailed than you need to give in your answers to the assessment.
You were also asked to answer questions based on the article ‘A ruined life given heroic status’, and you were shown how many words to provide for each answer.
You are now going to be asked to analyse a text on your own. You should now complete the
TA (overleaf) and submit this to your tutor. S/he will mark it and return it to you with comments. Following this, you and s/he can decide if you are ready to proceed with the outcome (summative) assessment, or if you should try another practice piece first.

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T1
Tutor Assignment 1
Read one of the four articles that follow and answer the following questions. You should then submit these answers to your tutor for comment. After marking it, s/he will advise you whether you’re ready to do the assessment, or whether you should try another practice assessment first.

Respond to complex written communication
Answer all the questions. You must provide evidence to support your responses by making detailed reference to the text. You may wish to consult the summaries or the whole of this
Study Section as you answer these questions.
1a.

Identify two purposes of the piece of writing, giving three reasons for each purpose.

1b.

Identify the type of writing by referring to the conventions of the form.

1c.

Identify at least two groups of intended readers.
(Identify the type of writing and intended readership giving evidence to support your answer. Do not concentrate only on the content, but what the writer is aiming to do, such as to inform, to persuade or to express feelings. Your evidence should refer to aspects such as layout, graphic material, key phrases, register or level of formality that identify the type of text and intended reader.)
[PC (a)]

2.

Give a summary in your own words of the main information and ideas in the text.
[PC (b)]

3.

What is the attitude of the writer to the subject?
(Justify your answer with reference to the text. You are not being asked to look for a direct statement, but for what you can infer. Think about whether the writing is objective or subjective, the balance of the argument, if the words used are emotional or neutral, the feelings as reflected in the general tone or style, etc.)
[PC (c)]

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4.

How effective is the piece of writing in meeting the purpose(s) you identified in your answer to Question I?
(Justify your answer with reference to the text. Analyse the strengths and any weaknesses. Consider whether the style and tone could have been more effective in terms of layout, graphics, vocabulary or structure. Consider how you or other people may have responded and make a detailed evaluation of at least 150 words.
Link your evidence to the points made in your answer to Question 1.)
[PC (d)]

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PART 11

Answers to SAQs

? 1: Answer
Identify two purposes in the article, and support each purpose with three references to the text. Explain how the references you give helped you to identify the purpose.
You should have identified at least two purposes from the left-hand column, and at least six reasons in total for saying that this was the purpose, from the right-hand side of the column.
Purpose

Reasons for saying this is the purpose

The writer’s purpose was to express her point of view about how alcohol and alcohol related problems are treated ambivalently by society. • The writer gives the examples of Oliver Reed and Richard Burton, and explains how they were known to have drink problems, yet this problem was seen as part of their characters.
• The writer refers to how we expect to read of the deaths of people such as Burton and Reed, and claims that we wanted to see them go ‘in a final splurge of alcohol’.
• She closes the article by discussing how a group of young teenagers drinking alcohol in a park were being observed by younger children who appeared to be looking on not with ‘disapproval or … envy. It was worse than that. It looked like aspiration.’

A second purpose of the writing was to raise concern about the way that people are glorified for having an alcohol problem. • The writer discusses the way that people with drink problems are given euphemistic descriptions such as ‘hardman’, ‘hellraiser’, or
‘rabble rouser’. She says that we ‘celebrate his sickness as if it was something to take pride in’.
• She discusses how Oliver Reed referred to having the courage to drink himself into the grave, and she makes the point that there is no courage in ‘squandering a life’ – clearly telling us that she disapproves of this type of attitude.
• The title – ‘A ruined life given heroic status’ – shows that she feels that drink ruins lives, yet we continue to exalt it.

A third purpose was to raise concern about the effects of drink problems on young people

• She gives examples of how alcohol affects people such as the
‘shambling shape’ of the drunken man, and discusses how he ‘lives’.
She makes the point that ‘lives’ is not a word that best describes his existence. She also gives examples of how children threw stones at him, as he ‘lay in a stained, confused heap in the middle of some wet grass in the park’. This example is used to show how bad the problem can become.
• She talks about how Scotland has a particular problem with drink, but that this does nothing to change the way that people think about alcohol in Scotland. She uses the phrase ‘the sink-em, lineem-up, balance-on-your-beer-gut kind’ to describe the type of drinker she is referring to.
• She discusses the teenagers drinking in the park, and uses the phrase ‘unsteady on their still-growing feet’ to emphasise the fact that these are young people, not physically mature (and by implication not emotionally secure either).

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Your answer will be similar to these, but not identical. Many of the examples from the text can be used to justify different purposes, and you may have given one purpose and supported it by different reasons to the ones chosen here. It’s not too important which purposes and reasons you gave. The important thing is that your answer is reasonable, and is supported by appropriate references to the text.

? 2: Answer
Identify the type of writing, by referring to the conventions of the form (layout, the content and the language used).
The text is laid out in columns, and has a bold headline. The writer’s name appears in a byline. This suggests it comes from a newspaper.
The content is an opinion piece, and the writer’s picture appears at the top of the column.
This approach tends to be more common in broadsheets, although tabloids do use this feature as well. The writer talks in some detail about how she feels that society is contradictory in its views about people with alcohol problems. This is not a news story as such – it is a social issue. This suggests that it is from a broadsheet newspaper.
Further evidence of this comes from the language used. Many of the sentences are fairly complex, containing several points. The detail and length of the article confirm that it is from a broadsheet newspaper.
N.B. In the assessment you will be expected to give an answer of similar detail to this one.

? 3: Answer
Identify at least two groups of intended readers. Give reasons for your answer by referring to content, layout, language, register, and conventions of the text.
The article ‘A ruined life given heroic status’ is about how society venerates famous people who have a drink problem, and as such it would be of interest to those in the public eye. It mentions young teenagers drinking, and how younger children looked on ‘with aspiration’, and so parents and youth workers would find the article interesting, as they have contact with young people. Young people themselves might also find it of interest, as it discusses an issue which all young people have to make a decision on eventually.The article would also interest health workers, as it discusses the health problems associated with drinking
(weight problems, early death, aggression, etc.).
The article might also interest people who work with problem drinkers (volunteers,
Salvation Army members, social workers, etc.) as it discusses the case of the drunken man who sleeps in the park.

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The layout of the article (columns, headline) and somewhat complex sentence structures suggests it comes from a broadsheet newspaper. The register is formal and the article goes into some depth, and so broadsheet readers (well educated people) would find it interesting. This is a more detailed answer than you need to give in the assessment. It is provided simply to show you the range of possible answers to this question.

? 4: Answer
Read the short passage, and summarise it in your own words.
The author starts off by telling us that children learn about life and death from animals. By caring for animals children become responsible and learn about love. When pets die, children learn about death, and this is a stage of development that children must experience.
The death of a pet can lead to parents facing the question ‘why do people die?’.
The author then gives his opinion that parents do not want their children to have this knowledge, but argues that they must. Although it is a difficult question for parents to answer, the author states that parents must answer it truthfully. He finishes the article by claiming that animals benefit children, and that the death of a pet helps a child to learn that the world has an unpleasant side.

? 5: Answer
Give a summary in your own words of the main information and ideas in the text.
Kirsty Scott starts off her article, ‘A ruined life given heroic status’, by telling us about a drunken man she often sees, who often talks to passers by. She explains how previously she’d passed him sober, and he’d made an attempt to tidy himself up. On another occasion she saw him lying in the park on damp grass as children threw stones at him.
She goes on to contrast this man with show-business celebrities who are referred to as hellraisers and rabble-rousers. She discusses how such behaviour is encouraged, and how celebrities are allowed to make fools of themselves in public. She then goes on to discuss how, when they die, we say it was a suitable way to go. As an example of this, she tells us about Oliver Reed, describing how we reacted by making him a hero. She quotes Glenda
Jackson, who says that Reed died the way he would have wished.
The writer then tells us that Reed discussed how he hoped that he’d have the courage to drink himself to death, and then she argues that there is no braveness associated with dying in this way, since it causes emotional and sometimes physical pain to loved ones.

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ANSWERS TO SAQs

Scott then uses the example of Reed to argue that we have a mixed attitude to drink. She contrasts our disgust at drunken football louts with the very different way we react to people like Reed. She claims that we know about the problem but that doesn’t stop us from having a certain pride in our drinking.
She ends the article by telling us about the park again, where the drunken man often goes, but this time tells us that she saw a group of teenagers drinking. She says that a group of younger children looked on, and that these younger children were neither disgusted nor unable to understand, nor envious. It looked more like these younger children were ambitious – waiting till it was their turn to start drinking alcohol.
N.B. Your summary will be different to this one, and it may be shorter. As long as you've covered the main arguments and points in the article, your answer is suitable.

? 6: Answer
What is the attitude of the writer to the subject?
Kirsty Scott feels concerned that society has such mixed responses to people with alcohol problems. We can tell this because she describes how people react to a drunk in the street and contrasts this with how people react to celebrity drunks.
She uses emotional language at points – such as describing the teenagers who drink as ‘stillgrowing’ to emphasise the fact that they’ve not fully matured. At other points, she seems almost angry. For example in the fourth paragraph (‘But let’s call him a hellraiser …’), she uses rhetorical language. By using this mocking language here, she is stressing how much she disagrees with glorifying people in this way.
The article is one-sided, and she gives her own views throughout. She doesn’t ask anyone to give an alternative point of view, and this suggests that she thinks her view is the only valid one. The tone of the piece ranges from mocking (discussed above) to resignation in the closing paragraph where she seems to be saying that young children share the ambivalence that society has towards the problem. The last sentence is short and simple, and as such it stands out and emphasises her view that the problem of ambivalence in attitude pervades society. 66

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? 7: Answer
How effective is the piece of writing in meeting the purpose(s) you identified in your answer to Question I?
The article, ‘A ruined life given heroic status’, was effective in meeting its purpose of arguing that society has an ambivalent attitude to drink. The writer structures the piece well, although the layout is somewhat dull, and could be improved with an appropriate graphic.
The headline works well. It is intriguing and invites the reader to read on. After reading the article, the reader can see that the headline is a nice brief statement about the article as a whole. Scott gives a good example of the man who lives in her area, and contrasts the way that we react to men like him with the way that we react to celebrities with drink problems.
The example of Oliver Reed works very well, as he was notorious for his drinking problem, and his appearances on chat shows are familiar to many, having been shown on many
‘entertainment’ shows over the years.
The example of the drunken man also works well, as most people have come across someone like that asking for money, or singing to himself drunk. The contrasting of the two attitudes is excellent.
The tone of the piece is fairly sombre, although the writer uses some informal words at points where she describes how society reacts to famous people with drink problems. This contrasts well with the more formal language used in those parts of the article where she describes problem drinking. A few emotional words are used. For example she refers to
‘squandering a life’ and asks ‘what’s so brave about wasting your talent and hurting those … whom you love’? Statements and questions such as these are clearly emotional, but they are used to stress the human cost of the problem. Her language reflects her depth of feeling.
The closing statement about young children looking on with ‘aspiration’ at older children who were drinking is anecdotal and may be difficult to prove. Despite this, it works well to show us that society’s ambivalent attitude remains.
In this question, you have been asked to evaluate the article in at least 150 words. The answer given here is much more detailed than this (about 325 words). The reason for this is to show you different ways of evaluating the communication. Your own evaluation will probably be less detailed, but you should check that the points you’ve made are in line with those made above. It doesn’t matter if you’ve covered all of the points, but you should have discussed most of them.

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EXCLUDED BY THE SYSTEM

APPENDIX A

The Sunday Times Scotland
7 May 2000, SCOTLAND: EDITORIAL

Excluded by the system
Something is wrong with an education system that allows a 12-year-old boy to attend school for only three hours a day for art, PE, home economics and to play on computers. He is not taught English or maths because his school cannot provide him with a support teacher. Without one he would probably disrupt the other pupils in his class: they would learn nothing and he would learn nothing.
There are no easy solutions for teachers when they are confronted with troublesome children like this, but his parttime existence at school is no solution at all. An education system that fobs off troublemakers with a few hours of so-called schooling a day, rather than educate them, is failing itself, its misfit pupils and, in the end, society. Rightly, the boy’s mother complains: “It is supposed to be an education, but he learns nothing at all.”
If this boy’s predicament was unusual, it would be less worrying. But he is one of many such children. They are supposed to receive a mainstream education but, because they are so difficult to handle, schools cannot cope with them. So, instead of going against the grain of government policy to keep troublemakers in the

mainstream, schools are discovering elaborate ways of minimising the disruption to themselves while at the same time keeping their exclusion figures low.
Common sense dictates that there are two principal options for education policymakers grappling with persistently disruptive pupils. Either they should be sent to special schools or they should be in ordinary schools reinforced with investment to create special units, special projects and to hire support teachers.
The Scottish Executive has chosen the latter option, but does not seem to be funding it sufficiently for it to work, despite £23m in the excellence fund for schools to set up “alternatives to exclusion”. Money is not the only answer, but it helps. The lack of it, and the government’s target to cut exclusions by one third by 2002, is having the effect of increasing the number of halfway-house children who are being neither educated nor excluded.
The minister must look at the policy again. Unless, of course, Labour intends to modify its mantra “education, education, education” by adding the words “except for children who cause trouble”.

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A RUINED LIFE GIVEN HEROIC STATUS

APPENDIX B

The Herald 5 May 1999

A ruined life given heroic status
He's been getting worse recently. This shambling shape with the long-gone eyes and the clinging stench of old spirits and fresh despair.
He's lived here for years, although to say "lives" seems often like callously convenient shorthand.
Existing in a world of unfocused rages and frantic, pestering civilities. "S'awright, luv. How, y' doin. Ah'm not gonna hurt ye, doll."
Last week we passed in the street when he appeared to be sober and he'd made a half-hearted effort to comb his hair and fasten the zips and buttons that hold him together. He never meets your eyes when the drink's not in him. Most people don't meet his, either, quickened onward by embarrassment or pity or distaste or disinterest.
And once, a group of children, maybe not even yet eight or nine, threw small, sharp stones at him as he lay in a stained, confused heap in the middle of some wet grass in the park.
But let's call him a hellraiser, a hardman, one of the last great rabble rousers. Let's celebrate his sickness as if it was something to take pride in.
Let's slap him on the back and laugh uproariously at his "antics"; and film him secretly in the dressing room as we wait for him to make a fresh fool of himself on yet another talk show.
And when he dies let's say it was a fitting end because he was gripping a shot glass as he sank below the table for the last time, the alcohol that belittled and circumscribed him seeping into his system as it did countless times before.
We did it for Oliver Reed, after all. Took a ruined life and turned it into something heroic.
Turned the bar brawls and incoherent ramblings, the obscenities and dishevelled clothing, into the trappings of success.
It's maybe not a well-known fact but newspapers prepare obituaries well in advance.
The minute you start showing signs of promise or importance or notoriety, 1000 words of faint praise will be scribbled out for the day you breathe your last. How many of those prepackaged pieces on Oliver Reed must have started, he died as he had lived? And not because there was an awful inevitability about his demise but because that's how we wanted to see him go, in a final splurge of cheap liquor.
Even Glenda Jackson, she of the commonest of sense, felt compelled to pay tribute to his addiction. "I am very sorry he has gone but I think he probably went the way he would have

wished."
For all her crassness, she was probably right.
Reed never acknowledged that he had a problem, doubtless encouraged in his delusion by the hero worship he engendered from the rest of us.
"Richard Burton was hitting the bottle with
Johnny Hurt the night before his death," Reed said in a 1989 interview. "He knew it was going to kill him but he did not stop. I don't have a drink problem. But if that was the case and doctors told me I would have to stop, I'd like to think I would be brave enough to drink myself into the grave."
Where's the courage, though, in squandering a life with so much to offer? What's so brave about wasting your talent and hurting those, emotionally, and maybe physically, whom you love; day in, day out.
Reed is, was, the worst example of the confused and cagey relationship we still have with drink. The bond that lets us voice outrage at the football fans who blighted the Old Firm match on
Sunday with their drunken aggression, and then, in the same breath, so publicly laud a man who became such a willing hostage to the bottle.
We know the facts, but they fail to move us.
We know that Scotland has a particular problem and Greater Glasgow a worse one than that. We know the worrying increase in under-age drinking and could probably recite the litany of social ills visited upon us by alcohol abuse without pausing to draw breath.
Yet we seem to remain secretly proud of our prowess with the pint. And not the kind of continental social drinking for pleasure, but the sink-'em, line-'em-up, balance-on-your-beer-gut kind. Last week, in the same park where the shambling man sometimes makes his way to sink into oblivion, a group of young teenagers clustered around the swings and roundabouts, sharing whisky and Irn Bru in great, gulping swigs from the neck of the bottle. They eventually moved off, some of them slack-jawed and unsteady on their still-growing feet.
A short distance away at the other end of the playpark was another group, much younger and, as yet, excluded. They were watching intently, though, and the look on those small curious faces was not one of disapproval or incomprehension; not even envy. It was worse than that. It looked like aspiration.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/opinion/scott/archive/5-5-1999-20-39-10.html May 5
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