Persuasive Writing and a Letter of Complaint

The Rep Theatre and the Library of Birmingham

This blog briefly shares parts of a recent exercise with students.

The first aim was to undertake reading and writing exercises in order to gain a better understanding of techniques of persuasion.

The second aim was to turn the exercise upside down by writing a highly critical review, or a letter of complaint.

We also deployed speaking exercises in the form of  radio-style interviews, a phone-in, and social media interactive engagement such as short text and tweet responses.

The underlying aims were vocabulary building and confident use of language.

Our first task was to study the vocabulary used in advertisements and marketing/advertising material. These were drawn from a Children's Guide to Leisure Activities in the Black Country (West Midlands, UK);  Rewriting the Book - Discovery Season - Library of Birmingham; and What's On at the beacon Arts centre, Greenock, Scotland.

Initially students were asked to selected the best 10 words, and then add to the list and pool/share their findings.

This is the list of some of the persuasive language used in those publications:

fascinating, encouraged, connections, impress,
discover, enjoy, celebrate, meet, experience, love,
understand, beautiful, fabulous, inspired, collaborate,
offer, unusual, brainchild, magical, new, leading,
opportunity, diverse, hands-on, intriguing, dynamic,
aesthetic, unique, vision, adventurous, vibrant.

Next students invented a new attraction: a play, a park, a tourist or leisure activity and wrote their own advertising copy. The aim was to deploy as many words from the list as possible.

This was also an opportunity for art work and design skills.

Working in pairs, students were next asked to write a highly critical review of the other person's event or tourist attraction. Some students wrote letters of complaint. Students were asked to be either bitterly critical or absurdly humorous in their approach.

To assist with this exercise we used a thesaurus and brainstorm to find antonyms for our list of persuasive vocabulary. Some of the critical words included

tedious, disappointing, unimpressive, lost,
distressing, torment, overworked,
squandered, hate, confused, worn-out,
unrequired, neglected, exploited,
predictable, dispensed with, unsuitable,
tiresome, expensive, mismanaged, impractical,
under-utilized,  derelict, obsolete

The vocabulary also served as a prompt for building and developing a creative critique.We also sampled literary reviews and user-generated social media commentary available within online newspaper reviews.


The old library is Birmingham was considered by some observers to be a wonder of concrete brutalist architecture. Others, such as Prince Charles, who lacks a training in architecture, quipped that is was more like a place to burn books, than to read them/ a place where books were incinerated, not kept.

Dr Ian McCormick is the author of The Art of Connection: the Social Life of Sentences
(Quibble Academic, 2013)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Discourse of Literature Reviews and Critical Evaluation

Image
A Traditional Card Catalogue Critical evaluations and literature reviews employ an academic discourse. I've started to compose a list of the most frequently used words and phrases : Accentuated differences Acclaimed authors According to Account Acknowledge the issue Addresses Addresses the contradictions Adequate Adopts Advances the idea Almost all Analyses Arbitrary categories Argues Argument Assesses Attempts to challenge Bogged down Bold Breaks new ground Brief discussion Brings together By ignoring this Care with which Centres on Certain types of Challenges Charts Cited Combines analyses of Comments on Compelling argument Comprehensive Conceptual framework Concise Confesses Confides Connects Considered Contains Contradictions Contributors Trinity Library Dublin Conveys the sense Convincing Covers a range of topics Critics Debates about Dense literature Describes the
Read more

Sound must seem an echo to the Sense!

Image
The poetry of Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is sometimes associated with a cramped 'classical' approach to the imagination. However, rhythmic life and energy are bound up in Pope's rhyming couplets. He has an ear for music and movement. In fact, he often speaks about dance or employs its as a metaphor. Rhythm and dance provide a rich vein of physicality. Like Dryden, Pope perfected his ability to hear the inherent musicality of words and their sinewy rhythmic potential. He is a master of the soft rhapsodic cadences of lyric and elegy as much as the harsh, rough music of snarling satire. Although many of Pope's poems present formidable challenges to modern readers it eill eb apparent that a judicious selection of extracts will repay close reading and recitation. Students should also attempt to write their own couplets as this creative process will enable them to understand the levels of subtlety and complexity that can be achieved. Alexander Pope's Essay on Criti
Read more

Drama Questions for IB or A level

Image
Getting on top of the drama exam I've been trawling the exam boards and internet sites for examples of A-level / IB exam/essay questions on Drama. These questions are suitable for 16-18 year-olds. If you are 'lost for ideas' also take a critical look at my TWO compilations of key quotations : Tragedy: Selected Quotations Comedy: famous quotes Exam / Essay Questions: 1. Using two or three plays you have studied, compare the presentation of two or three characters [e.g. introduction, dramatic interactions with other characters], saying in each case how the presentation furthered the dramatists' purposes, and how it rewarded your study. 2. 'While the momentum of the play is carried by major characters, there is often a significant minor character who is a catalyst for change or enlightenment.' Compare the role of a significant minor character in in plays you have studied, showing how these characters contribute to the dramatic action.
Read more