Second Week

This week, we learn about the ten elements or rules in critical literacy based on the newspaper article, ‘Convicted killer back at work’. The first element is topic.

To find out the topic, we should look at the surface of the article which contains the picture and headline. Based on the picture, Deborah Parry looks really calm in spite of the fact that she was convicted as a murderer. I think she is innocent and was accused, that is why she can come back to work. The second element is content. We have to answer the wh- questions in order to get the full story of the article.

Next is source. This kind of article is usually found at the daily newspaper. The fourth element is audience which means who this article is written for. I think the audience is the public because from the usage of words, there are no complicated and scientific words. The fifth element is rhetorical function which means what the writer is trying to do. Next is purpose which includes the rhetorical function, audience and topic. The purpose of the text is to inform the reader that Deborah Parry who is a convicted killer is not guilty and can get back to work.

Then, Miss Wani takes out the lyric of ‘What About Now’ by Chris Daughtry. The students tend to sing it first before evaluate the lyrics based on the six elements that we already learn. The topic of this song is the humanity, love and unrequited love. The content is about disappointment in term of life, love and nature. The audience for this poetic song is all walks of life and the rhetorical question is encouraging people to make a change. So, the purpose of this song is to encourage the listeners from all walks of life about making a change in life, love and nature.

We proceed to the seven elements which is perspective. It is like the point of view, stance of the writer. As a reader, we can either for or against the article. We can condemn or commend the article based on the writer perspective. It is followed by positioning. This is where the writer positioned Deborah Parry in the article. It includes the bias statement from the writer. The ninth element is impact which is the effect of the text that covered the eight points. The last element is visual literacy. It is the picture that provided in the article. I think the picture is taken to show that Deborah Parry is innocent because she smiles like nothing happen to her.

Then, Miss asked us to form a group of six to make a debate between groups. Two groups get the Racial Segregation: Malaysia by 2020 and the other two groups get Muslim Religious Views Understated. The first debate is between Asri and Aishah group which debating on the second topic. They should include their points based on the ten elements that we have learnt. The government side has come out with the concrete evidences and pointed their view confidently saying that the negative perception of other religions towards Islam. They said that the western countries tend to conquer the Muslim people through films, face book, lyrics of the song and many more. Besides that, apart from the tragedy of 11^Th September, Muslim people are called as a terrorist by the western people. However, the opponent team also give their best ideas to against them. They have come out with the three issues which are health, food and education. Unfortunately, the government team were in the wrong track and it did not related with the topic. So, the opponent team won the debate.