Language in Use 167-168
This unit considers the way in which our use of language is determined not
only by the point of view from which we see events but also by the audience
to which we have to report them. It explores the changes that have to be
made when an incident is told from the point of view of different participants
to meet the needs of different audiences.
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[1] The first task of this session is to decide, with the class, on an event, or sequence of events, that can serve as the 'kernel' of the unit. The class should then go on to write their own account of the event from the point of view of one of the participants, but they should not be told what audience they are writing for. Suitable events would be: the case of a boy who lost his bus or train ticket and was accused of 'travelling with intent to defraud'; a customer who innocently took a purchase past the cashier in a supermarket and was charged with stealing; an explanation of why a fight broke out in the playground.
[2] In this session the class explore the fact that the participants in the incident may have very different views of it. Circulate the scripts and ask the class to look again at the account of the incident written in [ 1 ], and to say from whose point of view it was written. After discussion, the class should be asked to rewrite the incident from the point of view of one of the other participants.
[3] In this session, the focus shifts from the participants to the audience for whom the two versions were intended, Circulate the scripts again, and this time ask the class to work out what audience the writers seem to have had in mind. Consider the difference between an informal audience like a close friend or relative and a formal audience like a police officer or headmaster. The discussion should lead to the writing of a third version for the audience most different from that which each member of the class had chosen for himself.
[4] The aim of this session is to explore in discussion the differences
between the three versions of the incident which everybody has written. Points
to look for include:
(a) amount of circumstantial detail necessary
(b) accuracy in presenting the sequence of the events
(c) balance between saying what happened and what was felt about what happened
(d) degree to which a version reads like a justification for what happened
(e) accuracy in projecting adult views of the incident
(f) accuracy in judging the needs of the audience chosen.