This unit is concerned with a fundamental feature of written language: the fact that whatever is written down is the result of rigorous selection from the events which have been observed, and that there is some principle of priority operating to determine what should be included. It examines how the sports reporter deals with this problem when he has to provide his reader with an account of a match. It explores the assumptions he makes about his audience and the effect of his chosen style on his reporting.
[1] Arrange with the class to see a particular match, and to collect as many newspaper reports of it as possible. The class should discuss the reports as a prelude to writing their own accounts of the match. This is best done in small groups. Members of the class who did not see the match should join the group discussion, and then write about the match with the reports as their source of information. The reports need to be made available to all the class in advance, perhaps by being displayed on a wall board. In addition, it will be useful to have particular reports or passages individually available to the groups when they are writing, their versions.
[2] In preparation for this session, the class need to put together
a similar collection of reports on a major fixture, such as an international
or other important match. It is helpful if at least one of the teams has a number
of supporters in the class. Duplicate suitable texts which put two contrasting
views of the match side by side, or collect several references to one incident.
The class then examine the differences between the reports. They should look
at questions like:
(a) what technical understanding of the game is the reader supposed to have?
(b) what technical information does the report provide?
(c) does a reporter show bias by what he includes or what he leaves out?
(d) is bias assumed in the reader?
(e) how formal is the language?
[3] As a result of [2], the class will have come to associate certain style of reporting with a particular newspaper. The next stage is to examine how the answers to the questions set out in [2] differ according to the style which the reporter adopts. For this a number of sheets of clippings are needed, taken from different sources. They need to refer to the same match and must not reveal directly where they came from. These can be prepared by the teacher or by the class working in groups, and can be us(-(] many times, as the immediacy of events is not important. The sheets are circulated and each group has the task of assigning the texts on their sheet to the list of sources which accompanies each one. In the process, the whole question of what features in the texts make it possible to assign a source to them will be thoroughly explored. Other units which take sport as their subject are A 13 and G2.