Language in Use 53-54

This unit is concerned with style and setting, the inter-relationship between what one says and the situation in which one says it. The aim of the unit is to show how much the setting determines what we say, because there are always other participants in the setting whose expectations we have to meet in our choice of an appropriate way of speaking. The particular area chosen for the unit is news broadcasting.
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[1] For this session, the class need to have listened to a range of news bulletins and programmes on various channels. If it is at all possible, a tape should be available for the session containing examples from several programmes. The class should make notes about length, type of subject matter, how predictable it is, what audience they think was intended, what features of the broadcast lead them to this conclusion, what use of words and phrases seems to characterise the way of speaking chosen. Ask the class what they have discovered, and build up on the board a profile of what features of a news broadcast match what kind of audience. Go on to discuss what expectations in the audience would lead to the presence or absence of the features they have collected.

[2] The aim of this session is to focus upon the close match between style and setting by asking the class to prepare broadcasts, some of which are rightly matched for style and some deliberately mismatched.
Working in groups, they should prepare a number of short bulletins along the lines listed below:
(a) items common to bulletins on radios t and 4, done in the appropriate style
(b) a radio I item done in the style of radio 4
(c) a radio 4 item done in the style of radio t
(d) radio 4 news done specifically for the age group to which the class belong
(e) radio I news done in a way that the class thinks suitable for the staff of the school.

[3] The news items should be presented and the discussion focused upon the degree to which each item makes appropriate use of the style chosen for it. The class should also consider why the mismatched items seem to be incongruous and what words and phrases seem to indicate the inappropriateness of the match between style and audience.

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