TAPCLIM - A Guide to Analyzing Texts

Within the first 10 minutes of seeing a new text, you should know:

T text type
A udience
P urpose
C ontext
L anguage
I mages and pictures
M eaning

Text types
Opinion article
News article
Comic and/or images
Blog from an online source
Advertisement
Speech

Audience
Elderly
Young people
Professionals (medical field, politics, artists…)
People interested in art, music, politics, science, poetry, entertainment, comedy…
Politicians, people following politics
Scientists
Environmentalists
Women
Men

Purpose (examples)
Inform ….Educate…Explain
Advise
Announce…Notify
Persuade
Entertain
Make fun of
Criticize
Satirize
Provoke

Context
When was it written and source?
Historical context, important events
Language Features

Serious Worried Funny Intriguing

Informational Anxious Informal Passionate
Formal Concerned Casual Aggressive
Educational Depressed Comical Controversial
Academic Creative Sexist
Satirical
Flippant

Stylistic Features
Powerful language, images, descriptive vocabulary, repetitive, metaphorical, alludes to…
Exaggeration
Poetic description
Irony
Rhetorical Questions
Point of View

Structure
Titles, subtitles, long paragraphs, short paragraphs?
Long sentences, short sentences
One-word ideas
breaks on the page
bold lettering
images?

Exemplification or Illustration phrases

to illustrate
to demonstrate
specifically
for instance
as an illustration

Comparison phrases
in the same way
similarly

Contrast phrases
nevertheless
after all
however
in contrast
on the other hand
at the same time

Intensification phrases
indeed
to repeat
by all means
certainly
undoubtedly
in fact
to be sure
of course
it is true

Summary phrases
to summarize
in conclusion
to conclude
finally

Images
Take a look at this page where you will find a very complete guide that highlights the components
you could consider when analyzing an image and trying to understand its communicative purpose
and meaning.
https://www.matrix.edu.au/beginners-guide-year-9-english/part-7-how-analyse-images-visual-
information/

Meaning:
Critical Literacy - An Approach to All Texts

Critical literacy is an approach to all texts that asks readers to be critical, skeptical and active.
Critical literacy makes some assumptions about texts that may be useful in this course. First, it
assumes that all texts are worthy, as communicative acts, of being analyzed and interpreted. In part,
this is because the approach itself assumes that culture is a system of signs and symbols, that these
signs have multiple meanings, and that all communicative acts within a culture cannot be approached
innocently. Basically, we should approach every text with a skeptical eye: Who is communicating?
Why? What are the implications of this communication? In what ways is this communicative act
political? How should we think about this text? How should we react to this text in the world? A truly
critical reader would not be one duped by “fake news”. In fact, a critical reader would be able to
recognize fake news, explain its strategies and respond to it meaningfully.

Glossary
Assumption: a belief
Skeptical: not easily convinced; having doubts or reservations, questioning, inquisitive
Literacy: competence or knowledge in a specified area
Implication: consequence, repercussion, ramification
Duped by: deceived by, tricked by.

A Useful List - Exercising Critical Literacy

Following are a set of simple questions to ask yourself in response to any text/language act to encourage
active rather than passive encounters.

- Whose views are being represented?

- What or whose interests are being served?
 - What are the intentions behind the message?
- What reading position or speaking position are you being invited to take up? Are we being asked
to see the situation from a particular point of view?
- What cultural assumptions are being taken for granted?
- What or who is absent that one might expect to find?

Source: English A: Language and Literature, Course Companion, 2019