Analysing persuasive text

Propaganda from the World Wars

Synopsis

This lesson enables students to reinforce their understanding of writing to persuade techniques by analysing a range of propaganda stimuli, both in print and moving image. Students are presented with exciting material from the First and Second World Wars and are invited to analyse and evaluate the different forms and writing techniques.

Students are then required to complete various exercises that challenge them to think about the emotions and ideas that a persuasive writer is trying to evoke. The propaganda material produced during the World Wars effectively and very powerfully appealed to people's emotions. This provides a very interesting social and historical context for students to develop their skills and understanding.

MOD Topic

Propaganda from the World Wars

Curriculum Checklist

1.1: a.
1.2: a.
1.3: a, b.
2.2: a, b, f, g, i.
10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
2.3: c.

Curriculum Links

• History
• Citizenship
• Art & Design
• Media Studies

Prior Knowledge

Writing to persuade techniques: Use of statistics, expert opinions, anecdotes, irony, rhetorical questions, presenting opinion as fact, use of imagery, lists of 3, contrastive pairs, emotive language, slogans, selection and compression, use of specific emotive images, etc.

Some historical study or knowledge of the World Wars.

Learning Outcomes

Lower ability students will:

• Be able to apply some prior knowledge of persuasive techniques in order to identify examples and attempt evaluation of those techniques with assistance.
• Analyse propaganda text to identify whether the effect achieves the author's intended purpose.
• Understand how the British Government used propaganda during the World Wars to support the work of the Armed Forces and to give confidence to the civilian population.
• Provide positive and negative points about their peers' work to help improve their written analysis.

Average ability students will:

• Be able to apply some prior knowledge of persuasive techniques in order to identify examples and partially evaluate the use of those techniques.
• Analyse propaganda text to evaluate the effectiveness against the author's intended purpose.
• Understand how the British Government used propaganda during the World Wars to support the work of the Armed Forces and to give confidence to the civilian population.
• Assess their peers' work to reinforce understanding and to help improve their written analysis.

Higher ability students will:

• Be able to apply prior knowledge of persuasive techniques in order to identify examples and evaluate the use of those techniques.
• Critically analyse propaganda text and moving image to evaluate the effectiveness against the author's intended purpose.
• Understand how the British Government used propaganda during the World Wars to support the work of the Armed Forces and to give confidence to the civilian population.
• Constructively and accurately assess their peers' work to reinforce understanding and help improve their written analysis.

Lesson code

EN11