Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

Facultad de Filosofía y Educación

Instituto de Literatura y Ciencias del Lenguaje

Developing critical thinking through speaking using video-based advertisement

An elective workshop for 10th graders

TRABAJO DE TITULACIÓN

Para optar al grado de Licenciado en Educación y al Título de Profesor de Inglés

Estudiante: Catalina Pavez Piña

Profesora guía: Mónica S. Cárdenas-Claros

Segundo Semestre

2015

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Acknowledgements

To the most important people in my life, my family. Thanks to my mother, María Eugenia,

for loving me, being my unconditional supporter and for spending the last 22 years taking

care of me and working hard to give me the opportunities I have had. Also, I would like to

thank my grandmother, Adriana, who has been a second mother for me and who has given

me her support and love. I would also like to dedicate this work to my great-grandmother

who passed away two years ago and who was the most loving and caring person I have ever

known. Since then, I know I have had an angel looking after me. I love you all and I will

always be thankful of the beautiful family I have. I hope I can compensate in some way all

you have done for me because I could not be here if it was not for you.

Secondly, I would like to thank all the people that have given me their friendship

throughout these years. To my best friends from high school María Fernanda and Camila

for being the most supportive and caring friends I could have, even though distance does

not allow us to meet so often. To my roommate Alejandra, for being the most loyal friend

since first day at university and for all the moments we have had together in this stage,

especially during these two years being roommates. To Sebastián for his unconditional

friendship and for his constant support throughout these years. I love you all.

To all the teachers that have been part of this stage in my life, especially to the ones that

have had an important role in this stage. To Ms Oyanedel, who has been supportive and has

offered me her help since the moment I met her in English II. To Ms Cárdenas, for her help,

guidance and support, for questioning this project since day one, for helping me understand

my own project, and for believing in this project. I could not have done it without your

help.

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Abstract

This graduation project analyses the relevance of developing critical thinking in the second

language classroom and provides a set of guidelines to develop students higher order

thinking skills that are operationalized as a sequence of sample lessons. Accordingly,

advertisement is used as a content carrier throughout the project. Students are expected to

develop their speaking skills along with their critical thinking skills, in order for them to be

able to critically assess video-based advertisement in a round table discussion.

Key words: Critical thinking, Advertisement, Speaking.

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Table of contents

Introduction ………………………………………………………………..……………….5

Literature Review …………………………………………………………………………..8

1. Critical Thinking………………………………………………………………….…8

1.1 Critical Language Awareness …………………………………………………..9

1.1.1 Framework for developing Critical Language Awareness …….………10

1.2 Process for the development of Higher Order Thinking Skills ……….……….11

1.3 Critical Thinking in L2 ……………………………………………….………..13

1.4 Critical Thinking in Chile ………………………………………………….…..13

2. Speaking………………………………………………………………….………...14

2.1 Presentations and talks ……………………………………………….……..…15

2.2 Discussions and debates ……………………………………………….………15

3. Advertisement ……………………………………………………………….…….16

4. Task-based approach ………………………………………………………….…...17

Pedagogical Proposal ……………………………………………………………………...18

Course syllabus ……………………………………………………………………18

Course description………………………………………………………………….18

Course objective ………………………………………………………………...…20

Assessment ………………………………………………………………………...20

Sample Lessons …………………………………………………………………………....22

Appendix A: Needs Analysis …………………………………………………………...…51

Appendix B: Needs Analysis Results…………………………………….………………..53

References……………………………………………………………………………….…60

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Introduction

Each generation needs to be more educated than the one that preceded it because people

live in a rapidly changing world that introduces more complex and technical situations to

their lives and people need to have the right skills to be able to cope with these changes

(Halpern, 2003). This situation is not different for second language (L2) learners as they are

expected to develop higher order thinking skills in the L2 in order to be proficient in it

because higher order thinking skills lead to higher order learning skills, which have as an

outcome a higher level of language proficiency (Liaw, 2007).

Developing critical thinking skills becomes important when we think in the society people

live in. Being able to discriminate true information, evaluate what people see in their

everyday lives and determine whether or not it is important for them should be important

tools for people to possess when they face society in their adulthood considering all the

responsibilities this implies. As media and technology are now at reach of most people, it is

important for people not to fall for everything they hear or see. Maybe society should

question themselves, should critical thinking be taught at school? Is it important to apply

them in the foreign language context?

Fairclough (1998) claims that “people cannot be effective citizens in a democratic society if

their education cuts them off from critical consciousness of key elements within their

physical or social environment” (p.6). This claim becomes clear when we think that people

face different types of messages every day through media. Being aware of the influence

those messages have on people becomes essential. Halpern (1998) criticizes schools for

asking students to learn, remember, and make decisions among other thinking skills,

without teaching them the process for doing it. Considering this author’s proposal, we need

to address a gap that she found in education, students are not prepared to do what they are

expected to do because they are not taught how to do it. When these students leave school,

society will expect them to have certain thinking skills and they may not be able to fulfill

these expectations. The question is, how would they be good thinkers if they have not been

trained on how to think?

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Nowadays, society has a relatively easy access to media. Media provides people with huge

amounts of information. Advertisement has as its main channel media, since it is the most

effective way to get to most people. Either people turn on their TVs, log in on Facebook,

watch a video on Youtube or turn on their radios, there is no chance they are going to evade

advertisement. In Facebook, advertisement is at the right side of the page, if you want to

watch a video on Youtube, you are obliged to watch at least 5 seconds of an advertisement.

Newspapers, television, radio, the streets among others are covered in advertisement, so it

is easy for people to have access to it and also to be influenced by it (Cook, 2001).

Therefore advertisement represents a key tool to develop higher order thinking skills,

especially in students.

To realize the amount of time people spend in contact to media and, at the same time, to

advertisement it is useful to check some statistics. In Chile, people spend a substantial

amount of time in front of a television or using the internet. They spend on average almost

5 hours per day watching television (Ibophone, 2009). It was also found out that 63% of

people older than 15 declare to be able to search for information on the internet and 44% of

the Chilean houses had internet access (Censo, 2012).

This graduation project aims to develop second language learners’ critical thinking skills

through the use of video-based advertisement. It is designed for students in tenth grade in

high school. According to Programas de Estudio (Ministerio de Educación, 2011) students

at this level should be working on media in one of the units for the year. Also, high school

teachers are expected to use authentic materials, especially when working on listening

comprehension (MINEDUC, 2011). Despite the recognition of the use of authentic material

Programas de Estudios documents does not present concrete guidelines on how to include

authentic material in the L2 classroom.

Similar work has been done in the international field and, even though the results are not

conclusive, they demonstrate that critical thinking instruction in L2 learning setting may

increase L2 learners’ proficiency (Davidson and Dunham 1996; Liaw, 2007). In Liaw

(2007) study, the group that received instruction in critical thinking skills did better in the

evaluations than the one that did not receive the instruction. Davidson and Dunham (1996)

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present a comparison between the beginning and the end of the course, where students

scored better after receiving critical thinking instruction.

In the Chilean context there has not been much work done in the critical thinking field,

especially related to L2 settings. Two previous graduation projects can be compared with

this one. Mora (2013) proposes to develop higher order thinking skills working with

intertextuality, focusing on reading and writing skills. Pacheco (2013) proposes to develop

media awareness using social identity as content carrier and having as an outcome a

planned speech activity. These proposal differ from this project because in various points.

First of all, this project considers speaking as a skill that needs to be developed since it is

the most likely ability to be used in a real setting. Second, it aims to develop critical

thinking, which should be useful in all aspects of life and not only when assessing media,

even though media plays an important role inside of this project. Finally, the expected

outcome on this project expects students to be prepared for planned and unplanned speech,

for making the outcome more real.

This graduation project is mainly divided into two sections: the Theoretical Framework and

the Pedagogical Proposal. The Theoretical Framework is divided into four main strands that

are thoroughly reviewed: Critical Thinking, Speaking, Advertisement and Task-based

syllabus. The second section, the Pedagogical Proposal, presents the design of a syllabus

and some sample lessons based on the theoretical framework and the needs analysis

presented in Appendix B.

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Literature Review

Nowadays, education needs to provide students with tools for them to be able to face

society when they leave school. We are living in an era of information explosion and

education needs to address the topic of critical thinking inside the classroom (Halpern,

2003).

This literature review presents the four strands in which this pedagogical proposal will be

based: critical thinking, speaking, advertisement and task-based syllabus.

1. Critical Thinking

Critical thinking has been defined in different ways through the years. Most definitions

include terms such as ‘judgment’, ‘metacognition’, ‘reason’, ‘logic’, ‘questioning’ and

‘mental processes’ (Halpern, 2003). Lipman (1991) proposes the definition of critical

thinking as healthy skepticism, people do not need to believe everything they see and they

need to be able to discriminate between what is believable and what is not. Elder and Paul

(1994) see critical thinking more as a form of self assessment. They claim that people need

to become responsible for their own thinking and be able to assess it in a correct way.

Halpern (2003) defines critical thinking as “the use of those cognitive skills or strategies

that increase the possibility of a desirable outcome” (Halpern, 2003, p.6). She also adds that

it should be “purposeful, reasoned and goal directed”. This definition is the one that

considers the previous two definitions since if people decide on a strategy looking for a

desirable outcome they need to develop their own conclusions by looking for themselves

pieces of evidence that make the outcome likely to happen. People need to be able to self-

assess their own thinking if they want to reach the most likely outcome, because they need

to be aware of the consequences each option they think of is going to have and which is

most likely to result in the expected outcome. For being good critical thinkers, people need

to reach some standards of clarity, relevance and reasonableness among others (Fisher,

2011).

Critical thinking skills encompasse five skills, which, at the same time, present a series of

sub-sills according to Facione (1990), which are shown in Table 1:

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Table 1: Skill Sub- skills

Interpretation: to comprehend and express the meaning or significance of a wide variety of experiences, situations and data among others.

- Categorization - Decoding

significance - Clarifying meaning

Analysis: To identify the inferential relationships among statements, questions or other forms of representation intended to express beliefs, judgments and experiences among others.

- Examining ideas - Identifying

arguments - Analyzing

arguments Evaluation: To assess the credibility of statements or other representations which are accounts or descriptions of a person’s perception, judgment and opinion among others.

- Assessing claims - Assessing arguments

Inference: To identify and secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions, to form conjectures and hypotheses, to consider relevant information.

- Querying evidence - Conjecturing

alternatives - Drawing conclusions

Explanation: To state the results of one’s reasoning and to justify that reasoning in terms of evidence.

- Stating results - Justifying

procedures - Presenting

Arguments Self-Regulation: To self-consciously monitor one’s cognitive activities. - Self-examination

- Self-correction (Taken and adapted from Facione, 1990)

Critical thinking skills are considered through the graduation project trying to address all

the skills needed to be a good critical thinker.

These higher order thinking skills are needed nowadays because of the immense amount of

information people is exposed to. People need to discriminate between useful and true

information from the information that comes from unreliable sources or that is useless.

Language plays an important role in the way we see information. This is why it is essential

for people to learn how to use their critical thinking skills to assess the language they are

exposed to everyday through television, social networks and other sorts of media.

1.1 Critical Language Awareness

Within the parameters of critical thinking and what it conveys, critical language awareness

plays an important part in today’s society. Critical Language Awareness, according to

Fairclough (2013) “highlights how language conventions and language practices are

invested with power relationships and ideological processes which people are often

unaware of” (p.7). Considering that people constantly receive new messages, they need to

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be aware if the message intends to convince, to persuade, to inform or to distort information

in order for them to make informed decisions.

Fairclough (2013) proposes that, considering the society we are living in, today it is

essential to raise critical thinking among students. “A language education focused upon

training in language skills, without a critical thinking component, would seem to be failing

in its responsibility to learners” (Fairclough, 2013, p.6). For this reason, in the workshop

proposed as part of this graduation project students will learn to identify the different ways

in which language can be used as a persuasive tool without them being aware of it. In this

way, they would develop their language awareness skills as a tool to develop their critical

thinking skills.

1.1.1 Framework for Developing Critical Language Awareness

Discourse is shaped by society and vice versa. Fairclough (2013), identifies the three

dimensions of discourse “it is a spoken or written language text; it is an interaction between

people, involving processes and interpreting the text; and it is part of a piece of social

action” (p.10). In the design of the pedagogical proposal, the dimensions are going to be

reflected in the work students will do with advertisement. At first, they are going to study

advertisement as a piece of text, learning about the important components of this text.

Secondly, they are going to make connections between the messages and the intention these

messages have with the receiver and finally, they are going to raise their own conclusions

on the role advertisement plays in the social aspect.

Figure 2 shows the relationship between the elements of the discourse mentioned above.

Figure 2

(Taken from Faiclough, 2013)

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In Figure 2, it is shown how the three dimensions of discourse interact with the three

dimensions of critical discourse analysis: description, interpretation and explanation. In the

description stage, the text is described in terms of its formal features. In the interpretation

stage, the text is analyzed in terms of the conventions the text includes (e.g. genre or

discourse type), or if they do not follow the typical conventions. In the explanation phase,

the text is interpreted in terms of its interaction with the social action.

At the first stage, learners will be able to describe the text in terms of its language. In the

case of the pedagogical proposal the first stage is going to be present when the text is

studied in terms of parts and students will describe what they see. In the second stage,

which involves interpretation of the text, students will be working with advertisement and

its components, but now centered in the strategies advertising campaigns use to get the

consumer. In the last part, the explanation, students will be able to give clear arguments on

how they reached their conclusions on advertisement based on what they have learned in

the previous stages and their personal experience and the interpretation they give to the role

the different strategies played in the social interaction with consumers.

1.2 Process for the development of Higher Order Thinking Skills.

Limbach and Waugh (2010), propose a five-step model to help learners developing higher

order thinking skills. The model aims to make learning more active as well as giving them

responsibility for their own learning.

The five steps are shown in Figure 3:

Figure 3

(Taken and adapted from Limbach and Waugh, 2010)

I. Determine Learning

Objectives

II. Teach Through

Questioning

III. Practice Before

Assessment

IV. Review, Refine and Improve

V. Provide Feedback &

Assessment of Learning

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I. Determine Learning Objectives

The first step, determine learning objectives, recognizes the importance of clear objectives

inside of the classroom. The aim of this step is that teachers set key objectives that

demonstrate what students should be able to do at the end of the class (Limbach and

Waugh, 2010). The ideal to be reached is that students go through all levels of thinking so

as to scaffold them to get to the higher levels (application, synthesis, evaluation)

II. Teach Through Questioning

The second step states that questions are an important element inside the classroom. Clasen

and Bonk (1990) propose that, even though there are many strategies that can have an

impact on a person’s thinking, questions by the teacher are the most significant. There are

two types of question: Convergent questions, which have one or more specific answers as

correct. Divergent questions are questions that present a variety of different answers and

they foster higher levels of thinking, which is why they should be present in the classroom.

III. Practice Before Assessment

The third step states that “practice is necessary to master any skill; students must have the

opportunity to practice the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that will be

evaluated” (Limbach and Waugh, 2010). Practice also makes students more aware of their

learning experience and more involved in it.

IV. Review, Refine and Improve

This stage aims at checking on the advances the class has had in the development of higher

order thinking skills. Teachers need to be able to act as monitors in their class activities. As

well as developing an environment of confidence. Also the teacher should have a register of

students’ participation in class (Limbach and Waugh, 2010).

V. Provide Feedback & Assessment of Learning

Limbach and Waugh (2010) claim that it is important for students to know under which

criteria they are going to be assessed and, as mentioned before, it is relevant for them the

opportunity to practice what they are going to be assessed for.

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Throughout the pedagogical proposal, lessons will follow these five steps to encourage

students to develop their higher order thinking skills, boosting in the same way their critical

thinking skills.

1.3 Critical thinking in L2

The integration of critical thinking in the foreign language classroom could play an

important role (Liaw, 2007). However, there is no strong empirical information that

supports this claim. There are two studies that, even though the evidence is not sufficiently

strong, demonstrate that critical thinking instruction in L2 learning settings may translate

into an improvement in L2 learners’ proficiency (Davidson and Dunham, 1996; Liaw,

2007). Davidson and Dunham (1996) studied 36 Japanese students, dividing them into two

groups. One had content-based instruction and instruction in critical thinking while the

other just had content based instruction. The group that was instructed on critical thinking

scored better in tests than the one that was not.

Liaw (2007) did her study in China, with 32 students. All students went through critical

thinking instruction, so she compared the results obtained at the beginning and at the end of

the course, finding that students scored significantly better at the end of the course.

During the workshop, students will work on developing their critical thinking skills in order

to develop their proficiency in the L2. In this way, students will be able to assess different

types of information, in this case advertisement, and give their own opinions about it,

raising conclusions and establishing relationships with other types of sources and with their

personal experience.

1.4 Critical Thinking in Chile

There is little work regarding critical thinking in the L2 classroom in the Chilean context.

There are two previous graduation projects that somehow consider critical thinking in their

proposals. The first one addresses the development of higher order thinking skills inside the

classroom through reading, using as tool intertextuality (Mora, 2013). In this work, she uses

extensive reading as the tool for students to reach the higher levels of thinking. Mora’s

work guides students to work on a critical review of a book, which is the final outcome.

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Even though it seems similar to this graduation project, the focus of the present one is the

development of speaking skills instead of writing skills, which might be more useful for

students in a real-life setting, and it is also a skill that is not frequently practiced in the L2

classroom, whereas writing skills are usually more present.

Secondly, Pacheco (2013) proposes to develop speaking skills through developing media

awareness. His work consisted on teaching students a framework for analyzing media and

teaching them how to create arguments using songs and readings among other materials.

Even though Pecheco’s project seems to be more similar to the one presented in this

graduation project, his project focuses on raising media literacy, which, despite sharing

some features with critical thinking, is not the same. Being able to think critically is useful

for students in all aspects of their lives, not only when assessing media-related material.

Also, the expected outcome of Pacheco’s proposal is the production of a video where

students relate media with social identity formation, which is a planned speech activity. The

present pedagogical proposal expects students to be able to critically assess a piece of

advertisement, and even though round table discussions have a planned speech component,

they also present an unplanned speech part where students need to answer questions, so it is

closer to a real-setting situation.

2. Speaking

Thornbury (2007) suggests that speaking in the L1 and the L2 is not extremely different; in

fact for both of them learners need to do the same mental processes: conceptualizing,

formulating and articulating. Accordingly, the pedagogical proposal will start from the

basic of advertisement because, even though students are supposed to have an intermediate

level of English, if they do not know enough about the topic of advertisement, they need to

start learning the main concepts in order to be able to formulate ideas and produce speech.

According to Thornbury (2007), usually speaking is not practiced as a skill in the L2

classroom. This skill is usually used as a means to practice grammar structures, so students

practice their speaking by using the focal grammar structure they are covering in a sentence

or a short paragraph, or sometimes they just repeat orally the answers they write for a

determined grammar exercise. These situations are not similar to what they would face

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outside the classroom. Students need to practice their speaking skills as if they were going

to be used outside the classroom. This is why the classroom settings should resemble what

students would live in a real situation in the L2.

Here is when the appropriation stage or the collaborative construction between behavior

and mental processes (Thornbury, 2007) becomes important. Appropriation activities as

Thornbury (2007) states are important to start practicing speaking as a skill rather than a

controlled-practice of grammar.

Some useful activities for the stage of appropriation according to Thornbury (2007) are:

drilling, dialogues, writing tasks and reading aloud among others. Some writing tasks will

take place throughout the proposal.

After students have gone through the stage of appropriation, they should be encouraged to

be autonomous learners. There are also a series of activities that Thornbury (2007) proposes

for developing autonomy. The ones more useful for this proposal are:

2.1 Presentations and talks

Thornbury (2007) presents presentations and talks as a good practice for real-life settings,

even though students may not be asked to make a presentation in an L2. If at the end of the

presentation classmates have the opportunity to ask questions, this becomes a good

opportunity for practice unplanned speech. In the pedagogical proposal student will have to

prepare a presentation at the middle of the workshop in order to prepare students for the

round table discussion.

2.2 Discussions and debates

According to Thornbury (2007), discussions can either be spontaneous or the teacher may

prepare cards with topics for discussion. Debates should be ideally more prepared than

discussions, so as to students to have time for studying their arguments and points of view.

At the end of the workshop, students will have a round table discussion, which is why these

autonomy-related activities are relevant for the pedagogical proposal. The discussion is

going to be centered on the topic of advertisement, which is going to be the main tool to get

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to develop critical thinking as well as speaking skills. As advertisement is the content

carrier of this pedagogical proposal, now it is going to be reviewed as the third strand.

3. Advertisement

Cook (2001) defines advertisement as “the promotion of goods or services for sale through

impersonal media” (p.9). Cook (2001) also adds that there are some campaigns that can be

considered advertisement, but they do not necessarily offer a product or a service, for

example, political campaigns. Throughout this pedagogical proposal the focus will be on

advertising campaigns that offer products.

Goddard (1998) defines advertising based on its Latin origin ‘advertere’ which means ‘turn

towards’. According to this definition, she explains the way in which images are used as

attention-seeker devices. According to Goddard (1998) “one attention-seeking strategy

developed in recent years to increasing level of sophistication is the startling image” (p.12).

Images are an essential part of advertisement; therefore, companies have found different

ways of using these to draw attention to them, even releasing controversial campaigns.

One key characteristic of advertisement is that they use a number of persuasive techniques

to get people’s attention. Apart from images, advertisement uses different phrases to get

persuade people to buy their products. A representation of these strategies are the ten

claims in advertisement proposed by Schrank (1994), who presents a list of ten claims that

demonstrate how these claims are constructed in terms of convincing people to use the

advertised product or service, even though they do not show any advantage over other

products.

Table 4:

Advertising claim Definition The weasel claim A weasel word is a modifier that practically negates the

claim that follows. The unfinished claim A claim in which the ad claims the product is better, or

more of something, but does not finish the comparison. The “We’re different and unique” claim A claim that states that there is nothing like the product

being advertised. The “water is wet” claim A claim that says something about the product that is true

for any brand in that product category. The “so what” claim A claim that is true, but does not give an advantage to the

product.

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The vague claim A claim that is not clear. Use of colorful but meaningless words.

The endorsement or testimonial A celebrity or authority appears in the advertisement. The scientific or statistical claim Uses scientific proof, specific numbers, and impressive

mystery ingredient. The “compliment the consumer” claim A claim that butters-up the costumer with some sort of

flattery. The rhetorical question The ad demands a response from the audience

Even though Schrank centers these claims in written advertisement, we can encounter these

claims present in video-based advertisements since video advertisement also uses catchy

phrases in order to get the consumer’s attention. For this reason, video watchers are

exposed, unknowingly to these techniques and become passive consumers of different types

of products that they might not even need.

Advertisement will be the material students are going to use in order to improve their

critical thinking skills in an oral way, and these ten claims will be an important part of the

study of advertisement during the proposal.

4. Task-based approach

Ellis (2009) presents four key elements that should be present in a task: first, the main focus

of a task has to be on meaning. Secondly, students should fill a gap (e.g. express an

opinion). In the third place, students need to trust on their previous knowledge to complete

the activity. Finally, there is an expected outcome apart from the use of the L2.

Ellis (2009) proposes that for task-based language teaching “the primary unit for designing

a language program and for planning individual lessons should be a task” (p. 223). Because

of this, and considering the four elements presented by the author, this graduation project is

going to be organized in a task-based syllabus, centering the students’ attention on the

meaning, filling the gap present on language, giving them the resources for them to be able

to complete the tasks relying on their sources and having as an outcome a different activity

than just the use of the language.

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Pedagogical Proposal

Course syllabus Name of the course: Talking about commercials

Length: 20 sessions (90 minutes each)

Total number of hours: 30 hours

Audience: High school students in 10th grade

English Level: Intermediate

Teacher: Catalina Pavez Piña

E-mail address: cata.pavezp@gmail.com

Course description

This is a 30-hour elective workshop for high school students who are in an intermediate level of English. The students are expected to develop their higher order thinking skills in order to be able to think critically in the L2. Also, they are expected to improve their speaking skills through the use of video-based advertisement and the final preparation of a round table discussion. This pedagogical proposal is informed by Needs Analysis conducted with 22 students from Rubén Castro School (Appendix B) in four aspects: purpose, skill, materials and topic. The students demonstrated their interest in using videos to develop some higher order thinking skills which are essential in order to think critically. In terms of skills to be developed, students showed their preference for developing speaking skills over the writing skills. When inquired about the type of video-based material they would like to use for the class, most of them chose advertisements. The topic was also important, and their three main preferences were: sports, food and technology. Therefore, this workshop is going to use video-based advertisement in order to improve students’ critical thinking skills through speaking.

Course organization

The lessons in this workshop are designed based on the task-based teaching principles. Throughout the workshop students will learn about the elements that are present in a piece of advertisement, the different persuasive strategies that advertisement uses, and in this way raise critical thinking skills. As the workshop is designed for students to reach higher order thinking skills, all the levels will be present in the workshop so as to scaffold students learning from the lower order thinking skills (knowledge, comprehension, analysis) to the higher order thinking skills (application, synthesis and evaluation), following the five-step

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model presented in the Literature review. Speaking activities are going to be included throughout the workshop to prepare students for the round-table discussion.

The units for the course are presented as follows:

In unit I: students will learn what is an advertisement, the main elements of an advertisement and the different strategies advertisements use to persuade people. This unit will be based on the ten types of claims used in advertising, discussed in the literature review. The objective is for students to be able to identify these strategies in different types of advertising campaigns. In terms of speaking skills, in this unit this type of activities will be focused on conversation and chat. The students will use descriptive language to talk about advertisement.

In unit II: students will learn how to analyze advertisements based on the persuasive strategies leaned in unit I. For this, they will be taken through the three phases that Fairclough proposes for the interpretation of discourses (description, interpretation and explanation). Students will learn how to summarize and synthesize in order to help them doing this with the information they collect for their round table discussion. In terms of speaking, students will be presenting in groups at the end of the unit.

In unit III: students will work on the development of their arguments for the round table discussion. They will work with expressions for opinions and argumentative language.

In unit IV: students will work on the consolidation of their knowledge, presenting the round table. Students will need to use descriptive language as well as argumentative language.

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Course objective:

By the end if this workshop, students will be able to critically assess video-based advertisement through a round table activity.

Unit Objectives I: Let’s meet advertisement! -Recognize the different parts of an advertisement.

-Identify persuasive strategies in different advertising campaigns. - Use descriptive language to talk about advertisement - Search for key information to prepare for a round table. -Search for representative video-based advertisement.

II: Getting into advertisement!

- Describe an advertising campaign in terms of persuasive strategies. -Analyze different advertising campaigns in terms of persuasive techniques. - Synthesize information

III: Creating your own arguments!

- Develop arguments on how persuasion is portrayed in video-based advertisement. -Assess critically an advertising campaign.

IV: Let’s present! - Use of persuasive/argumentative language to present their opinions on advertising in a round table discussion. - Describe advertisement in order to argument on them.

Assessment

In-class participation: The teacher will keep a record of each student’s participation in class. (15%)

Homework: The teacher will keep a record of the responsibility with materials and homework of each of the students. (15%)

Presentation: Students will prepare a 8-minute presentation on an advertisement that has called their attention, identifying different persuasive techniques present in it. (20%)

Round table discussion: Students will form groups of 4 and they will prepare a round table discussion in which they will discuss different advertisements depending on different techniques used. For this, students must use language of argumentative/ persuasive language to express their opinions. (40%)

Self-assessment of presentation and round table: Students will assess their own work and performance in the activities of presentation and round table. (10%)

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Criteria Poor Acceptable Excellent Use of language from the units

The student does not use argumentative or persuasive language. The student is not able to describe a video based advertisement. The student does not use the names of the claims or forgets the parts of the advertisement. (1 point)

The student uses argumentative language, but tends to forget some of the names of the claims, or he/she is not clear enough when describing an advertisement. (3 points)

The student uses argumentative language. The student remembers all the claims he/she is referring to. The students is able to describe an advertising campaign. (5 points)

Task achievement The student does not complete the assigned task assigned to her. He/she is not able to answer a question or participate in the round table discussion. (1 point)

The student is able to participate in the round table discussion, but he/she does not manage to answer questions right. (3 points)

The students is able to participate actively in the round table. He/she also is able to answer questions from classmates or the teacher (5 points)

Discourse organization The student is not able to express his/her ideas clearly. He/she gets lost while speaking. (1 point)

The student is able to express his/her ideas. Sometimes the student gets lost at the moment of speaking (3 points)

The student is able to express his/her ideas in a clear way. The student does not lose track of thought. (5 points)

Grammar There are more than 7 grammar mistakes during the round table. (1 point)

There are between 4 and 7 grammar mistakes during the round table. (3 points)

There are less than 4 grammar mistakes during the discussion. (5 points)

Pronunciation There are more than 7 noticeable pronunciation mistakes. (1 point)

There are between 4 and 7 pronunciation mistakes. (3 points)

There are less than 4 pronunciation mistakes. (5 points)

Answer to question The student is not able to answer the question made by classmates or the teacher. (1 point)

The student is able to give a short answer to the question made by classmates or the teacher, but the answer is not complete or well explained (3 points)

The student is able to give a complete and clear answer to the questions made by the classmates or the teacher. (5 points)

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Sample Lessons This section presents a series of sample lessons from each one of the units

presented in the syllabus.

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Lesson 1

Objectives: Recognize the parts of a video based advertisement. Recognize the ten claims in advertisement.

Warm up:

Speaking Time! Get together in pairs. Discuss the following questions: Do you usually watch the advertisements part on TV? Is there any advertisement that has called your attention? Which one? Why?

Getting Ready! Activity 1: Recognizing parts of a video-based advertisement.

Lecture Time! You will learn about the elements of advertisement. Listen to the teacher and take some notes.

Unit I: Let’s meet advertisement!

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a) Match the following elements of a video-based advertisement with its corresponding definition.

b) Compare your answers with your partner.

Lecture Time! You will learn about some persuasive strategies used in advertisement: the ten claims of advertisement. Listen to the teacher and take some notes.

Video

Audio

Computer Graphics

Target Audience

The letters or numbers that appear on the screen. Also special effects generated by computer.

Pictures and images that catch people’s attention.

People who are the intended receiver of the advertisement.

The music, the story told, voices, etc.

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Activity 2: Recognizing the ten claims of advertisement.

a) Match the definition of the claim with its corresponding name from the box.

Claim Definition 1. It uses a modifier that practically negates the claim

that follows. 2. The claim states the product is better, or more of

something, but does not finish the comparison. 3. A claim that states that there is nothing like the

product being advertised. 4. A claim that states something about the product

that is true for any brand in that product category. 5. A claim that is true, but does not give an advantage

to the product. 6. A claim that is not clear. Use of colorful meaningless

words. 7. A celebrity or authority appears in the

advertisement. 8. Uses scientific proof, specific numbers, and

impressive mystery ingredients. 9. A claim that butters-up the costumer with some sort

of flattery. 10. The ad demands a response from the audience.

b) Compare your answers with a classmate. Then share them with the rest of the class.

Hands on! Activity 3: Recognizing the “ten claims of advertisement”

a) Read the list of advertising statements from next page. Recognize the claim they belong to:

The unfinished claim – The compliment the consumer claim – The weasel claim – The rhetorical question – The endorsement or

testimonial – The “water is wet” claim – The scientific or statistical claim – The “we´re

different and unique” claim - The vague claim – The “so what” claim

Glossary: Weasel words: words used in order to avoid being clear or direct. Claim: an affirmation of something as a fact.Brand: the company name in a product. Butter-up: To flatter someone. To treat someone especially nice in hopes of receiving special favors.

Glossary: Luscious: attractive. Sizzle: durable. Iron: Chemical element (Fe) Dandruff: dead skin under the hair which falls in small pieces.

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a) _________________________________

b) _________________________________

c) _________________________________

d) _________________________________

e) _________________________________

f) _________________________________

g) _________________________________

h) _________________________________

i) _________________________________

j) _________________________________

b) Compare your answers with a classmate.

Activity 4: Describing advertisement.

Listening Time!

Pre-Listening: a) Discuss with a classmate the following questions.

Do you buy food based on its commercial? Which food commercial has called your attention? Why? Have you seen any M&M’s advertisement? Do they have any feature that calls your attention? Write down your conclusions:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Supergloss does it with more color, more shine, more sizzle, more!”

“Only Doral has this unique filter system”

“Easy-Off has 33% more cleaning power than another popular brand”

“Shouldn’t your family be drinking Hawaiian Punch?”

“Helps control dandruff symptoms with regular use”

“Lips never looked so luscious”

“Geritol has more than twice the iron of ordinary supplements”

“Great Lash greatly increases the diameter of every lash”

“We think cigar smoker is someone special”

“I’m no pushover, I’m Proactive” – Avril Lavigne

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Useful words for describing audios: Adjectives Nouns Dynamic Rhythm Fast Voice Gentle Music Hard Tone Sweet

Useful words for describing images: Adjectives Nouns Colorful Energetic Setting Dark Aggressive Background Modern Classical Landscape Realistic Beautiful Fantastic Calming

Useful words for describing CG: Adjectives Animated Simple Basic Sophisticated Colorful Digital Interactive Simple Modern

Useful words for describing people: Nouns Adjectives Men Young Women Elder Children Teenagers

While-listening: b) Watch the following M&M’s advertisement: D:\mm commercial 2013[1].mp4 c) Write down a description in terms of the four elements on an advertisement presented in the Lecture

Time. Audio: __________________________________________

_____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Video: __________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Computer Graphics (CG):__________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Target Audience:_________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Post-Listening:

d) Discuss your answers with a classmate in terms of similarities and differences. Then, write down your conclusions in the following chart: Similarities Differences

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Wrap up:

Writing Time! Activity 5: Creating a new claim

a) Get together in pairs. Think of three new phrases for the M&M’s advertisement you just watched. b) Discuss to which of the ten claims they would belong to. c) Write down the new phrase, the claim it belong to and the reasons why you think it belong to that

claim. 1. _______________________________________________________________________________.

This phrase belong to _____________________________________________________________ claim because ___________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________.

2. _______________________________________________________________________________. This phrase belong to _____________________________________________________________ claim because ___________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________.

3. _______________________________________________________________________________. This phrase belong to _____________________________________________________________ claim because ___________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________.

d) Present two of the new claims to the class.

Reflection:

a) When you watch a TV advertisement, what does call your attention? Why do you think this happens? Have you noticed any of the elements you learned in this lesson in an advertisement? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Homework:

Get together in groups of 4 students. Each group will receive a topic (sports, food or technology).

Go to youtube.com. Look for an advertisement on the given topic for next class. All member of the group should have watched the same advertisement. Consider that: the sound is clear, it is attractive and you are able to understand it. If you cannot understand the advertisement, go to the bottom of the video, click on

CG and select subtitles in English. Look up the words you don’t understand.

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Lesson 2

Objective: Create a short script using some of the “ten claims in advertisement”.

Warm up:

Speaking Time! Get together in pairs. Go to the teacher’s desk and take a magazine. Look for advertisements. Choose one and discuss:

a) Target audience (who is the advertisement directed to?) b) Image: What makes the image attractive to people? c) Claim (to which claim(s) does the main phrase belong to?

Go to the board. Put your advertisement there. Copy the main phrase on the board and write the target audience and the claim next to the advertisement. Some of you will explain the reasons for your answers.

Getting Ready: Activity 1: Identifying claims

a) Match the claim with its corresponding definition. Claim Definition 1. The unfinished claim It says something about that is true for any brand in

that product category. 2. The scientific or statistical claim A celebrity or authority appears in the advertising. 3. The “water is wet” claim It butters up the costumer with some sort of flattery 4. The endorsement or testimonial claim

It claims the product is better, but does not finish the comparison.

5. The compliment the consumer claim

Uses scientific proof, specific numbers, impressive ingredients, etc.

b) Compare your answers with a classmate. Hands on:

Listening Time! Pre-Listening:

a) Discuss the following questions with a classmate: Have you seen any mobile phone advertisement recently? What has called your attention? Who do you think mobile phone advertisements are usually directed to? What does a mobile phone advertisement need to be attractive?

Write down your conclusions: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Glossary Chaos: a state of confusion or disorder. Blizzard: a storm of wind and snow.

b) Get together in groups of 4 students. Go to the following link: D:\mophie 2015 Game Day

Commercial “All Powerless”[1].mp4. Watch the advertisement about a mobile phone. c) Answer the following questions:

1. What is being advertised?

_____________________________________________________________________________ 2. What is happening in Nebraska?

_____________________________________________________________________________ 3. What is happening in Africa?

_____________________________________________________________________________ 4. What is happening in Paris?

______________________________________________________________________________ 5. Who appears at the end of the advertisement?

______________________________________________________________________________ 6. What is the cause of all those disasters?

______________________________________________________________________________ 7. How much more battery power does the cellphone have?

_______________________________________________________________________________ 8. Who is the intended audience?

______________________________________________________________________________

d) Choose one of your classmates to share the answer with the class. e) In the same groups of 4 students, watch the video again. Read the statements below and identify the

claims you think were present in the advertisement and discuss in what moment the claim is evident. Write down your ideas in the following table:

Claim When? The unfinished claim

The “water is wet” claim

The endorsement or testimonial claim

The scientific or statistical claim

The compliment the consumer claim

f) Share your answers with the rest of the class. Add any extra information you find useful from your

classmate’s work.

Activity 2: Identifying key elements of an advertisement

a) Individually, answer the following questions using the advertisement you chose as homework: 1. What is being advertised?

_____________________________________________________________________________

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2. Is there any famous person promoting the product? Who? Why do you think they chose that person? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Does the advertisement show any comparison? What is the product being compared to? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Does the advertisement show any statistics? What do they say? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What characteristics of the product are being promoted? Do other brands of the same product have the same characteristics? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Does the advertisement say something good about the potential consumer? What does it say? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Who do you think the advertisement is directed to? Why do you think so? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What claims are used in this advertisement? Write down the claims and the reasons you think the claim is present in the advertisement.

Claim Why? Because

Because

Because

Because

b) Discuss the answers with your group from the previous activity. As you watched the same video, compare answers and complete the ones you have incomplete.

c) Each member of the group is going to for group with one of the members from the other groups. d) Show the advertisement to your classmates. e) Discuss about the questions you answered above. Ask them their opinions on the advertisement. Add

any extra information your classmates have noticed and your previous group has not.

Wrap up:

Activity 3: Create your own advertisement.

Writing Time! a) Get together in groups of 4 students. Create an outline for an advertisement on sports. Consider the

elements of advertisement (video, audio, computer graphics and target audience) . b) Explain each of the elements on your advertisement in the following page. Draw a picture that

represents your idea on each part. Consider at least two claims for this activity (audio, video or CG).

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Video_____________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

Consider images, settings, situations, etc.

Audio ____________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

Consider music, voices, sounds, phrases, etc.

Computer Graphics___________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

Consider letter on screen, number, animation, etc.

Target Audience ____________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

Who is the consumer?

c) Each member of the group is going to present one of the elements in front of the class.

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Reflection:

a) What did you learn in this lesson? Were you aware of these claims? When you watch TV advertisement, do they have any influence on you? Why? Write your answers individually: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Unit 2, lesson 1

Lesson 1

Objective: Summarizing a text.

Warm-up:

Speaking Time! Get together in pairs. Discuss the following questions: a) Do you usually summarize for studying? What steps do you follow for doing it? Discuss with a

classmate.

Getting ready:

Lecture time! You will learn about summary. Listen to the teacher and take some notes.

Unit 2, lesson 1Unit II: Getting into advertisement!

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Activity 1: Summarizing a) What is summarizing? Define it in your own words

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Read the following paragraph about shopping in the U.S.

(Retrieved from: http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/free-reading-worksheets/reading-comprehension-worksheets/summarizing-worksheets-and-activities/)

c) Underline the main ideas in the paragraph. d) Why do you think those are the main ideas?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

e) Write down the main ideas. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

f) What would be a good title for the passage?

_____________________________________________________________________________

g) Write your summary. Remember to use your own words. Do not include personal opinions. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

h) Share your summary with your classmate. Read each other’s summary. Talk about the things you would change in your classmate’s summary.

Hands on:

Activity 2: Summarizing an article.

Reading Time! Pre-reading:

a) Do you think advertisement has changed over the years? How do you picture advertising eighty years ago? Discuss with a classmate and write your main conclusions. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Shopping malls have produced a revolution in United States shopping and living habits in just 45 years. Before 1950, there were no malls, but now almost every city or region has at least one. In fact, shopping malls have become a part of daily life. Many people even think of them as social centers. In a way, malls have taken the place of Main Street. Shops and services, which were once spread over several city blocks, are now in one place at the mall. Busy householders can save time by doing their shopping at the mall. And people young and old, with time on their hands, often say, “Let’s go to the mall!”

Glossary: Householders: a person who owns or rents a house.

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While-Reading: a) Read the following text about advertisement. Notice the underlined words.

Advertising

Advertising was initially meant to make people aware of the goods available in the market. It was as simple as announcing what you have in your store or the services you offer in your premises. Over the years, advertising has evolved into a major industry that goes beyond informing to persuading and influencing. It is a form of brainwashing consumers.

Advertising has become a type of culture with ardent followers. In the process, it attracts enviable attention from manufacturers and service providers who fancy an edge over their competitors. Unfortunately, in keeping with the ever-increasing demands of the manufacturers, the advertisers have resulted to creating unnecessary wants and excess consumption in most of us. This is a craving for harmful products that we are better off without. It preys on our minds rendering us completely irrational. The billboards (hoardings), television and radio advertisements target us from a very early age, forming our view of the world as we grow into adults. The buzzwords in advertising are, 'you are cool, type, sophisticated, off the hook', if you use this or that product.

The notion that the media is primarily in place to give us news is not very true. If the truth may be told, the media is there to gather enough audience, package them into a pricey commodity and sell it to the advertisers. The advertisers, on the other hand, are always on the lookout for a target audience to persuade them that this product or service is better than that of the competitor.

Advertising does influence people. Most of the advertisements are filled with images that equate emotional well-being with material acquisition and associate independence and leisure with consumption of alcohol. Advertising also makes people lavish their affect on products rather than real people, thereby destroying human relationships. We have become trapped in the web of advertising where products like brands of beer and cigarette take over our minds, doing away with our core family values.

When you look critically at most of the advertisements on the television, you will discover how persuasive the advertisers are in deciding for us what, when, how much and why to buy. But most people think that they are not influenced by advertisements. This is precisely what the advertisers want us to think, that in the end 'the people decide'. If you think deeply, nobody in his profit-minded sense will pay so much money to make a thirty second advertisement, which might not be seen by a hundred people, leave alone convince them to buy. How we strike a healthy balance between the two will definitely have a direct bearing on the future of our country. It is unfortunate that alcohol and tobacco advertising forms a sizable chunk of the industry.

Retrieved from: http://www.englishdaily626.com/comprehension.php?340

b) Glossary: Read the text. Infer the most suitable for the underlined words meaning from the context.

Word Definition A large board used for displaying advertising posters. Using or giving in great amounts. Relevant relationship or interconnection. Free time when one is not working or attending to other duties. To want to have or do something. A word or phrase that is frequently used because of its importance or popularity. Something that causes damage. Expensive A desire or longing. Something so “new” and “fresh” that is literally right off the store shelf.

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Objects or products. To develop or achieve gradually. An idea or theory on which a statement or action is based. The application of a concentrated means of persuasion. Cause to be or become.

c) Compare your answers with a classmate. How many words were you able to infer from the text?

d) In pairs, answer the following questions using information from the text: 1. What was the first objective of advertising?

_________________________________________________________________________________

2. Name at least two consequences of the evolution in the advertising industry. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Where can you find advertisement according to the text? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What is the role of media for the advertising industry? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What does advertising do to human relationships? Why? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Do people know that they are being influenced by advertisement? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What does advertisement industry do with people’s idea of not being influenced by advertisement? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

e) Underline the main ideas in the text. f) Get together with a classmate. Discuss the main ideas you have underlined. Try to explain them in

your own words. g) In pairs write down the main ideas of the text in your own words.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Post-reading:

h) Explain in your own words the main idea of the text to the class.

Useful expressions you can use when summarizing: The author says The main idea of the text is The most important point in the text is The text is about

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Wrap up: Activity 3: Summarize a video.

Writing Time! a) Go to youtube.com. Look for a short video (2-3 minutes) related to the same topic given to you in

unit 1, lesson 1. (food, sports or technology). b) Take notes about the video.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c) Make an outline of the main ideas of the video. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

d) Write your summary. Use your own words.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

e) Get together with people that have your same topic. Explain them the video you chose in terms of main ideas. Use your own words

Reflection: Mark with a tick your answers to the following questions Yes No Did you use to summarize for studying? Do you find it useful? Does it seem easier after this lesson? Will you summarize for studying other subjects? Did your classmates understand your main ideas in the last activity?

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Lesson 2

Objective:

Synthesize information from different sources.

Warm up:

Speaking Time!: Go and talk to three different classmates. Ask them the following questions. a) Do you think food companies’ advertisement campaigns have to do with the high levels of child’s

obesity in the world? Why? Take notes of your classmate’s answer. Is there any connection between these opinions? Write your conclusions.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Getting Ready:

Lecture Time! You are going to learn about Synthesis. Listen to your teacher and take some notes.

a) Define synthesis in your own words. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) What are the similarities and differences between a summary and a synthesis?

Similarities Differences

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Glossary:

Straightforward: without difficulties or complications. Grease: thick, oily substance. Pointedly: in a very obvious way.

c) Based on the similarities and differences you found. Talk to your partner in order to share your answers. Write down your conclusions. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hands on: Activity 2: Synthesis: Text and video

Listening Time! Pre-Listening:

a) Discuss the following questions with a classmate. What words would you use to describe the advertising industry? Who do you think advertising affects the most, children or adults? Why? Write down your conclusions: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

While-listening:

a) Watch the video “Media-Smart youth: The Power of Advertising” in the following link: D:\Media Smart Youth The Power of Advertising[1].mp4 and answer the following questions.

1. What is advertising tying to do?

__________________________ __________________________

__________________________

2. Why is it said that some time ago advertising was more straightforward? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Where can we find advertising these days? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. How does advertising work on Facebook? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. How are cartoons used in advertisement? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. What are the adjectives David uses to describe advertising nowadays? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. How does advertising target kids? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What are some of the subtle ways products are advertised? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Does advertising affect people’s health? How? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Share your answers with a partner.

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c) Watch the video again. Write an outline of its main ideas: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

Post-Listening:

d) Go back to Lesson 1 in this unit. Read the main ideas you wrote about “Advertisement” text. e) Get together with a classmate. Discuss the following questions considering the information from the

text and the video. 1. Were the video and the text viewpoints different or similar? Why?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Are your personal opinions similar or different from the video and the text? How? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How does the content you have learned in the class relate to what you read and watched? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wrap up:

Writing time! Pre-writing: Get together with another pair. Explain to the other couple the connections you found between the video, the text and your personal experience. Discuss and take notes on your conclusions. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ While-writing

a) Individually, write between 100 and 150 words synthesizing the ideas from the video and the text. Consider your personal opinion and the content and materials covered during the semester. REMEMBER that this is not summarizing. You need to show your own conclusions on the topic.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Useful Expressions: Linking words (go back to lesson 1) Verbs: agree, differ, support, evidence, etc.

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Reflection:

a) Discuss with a classmate the following questions: Have you been able to make connections between your personal experience and the content of the class? Do you think knowing how to synthesize is useful in other subjects? Why? Write down your conclusions. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Homework (Post-writing)

Exchange your synthesis with a classmate. Chick your classmate’s synthesis. Give suggestions in terms of synthesis, summarizing ideas or using different

expressions. Be prepared to exchange your suggestions orally next class.

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Remember:

To express your opinion you can use expressions such as: *In my opinion *To my mind * If you ask me * To my way of thinking * For me *In my view

Expressing agreement :

I agree with you. I couldn’t agree with you more. That’s so true. You’re absolutely right! Absolutely. That’s exactly how I feel. You have a point there. No doubt about it.

Expressing disagreement:

I don’t think so. I totally disagree. Not necessarily. That’s not always true. I’m afraid I disagree.

Lesson 1 Objective:

Express opinions about advertisement. Evaluate others’ opinions.

Warm up:

a) Read the statement written on the board “Advertising campaigns have led people to materialism.” You have a green and a red paper. Put the papers on the board according to your opinion (green: agree; red: disagree).

b) Discuss with a partner why you agree or disagree.

Getting ready: Activity 1: Expressing opinions! Think of an advertisement you had seen recently. Using the expressions from “Remember” box at the top of the page, write at least 4 sentences giving your opinion on the advertisement. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hands on: Activity 2: Start developing arguments.

Listening Time! Pre-Listening:

a) Discuss as a class the following questions: Do you buy expensive sports clothes? Why? Does advertisement has something to do with your decision? Take some notes:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unit III: Creating your own arguments!

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While-Listening:

a) Get together in pairs. Watch Reebok’s advertisement in the following link: D:\Reebok Freak Show Be More Human[1].mp4 .

a) Answer the following questions: 1. How do other people describe people in the video?

_________________________________________________________________________________ 2. How do they want to spend every day?

_________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Why does the man flip tires?

_________________________________________________________________________________ 4. In what aspects are people becoming better?

_________________________________________________________________________________ 5. What are the adjectives does the speaker use to describe the kind of human the brand is directed to?

_________________________________________________________________________________

6. What are the people supposed to do to their bodies and their minds? ___________________________________________________________________

b) Identify from the ten different claims which of them are used as a strategy in the advertisement. Answer yes if the claim is present in the advertisement and no if it not present. Give your reasons

Claim Yes/No Why? The weasel claim

The unfinished claim

The we’re different and unique claim

The water is wet claim

The so what claim

The vague claim

Glossary:

Weirdo: a person who behaves strangely. Beaten: fatigued by hard work. Muddy: covered in mud (wet soft earth) Sore: suffering pain. Tire: a band of rubber placed over the rim of a wheel to provide traction. Sharpen: to become sharp.

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The endorsement or testimonial claim

The scientific or statistical claim

The compliment the consumer claim

The rhetorical question

c) Select two of the claims you found. Discuss on how could the selected claims influence on people’s

decisions. Explain your reasons. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

d) Get together with another pair. Compare your answers and explain your opinion to the other couple.

Write down the differences you notice in your opinions. Similarities Differences

Wrap up:

Activity 3: Present arguments

Speaking Time!

Get together in groups of four students (the people with the same topic assigned in unit I, lesson 1). Each group will look for advertising on the given topic. Prepare a short presentation (8 minutes/ 2 minutes each).

Your presentation must include:

- Short description of the advertisement. - Explanation of the claims used in the advertisement. - Your opinion on the advertisement, referring to different sources (class material, news, internet,

etc) - Consider the following questions:

Which claims are present in the advertisement? Who do you think is the target audience? Why?

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How does video/audio/computer graphics influence on the target audience? Would you buy the product? Why? Have you tried the product?

Reflection:

Speaking Time! Discuss in pairs the following questions:

a) Will a sports brand make you be a better human? b) What do you think the company is trying to do by using this phrase? c) Would you buy something to this company based on their advertisement? Write your conclusions:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Lesson 3

Objectives: To develop your speech for the round table discussion.

Warm-up:

Speaking Time! Get together in your groups for the round table. Discuss the following statements. Explain why you agree or disagree with them.

a) “Food advertisements have contributed to people’s obesity” b) “Sports advertisement has contributed to giving more importance to what you wear than the sport

itself” c) “Technology advertisements have led to materialism because people are buying the most advanced

technologic devices even though they don’t need them” d) Take some notes on your opinions.

Getting ready:

Hands on: Instructions for the moderator:

a) Gather all the sources you have worked with during the semester related to your group’s topic. Also consider your personal experience and sources (news, movies, television, etc.)

b) Outline the main ideas from each type of source. Source Main ideas Videos

Readings

Other

Unit IV: Let’s present!

Remember: A round table is:

Discussion involving several participants It has one moderator Each participant has a time to speak Each participant should answer questions from the

audience.

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c) Create 10-15 questions that can be asked to any of your group members during their presentations. Consider the sources you have found. Also consider:

Ten claims Target audience (age, gender, sex, etc) Parts of the advertisement (video, audio, CG)

Instructions for the rest of the group:

a) Choose an advertisement on your topic. b) Examine it in terms of: Claims, elements of an advertisement, target audience.

Claim Yes/No Why The weasel claim

The unfinished claim

The “We’re different and unique” claim

The “water is wet” claim

The “so what” claim

The vague claim

The endorsement or testimonial

The scientific or statistical claim

The “compliment the consumer” claim

The rhetorical question

Element Description Video

Audio

Computer Graphics

Target Audience

c) Look for all the sources from the semester (readings, videos) that have connections with your video

and your view on the advertisement. Also consider personal experience and other sources you

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remember from outside the classroom (videos, news, magazines, newspapers, etc). Write the main ideas.

Source Main ideas Videos

Readings

Other

d) Make an outline of the connections you can make of the video with class videos, readings and your personal experience.

Source Main ideas Avertisement/ class ideos

Advertisement/ class readings

Advertisement/ personal experience

e) Make an outline of the main points you would like to include in your presentation.

Consider: Target audience, claims, elements of an advertisement, intention, attractiveness, objectives, other sources, your opinion.

_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

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Wrap up:

Speaking Time!: Get together with your round table discussion group: f) Show your main points to your group classmates. Explain them in general terms. Let them ask you

some questions for improving your presentation. Write down the questions you think are useful for you. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reflection:

a) Discuss with your group: Think of 5 elements your presentation must have in terms of information. Then, think if you have those elements.

Element Yes/No

b) What elements do you have to improve? How will you improve it? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the end of the lesson:

Hand in your main ideas for the presentation to the teacher

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Appendix A: Needs Analysis

Needs Analysis

Nombre: Catalina Pavez

Objetivo: Identificar necesidades e intereses de los alumnos en cuanto al uso de material audiovisual dentro de la clase de inglés. También busca que los alumnos evalúen sus propias habilidades de pensamiento crítico.

1. ¿Con qué frecuencia se utilizan videos en la clase de inglés? a) Nunca b) 1 vez al mes c) 1 vez por semana d) Todas las clases

2. Marca con una ‘X’ tu grado de acuerdo con cada uno de los siguientes enunciados.

Enunciado Muy de acuerdo

De acuerdo

En desacuerdo

Muy en desacuerdo

a) Se utiliza material audiovisual (videos) para comparar o contrastar información con la materia/otros videos.

b) Se utilizan videos para la síntesis de información.

c) Se utilizan videos para debatir acerca de ellos y defender nuestras posturas.

d) Me gustaría utilizar videos para comparar información en inglés.

e)Me gustaría utilizar videos para sintetizar información en inglés.

f) Me gustaría utilizar videos para debatir y defender mi postura en inglés.

3. Enumera del 1 al 4 las siguientes habilidades trabajadas en la clase de inglés según el grado de dificultad que tengan para ti (siendo 1 el más fácil y 4 el más difícil) _______ Comprensión lectora _______ Comprensión auditiva _______ Producción oral _______ Producción escrita

4. ¿Cuál de las siguientes habilidades te gustaría desarrollar mejor?

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a) Producción oral b) Producción escrita

5. Califica del 1 al 4 (siendo 1 malo y 4 excelente), tu habilidad en inglés para: Habilidad 1 2 3 4

Inferir información Predecir de qué se trata un texto

Analizar textos/videos a partir de la información vista en clases

Comparar textos Sintetizar información a partir de un video

Debatir/Argumentar acerca de temas de tu interés

6. En relación al material audiovisual, ¿cuál de las siguientes opciones de material te llama más la atención? a) Noticieros b) Reportajes c) Comerciales d) Documentales

7. De la siguiente lista de temas, marca los 3 que llamen más tu atención.

a) Deportes b) Comida c) Belleza d) Moda e) Vida Saludable f) Automóviles g) Tecnología h) Otro ¿Cuál? _________________________________________

Gracias por su tiempo y por sus respuestas

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Appendix B: Needs Analysis Results

The present needs analysis was constructed under the principles proposed by Dudley-Evans and

St. John (1998). The present needs analysis considers the target situation analysis in questions 4, 6

and 7 which informs of the learners interest in developing a skill as well as the topic and material

they are interested in covering. Question 2 statements d, e and f address the interest of students

in learning some skills that will guide them to get to thinking critically, so they address the learning

situation analysis. The present situation analysis is informed by questions 1, 2 (statements a, b and

c), 3 and 5.

This Needs analysis was conducted with 22 participants from Colegio Rubén Castro located in Viña

del Mar. It was conducted in Spanish to avoid misunderstandings as it was conducted online. The

participants were 10th graders. The students answered seven items in order to find out how the

needs and interest of the students match with the pedagogical proposal.

Each question is represented with the graphic for the answers. At the top of each graphic is the

question and the answers are on one side.

Figure 1: Current use of videos in class

Figure 1 shows that students do not receive video-based input. Most of them answered that

they watch videos once a month and some of them even answered that they never use it in

the L2 classroom.

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Figure 2: Use of video-based material in class for making comparisons and contrast.

Figure 3: Use of video-based material in class for synthesis of information.

Figure 4: Use of video-based material in the class for debates and opinions.

Figures 2, 3 and 4 show that, even though students use video-based material in class, they

are not used for encouraging higher order thinking skills in students. According to the

students’ answers, they have not had the opportunity to use it for synthesis of information

or for giving their opinions and having class discussions and debates. This is why, the

following set of questions intends to know if students are interested in using this type of

material for the development of higher order thinking.

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Figure 5: Interest on using video-based material for comparison of information.

Figure 6: Interest on using video-based material for synthesis of information.

Figure 7: Interest on using video-based material for debates and discussions.

Figures 5, 6 and 7 show that in each statement, most of the students expressed their interest

on using video-based material in different kind of activities, which involve higher order

thinking skills. Therefore, these kinds of activities will be present along the workshop.

Figure 8: Skills difficulty: Reading

Figure 8 shows that students do not consider reading comprehension a difficult skill, or at

least is the least difficult for most of them.

Figure 9: Skills difficulty: Listening

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In Figure 9, most of the students demonstrated that listening is not as easy as reading

comprehension for them. In terms of percentages, 45% of them answered that it was the

second in the scale, but an important number of them showed that it was not that easy for

them, showing that a 36% of people considered it one of the most difficult skills.

Figure 10: Skills difficulty: Speaking

Speaking was the skill that, according to the questionnaire is more difficult to the students,

showing that a 50% of the students think it is the most difficult of the four skills.

Figure 11: Skills difficulty: Writing

Writing was one of the most difficult skills for students too, showing a 36% of people

answering it is the most difficult for them.

Figure 12: Productive skill students want to improve

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In Figure 12, students show their preference for improving their oral skills (81%) rather

than their writing skills. Therefore, speaking is the main focus of the pedagogical proposal,

even though students will also practice their writing skills.

Figure 13: Present situation in thinking skills: Inferring

Even though students do not tend to infer through videos, they consider themselves good at

inferring, showing a 77% that considers themselves between good and excellent at this

skill.

Figure 14: Present situation in thinking skills: Prediction

Most of the students consider themselves good at prediction, having a 46% thinking they

are good at it and a 27 % considering themselves excellent.

Figure 15: Present situation in thinking skills: Analysis

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Students see themselves as good at analyzing things, having 55% of them considering they

are between good and excellent at this skill.

Figure 16: Present situation in thinking skills: Comparison

In terms of comparison, students do not consider themselves as good as in the previous

skills. The 45% of the students consider that they are not good at comparing texts.

Figure 17: Present situation in thinking skills: Synthesis

In terms of synthesizing, students were between good and bad at this, 45% of them

considered themselves good at synthesizing and 36% thought they were bad at it.

Figure 18: Present situation in thinking skills: Debate

The 54% of students that answered the questionnaire consider themselves good or excellent

at debating and giving arguments.

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Figure 19: Audio-visual material of students’ interest

In figure 19 students manifest their interest in using advertisement as a video-based

material. 15 out of 20 students chose advertising option, which represent a 68% of the

participants. Therefore, the pedagogical proposal will use advertising as a tool to develop

critical thinking.

Figure 20: Topics of students’ interest.

Students manifested their interest in all of the topics presented, but this pedagogical

proposal will focus on the three most chosen topics that are sports (77%), Food (54%) and

technology (54%).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this workshop seeks to develop critical thinking skills through the use

speaking activities based on video advertisement on food, technology and sports.

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