Discussion Texts

1 92 Dis cu ssi onText sStru ctu re and fe atur esof d iscu ssi on t extsPURPOSEA dis cussion p resents differing opinions,viewpoi nts or pe rspectives on an issue,enabl in g the rea der to explore different ideasbef ore m ak in g a n informed decision. Thewriter normal ly e xplores different opin ionsan d en ds wit h a personal opinion orcommen S OF DI SCUSSIONT hroug hout th ei r li ves students will need toma ke de cis ion s. Rather than simply r es po ndingemotiv el y, it is im portant that they de ve lo p theskil ls t o look at bo th sid es of an argument,we ig hi ng th e posi ti ves and negatives o bjectivelybe for e t hey m ak e a rational decision. Di sc us sio n text s a re concerned w ith th ean al ys is , int erpretat ion and ev al uat io n of issue t ex t ty pe will give students th eopportunit y to de vel op the skil ls of fi nd ingin for ma ti on to su pport their arguments a ndemphasi ses th e im portance of anticipati ngar guments an d r esp onding to these.

2 In ef fe ct ive discu ss ion, all points o f vie w on aniss ue ar e consi dered and attitudes c ha nge whendif fer en t perspect ives are seen. By be co mingaware t hat fact s ca n be interpreted in d iffe ren tways, st udents wil l understand tha t a va rie ty ofopi nio ns on an i ssu e may be pe rie nc ing di scu ss ion Texts hel ps stud en ts t oth ink c lea rly a nd critical ly. When r eading thistex t, st udents ne ed to focus on how a uthors usepe rsu as iv e eva lu ati ve words to infl ue nc e therea der. It wil l e nc ourage them to li sten a ndres pond t o others op inions, to ask pe rti ne ntquest ions and to p re se nt a rgu me nts in cl ea r a ndcohere nt w ays . Informal dis cus si on s sho uld in iti al ly i nvolvest ud ent s i n dec is ion-ma kin g a nd p ro blem -sol vi ng pr oc es ses. S tud en ts sh ould b eg in b ydi sc us sing a rea s that requ ir e n o rese arc h so th atthe y a re en co ura ged to e xp re ss a po in t of vi ew.

3 It is imp or tant , an d will h el p t he irunder st an di ng, i f they are gi ve n sit ua tions todi sc us s w he re ther e are many diff erent p oi nt s o fvi ew . Thi s wil l b ro ad en t heir t hi nk in g a ndmake them aware that th e sa me s itu atio n ca nbe vi ewe d fr om d iffe re nt p er spe ct ive sc us sio n te xt ca n be fou nd i n talkb ac k r adiowhen pe op le with v arying pe rspe cti ve scomment ; int er vie ws wh en s pe aker s wit hdi ffe ren t poi nt s of vi ew ar e qu esti on ed; le tt er sto the ed ito r wh en peopl e resp on d in di ff ere ntways to an iss ue ; and in n ew spa pe r arti cle c an a ls o be fou nd i n e di to ria ls , t ria ljud gemen ts and vid eota pe d r esu lts . St ud ent s c an w ri te discu ss io ns o n iss ue s fr omdi ffe ren t Ke y L ea rn in g Areas.

4 In H um anSociet y a nd Enviro nm en t, f or ex am ple,di sc us sions c an b e writt en e xp lo rin g the issu e:Shoul d more fac ili tie s b e pr ovided fo r ch il drenin the loc al a rea ? I n Sci en ce a nd T ech no lo gy ,st ud ent s c an d isc us s: Would it b e fa ir to a llci ti ze ns i f, in t he nam e of a clea ne renvir on men t, cars we re ban ne dfr om the c itycentr e? In Per so nal Deve lo pm ent a nd Hea lt h apossib le is sue coul d be : Is i t f ai r to h ave a n ohat , no play rul e at s cho ol?Writt en d isc us sio ns w ill re qu ir e somebackground in formati on draw n from thehis tori cal, m ed ia-b as ed or p ol iti ca l a rea ud ent s writin g sho ul d s how a cl ea runder st an di ng an d dev elop se le ct ed mate ria land a bs tra ct i deas . Disc us sio ns p rovideoppor tuni tie s fo r de ve lo pin g t he u se o f manylan guage skil ls.

5 I n ora l s es sio ns s tu dent s c anwork toward s d ev el opi ng th eir ab ili ty tofac tual ly j us tify a p oi nt or s up po rt an o pi ni onby us in g p er so nal ex perie nc e, su rve y r esu lts ,int er vi ew s an d re se arch. Tec hn iq ues us ed indi sc us sion text s i nc lud e the us e of t ho ugh tprovoking qu es ti on s, a na lys is of p oints o f view93and repetit io n o f words, ph ras es a nd c on ce dents wi ll ha ve t o search fo r suppor tingevidenc e a nd c rit ica ll y d isc us s t he argume ntspu t fo rw ard by othe rs. The ir ab ili ty to involveand persuade a n a udi ence, wh il e ev al ua ting thestr eng th of dif fer ent a rgumen ts n ee ds to bede ve lo ped. Fr eq ue ntl y t he spe ak er s at tit ude andopinio n wi ll be co nveyed in the t on e of voice,ex pressio n a nd la nguage t ha t i s u se d.

6 At this st age e nco ura ge stu dents to pa rt icipatein debat es o n bo th f ormal and informal issuesas opportunit ie s wil l b e av ai lab le t osponta neo us ly r ebu t i ss ues tha t ari se . Herestu dents n ee d to develop t he ab ili ty to ma in ta inan ar gu men t whil e en suring th ey are aware ofthe a udi ence. T he y can do thi s by us ing gestureto em ph asise po in ts a nd pac in g t he ma teria leff ect iv el y whil e dis ta nci ng th emsel ves fro m theaudien ce by us in g t he p assi ve vo ic e, e. g. Thetruth is .. ; It se ems t ha .STRU CTUREOF Discussion TEXTST here ar e di fferent stages in a Discussion : an int roductory statement of positionsupplying necessary background information arg uments for and against and supportingev ide nce a r eco mmendation or eme nt of positionA discu ss ion begins with a brief introductionde scribi ng the situation.

7 This introduction has asta te men t or question and serves the purpose ofintroducin g the reader or l istener to the author spo in t o f vi ew or thesis. Often it is reco gnisedthat t her e are two points of view. Argu me nt s for and against an d sup por ting evid enceThe n ext few paragraphs elaborate theargume nts for and against the issue. Th is shouldbe ba se d on researching books, the Internet,surveying or interviewing people. The evidenceand opin ions should support the statements. Thenu mber of arg uments varies according to thewriter s desire and the content. The argu mentscan be st ructured in different ample 1 A fir st ar gument for the point of vie w withsupporting ev idence or additional detailsel aborating ea ch po int. A second ar gument for the issue withsupporting details. A fir st ar gument aga inst with supportingel aboration. A second ar gument ag ainst with supportingdetail ample 2 A topic se ntence intr oduces a point, thenar gu me nts a re wr itten for an d again st theissue.

8 This shoul d be based on researc hing,surveyin g or interv iewing people . A second topic se nte nce introduces a secondpoint an d th is is fo llowed by arg uments foran d ag ain st. A third topic sentence intro duces a secondpoint an d th is is fo llowed by arg uments foran d ag ain st. Ea ch paragraph should be clearly structure dwith a topic senten ce supported by de ta e supporting material could be r epo rte dspe ech r ef le cting co mments from specia listswh o h ave r esponded to the issue orsu pporting evidence. Thinking and actionve rbs are u se d to persuasively e stablish andevaluate e ach ar gu ment, an d some technica lla ngua ge will be necessa com me nd ati on or conc lus ionTh e Discussion ends by presenting a pe rsonalpo int of view before concluding. Therecommendation or conclusion some timessu ms up both sides of the arg ument if the yare fa irly balanced, or can recommend onearg ument over the other if the evidenc e FE ATUR ES OFDISCUSSION TEXT S Us e of pre se nt tense.

9 Us e of ge ner al nouns to make statements, , papers. Us e of det ail ed n oun groups to reinforce anarg ument , e. g. The national treasure that isour Daint re e f orest can Us e of sa yi ng verbs to quote. Us e of re lat ing ver bs, is. Us e of th inki ng v erbs expressing a personalpoint o f vi ew , e .g. wonder. Us e of factual ad jectives, my last holiday. Us e of adject ives expressing an opinion, .my hor rify ing adv enture. Us e of co mparat ive or contrasting adjectives,e. g. borin g, mos t si gnificant. Us e of adverbs of manner, honestly,rapidly, ca re ful ly, thoroughly. Us e of co nn ect iv es to link arguments, wever, in the same way. Us e of co nju nct ions to link clauses. Us e of va ry ing degrees of modality for effect,e. g. Perha ps wemi by butwe mu stse Use of abstract and technical terminolog y.

10 Use of qu ote d a nd reported spe ech, . MsKim decl Use of eva lua ti ve lan guag e, e .g . Theth re aten ed landscape will continue to betr ag ica ll y ero ded, if ste ps are not taken. Phra se s to introdu ce the other po int of vie w, . on the other hand, g en era lly . Words show in g th e writer s opinion, e .g. Forth e above reaso ns I f ervently be lieve Use of cle arl y structured beginning ofse nte nces th at focus attention, e .g . Gamepa , The cl eaner e nviron me nt Use of pa ssi ve voice to change focus o f these nte nce, . The envir onment isth re aten Using co mplex co mbination of clauses, e .g .While it is vitally important to ha ve a cleanenvironment, we must think Use of wo rd ch ain s, sy no ny ms, antonyms andrepetition for ef fect. 95 TEXTORGANISATIONLANG UAGEFE AT URE SInt rod uct or y st atementof positionUse of thinkingverbs, areconcernedWritten in present tenseUse of detailednoun groups, directorof Galactic ParkUse of generalnouns, noiseUse of repetition, Galactic ParkUse ofconjunctions, butFocus on thebeginning ofsentences, The smiling face,The parkUse of factualadjectives, of relatingverbs, isUse of high degreesof modality, mustUse of connectives, as a resultUse of technicallanguage, proofingUse of complexsentencesUse of comparativeadjectives, , youngUse of evaluativelanguage, don t have aproblem, soexpensiveArg umen ts for andag ai nst with supportin gev id en ceSa mpl e Annotated TextCon cl usi on andrec ommendati onSHOULD G ALACTICPARK BE CLOSED?