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• Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)


  Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Identify different kinds of media texts in English from different sources in the Anglophone world (= English-speaking world)
  • Analyse the common lexical, pragmatic and rhetorical features of different media text types
  • Write accurate and authentic texts in English for a variety of media genres
• Lexical


  What a word is
• Pragmatic


  What a word means in context
• Rhetorical


  How a word is used
• You can understand the English in newspapers, magazines etc.
• You are able to use some metalanguage to explain/describe the language devices and strategies used by media text writers in specific genres of texts
• Metalanguage


  Language or symbols used when language itself is being discussed or examined
• Assignments/Assessments


  • News Report (due in Week 6)
  • Editorial / Feature Story (due in Week 10)
  • Analysis / Critique of a media text (due in Week 13)
  • Exam (during exam period; closed book)
• Please print out course notes and bring them to both lectures and tutorials. Some lecture notes have blanks in them, and you'll need to fill them in during class. Hard copies/ downloaded copies of tutorial worksheets are also needed. Bring your hard-copy notes and/or laptop for downloaded notes. Please don't come to class empty-handed. Always be prepared to take notes in class.
• language itself is being discussed or examined
• Please follow guidelines & marking rubrics for assignments / assessments


  • News Report (due in Week 6)
  • Editorial / Feature Story (due in Week 10)
  • Analysis / Critique of a media text (due in Week 13)
  • Exam (during exam period; closed book)
• Let's look at some very good student assignment samples
• Further readings to help you


  • Foster, J. (2012). Writing Skills for Public Relations (5th ed.). India: CIPR.
  • https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ (APA Style Guide)
  • The AP Style Guide (Associated Press)
• This is the BIBLE about journalistic writing: Language, punctuation, ethics...
• By show of hands...


  • How many of you read a newspaper regularly?
  • Where do you usually get your news – the TV, the radio, newspapers or the Internet?
  • Do you watch or listen to the news every day? If yes, at what time of day?
  • What was in the news yesterday?
• For example, what mobile platforms of media do you know?
• Examples of mobile platforms


  • Kindle
  • Apps (e.g. SCMP online, Flipboard)
• Questions about reading English newspapers


  • How many read an English newspaper regularly?
  • Do you think it's important to do so?
  • Why or why not?
  • Do you know how many English newspapers there are in Hong Kong?
• Tabloid


  A newspaper having pages half the size of those of the average broadsheet, typically popular in style and dominated by sensational stories
• Broadsheet


  A newspaper with a large format, regarded as more serious and less sensationalist than tabloids
• The media are "language-forming institutions" (Bell, 1994, p. 7).
• The media (particularly newspapers) are at the forefront of language usage in society. Lots of new terms and forms of language are coined by (originate from) the media
• "Their language informs and is influenced by broader linguistic and social trends" (Bell, 1994, p. 7).
• Neologism


  A new use for an old word, or the act of making up new words
• Sometimes an existing word is injected with new meaning, like "tweet".
• Originally the word "tweet" referred to short, high sounds from small birds. Later it was borrowed to refer to the act of typing short sentences to update one's status on new social media platforms, i.e., "tweet" on Twitter.
• The media, particularly newspapers & television play a central role in our understanding of the world
• Much of our knowledge about the world comes from the media.
• Our perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, etc. may be shaped by what we read in newspaper and see on TV, etc.
• This might happen without our realizing it (consciously or subconsciously).
• English is a global language / lingua franca / common language.
• The latest news is transmitted around the world through both traditional English media and modern 'new' media such as the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and even mobile apps.
• Understanding how English is used in the media is therefore crucial.
• Language has form (structure and literal meaning).
• But language is also embedded in the social and cultural contexts in which it occurs.
• Language is used in the media to give information and communicate ideas as well as to reflect the social values and social positioning of the speaker/writer/reader.
• The headline "Girl PC is KO'd by lout" uses slang, short forms and abbreviations, and loaded language (connotations and rhetoric).
• The writer uses these linguistic devices to attract and reflect the ideal target readership, which is mostly white working class males.
• The headline "I'll get the jab done" is in the form of a quotation, playing with the famous quote of Donald Tsang when he first became CE of HK "I'll get the job done".
• This headline requires prior knowledge on the part of the reader, as it is written for a local HK audience.