Past v.

Present: How has

advertising changed?
Year 11 Essential English – The Power of Advertising: Assessment Task #1 (Responding
to Texts)

Task: Compare and contrast two advertisements.

Mode: Written

Length: 800 words

Task Description: Compare and contrast two different advertisements which focus on the same topic, discussing
the form, audience, social context, and language of each. You must include one advertisement from the present
(within the past 5 years) and one from the past (at least 20 years old). These advertisements may be either print or
in commercial form.

Topics:
 Health & Beauty (eg smoking, food, medicine, hair/make-up)
 Entertainment (eg movies, gaming, activities)
 The Home (eg kitchen or bathroom products)
 A topic of your choice by negotiation with the teacher

Structure:
 Introduction
 What topic have you focused on?
 What are your advertisements and who were they published by?
 What is the overall message or purpose of these advertisements?
 Form
 Are your advertisements in print form? A TV commercial?
 Where would this ad have appeared? (A magazine, a newspaper, a poster, on the television?)
 What does the ad look like? Who or what is in the advertisement?
 How does the form of the advertisement enhance the message? Would the message be the same if
the form was changed?
 Social Context
 When was this advertisement published?
 Who was this advertisement published for? (ie, the target audience)
 What was happening in the world at this time which would affect how this advertisement was created
or perceived by the target audience?
 Would it be advertised differently now?
 Language
 What techniques are used to persuade the audience?
 How do these make the audience feel?
 Are these techniques effective? Why/why not?
 Conclusion
 Sum it up!
 Did the advertisements achieve their purpose?
 Was one more effective than the other?

Draft Due: Friday Week 2, Term 2 (10th May)

Final Copy Due: Friday, Week 3, Term 2 (17th May)

Ensure that you appropriately draft, edit and proofread your work. You will have time in class to work on this
assignment. Submission is via SEQTA.
Performance Standards for Stage 1 Essential English
- Communication
A Consistently clear and coherent
writing and speaking, using an
appropriate vocabulary.
Thorough demonstration of
grammatical control.
B Mostly clear and coherent writing
and speaking, using a varied
vocabulary.
Effective and usually accurate
grammatical control.
C Generally clear writing and
speaking, using a mostly
appropriate vocabulary.
Appropriate grammatical control;
some errors, but these do not
impede meaning.
D Occasionally clear writing and
speaking, with a restricted
vocabulary.
Partial grammatical control; some
errors impede meaning.
E Limited clarity in writing and
speaking, with a limited
vocabulary.
Limited grammatical control;
errors impede meaning.
Comprehension
Detailed comprehension and
interpretation of complex
information, ideas, and
perspectives in a range of texts.
Thorough understanding of the
purpose, structure, and language
features in texts.
Detailed comprehension and
interpretation of some complex
information, ideas, and
perspectives in texts.
Appropriate understanding of the
purpose, structure, and language
features in texts.
Comprehension of some
information and ideas in texts.
Recognition and understanding of
the purpose, structure, and
language features in some texts.
Identification of information and
ideas in texts.
Some recognition and awareness
of the purpose, structure, and/or
language features in some texts.
Identification of some information
or ideas in a text.
Limited recognition and
awareness of the purpose,
structure, and language features
in a text.
Analysis Application
Thorough analysis of ways in Creation of complex texts for
which creators of a range of different purposes, using
texts convey information, appropriate textual conventions.
ideas, and perspectives.
Identification and clear analysis
of ways in which language
features are used to create
meaning in a range in texts.
Analysis of ways in which Creation of effective texts for
creators of a range of texts different purposes, using
convey information, ideas, and appropriate textual conventions.
perspectives.
Identification and analysis of
ways in which language
features are used to create
meaning in a range of texts.
Identification, with some basic Creation of texts for some
analysis, of ways in which purposes, using appropriate
creators of a narrow range of textual conventions.
texts convey simple information
and ideas.
Identification, with some basic
analysis, of ways in which
language features are used to
create meaning in a narrow
range of texts.
Reference to one or more ways Creation of texts for a narrow
in which creators of a narrow range of purposes, using some
range of texts convey simple textual conventions.
information and ideas.
Reference to some ways in
which language features are
used to create meaning in a
narrow range of texts.
Recognition of the way in Creation of a partial text for a
which a creator of a text purpose, attempting to use
conveys a simple piece of appropriate textual conventions.
information or idea.
Reference to a way in which
language features are used to
create meaning in a simple
text.