Here's some help for Text 1(Media Literacy) Syllabus 1128


Typical Text 1 question:
Imagine an image of \"Park Royal Hotel\" with photo of Nonya food.. \"Savour the taste of things Peranakan\"

Who is the target audience of this advertisement?
Students' answer should specifically identify by age/ gender / location/ profession / interest the particular group of people interested in the advertisement.

Acceptable correct answer:
\"People who love/ enjoy Peranakan food\"

Not acceptable:
Singaporeans who love Peranankan food (too narrow)
Tourists who love Peranakan food (too narrow)

Hence answer should be clear and specific, rightly identifying the target group.

To improve reading comprehension, it is helpful identify the types of comprehension questions:

1) Literal 2) Implied/ Inferential 3) Critical

For literal questions one pays attention to the "who", "what", "when", "where", "why", "how".
These are fairly clearly stated.

For inferential / implied questions, the information is not clearly stated.
One has to "read between the lines", which entails filling in the gap between what is asked and the facts given using one’s experience.
Eg Why didn’t Cinderella tell Prince Charming about the unfair treatment she received at home?
Some plausible answers could be:
"She was too engrossed in her dance with the Prince, so it did not occur to her to mention her family situation."
"She was too embarrassed to make mention of her humble and unfortunate circumstances."
Such statements would not be found in the text; we can put ourselves in the shoes of Cinderella to come up with reasonable answers.

For critical questions which involve making a value judgment, one uses adjectives that reflect if one approves or disapproves of the actions of a character.
Eg What do you think of the Prince’s action of going door to door to look for his dream girl?
The Prince’s action of going from door to door shows that he is sincere and determined to seek out his dream girl.

Do check out "Just Write" Composition Guides for Upper Secondary and Integrated Programme that gives in depth treatment to all genres of essays - including Expository and Argumentative writing. There are many A grade essays written by students from various schools to inspire their peers. Both the Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary "Just Write" Composition Guides are used in many schools - especially the better ones.

Hi I know that this is a much, much belated reply but I only came across it yesterday, so I guess I shall attempt an answer for the sake of clarfying essay genres.


The question : How, and in what areas, can Singapore do better in the next 10 years?

HappieNewbie123 rightly identified it as an expository essay. Hence, what is needed is elucidation, that is, to explain in detail. You do not really need to get mired up in rebuttals and counter arguments. It is not an argumentative essay that requires arguments on both sides. An indication of argumentation are clauses such as "Do you agree?" "What are your views?". Even if there is a controversy that you want to address, it should only be done briefly. There is no need to sweat over it.

The key words are "what areas" - identify & "how" - explain by giving examples the ways of improvement, bearing in mind the time frame of ten years.

Some examples of expository skills are i) explaining a process ii) giving examples iii) defining a term iv) explaining cause and effect v) classifying
vii) comparing and contrasting

An expository essay gives opportunity for the writer to demonstrate the above skills with the content that he or she has.

Aletheia Chan
Distinction Tutorial School