hey lilhoo, (sorry for the late post aha)
you're not alone with essay writing being a difficult section of EL- because it takes skills to select and analyse examples, as well as know what a 'good' essay constitutes in terms of structure and vocabulary. In my own experience, teachers don't typically teach students how to write a good essay structure-wise, which is really half of the equation (apart from EL knowledge) so here are a few tips that may help!
1) Read through essays that you like/think are good first- because it's impossible to write a good essay before really knowing what one looks like. See what sticks out at you- the vocabulary, phrasing, examples, structure of explanations? Really sift through this, and write down vocabulary you want to use later (this is a real booster to how eloquent your essays will sound). I had a vocabulary bank in year 12 for AC/SA, and essays.
2) Gather appropriate examples, and use these to make your 3 points IF synthesizing 3 points and then finding relevant examples is difficult.If it's difficult to plan your essays because you've made a point which you're happy with, then you need to find an example to back that up, but it's hard to find one so you make one up, or google for real-life examples of the hypothetical you made up, then can't find any from 2018 onwards- consider the "reverse" approach where:
- you look at all the examples you have relating to one topic (eg. Language and Identity)
-think to yourself: "How do all these examples relate to identity? What is X person trying to change about their identity, how is it done through language, who are they trying to fit in with?" "Is their identity percieved differently from what they intended? Why did this happen? Are there constraints on how one can alter their identity with language, and is this due to the user or the intended audience?" Link the example to the prompt like so.
-Now, gather examples in
pairs which say something common about the topic.
For example: in 2017, I had 2 examples like this which said something very similar about language and identity, and so I put them in the same paragraph.
One was a woman writing a news article about how she uses expletives to challenge the stereotypical female identity, and compares it with male expectations of constantly swearing.
Another was the Australian Army introducing new jargon alongside new training programs teaching "cross-cultural competence", and "interpersonal maturity", thus lending credibility to the new direction of self-awareness the Army was going towards. The army acknowledged that "...perceptions of Army officers as bureaucratically authoritarian, assertive and angry do not fit with the evolving cultural requirements of Army..."
The common link between these 2 are the use of language to change public perception of a long-held identity (women don't swear, the army is tough and angry)- which could be a suitable topic sentence idea.
3) Include a variety of viewpoints in your 3 main points- don't send the same message 3 times, but with different examples.An example of this is- para 1) Slang is involved with establishment and maintenance of group identity. para 2) Colloquialisms are a common way to show belonging with the Australian identity. para 3) Expletives can build in-group membership and allow users to forge common social norms.
These may seem good topic ideas at first glance, but looking carefully, they
all say the same thing about language- that it is capable of creating in-group membership/belonging/shared identity/rapport.
But there are 'counterpoints' to all 3 ideas. How about when slang goes out of fashion and is not used by the original group anymore, or when use of expletives is inappropriate, or may backfire? When is colloquial language too informal ("shit happens"- Tony Abbott) for the expectations of the wider social group (Australian public)? Make sure to cover these as well.
PS don't use that example from the early 2010's- use media examples from 2018+ O N L Y.The way I avoided this was to use (when appropriate) a 'yes/no/maybe' approach- with a topic sentence agreeing with the prompt, one disagreeing, and one exploring grey areas/interesting points/language use with multiple effects on different social groups.
So, an example of a 'maybe' point is PC language and how even though it aims to reduce offense by removing contentious and inflammatory language (thus meeting positive and negative face needs), PC language can also threaten the negative face needs of the elderly because they feel obligated to use it against their own will/think it is unnecessary and overly policing. One language feature, 2 different outcomes- one intended, the other unintentional.
4 (the 'golden' rule)- 2 Examples per Paragraph- no more, no less!Looking at example essays, 95% of the time- one example for a paragraph is too little and can't demonstrate a point fully.
3 examples is not ideal in a timed situation when the same job could be done with 2- however an exception to this is when 1-2 of them are small, like a supporting study/statistic.
5) Include 1-2 linguist quotes per essay.Kate Burridge and David Crystal are your 2 best bets. Apart from ticking off this criteria for a good essay, linguist quotes can also help you dig deeper into your examples, understand the context behind them, and overall allow for deeper understanding of EL concepts- especially when discussed with a friend/tutor/teacher.
hope this helps
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