Hello, everyone.

Welcome to this lesson on considering and understanding the attitude of a non-fiction text.

My name is Dr.

Clayton and I'm going to guide you through your learning journey today.

So today's lesson's all about considering the writer's attitude in a text.

So how the writer feels.

We're going to think about why the attitude of a text might be important, but also how we can identify the attitude through looking at connotations and semantic fields.

So if you're ready, grab your pen, laptop, whatever you're using for this lesson and let's get started.

So by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to identify and analyse connotations and semantic fields to consider the writer's attitude towards certain subjects.

So we have five words today we're gonna be using as our keywords.

They'll be identified in bold throughout the learning material.

And I'll try to point them out to you as well so you can see them being used in context.

So our first keyword is attitude, which means how the writer feels about a subject.

Throughout the lesson, we're going to be identifying and analysing the writer's attitude.

Our second keyword is connotation, and this means a feeling or idea that's suggested by a word in addition to its basic meaning.

We're going to be using the connotations of words to help us identify and analyse the attitude of a text.

Our third keyword is semantic field, which means a group of words or expressions that are related to meaning.

And again, we're gonna be identifying and analysing these in order to consider the attitude of a text.

Our fourth keyword is non-fiction, which means prose writing that is informative or factual rather than fictional.

We're focusing our attention on non-fiction text today.

And we'll specifically think about why considering the attitude of a non-fiction text is important.

Our fifth keyword is tone, which means the writer's attitude towards or feelings about the subject matter and audience.

So I'll just give you a moment to write down those keywords and their definitions.

So pause the video and write them down now.

Fantastic.

Let's go start with the lesson.

So we have three learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to think about the attitude of a text quite broadly and think about what it is, how we identify and analyse it, but also why it's important to think about the attitude of a nonfiction text.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to practise identifying and analysing the attitude of our first nonfiction text by looking at the connotations of semantic fields within the article.

This will then help us for our third learning cycle.

We're going to consider the attitude of a second nonfiction text, but this time, I'm gonna let you be a bit more independent with your work.

Now, as I said, this learning cycle is all about considering the attitude of a text quite broadly.

So let's start by returning to the definition of the attitude.

When we talk about the writer's attitude, we're talking about how the writer feels about the subject matter.

Now let's think about how we might identify and determine what their attitude is.

Now, we might identify the writer's attitude by considering what the tone of the text is.

So what I'd like you to do is think about how you might determine the tone of a text.

What might you look out for? Now, if you went through this with someone else, you might talk about your ideas together.

If you went through this by yourself, we might just think about your ideas.

So pause the video, think about how we might determine the tone of a text.

Welcome back, everyone.

It was great to see people zooming in on the idea of word choices and how crucial they are in determining how the writer feels.

As Laura says, "We could look at the words used and consider their connotations." As Sofia says, "We could also look for any semantic fields." Now we're gonna spend the next few minutes looking at exactly what connotations and semantic fields are, and practise identifying and analysing them.

So now let's focus in on those ideas and what they mean.

So connotations are the words, ideas, feelings, or concepts we associate with a word or symbol.

It's one of our keywords.

It means the feeling or idea that's suggested by a word in addition to its basic meaning.

So let's practise thinking about connotations.

What I'd like you to do is think about what the connotations are of this image.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, the image is of a heart, which is very symbolic culturally.

We might think of it as symbolising ideas of love, romance, and emotion.

So if a writer is using the image of a heart, we might think of them as feeling warm or positively about a subject.

Now let's think about semantic fields.

So as well as looking at the connotations of individual words, we might also look for semantic fields.

A semantic field's a group of words with a related meaning.

So again, as with connotations, I'd like us to practise identifying them.

So look at this list of words.

We have guns, ocean, wounded, trigger, flowers, twirl, bullets, and blast.

Which of those form a semantic field? So which of those are related in meaning? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing work, everyone.

Now, the words guns wounded, trigger, bullets and blast form a semantic field.

What I'd like you to do now is think about what that semantic field might suggest.

So if a writer used all of those words, what emotion are they likely trying to convey? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome, back everyone.

Now, as Sofia says, all of those words suggest ideas of violence and danger.

They create this sense of threat and fear.

So now that we defined those terms and practised identifying them, what I'd like us to think about now is why do you think looking at connotations in semantic fields might help us to identify and analyse a writer's attitude? So how might looking at the word choices affect how a writer feels about the subject matter? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, as Laura says, perhaps looking at connotations and semantic feels helps to consider the emotion behind the words and that will help us determine how the writer feels about that particular subject.

Our choice of words is incredibly important because it reveals how we feel about something based on our choice of words.

So we can analyse how a writer feels based on the words they choose to use.

Now for a quick check for understanding around connotations.

Which of the following could be considered a connotation of tiger? A, gentle, B, fierce, or C, dangerous? Pause the video.

Make your selections now.

The correct answers are B and C as we associate a tiger with being a predator and a big cat, which suggests ideas of being fierce and dangerous.

And because they're a wild animal, we might not necessarily associate them with the idea of being gentle.

So very well done if you got those right.

Fantastic work, everyone for the first task of the lesson.

Now, before we do a task, I also like to think about why we're doing it.

So in this lesson, we're specifically identifying and analysing the writer's attitudes in two nonfiction texts.

So what I'd like you to do is answer the following questions to think about that why question.

So why might looking at the writer's attitude and tone of a text be important? So why might we want to identify and analyse how a writer feels about a subject? Why may we want to specifically consider the writer's attitude in a nonfiction text? So remember, a nonfiction text is prose writing.

It's informative or factual rather than fictional.

Why might it be important to identify and analyse how a writer feels about informational facts? Pause the video, take a few minutes to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

I heard some fantastic ideas there.

What I'd like us to do now is consider Sofia's answers.

How well did they align with your ideas? So question one, why might looking at the writer's attitude and tone of a text be important? And Sofia said, "I think the attitude and tone of a text affects how we perceive the writer's intentions and how we as the reader interpret the meaning of the text." Question two, why might we want to specifically consider the attitude of a nonfiction text? And Sofia said, "I think nonfiction communicates ideas and information and therefore, considering the writer's attitude helps to understand why they're trying to communicate this particular idea and information to us.

What they want us to take away from it? So pause the video, consider how well Sofia's ideas align with your ideas.

Welcome back, everyone.

It was great to see people recognise that though nonfiction texts are based on information and facts, the emotion behind 'em is incredibly important because it helps to understand why a writer is presenting facts or information in a certain way and how they might want to influence the reader.

Amazing work so far, everyone.

For the second learning cycle, we're going to put our ideas into practise and apply them to a nonfiction text to try to determine the attitude.

So as I said, we're now going to consider the attitude of a nonfiction text by identifying and analysing the use of connotations and semantic fields.

So our first text is "My Struggle with a Tiger" by Charles Jamrach in the "Boy's Own Paper," volume one, number three, published February the 1st, 1879.

Now, there's a copy of the article in the additional materials.

What I'd like you to do is read the article.

So pause the video, read the article now.

Fantastic work, everyone.

Now, I know the language might seem a bit odd at times because it's a Victorian article, but I really hope you enjoyed reading it.

What I'd like you to do now is think about what your initial thoughts are about Jamrach's attitude towards the tiger.

So what does he think of the tiger? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, I think the word beast in the first line really stands out to me, suggesting he feels if the tiger's dangerous, but also very removed from being a human.

So perhaps he doesn't consider the tiger to have feelings the same way that humans do.

So now I've read the article, we're going to start by thinking about how we can identify and analyse Jamrach's attitude.

And as we said, one of the crucial elements of determining the writer's attitude is their choice of words.

So which words does Jamrach use to describe the tiger? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, you might have said ferocious, brute, and beast.

So now I've identified Jamrach's choice of words, I want you to think about what those words suggest.

So what are the connotations of those words? What ideas or feelings do they give you? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, you might have said that the word ferocious gives you a sense of danger, something savage, something powerful, something wild.

The word brute again gives you this idea of danger, something powerful, something violent.

And the word beast again, gives you a sense of power and danger, but also a sense of wildness.

So now we have an idea of the connotations of the words, what I'd like you to do is think about the connections between the words.

So can you see any similarities in those connotations? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Now, as our Oak pupil Laura says, the word danger's a connotation of all three words.

So perhaps we might suggest the connection between them so they all create a sense of this dangerous, wild power.

Finally, I'd like to think about what this says about Jamrach's attitude towards the tiger.

So how does he feel about the tiger based on those words and connotations? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome, back everyone.

Some great discussions there.

Now, as Laura says, perhaps it suggests he feels scared because of the repeated connotation of danger, but also somehow in awe of the tiger because of this repeat idea of power through the words.

It suggests there's a fear and wonder of how powerful the tiger is.

So now we have some ideas about how Jamrach uses words to present his attitude towards the tiger.

We want to think about how we can express those ideas and turn them into a written analysis of attitude.

So you might say something like, "Jamrach regularly describes the tiger as a brute, which has connotations of power, aggression, and danger.

The use of this word could indicate that Jamrach's attitude towards the tiger is one of fearful awe.

He's highly aware of the tiger's dangerous potential.

So here we embedded the word brute into our analysisas evidence from the text.

We have an analysis of the connotations.

As we said, the word brute suggests that there's power, aggression and danger.

And then we have the explanation of how those connotations lead us to the conclusion about the writer's attitude.

So now we have our initial idea about Jamrach's attitude towards the tiger.

Now I might expand our understanding of Jamrach's attitude towards the tiger by also considering his response to the tiger's escape.

So what I'd like you to do is think about which word Jamrach used to describe himself during his encounter with the tiger.

As ever, if going through this with someone else, you might talk about your ideas with them.

If doing this by yourself, you might just think about your ideas.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, you might have said, the words pluck, dashing, and vigorously are all words that Jamrach used to describe himself during his encounter with the tiger.

Now, as before, I'd like to think about what the connotations of those words are.

Remember, in this context, we're talking about describing someone as having pluck, rather than plucking something.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, to have pluck means have spirit.

So the connotations might be ideas of determination and courage.

Describing someone as dashing might suggest they're quick, they have confidence, they're adventurous.

And finally, vigorous also gives the connotations of energy and strength.

So what I'd like you to think about now is what do you think this says about Jamrach's attitude towards his response? How do you think Jamrach feels about how he responded to the situation? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, there is a sense of strength and confidence running through all of the words.

So as Sofia says that might suggest he sees his own response as brave, confident, and strong.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false that Jamrach's depiction of the tiger as a brute and a beast implies he feels confident in his ability to deal with the tiger.

Pause the video, make your selection now.

the correct answer is false.

Now I'd like you to tell me why it's false.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, the connotations of brute and beast are of dangerous, wild power, which implies that Jamrach feels fearful awe towards the tiger.

So very well done if you got that right.

Now, as I said earlier, I really want us to have this why question at the forefront of our minds because when we think about attitude, we also want to come back to the bigger question of why.

Why does the writer feel like this? Or more crucially, why do they want us to think they feel like this? So I'd like you to consider notes on Jamrach's attitude towards the tiger's escape.

So we said his attitude towards the tiger was one of fearful awe, and we said his attitude towards his own response, it was of brave, fast-thinking confidence.

I'd like you to discuss why you think Jamrach wishes to portray this attitude towards the tiger's escape.

What does it suggest about him and how he wants to be perceived? Now, if you're going through this with someone else, you might talk about your ideas with them.

If going through it's by yourself, you might just think about your ideas.

So pause the video, take a few minutes to consider.

Some fantastic ideas there, everyone.

Now, I'm going to share the response of one of our Oak peoples.

I'd like to think about how well it aligns with your ideas.

So Laura said, "I think Jamrach might want us to perceive his attitude towards the tiger as being one of fearful awe because it then makes his own response to the tiger's escapes seem even more brave and confident.

It implies he's using his attitude towards the subject to influence the reader's perception of him.

So pause the video, think about how well your ideas align with Laura's ideas.

Welcome back,` everyone.

It was great to see people making a connection between the fact that this article is a Victorian article and the Victorian focus on reputation and how that might be the reason that Jamrach wants to portray himself as brave.

Amazing works so far, everyone.

For the final learning cycle where we're going to consider a second nonfiction article and think about how identifying and analysing the connotations of semantic fields allows us to determine the writer's attitude.

Now we're going to consider the attitude of our second nonfiction text towards the escape of a gorilla.

So our second nonfiction text is an article in The Guardian by Kevin Rawlinson called "Gorilla recaptured after escape from London Zoo." There's a copy of the article in the additional materials.

I'd like you to read the article.

So pause the video, read the article now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, I'd like to consider what you think Rawlinson's attitude towards the gorilla's escape is.

So how did Rawlinson feel about the gorilla's escape? Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

It was great to see people saying they almost expected a greater sense of fear from the article.

It almost feels if the writer feels very calm and almost quite indifferent towards the gorilla's escape, we're gonna consider why that might be in a moment.

Now, as we did before, we're going to zoom in on specific words in order to try and identify and analyse Rawlinson's attitude.

So I'd like you to start by identifying which words in the article create this sense of calm indifference.

Pause the video.

Take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

And you might have said safe, contained, minor, lockdown, armed police, and tranquilliser guns.

Now, as we did in the second learning cycle, I'd like to now consider what the connotations are of those words and think about whether you can spot any semantic fields within that list.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

And you might have said, "The word safe gives you a sense of calmness, relaxation, and there's no danger." Again, contained.

It's just a sense of reduced danger and safety.

Minor, it's just a minimization of the danger, it's inconsequential, it doesn't matter.

You might have said the words lockdown, armed police and tranquilliser guns create this semantic field of protection and safety.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false? The words lockdown, tranquilliser guns and armed police create a semantic field.

Pause the video, make your selection now.

The correct answer is true.

Now I'd like you to tell me why it's true.

So what related meaning do all those words have? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

You might have said all those words create the connotations of protection and safety and therefore, form a semantic field.

So very well done if you got those right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

Another final task of the lesson where I'd like you to bring everything together from this learning cycle and use your notes to write an answer to the question.

What is Rawlinson's attitude towards the gorilla's escape? You might consider the semantic field of safety, the connotations of a reduced inconsequential danger from words to safe, minor and contained, but also why Rawlinson might want to convey this attitude.

What's it tell us about the zoo and its protocols? Pause the video.

Write your answer now.

Welcome back, everyone.

It was great to see people looking back at our models from learning cycle two to get an idea of how to write the answer, and I'm gonna share Izzy's response with you.

I'd like you to think about how we might extend Izzy's answer by asking the why question.

What does Rawlinson's attitude suggest about the zoo's protocols and procedures? Izzy's answer currently says, "In his portrayal of the escaped gorilla, Rawlinson conveys an attitude of relaxed indifference, seemingly satisfied with the response of the zoo.

Utilising inconsequential adjectives, like safe, contained, and minor underscores the lack of perceived danger associated with the incident, effectively downplaying its severity.

The semantic field of lockdown, armed police and tranquilliser guns creates a sense of safety." So pause the video, think about how we might extend Izzy's answer by thinking about what he might be telling the audience about the zoo.

Welcome back, everyone.

And you might have thought, we could extend it by adding, "The semantic field of safety surrounding terms such as lockdown, armed police and tranquilliser guns highlights the extensive protocols in place to manage such occurrences, suggesting a well-prepared and controlled environment.

So now we've extended Izzy's answer, I'd like you to check your own answer to see if you can extend it further to consider what it tells us about the zoo.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now, I always want you to try and keep that why question in the back of your mind and try to extend any answer you give about a text by considering why the writer is presenting a subject or person in a certain way.

What are they trying to tell us about them? You all did amazingly well today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

A writer's attitude is how they feel about a subject.

We might identify and analyse their attitude by considering connotations of words and semantic fields.

A writer's attitude is important.

This helps us to understand what their intentions were.

A writer's attitude can also influence the perception of the reader and how they see the writer and the subject.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

I hope see you for another lesson soon.

Goodbye.