RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
LANGUAGE, CONTEXT AND MEANING
Year 11 ATAR English

PERSONAL
CONTEXT
Anything that has happened in the individuals life
that may impact on their view and writing.
The audience has their own personal context and
their perspective is impacted by it.
The author may be writing about something the
audience hasn’t experienced. Do your viewpoints
align?

SOCIAL
CONTEXT
The way in which the features of the
society it is set in impact its meaning.
There are two aspects to social context:
1. The kind of society in which the
characters live
2. the one in which the author's text
was produced

CULTURAL
CONTEXT
While you might live in a society, your
values might differ from those of your
society.
You might be culturally religious (cultural
context) but your society is secular
(social context), for example.
Cultural contexts often inform and
underpin social contexts.

AUDIENCE, PURPOSE &
CONTEXT
Discuss the following scenario:
Imagine you are a computer scientist, and you have written an important paper
about cybersecurity. You have been invited to speak at a conference to explain your
ideas. As you prepare your slides and notes for your speech, you are thinking about
these questions:
•What kind of language should I use?
•What information should I include on my slides?
Now, imagine you are the same computer scientist, and you have a nephew in 3rd
grade. Your nephew’s teacher has invited you to come to his class to explain what
you do at work.
Will you give the same speech to the class of eight-year-olds? How will your
language and information be the same or different?

Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew
Adapting literature to another genre. The different genre
brings another context. A different time period? Different
culture/location? It shares similar themes and ideas.
6
How do adaptations link to context?
Shakespeare creates a troubling comedy that
explores Elizabethan (social) issues of gender. The idea of
"taming" one's wife in Elizabethan England (historical) was a
common one, and was coupled with a popular image of the
shrewish wife in the male-dominated literary tradition
(personal).

Evident links? What has changed?
8
10 Things I Hate About You is set in an American
High School context. The clothing is different and
the students’ speech.
The plot line is the same and emphasize feministic
perspectives.
It appeals to the audience who attend High School,
specifically in America.

Rabbits Shaun Tan
It is partly an allegorical fable about colonization, told from
the viewpoint of the colonized.
The narrator described the coming of ‘rabbits’ in the most
minimal detail. At first the encounter is friendly and curious
in nature. It later darkens as it becomes apparent that the
visitors are actually invaders.

Visual Conventions
Line Balance
Shape
Contrast
Colour Emphasis
Movement Space
Unity
Texture

Oral Presentations
Voice
Visuals
Links
Body language
Movement/hand
gestures
Eye contact
Use of cards

THANK YOU
ANY QUESTIONS?