2014 Unit 3 English Language

Formal Language

Area of Study 2 – Outcome 1 REVISION

SAC Guidelines

Outcome 1 REVISION

TASK: Oncompletionofthisunitthe student should be able to identify and analyse distinctive features of formal language in written and spoken texts.

SAC DATE: Wednesday 21st of May

Time for the completion of this SAC: 5 mins reading + 35 mins writing time

Allowable Materials

  • Pencils, highlighters, pens
  • No white out

Absences

  • Students who miss their appointed assessment time due to illness will need to provide a medical certificate immediately upon returning to school.
  • Failure to produce a medical certificate will mean you receive an N for this Outcome.

Assessment of SAC

  • There are 25 possible marks for this SAC.

PRACTICE SAC

  1. What is the social purpose of the text?

The social purpose of the text is to outline and establish the principles of the company to attract a diverse field of potential employees.

(1 mark)

  1. Identify two different pronouns and explain its relationship to the social purpose.

Two different pronouns that are predominantly used in the text include ‘we’ and ‘your’. Through utilising such inclusive pronouns, a unified working body is represented. This closes the social distance between the company and the primary audience, being possible future employees. In line 5, the use of ‘our’ identifies the company as one and further consolidates their positive public image. Similarly, in line 25, they outline their facilities and positive attributes that they can provide to employees.

(4 marks)

  1. What discourse strategy is employed in lines 3-4 of the text? Discuss why this might be used in this context.

In lines 3-4 there is the use of end-focus. This allows for the company to emphasise the fact that they are running and taking part in other projects ‘at the same time’ (line 3). Furthermore, this allows them to also emphasise the main idea of the sentence, being that they formally recognise the advantages of diversity.

(2 marks)

  1. Identify and discuss why the jargon has been used in this extract, making careful reference to the relevant sections in the text.

Business jargon, such as ‘targets (line 4), ‘key indicators’ (line 5) and ‘creative outcomes’ (line 34) is used to make the company seem more successful, sophisticated and proactive. This makes the audience feel as though they can be part of a firm that is actually achieving something which makes them more likely to gain employees.

(2 marks)

  1. What tense is employed between lines 19-24? What is the function of employing this tense?

The tense employed between lines 19-24 is present which is particularly important when educating the audience on the company KPMG. This provides the audience with information that sounds up-to-date and fresh which contributes to audience engagement. This is evident in lexemes ‘offers’ (line 22) and ‘embraces’ (line 23). This is also provides a persuasive essence to the extract as it dictates the audience’s interpretation of the text as recent information.

(3 marks)

  1. Comment on the syntactic structure employed within the text. Refer to specific examples in your analysis.

Compound and complex sentence structures are primarily utilised within this text. For example, ‘We have a strong talent…employees being women.’ (lines 8-9). As the text aims to create a positive image of the KPMG company, the usage of more structurally complex sentences emphasises the validity and prestige of the company. Additionally, compound and complex structures are also primarily used because the text deals with the multi-dimensional and abstract idea of social inclusion. More complex sentence structures allow the text to address such topics in a straightforward and professional manner, also contributing to the formal register of the text that is held constant throughout the text by consistent syntactic structures.

(3 marks)

6. What is the function of listing in line 11?

Listing in line 11 is used to describe the features which are necessary to have a flexible workplace, in a concise manner. For instance listing ‘diverse, adaptive…’ (line 11) allows the intended audience to take away the direct features of what KPMG says that they instill in their flexible work habits.

(2 marks)

7. What sentence type is primarily employed within the text? Explain, with reference to examples, its function.

Declaratives are the primarily employed sentence type. As the text’s function is to inform, the use of declaratives, ‘Australia’s population is ageing’ (line 28) enables the author to present the company’s ideas formally and with minimal bias.

(2 marks)

8. Explain how coherence and cohesion is achieved in the text with reference to specific examples.

Coherence and cohesion are each achieved in the text through a number of different examples. Coherence for instance is demonstrated as the author made clear use of features such as jargon relevant to the semantic field which can be seen on line 28 ‘age’, ‘retirement’ and line 30 ‘generations’, when referring to the specific topic ‘generational’. This together with the use of subheadings creates a listing effect, allows for more ease of understanding by the audience. Cohesion, however, is achieved through features such as anaphoric referencing which can be demonstrated through pronouns such as ‘our’ (line 13) that are used to replace the company’s name. Another feature which assists this is the use of conjunctions such as ‘and’ (line 31) which link ideas together throughout the sentences.

(6 marks)

TOTAL /25

Text 1

The following text is an extract is taken from the KPMG website. It outlines the company’s diversity and inclusion program, covering seven key areas: gender, flexibility, ethnicity, generational, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability and family. The areas concerning disability and family have been omitted.

  1. Gender
  2. Our CEO, his direct reports and all partners are accountable for promoting gender equality and
  3. inclusiveness across our firm.At the same time,our National Executive Committee has agreed to
  4. diversity and inclusion targets.
  1. Our key indicators are improving with an increase in the number of female partners at KPMG and
  2. we're proud of our consistently high rates of return from parental leave. We’re embracing flexible
  3. work arrangements and embedding diversity into all that we do.
  4. We have a strong talent pool of women in our firm, with approximately 50 percent of our
  5. employees being women.
  1. Flexibility
  2. Flexibility is essential for a diverse, adaptive and high performing workforce and is centralin
  3. achieving our aspiration to be the best firm to work with.
  1. At KPMG our fair and flexible work practices are an investment that remains high on our people
  2. agenda.
  1. Today career breaks are commonplace, women return to us after starting families and many of our
  2. partners are role modelling flexible arrangements. Our innovative programs and practices
  3. improvework balance, and demonstrate our commitment to continue to pursue new ways to
  4. support the careers of our people.
  1. Ethnicity
  2. Embracing ethnicity and cultural diversity is essential to achieve the best and brightest teams
  3. working with our clients.
  1. KPMG offers opportunities to develop skills which build our culture of inclusion. They help our
  2. people better understand and embrace the cultural differences that exist in our teams, clients and
  3. the wider community.
  1. We also offer facilities for our people to engage in prayer and quiet contemplation during the
  2. working day and cultural/religious leave.
  1. Generational
  2. Australia's population is ageing. That process is changing attitudes to age, retirement and workforce
  3. participation.
  1. Different generations can draw on diverse experiences to makevaluable contributions in the
  2. workplace. Many people want to continue working beyond traditional retirement age, and some
  3. may choose to do so on a more flexible basis.
  1. KPMG is keen to capitalise on the valuable contributions that are made byindividuals from all
  2. generations. Creative outcomes arise when different generations work together.
  1. Sexual orientation & gender identity
  2. Talent makes no distinction as to sexual orientation.
  3. KPMG seeks to attract talented individuals regardless of their sexual orientation. We want all our
  4. people to bring their whole selves to work and feel comfortable and secure in their working
  5. environment.
  1. Since it was founded in October 2008, KGEN, KPMG’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBTI)
  2. network for employees and allied supporters, has welcomed members of all ages, levels and
  3. backgrounds from across the firm. All of our people are encouraged to join regardless of sexual
  4. orientation.
  1. KPMG was ranked fourth in the Australian Workplace Equality Index in 2013. The awards recognize
  2. workplace support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The Workplace Equality
  3. Index evaluates and benchmarks LGBT inclusiveness in Australian Workplaces.
  4. KPMG was also awarded a Star Performing Network Group Award with work done through KGEN in
  5. 2012.