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This lesson brings together everything you have learned about the language levels and applies it to the systematic analysis of written texts. Effective textual analysis is a skill that requires both linguistic knowledge and analytical technique. This lesson provides a framework for approaching written text analysis and demonstrates how to build a sophisticated, evidence-based response.
When faced with a written text for analysis, follow this structured approach:
Before writing anything, read the text at least twice:
Before applying the language levels, identify the contextual factors:
| Factor | Key Questions |
|---|---|
| Mode | Is this written, spoken, or multimodal? (For this lesson, we focus on written texts.) |
| Genre | What type of text is this? What genre conventions does it follow or subvert? |
| Audience | Who is the intended reader? What assumptions does the text make about its audience? |
| Purpose | What is the text trying to achieve? (Inform, persuade, entertain, instruct, express?) |
| Context of production | When and where was the text produced? Who produced it? Why? |
| Context of reception | Where and how would the audience encounter this text? |
Key Definition: Context — the circumstances surrounding the production and reception of a text, including the social, cultural, historical, and situational factors that influence how the text is created and interpreted.
Work through the language levels, noting the most significant features at each level. You do not need to comment on every level for every text — focus on the levels that are most relevant and revealing.
| Level | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| Graphology | Layout, typography, colour, images, spatial organisation, visual hierarchy |
| Lexis and Semantics | Word choices, semantic fields, connotations, figurative language, register, formality |
| Grammar (word level) | Morphological features, word formation, nominalisation, affixation patterns |
| Grammar (sentence level) | Sentence types and lengths, clause structure, voice (active/passive), foregrounding, sentence functions |
| Pragmatics | Implied meanings, presuppositions, speech acts, politeness strategies |
| Discourse | Cohesive devices, text structure, discourse markers, narrative structure (if applicable) |
| Phonology | Sound patterns if the text is designed to be read aloud or has notable phonological features |
The best analysis does not treat each language level in isolation. Look for patterns that span multiple levels:
Structure your response around the most significant findings, not around the language levels as categories. The best responses are organised thematically — each paragraph addresses a key aspect of the text's meaning and supports it with evidence from multiple language levels.
Written texts exist on a mode continuum between highly planned, formal writing and informal writing that mimics spoken language:
| More written-like ← | → More spoken-like |
|---|---|
| Academic essay | Personal email |
| Legal contract | Text message |
| Formal report | Social media post |
| Encyclopaedia entry | Online forum post |
| Broadsheet editorial | Instant message |
Texts that fall towards the spoken-like end of the continuum may display features such as contractions, informal vocabulary, ellipsis, first and second person pronouns, and non-standard orthography.
Different genres have expected conventions. Part of your analysis should consider how the text conforms to or departs from these expectations:
| Genre | Typical Conventions |
|---|---|
| News report | Inverted pyramid structure (most important information first), third person, past tense, attribution of sources, headline + standfirst + body |
| Editorial/opinion column | First person, present tense, rhetorical devices, subjective lexis, argument structure |
| Advertisement | Imperative mood, second person address, hyperbolic adjectives, brand name repetition, logo, slogan |
| Formal letter | Formulaic openings/closings, formal register, third person or first person, declarative sentences |
| Instruction text | Imperative mood, second person, numbered steps, chronological structure, simple sentences |
| Literary prose | Varied sentence structure, figurative language, narrative techniques, characterisation, setting |
The most important skill in textual analysis is explaining the effect of language features — what they do, why they matter, and how they contribute to meaning. This means going beyond identification:
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