Remember PAF for English exams
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Who knew GCSE revision involved the use of so many acronyms? This week Pauline Hills, an English teacher and author of our Romeo and Juliet titles, talks about the importance of PAF for GCSE English revision.
PAF stands for purpose, audience and format. That’s why something is written, who it’s written for and how it’s written.
For months your teacher will have been discussing the terms purpose, audience and format with you, encouraging you to write for yourself in different formats such as letters, speeches or newspaper reports and teaching you the conventions of these formats. You will be familiar with the different purposes for writing through the writing triplets: argue, persuade advise; inform, explain, describe; analyse, review, comment; and explore, imagine, entertain and you’ll have had the chance to write for these purposes – you may even have produced coursework for one of these purposes.
You’ll have been taught to think about your audience – the person or people you are writing for – and whether it’s appropriate to adopt a formal or informal tone for your piece. For example, you wouldn’t speak to the headmaster in quite the same way that you’d speak to your best friends, would you? So, it’s easy to see why it’s important to take your audience into consideration when you’re planning your writing.
Having practised all of these things in class, in the English exam you’ll get to apply them not only in the writing tasks, but in the reading tasks as well. An informed response to a reading task will show that you understand the writer’s purpose and how they achieve that purpose, taking the audience into consideration within the conventions of the format they are using.
So, when you’re planning your English revision remember PAF – purpose, audience and format.
Image: Felipe Trucco @ Flickr:cc
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