FOREGROUNDING

1
FOREGROUNDING
DECS Languages Multicultural Education
Portfolio Group Professional Development and
Resource Materials for ESL
..or whats up front?
2
FOREGROUNDING 1 analysing texts for the
foregrounded elements theme
3
Text 1
There are four basic face shapes. One is long.
Models tend to have this kind of face. The second
is round. People with round faces can look
homely. The third is square and the fourth is
oval.
4
Text 1
There are four basic face shapes. One is long.
Models tend to have this kind of face. The
second is round. People with round faces can
look homely. The third is square and the fourth
is oval.
5
Text 1
6
Text 2
Susan Ellis is a girl that I know. She is pretty.
She has blue eyes and long hair, pretty blonde
hair. Lastly shes tall. Shes very..
impressively tall. Shes tall enough to be a
champion basketball player (even though she
isnt).
7
Text 2
Susan Ellis is a girl that I know. She is
pretty. She has blue eyes and long hair, pretty
blonde hair. Lastly shes tall. Shes very..
impressively tall. Shes tall enough to be a
champion basketball player (even though she
isnt).
8
Text 2
9
Text 3
Barney was born in 1956 in a small country town.
When he was six he started school there. After
seven years at that school he had to go to a
boarding school in Perth.
10
Text 3
Barney was born in 1956 in a small country town.
When he was six he started school there. Then,
after seven years at that school, he had to go to
a boarding school in Perth.
11
Text 3
12
Text 4
I am very sorry but Barbara can not go swimming
today. Last night we had a party to celebrate
her birthday. Unfortunately we all drank too
much and today we are all as sick as dogs.
13
Text 4
I am very sorry but Barbara can not go swimming
today. Last night we had a party to celebrate
her birthday. Unfortunately we all drank too
much and today we are all as sick as dogs.
14
Text 4
15
(No Transcript)
16
Text 5
First get the bread. Next get the butter. After
that spread the butter on the bread with the
knife. When you have finished, eat it.
17
Text 5
Get the bread. Get the butter. After that
spread the butter on the bread with the
knife. When you have finished, eat it.
18
Text 5

19
Marked and Unmarked Themes
20
Foregrounded Elements

• Process Place the mixture in the oven
  after five minutes.
• Time After five minutes, place the
  mixture in the oven.
• Human We placed the mixture in the oven
  after five minutes.
• Non human The mixture was placed in the oven
  after five minutes.

21
FOREGROUNDING 2. The relationship between
Text purpose and theme. The kinds of elements
that can be foregrounded
22
Read this textIsabelle Allende was born in
Peru of Chilean parents and now lives in
California. She worked as a journalist before
writing the internationally acclaimed best
selling novel The House of Spirits. Since then
she has published the equally highly acclaimed
Eva Luna and the Infinite Plan which won the
Independent Foreign Fiction Award.
23
What is the text about?What is the purpose of
the text?What information do you expect to find
in such a text?
24
The sentence and clause starters Isabelle
Allende was born in Peru of Chilean parents and
now lives in California. She worked as a
journalist before writing the internationally
acclaimed best selling novel The House of
Spirits. Since then she has published the
equally highly acclaimed Eva Luna and the
Infinite Plan which won the Independent Foreign
Fiction Award.
25
What do you notice about the starting points
(the foregrounded elements or theme) of the
clauses? What happens if the theme changes?
26
Isabelle Allende was born in Peru of Chilean
parents and now lives in California. She
worked as a journalist before writing the
internationally acclaimed best selling novel The
House of Spirits. Since then she has published
the equally highly acclaimed Eva Luna and the
Infinite Plan which won the Independent Foreign
Fiction Award.
In Peru Isabelle Allende was born of Chilean
parents and in California she now lives.
Before writing the internationally acclaimed
best selling novel The House of Spirits, she
worked as a journalist. The equally highly
acclaimed Eva Luna and the Infinite Plan which
won the Independent Foreign Fiction Award has
been published since then.
27
(No Transcript)
28
FOREGROUNDING 2 Foregrounding and mode
29
Mode

• Foregrounding is an element of Mode
• Mode is the how, the information about the
  textual element of a Text. Mode in Text in
  Context deals with the range of spoken, written
  and multimodal texts.

30
Mode

• TEXT IN CONTEXT
• Deals with a range of texts constructed in a
  variety of modes highly spoken to highly
  written and includes a range of technologies
  
• (telephone, e-mail, pen etc)

31
Mode continuum
Mode
spoken written shop
dialogue....written discussion on
shopping hours transcript of dialogue..
formal oral
presentation
32
Mode

• We shouted like anything when Nige came on.
• Nigel Smart led the Crows onto Football Park last
  Saturday. The crowd erupted into applause.
• Last Saturday Nigel Smart led the Crows onto
  Football Park last Saturday and the crowd erupted
  into applause.
• As Nigel Smart led the Crows onto Football Park,
  the crowd erupted into applause.
• With enormous applause ringing through the
  stadium, Nigel Smart led his beloved Crows into
  the stadium.

33
Mode

• People destroy the places where the panda lives.
• The destruction of the pandas habitat is due to
  ...

34

• Mode continuum
• spoken written

We shouted like anything when Nige came on.
Nigel Smart led the Crows onto Football Park last
Saturday.
The crowd erupted into applause.
As Nigel Smart led the Crows onto Football Park,
the crowd erupted into applause.
With enormous applause ringing through the
stadium, Nigel Smart led his beloved Crows into
the stadium.
35

• Mode continuum
• spoken written

We placed the mixture in the oven after five
minutes.
The mixture was placed in the oven after five
minutes.
People destroy the places where the panda lives.
The destruction of the pandas habitat is due to
...
36
Mode continuum

• spoken written
• concrete nounabstract,
• nominalised
  noun
• human specifichuman general..no human
• 
  agent
• active voice ...passive voice
• action verbs. relational verb

37
Foregrounding 3 Foregrounding at work
38
Patterns of foregrounding
easily understood texts have expected patterns
of foregrounding
39
Patterns of foregrounding

• thematic choice should not be unexpected - it
  should be connected with ideas presented in a
  previous theme or rheme

40
Pattern 1 rheme of a clause is split and used as
theme of clauses which follow
taxonomic report
41

42
Pattern 2 same theme information is built
through the rheme
description
43
Pattern 3 zig zag (given new) -an element in
the rheme of one clause is the theme, or implied
in the theme, of the next
explanation
44

45
Patterns of foregrounding
easily understood texts have expected patterns
of foregrounding
46
Patterns of foregrounding
the foregrounded element may change with each
new stage of the text
47
(No Transcript)
48
Foregrounding 3 What can I do with this?
49
(No Transcript)
50
Foregrounding 4 Foregrounding in the ESL Scales
51
Mode Scale 3

• repetitive sentence beginnings I

52

Mode Scale 4

• repetitive sentence beginnings

53
Mode Scale 8

• organises texts in simple, logically ordered
  paragraphs

• foregrounds simple, repetitive patterns most of
  the time

54
Mode Scale 9
organises texts in longer, logically ordered
paragraphs

• foregrounds less simple, repetitive patterns
• phrases of time and place foregrounded more than
  once

• understands that changes in grammar may be
  required when using passive, but doesnt always
  have control

55
Foregrounding 5 Teaching strategies
56
Mode Foregrounding

• Identify foregrounded elements in a recount and a
  procedure
• My brother took me in his car. We went to my
  uncles house. On Saturday we went home.
• Open the box. Lift the paper. Fold the paper.

3. Compile other words time - Later that night,
After a while
4. Experiment Shift foregrounded element from the
front to middle to back
57
5. Jumbled text Talk about foregrounding at text
and sentence level while unjumbling a text cut
into paragraphs.
6. Deconstruction Deconstruct a model text for
its foregrounded pattern.
7. Reference Items Track reference items in a
text. practice choosing the correct reference
item.
8. Nominalisations Note the impact of
foregrounding nominalisations on the grammar (eg
active to passive voice).