DLK 101 English for Academic and Professional Purposes

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Part One: Essay Question Analysis and Rhetorical Moves
Essay Question:
Assess the extent to which Salina was influenced by the main
social concerns at the time when the book was written.
Course: Literature
Rhetorical Moves: 1. Provide an overview background of the writer, A. Samad
Said and the situation in Singapore during the period the
book was written.
2. State in the introduction that I agree to a large extent that
Salina was influenced by the main social concerns at the
time when the book was written.
3. Describe some of the main social concerns such as
prostitution, employment and financial crisis that
Singaporeans faced during the time the book was
written.
4. Provide examples from the book that show the influence
of problems such as prostitution, employment and
financial crisis.
5. Use the Imitation Theory from Sociology of Literature to
prove that Salina was influenced by the main social
concerns and to support my stand.
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6. Conclude and state the extent to which Salina was
influenced by the main social concerns at the time the
book was written.
Macro Rhetorical Goal:
To prove to R that Salina was influenced by the main social
concerns to a large extent.



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Part Two: Analysis of Letter
1. In this letter, the writer clearly shows her concern on the pupils health. This can be seen
through the number of suggestions that she provided for parents. It requires parents to
take actions in helping the school to ensure that their children are in their best state of
health especially with the outbreak of the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). The
writer gave suggestions from maintaining ones cleanliness to the maintaining of the
surroundings. Suggestion on steps to take when a child is ill and practicing a healthy diet
was also mentioned.

Besides that, she also assures parents that she will practice basic hygiene in class and seek
the support from parents to continue practicing hygiene at home and to take precautions
to prevent their children from contracting this disease. A specific example from the letter
that shows the writers purpose can be seen through this sentence:
Ensure that your child visit the doctor when they are not feeling well and
rest at home. Avoid your child from any close contact with people who are
sick.

Therefore, this letter managed to fulfil the writers intended purpose that is to raise her
concern on the students health with regards to HFMD. The writers purpose that is to
seek support and to urge parents to take precaution has also been fulfilled through the
suggestions given.

2. The context of this letter clearly shows that the writer underlying assumptions about the
readers interests are on how to prevent their children from contracting HFMD and some
of the measures that should be taken to ensure that their children are healthy. With these,
the writer assumed that parents need to know some of the ways that they can practice to
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ensure that their children are protected from the disease. This can be seen through the
suggestions given to parents to ensure that their childrens healths are being taken care of
such as reminding their children to wash their hands before eating and maintaining
cleanliness at home.

Readers are assumed to have a basic knowledge of HFMD and its importance in the
public health which may cause large outbreaks and deaths among children. This can be
seen as the writer did not give information such as the cause and symptoms when a child
suffers from this disease. Thus, it is assumed that readers are knowledgeable on the
disease and only require reminders and advise on keeping up with their childrens health.

3. a) Theme:
With the recent outbreak of the Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, I am writing to highlight
my concerns.
Main clause:
You could remind your children to wash their hands after playing and especially before
eating.
Subordinate clause:
Avoid your child from any close contact with people who are sick.

b) The first example, the writer wants to bring attention to parents regarding a problem
that has raised concerns within the school. The second example, parents are urged to play
their part to ensure that their children practice basic hygiene. The third example, the
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writer provides a piece of contextual information to prevent children from getting infected
with illnesses.

4. The language used in this letter is appropriate with the socio-cultural context to a large
extent. It shows formality as the relation between the writer and reader is as teacher and
parents. Thus, language used is polite and formal. However, there are occasions that the
teacher phrases her sentence in an authoritative approach which can be interpreted
wrongly by parents. An example is, Ensure that your child visits the doctor when they
are not feeling well and rest at home. The word ensure which means to make sure or
certain seems to be a demanding statement by the teacher. The sentence could be
rephrased appropriately to make it sound more polite such as Please bring your child to
the doctor when he/she is not feeling well.

The context of this letter is informational whereby the writer gave lots of measures for
parents to follow. However, parents might feel that some of the measures are redundant as
it is too generic. For example, ...make sure that our homes are clean and tidy so that they
will be less germs and bacteria around. Thus, it might be time consuming for
Singaporean parents who are always busy.

5. In line with the governments rising concern on the Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease (HFMD),
our school is taking up measures related to students health. We appeal to all parents to
support us in ensuring students health and well-being is being monitored at home.