VCE English Units 1–2: Exploring Argument: Analysing Persuasive Texts
Unit 2 VCE English: analysing how persuasive texts position an audience. Contention, sequence, evidence, language and strategies, visuals, intonation, volume, pace, pausing and stress, context, note-taking, and writing the analysis, with original texts on one issue.
Exploring Argument: Analysing Persuasive Texts
How to analyse the ways written, spoken and visual texts use argument and language to position an audience on a contemporary issue.
Aligned to the VCE English and English as an Additional Language (EAL) Study Design (accreditation period: Units 1 and 2 from 1 January 2023, Units 3 and 4 from 1 January 2024; VCAA support materials list Units 1 and 2 as 2023–2027). Same Page is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by the VCAA. Check your school's course. This guide covers Unit 2, Area of Study 2 (Exploring argument), Outcome 2, for VCE English students. EAL outcomes are worded slightly differently.
00Start here
Unit 2, Area of Study 2 turns from literature to the persuasive texts that surround a contemporary issue. You read, view and listen to opinion pieces, speeches, editorials, podcasts and images, and analyse how each tries to position an intended audience. You also write your own point of view text for oral presentation (see the companion guide, Point of View Texts and Oral Presentation).
In Year 10 you mapped arguments and analysed evaluative language, visuals and spoken texts (Mapping an argument). Unit 2 adds a sharper focus on evidence, context and the elements of spoken delivery, and expects a formal analytical response.
How Year 11 English is assessed. Units 1 and 2 are assessed by the school. Each unit is reported to the VCAA only as S (satisfactory) or N (not satisfactory); grades or marks for these units are a school decision and are not sent to the VCAA. There is no VCAA exam in Year 11. In Year 12 (Units 3 and 4) the study score, on a scale of 0–50, comes from School-assessed Coursework (SACs) in Unit 3 (25 per cent) and Unit 4 (25 per cent) and the end-of-year exam (50 per cent).
English is the only compulsory VCE study: students need three units from the English group, including a Unit 3–4 sequence. Year 11 is therefore where the skills for the Year 12 SACs and exam are built, not where they are scored.
Typical tasks for this outcome include a set of annotated persuasive texts, a written analysis of argument and language, and an oral presentation of the student's own point of view. Analysing argument returns as a Unit 4 SAC and as a section of the Year 12 exam. Watching or reading the news together and asking 'Who is this trying to convince, and how?' is excellent practice.
01What Exploring argument asks
Analysing argument means explaining what an author argues, how they argue it, and how the audience is positioned as a result. It does not mean agreeing or disagreeing.
| Element | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Contention | What exactly does the author want the audience to believe or do? |
| Supporting arguments and sequence | What reasons are given, and why in this order? |
| Evidence | What supports each argument, and how reliable or selective is it? |
| Language and strategies | Which words, techniques and appeals are used, and to what effect? |
| Visuals | How do images, layout or graphs support the written or spoken argument? |
| Spoken elements | How do intonation, volume, pace, pausing and stress persuade? |
| Audience and context | Who is meant to be persuaded, and how does the moment of publication shape the argument? |
02Understanding an issue and its context
The study design asks you to study a contemporary and substantial local or national issue through a range of texts. Before analysing any text, build your understanding of the issue itself.
An issue briefing in five headings
- What is being decided, by whom, and when?
- Who are the stakeholders? (Who gains, who loses, who decides, who is not heard?)
- What are the main positions? Usually more than two.
- What values are in conflict? Safety, freedom, fairness, prosperity, tradition, community.
- What is the background? Recent events, laws or data that make the issue current.
This guide uses an invented issue so you can see every step: Harbourton, a regional town, is about to vote on a 30 km/h speed limit across its town centre. In class, your issue will be real, so your briefing should use reliable sources and record where each fact came from.
You cannot judge an author's selection of evidence unless you know what they left out. The radio editorial below challenges the injury figures, but you could only notice its own omissions if you had read the report yourself.
03Contention, supporting arguments and sequence
Every persuasive text has a contention, even when it is implied. Supporting arguments are the reasons; their sequence is a deliberate choice.
| Common sequence | What it does | Example in the model texts |
|---|---|---|
| Anecdote first | Hooks emotion before presenting reasons | The opinion piece opens with a nine-year-old clipped on a crossing |
| Common ground first | Disarms opponents by agreeing on values | The editorial opens: 'Nobody… wants a child hurt' |
| Concession then counter | Seems fair, then turns | 'Some traders worry… I understand the fear… But…' |
| Strongest argument last | Leaves the most powerful idea in the audience's mind | The editorial ends on the personal cost to the baker |
| Circular structure | Returns to the opening image for closure | The opinion piece ends with 'a nine-year-old on her way to a crossing' |
04How evidence supports argument
Evidence includes statistics, examples, expert or official sources, personal experience and analogies. Analysis asks what kind of evidence is used, how it is presented, and how selective it is.
Both authors use the same data selectively. The opinion piece compares only the first and last years ('risen by half'), which is accurate but hides the dip in 2023. The editorial highlights the dip and raises questions about where injuries happened, but offers no figures of its own. Neither is dishonest; both frame the data to suit their contention.
| Type of evidence | In the texts | Persuasive effect |
|---|---|---|
| Official data | 'The council's own traffic report' | Turns the council's evidence against it; feels objective |
| Anecdote | The nine-year-old's scar; the baker's takings | Makes a statistic personal; builds sympathy |
| Estimate | 'under a minute for most journeys' | Minimises the cost of the change |
| Personal authority | 'I've run the bakery… for twenty-two years' | Credibility from experience |
| Rhetorical gap | The editorial asks how many injuries occurred on the bypass but does not answer | Plants doubt without proof |
05Language, techniques and strategies
The study design groups persuasive methods as language and techniques and strategies. Name them precisely, but always explain their effect on the intended audience.
| Language or strategy | Example | Positioning effect |
|---|---|---|
| Short, declarative sentences | 'She was nine. She was on a pedestrian crossing.' | Each fact lands separately; readers feel the injustice step by step |
| Reframing a slogan | 'It is not about “war on cars”' | Names the opposition's phrase in order to dismiss it as exaggerated |
| Inclusive language | 'I suspect most of you are too' | Assumes shared values, making disagreement feel selfish |
| Metaphor | 'not a highway with shops beside it' | Redefines the town centre as a place for people |
| Repetition with stress | 'Not just Bay Street. Every street.' | Exaggerates the scope of the plan in listeners' minds |
| Precise figure | 'my takings dropped by a third' | Gives a personal cost the force of data |
| Imperatives | 'Vote for it, write to your councillor'; 'Ring in and tell me yours' | Directs action; the editorial's invitation also signals openness |
| Rhetorical question (implied) | 'how many of those happened on the bypass…?' | Raises doubt about the opponent's evidence without needing proof |
Analysis earns marks for explaining how techniques work together in a section of the argument, not for listing them. 'The short sentences, the child's age and the scar combine to make readers feel the human cost before any statistic appears' beats three separate sentences each naming one device.
06Model texts: an opinion piece and a radio editorial
Two original texts on the invented Harbourton issue. Read both, then the poster in section 07.
Thirty is not a number. It's a child.
An original opinion piece written for this guide, published (fictionally) in a regional newspaper. The town, people, data and plan are invented.
1Last March, my daughter's friend was clipped by a ute on Bay Street. She was nine. She was on a pedestrian crossing. She is fine now, apart from a scar on her knee and a habit of freezing at kerbs. The driver was not drunk or on his phone. He was doing fifty, which is the limit, and he simply did not stop in time.
2Next month the council will vote on a 30 km/h limit for the town centre. I want to say clearly what this is about. It is not about 'war on cars', a phrase I have read three times this week. It is about whether a driver, in the half-second after a child steps out, has room to stop.
3The council's own traffic report shows pedestrian injuries in the centre have risen by half since 2021, from 14 a year to 21. These are not abstractions. Each number is a family who now flinches at the sound of brakes.
4Yes, the trip down Bay Street will take a little longer. The council's report puts the extra time at under a minute for most journeys. I am willing to give a minute. I suspect most of you are too, if you picture the alternative.
5Some traders worry that slower traffic will mean fewer customers. I understand the fear; many of them are my friends. But people who feel safe walking stay longer and spend more. A town centre is not a highway with shops beside it. It is a place where people are meant to be.
6Thirty is not just a number on a sign. Vote for it, write to your councillor, and slow down now, before the council makes you. Somewhere in this town there is a nine-year-old on her way to a crossing.
Transcript: 'Harbourton Mornings' editorial
An original radio editorial written for this guide. Speaker, station and town are invented. Delivery notes in square brackets.
1PRESENTER: [warm, unhurried] Good morning, Harbourton. Let's talk about thirty.
2Nobody, and I mean [stressed] nobody, wants a child hurt on our streets. So let's start there, because I'm tired of being told that if you question this plan, you don't care about kids.
3[pace quickens] Here's what the plan does. It drops the limit on every street in the centre. Not just Bay Street. Every street. Including the bypass that takes the trucks [stressed] around the shops.
4[pause] Now. The injuries. The report says fourteen in 2021 and twenty-one last year. [pitch rises, sceptical] Sounds bad? [pitch falls] But it was fifteen in 2023, and the report doesn't tell you how many of those happened on the bypass, or at night, or in car parks where the limit's already ten.
5[lower, slower] I've run the bakery on Quay Street for twenty-two years. When the roadworks slowed traffic in 2019, my takings dropped by a third. [stressed] A third. That's not a 'fear'. That's my mortgage.
6[louder] So fix Bay Street. Put in a raised crossing. Put a lollipop person outside the school. Do it tomorrow. [pause] But don't punish a whole town for one dangerous street. [softer] That's my view. Ring in and tell me yours.
07The role of visuals
Visuals rarely argue on their own; they support or sharpen a written or spoken argument. Analyse their composition, salience, colour, text and relationship to the main argument.
| Visual element | In the poster | Effect on the intended audience |
|---|---|---|
| Salience | The large red car on the right | Draws the eye first, so danger dominates the image |
| Size contrast | A small child beside a much larger car | Emphasises vulnerability and imbalance of power |
| Colour | Red car against muted background | Red connotes danger and urgency |
| Vectors | Speed lines between the car and the child | Implies movement and threat even in a still image |
| Headline | '30 SAVES LIVES' in heavy capitals | A slogan that turns a speed limit into a moral choice |
| Body text | 'At 30 km/h, a driver stops in time.' | An absolute claim; it simplifies a complex issue into certainty |
An analysis would link the poster to the opinion piece: both use a child to make the issue personal, and the slogan compresses the opinion piece's title into three words. A sophisticated response might note that the poster's absolute claim ('stops in time') is less qualified than the opinion piece's own language ('has room to stop').
08Spoken language: intonation, volume, pace, pausing and stress
When you analyse audio or audiovisual texts, the study design names five elements of spoken language. Each can be analysed like a word choice.
| Element | Listen for | In the radio editorial | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intonation | Rising or falling pitch; warmth, sarcasm, questions | '[pitch rises, sceptical] Sounds bad? [pitch falls] But…' | The questioning rise invites listeners to doubt the figures; the fall to a flat statement signals the rebuttal |
| Volume | Louder or softer moments | '[louder]' for the demands; '[softer]' for the sign-off | Greater volume adds force to the alternative; softness ends on openness |
| Pace | Speeding up or slowing down | Quickens when describing the plan; slows for the bakery | Speed makes the plan seem sweeping; slowness lends weight to personal loss |
| Pausing | Silences before or after key words | '[pause] Now. The injuries.' | Signals a turn and invites listeners to reconsider the data |
| Stress | Emphasis on particular words | 'nobody', 'around', 'A third.' | Directs attention to the points the speaker most wants remembered |
Treat a delivery choice exactly like a word choice: quote it (with its delivery note), name the element, and explain its effect on the audience. 'The presenter slows his pace and lowers his voice for the bakery anecdote, giving his personal loss a gravity that invites listeners to see traders as neighbours, not obstacles.'
09How context shapes argument
Context shapes how an argument is built and received. Ask: where was it published, when, by whom and for whom?
| Context factor | Opinion piece | Radio editorial |
|---|---|---|
| Form and site | Regional newspaper column; read at leisure | Morning radio; heard while driving or working |
| Timing | A month before the council vote | Same period; a talkback audience will respond immediately |
| Author's position | A parent of a child's friend | A long-standing local trader and presenter |
| Likely audience | Parents, residents, councillors | Commuters, traders, regular listeners |
| Effect on the argument | Personal anecdote and a written call to action | Conversational tone, invitation to 'ring in', delivery for the ear |
A text published the morning after an accident would land differently from one published a month later. A national campaign would need different evidence from a local one. Mention context in your introduction and wherever it explains a choice.
10Note-taking, annotation and summary
The study design expects you to summarise arguments using note-taking and annotation before writing formal analysis.
Annotation key
- Box the contention. Number each supporting argument in the margin.
- Underline evidence and label its type (stat, anecdote, expert).
- Circle loaded words and note the connotation.
- In the margin, write the intended effect in four words or fewer ('makes parents fearful').
- Draw an arrow where the tone shifts and label the new tone.
A 60-word summary of the editorial
A local presenter and baker argues that the 30 km/h plan is too broad. He opens by affirming that nobody wants children hurt, questions the injury data's selectiveness, warns of economic harm through a personal anecdote, and proposes targeted fixes for Bay Street. Warm, then brisk, then grave, he ends by inviting listeners to call in.
11Writing the analytical response
An analytical response to argument usually has an introduction, three or four body paragraphs that follow the argument's sequence, and a brief conclusion. When there are two texts, analyse each in turn and use transitions to show where the second responds to the first.
Introduction checklist
- Issue and context (what, where, when)
- Each text's form, author, audience and contention
- Overall tone of each text
Model body paragraph (opinion piece, paragraphs 1–3)
The writer opens not with an argument but with a child, a strategy designed to make the issue personal for parents before any policy is discussed. The anecdote is delivered in short, declarative sentences ('She was nine. She was on a pedestrian crossing.'), each fact isolated so that readers absorb the injustice step by step. Crucially, the driver 'was not drunk or on his phone', which removes the easy explanation of a careless motorist and suggests that the current limit itself is the danger. Having established this emotional ground, the writer pre-empts opponents by naming and dismissing their slogan, 'war on cars', as a distortion of a simpler question about whether a driver 'has room to stop'. The writer then turns to the council's own report, selecting the comparison between 2021 and 2025 to claim that injuries have 'risen by half'. Presenting the council's data as evidence against the council lends the argument authority, while the follow-up, that each number is 'a family who now flinches at the sound of brakes', converts statistics back into feeling. Parents are thus positioned to see the lower limit not as an inconvenience but as a modest price for their children's safety.
Transition to a second text
'While the opinion piece frames the limit as a moral necessity, the radio editorial, broadcast to commuters and traders, accepts the same concern for children but disputes the plan's scope.'
- Giving your own view on the issue.
- Analysing visuals in a separate final paragraph instead of where they support the argument.
- Writing 'the reader' instead of a specific audience ('parents', 'local traders').
- Retelling the argument without explaining how the language works.
12Flashcards
13Exam-style practice
28 marks.
1. State the contention of the opinion piece and identify its intended audience. (2)
2. Explain why the opinion piece begins with an anecdote rather than with the injury figures. (3)
3. How does each text use the 2021–2025 injury data? Explain one way each is selective. (4)
4. Analyse how two spoken elements in the radio editorial contribute to its persuasive effect. (4)
5. Explain how the poster's composition supports the opinion piece's argument. (3)
6. How does context (form, site, audience) shape the language of the radio editorial? (2)
7. Write an analysis paragraph (about 220 words) on how the radio editorial positions local traders and commuters in its final two paragraphs. (10)
14Checklist
- build an issue briefing: decision, stakeholders, positions, values and background?
- identify a contention and explain the sequence of supporting arguments?
- evaluate how evidence is selected and framed, including data?
- analyse language and strategies working together, not as a list?
- explain how a visual supports an argument through salience, colour and text?
- analyse intonation, volume, pace, pausing and stress in a spoken text?
- explain how context shapes an argument and its reception?
- annotate a persuasive text and summarise it in under 60 words?
- write a structured analytical response to one or two persuasive texts?