Analyzing Advertising in the English Language Arts Classroom: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Students who learned how to critically analyze advertising as part of their Grade 11 English language arts class were compared to a demographically matched control group who did not receive such instruction. Four weeks of classroom activities involving the analysis of the purpose, target audience, point of view, and persuasive techniques used in advertising were provided as a regular part of classroom instruction in English language arts to 293 students by seven regular classroom teachers. Compared to a matched control group, statistically significant differences were found in measures of students' ability to analyze the purpose and persuasive goals of a print alcohol ad. Students in the treatment group also had higher scores in identifying a message's target audience, in recognizing verbal and visual techniques used to construct the media message, and in articulating the implied, unstated message subtext.