After taking a considerable amount of time going through my Language and Power piece and then looking through an example of the same piece from an A grade candidate, I compared our work to see how I could improve in attempt to achieve the same high grade.

I compared it by using a certain criteria, these were the use of Power terms, Context (with the use of Audience, Purpose, Form) and Terminology/Quotes. I recognise that a regular and in depth use of these concepts will make my piece more sophisticated and therefore will push me onto achieving a higher grade. I highlighted these three concepts in different colours on both pieces.

After doing this, I could see just by looking at both pieces that the A grade answer had far more highlighted overall than what mine did. My answer especially lacked Power terms and Context. I have therefore given myself the target of learning more of these, my task will be practice of the power terms and then including these in PEE sentences with insightful context.

Language and Power

Piece 1
Extract of Barack Obama's State of Union Address: 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, my fellow Americans:

Today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a student who needed it, and did her part to lift America's graduation rate to its highest level in more than three decades. An entrepreneur flipped on the lights in her tech startup, and did her part to add to the more than 8 million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years. An autoworker fine-tuned some of the best, most fuel-efficient cars in the world, and did his part to help America wean itself off foreign oil.

A farmer prepared for the spring after the strongest five-year stretch of farm exports in our history. A rural doctor gave a young child the first prescription to treat asthma that his mother could afford. A man took the bus home from the graveyard shift, bone-tired, but dreaming big dreams for his son. And in tight-knit communities all across America, fathers and mothers will tuck in their kids, put an arm around their spouse, remember fallen comrades, and give thanks for being home from a war that, after 12 long years, is finally coming to an end.

Tonight, this chamber speaks with one voice to the people we represent:  It is you, our citizens, who make the state of our union strong.

And here are the results of your efforts:  The lowest unemployment rate in over five years. A rebounding housing market. A manufacturing sector that's adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. More oil produced at home than we buy from the rest of the world -- the first time that's happened in nearly 20 years. Our deficits -- cut by more than half. And for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world's number one place to invest; America is.

That's why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America. After five years of grit and determined effort, the United States is better positioned for the 21st century than any other nation on Earth.

The question for everyone in this chamber, running through every decision we make this year, is whether we are going to help or hinder this progress. For several years now, this town has been consumed by a rancorous argument over the proper size of the federal government. It's an important debate -- one that dates back to our very founding. But when that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy -- when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States -- then we are not doing right by the American people.

Piece 2
Educating Essex 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu2MCbeKHG0

Piece 3
Sky news - Interview with David Beckham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53cGvGDwsOY

Piece 4
Outnumbered Scene 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDf_kU2V5as

Piece 5
Guardian Article
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/31/cultural-power-of-languages-live-chat