Evaluating Martin Luther King's Speech

This assignment tasks students with evaluating the historical significance and impact of Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic 'I Have a Dream' speech. Students are required to analyze the speech's content, rhetorical strategies, and its influence on the Civil Rights Movement. They will also need to demonstrate an understanding of the socio-political context surrounding the speech and its lasting legacy.

ENGLISH AND
ACADEMIC STUDY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1................................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Different uses of English language.......................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Documents for stated purpose and audience.........................................................................3
2.2 Review and revision for accuracy.........................................................................................5
2.3 Referencing different types of resources...............................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................................8
.........................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Critical reading and correct use of English language is important for finding completing a
task. This assignment is based on two given texts, one is the speech of Martin Luther King 'I
have a dream' and other is Equality and Diversity policy of the British Library. List of key facts,
an outline of the main argument and evidence of bias will be included in this report. Different
uses of English language will get cover in this project (Aijmer and Lewis, 2017). This file will
also explain use of correct structure and language which is used in each document. The accuracy
work done in terms of grammar, punctuation and spelling will be evaluated in this project. Few
comments will be given on structure and layout, and whether the content conveyed the purpose
clearly and professionally in the correct language.
TASK 1
1.1 Critical reading
Speech given by Martin Luther King was considered as one of the best political speeches
of 20th century. He raised the issue about right of black people. The other document is related to
equality and diversity policy of British.
(A) A list of key facts
Facts about ' I have a Dream'
 250,000 civil rights supporters were present at the time of Martin Luther King Junior
speech.
 Speech was given when he was marching towards Washington. Its location was Lincoln
Memorial.
 Whole speech was based on racism in USA but its impact was global and last part of the
speech was telecast in UK also. He excited listeners by describing his dream of freedom and equality ascending from a
land of slavery and hatred.
Facts about Equality and Diversity Policy of British Library
 They are working on ensuring that they follow all relevant equality legislation, the
Equality Act 2010, Codes of Practice and relevant best practice guidance.
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 Policy applies to direct employees of the British Library, workers (engaged through, or
by, an employment agency or bureau and supplied to the Library on a temporary basis),
and all job applicants regarding recruitment
 The Library’s Equality Impact Assessment policy also sets out the process for ensuring
the Library takes account of equality considerations which affect its staff and try to
minimise or remove disadvantage. The British library do not tolerate any behaviour from staff which breaches our equality
and diversity policy.
(B) An outline of main argument
Speech given by Martin Luther King was basically focused on motivating all Americans
to start and proceed a movement whose main aim is to stop discrimination and provide equal
rights to black people. Although he was only talking about USA but his speech was so powerful
that it also ignite same kind of movement in UK also (Echevarria, Vogt and Short, 2016).
Another document is about equality and diversity policy at British library. They are
serious about issues relating to racism, bullying, work life balance etc. and this is the prime
reason that they have set some rules which is to be followed by every employees or an applicant
who want to work in this organisation.
Evidence of bias
When the Martin Luther King was giving speech about racism, almost 250000 civil right
supporters were with him. This is a key evidence that he was raising an important issue which
was suppose to bring major changes in USA and in whole world also. In different part of
America, people were running movement about equal right to black people but they did not have
any leader who can raise this issue at national level (Martirosyan, Hwang and Wanjohi, 2015).
Martin Luther King knew how to motivate people and his speech is has got a position in the best
speeches of 20th century. Another evidence of bias is that only black people had freedom and
equal rights according to law but in reality they were facing discrimination because of colour.
Rules are made by an organisation when they know that something wrong is happening.
British Library made various provision which shows that they were facing the issue of bias
treatment. They made a regulation regarding discrimination which means that someone in the
library was doing discrimination. This library is not only concerned about race, they have made
rules regarding age, disability, gender reassignment, religion and or belief etc. This a clear
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evidence that bias behaviour was present in this library and this is why various policy about
equality is implemented.
TASK 2
1.2 Different uses of English language
In one documents i.e. 'I have a dream', English language is used to motivate people. The
content and argument given by Martin Luther King Junior was not very difficult to understand. It
earned lot of popularity because it was in simple English and intensity of speech was remarkable.
The English in 'I have a dream' was normal i.e. which people speak in their daily life. They
connected to the speech because they were facing the serious problems of discrimination. When
a person is talking from his heart then he do not care about grammar, his main goal is to make
people understand that what is going in the world and what they can do. Martin Luther King
gave a motivational speech so people support him in the movement and raise their voice against
discrimination on the basis of colour and equal right to everyone.
Another document is a equality and diversity policy of British library. The English
language used in this document is difficult because it is the language of ''law''. It is difficult to
find grammatical mistakes this document. Understand this policy is not easy because the
language used is very hard (Soanes and Hawker, 2014). English language can become very
difficult to understand when its main aim is to communicate and express where legal regulations.
Policy of library shows what is wrong and what is right. It is informative and contain information
about legislation and few regulation which is made by library.
TASK 3
2.1 Documents for stated purpose and audience
(A) Short report
Report
Introduction
The speech given by Martin Luther King raised him at the level of presidents Jefferson
and Lincoln. This report will evaluate the historical speech which is given Martin Luther King.
Main Body
There are many political leaders who have given different speeches regarding racism
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and slavery but Martin Luther King's speech gained attention of whole world because content of
his speech was impressive and his motivational tone made his speech more effective. In his
speech he talked about equal rights to black people and discrimination which black people are
still facing. If someone will try to find mistakes in his speech or the areas where he could get
better, then it is possible. But will not reduce the success of his speech because he successfully
motivated millions of American to stand against slavery and demand equal rights to every
person.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that Martin Luther King Junior's speech was
one of best political speech and it do not only initiated a movement in USA, it also motivated
people of UK to find a peaceful solution of assuring equal rights to everyone.
(B) Formal e-mail
To - Audience
From – Student
Subject – Evaluation of the speech 'I have a dream'
Speech given by Martin Luther King at the time of Washington should be seen by
everyone so people can understand the problems which USA was facing at the time related to
racism. He spoke against slavery and right of black people. His speech was so powerful that it
gained attention of all the newspaper and they came to his support across the globe.
Thanks and Regards,
Student name
Post/class
(C) Summary of article 'I have a dream'
This article basically focused on the speech of Sir Martin Luther King which he gave at
Lincoln memorial. This speech was telecasted in UK also and later he went to St. Paul's
Cathedral London for encouraging black and white people so they can raise this issue at global
issue. The prime focus on his speech was end discrimination on the basis of colour and same
4

right to black people which white people also have. His line 'I have a dream' played crucial role
in ending racism in America. When whole world was thinking the issue of discrimination is over
and media was also not serious about covering small stories relating to violence between white
and black people then, in that time his speech started a whole new conversation and forced
government to make necessary changes in law.
2.2 Review and revision for accuracy
The above work had some mistake relating to spelling but they were rectified at the time
of proof reading. These mistakes are common and they can be done by any person. Spelling
mistakes are less because of the option of auto correct. Some grammar mistakes happen because
of lack of focus while others happen because of lack of knowledge. These mistakes could be
avoided if the work was done without loosing concentration. Line error happened in this work
and they were corrected at the time of proof reading (Dafouz, Camacho and Urquia, 2014). Few
lines were not connecting to each other because topics were different but overall they were not
looking awkward at the time of proof reading. Their are few sentence where punctuations could
be used in a better way.
Most of the mistakes happened because the work was complete in short period of time
but after proof reading they were rectified. Sometime meaning of line is write but it because of
wrong choice of words, the meaning changes. These types of mistakes are corrected by checking
meaning of words and the context in which they are used.
2.3 Referencing different types of resources
The above work provided expected information to the audience in a suitable format. One
can say that the format and structure of report is not appropriate or some changes can be made in
it but in reality there are different report has different structure and this format is appropriate for
this kind of report. Introduction is important part of a report and it must provide information
about all the topic which will be covered in report. The 'report' which is made in above work
fulfil this criteria. Next part of report is main body where all the significant content is present.
Conclusion is last part of report and it, indirectly, give the decision relating to want happened.
Another document is email (Flowerdew, 2014). It format is general and it contain important
points like subject. The message get cover in between top heading and bottom headings.
Designation and name is important part of email so people can know that who wrote it.
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Structure and layout of email is fine but if someone want to make changes in it then there
is no restriction. The content of email is precise and it is point to point. ''Summary'' is in normal
format i.e. it is written in the form of paragraph. One can add subheading in it but it is not
recommendation. Summary is brief explanation of a paper and in above work, it has fulfilled all
the criteria relating to structure and layout. One cannot cover all the conformation of a paper so
they have to write a summary which covers all the main points. The language and structure of all
the documents was clear and this is the main reason that expectations of intended audience may
get met.
TASK 4
CONCLUSION
At the end, it can be concluded critical reading is required for understanding articles and
policies which can be related to any topic. Critical reading help in listing key facts, outline main
argument and provide assist in identifying key issues. In above two texts, English language is
used in different way. One focuses on explaining the incident of speech which is given by Martin
Luther King and other is policy made by British library. Short report, formal email and summary
has their own structure and they have fulfilled their purpose by delivering important information
to audience. Evaluation of completed work provide information about the mistakes which is
done at the time of writing. Structure and layout of all the document is appropriate.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aijmer, K. and Lewis, D., 2017. Introduction. In Contrastive Analysis of Discourse-pragmatic
Aspects of Linguistic Genres (pp. 1-9). Springer, Cham.
Dafouz, E., Camacho, M. and Urquia, E., 2014. ‘Surely they can't do as well’: a comparison of
business students’ academic performance in English-medium and Spanish-as-first-
language-medium programmes. Language and Education. 28(3). pp.223-236.
DiCerbo, P.A., Anstrom, K.A., Baker, L.L. and Rivera, C., 2014. A review of the literature on
teaching academic English to English language learners. Review of Educational
Research. 84(3). pp.446-482.
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. and Short, D., 2016. Making content comprehensible for English
learners: The SIOP model. Pearson.
Flowerdew, J., 2014. Academic discourse. Routledge.
Martirosyan, N.M., Hwang, E. and Wanjohi, R., 2015. Impact of English proficiency on
academic performance of international students. Journal of International Students. 5(1).
p.60.
Soanes, C. and Hawker, S., 2014. Compact Oxford english dictionary.\
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APPENDIX
TASK 2
(A) Short report
Report
Introduction
The speech given by Martin Luther King raised him at the level of presidents Jefferson
and Lincoln. This report will evaluate the historical speech which is given Martin Luther King.
Main Body
Their are many political leaders who have given different speeches regarding racism and
slavery but Martin Luther King's speech gained attention of whole world because content of his
speech was impressive and his motivational tone made his speech more effective. In his speech
She talked about equal rights to black people and discrimination which black people are still
facing. If someone will try to find mistakes in his speeches or the areas where he could get
better, then it is possible. But will not reduce the success of of his speech because he
successfully motivated millions of American to stand against slavery and demand equal rights
to every persons.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be conclud that Martin Luther King Junior's speech was
one of best political speech and it do not only started a movement in USA, it also motivated
people of UK to find a peaceful solution of assuring equal rights to everyone.
(B) Formal e-mail
To - Audience
From – Student
Subject – Evaluation of the speech 'I have a dream'
Speech given by Martin Luther King at the time of Washington should be seen by
everyone so peoples can understand the problems which USA was facing at the time related to
racism. She spoke against slavery and right of black people. His speech was so powerful that it
gained attention of all the newspaper and they come in his support in the globe.
8

Thanks and Regards,
Student name
Post/class
(C) Summary of article 'I have a dream'
This article basically focused on the speech of Sir Martin Luther King which he gave at
Lincoln memorial. This speech was telecasted in UK also and later he went to St. Paul's
Cathedral London for encouraging black and white people so they can raise this issue at global
issue. The prime focus on his speech was end discrimination on the basis of colour and same
right to black people which white people also have. His line 'I have a dream' played crucial role
in ending racism in America. When whole world was thinking the issue of discrimination is over
and media was also not serious about covering small stories relating to violence between white
and black people then, in that time his speech started a whole new conversation and forced
government to make necessary changes in law.
9