English

Subject Overview

English focuses on the study of both literary texts and non-literary texts, developing students as independent, innovative and creative learners and thinkers who appreciate the aesthetic use of language, analyse perspectives and evidence, and challenge ideas and interpretations through the analysis and creation of varied texts.

Students are offered opportunities to interpret and create texts for personal, cultural, social and aesthetic purposes. They learn how language varies according to context, purpose and audience, content, modes and mediums, and how to use it appropriately and effectively for a variety of purposes. Students have opportunities to engage with diverse texts to help them develop a sense of themselves, their world and their place in it.

Students communicate effectively in Standard Australian English for the purposes of responding to and creating texts. They make choices about generic structures, language, textual features and technologies for participating actively in literary analysis and the creation of texts in a range of modes, mediums and forms, for a variety of purposes and audiences. They explore how literary and non-literary texts shape perceptions of the world, and consider ways in which texts may reflect or challenge social and cultural ways of thinking and influence audiences.

Assessment Information

Internal assessment (75%) External assessment (25%)

Schools devise assessments in Units 1 and 2 to suit their local context. In Units 3 and 4 students complete four summative assessments. The results from each of the assessments are added together to provide a subject score out of 100. Students will also receive an overall subject result (A–E).

Unit 3 Summative internal assessment 1 (IA1): 25% EXtended response — written response for a public audience Summative internal assessment 2 (IA2): 25% Extended response — persuasive spoken response

Unit 4 Summative internal assessment 3 (IA3): 25% Extended response — imaginative written response Summative external assessment (EA): 25% Examination — analytical written response

Structure

Unit 1

Perspectives and texts • Examining and creating perspectives in texts • Responding to a variety of non-literary and literary texts • Creating responses for public audiences and persuasive texts

Unit 2

Texts and culture • Examining and shaping representations of culture in texts • Responding to literary and non-literary texts, including a focus on

Australian texts • Creating imaginative and analytical texts

Unit 3

Textual connections • Exploring connections between texts • Examining different perspectives of the same issue in texts and shaping own perspectives • Creating responses for public audiences and persuasive texts

Unit 4

Close study of literary texts • Engaging with literary texts from diverse times and places • Responding to literary texts creatively and critically • Creating imaginative and analytical texts

Student Learning Overview

By the conclusion of the course of study, students will: • use patterns and conventions of genres to achieve particular purposes in cultural contexts and social situations • establish and maintain roles of the writer/speaker/signer/designer and relationships with audiences • create and analyse perspectives and representations of concepts, identities, times and places • make use of and analyse the ways cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs underpin texts and invite audiences to take up positions • use aesthetic features and stylistic devices to achieve purposes and analyse their effects in texts • select and synthesise subject matter to support perspectives • organise and sequence subject matter to achieve particular purposes • use cohesive devices to emphasise ideas and connect parts of texts • make language choices for particular purposes and contexts • use grammar and language structures for particular purposes • use mode-appropriate features to achieve particular purposes.

Future Pathways

A course of study in English promotes open-mindedness, imagination, critical awareness and intellectual flexibility - skills that prepare students for local and global citizenship, and for lifelong learning across a wide range of contexts.

Subject Overview

Essential English develops and refines students’ understanding of language, literature and literacy to enable them to interact confidently and effectively with others in everyday, community and social contexts. Students recognise language and texts as relevant in their lives now and in the future and learn to understand, accept or challenge the values and attitudes in these texts.

Students engage with language and texts to foster skills to communicate confidently and effectively in Standard Australian English in a variety of contemporary contexts and social situations, including everyday, social, community, further education and work-related contexts. They choose generic structures, language, language features and technologies to best convey meaning. They develop skills to read for meaning and purpose, and to use, critique and appreciate a range of contemporary literary and non-literary texts.

Students use language effectively to produce texts for a variety of purposes and audiences and engage creative and imaginative thinking to explore their own world and the worlds of others. They actively and critically interact with a range of texts, developing an awareness of how the language they engage with positions them and others.

Assessment Information

Internal assessment (100%)

Schools devise assessments in Units 1 and 2 to suit their local context. In Units 3 and 4 students complete four summative assessments. Schools develop three summative internal assessments and the common internal assessment (CIA) is developed by the QCAA.

Unit 3 Summative internal assessment 1 (IA1): Extended response — spoken/signed response. Summative internal assessment 2 (IA2): Common internal assessment (CIA).

Unit 4 Summative internal assessment 3 (IA3): Extended response — Multimodal response. Summative internal assessment (IA4): Extended response — Written response.

Structure

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4

Language that works • Responding to a variety of texts used in and developed for a work context • Creating multimodal and written texts Texts and human experiences • Responding to reflective and nonfiction texts that explore human experiences • Creating spoken and written texts Language that influences • Creating and shaping perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts • Responding to texts that seek to influence audiences Representations and popular culture texts • Responding to popular culture texts • Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts

Student Learning Overview

By the conclusion of the course of study, students will: • use patterns and conventions of genres to achieve particular purposes in cultural contexts and social situations • use appropriate roles and relationships with audiences • construct and explain representations of identities, places, events and concepts • make use of and explain the ways cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs underpin texts and influence meaning • explain how language features and text structures shape meaning and invite particular responses • select and use subject matter to support perspectives • sequence subject matter and use mode-appropriate cohesive devices to construct coherent texts • make mode-appropriate language choices according to register informed by purpose, audience and context • use language features to achieve particular purposes across modes.

Future Pathways

A course of study in Essential English promotes open-mindedness, imagination, critical awareness and intellectual flexibility — skills that prepare students for local and global citizenship, and for lifelong learning across a wide range of contexts.