English
English focuses on developing students’ analytical, creative and critical thinking and communication skills in all language modes. It encourages students to engage with texts from their contemporary world, with texts from the past and with texts from Australian and other cultures. Such engagement helps students develop a sense of themselves, their world and their place in it.
English focuses on developing students’ analytical, creative and critical thinking and communication skills in all language modes. It encourages students to engage with texts from their contemporary world, with texts from the past and with texts from Australian and other cultures. Such engagement helps students develop a sense of themselves, their world and their place in it.
Through close study and wide reading, viewing and listening, students develop the ability to appreciate and evaluate the purpose, stylistic qualities and conventions of literary and non-literary texts and enjoy creating their own imaginative, interpretive and analytical responses. English is designed to develop students’ facility with all types of texts and language modes and to foster an appreciation of the value of English for lifelong learning.
Students refine their skills across all language modes by engaging critically and creatively with texts, including literary and media texts. They learn to speak and write fluently in a range of contexts and to create visual and digital texts. They hone their oral communication skills through discussion, debate and argument, in a range of formal and informal situations.
The English course is written under The ENGLISH Framework 2021: BSSS ENGLISH Framework
Achievement Standards for ENGLISH courses can be found within the Framework.
The study of English language, literacy and literature develops students’ communication, analytical, creative and critical thinking skills in all language modes.
Communication of Meaning
In this unit, students explore how meaning is communicated through the relationships between language, text, purpose, context and audience. This includes how language and texts are shaped by their purpose, the audiences for whom they are intended and the contexts in which they are created and received. Through responding to and creating texts, students consider how language, structure and conventions operate in a variety of imaginative, interpretive and persuasive texts. Study in this unit focuses on the similarities and differences between texts and how visual elements combine with spoken and written elements to create meaning. Students develop an understanding of stylistic features and apply skills of analysis and creativity. They are able to respond to texts in a variety of ways, creating their own texts and reflecting on their own learning.
Representations Through Texts
In this unit students analyse the representation of ideas, attitudes and voices in texts to consider how texts represent the world and human experience. Analysis of how language and structural choices shape perspectives in and for a range of contexts is central to this unit. By responding to and creating texts in different modes and mediums, students consider the interplay of imaginative, interpretive and persuasive elements in a range of texts and present their own analyses. Students examine the effect of stylistic choices and the ways in which these choices position audiences for particular purposes, revealing attitudes, values and perspectives. Through the creation of their own texts, students are encouraged to reflect on their language choices and consider why they have represented ideas in particular ways.
Comparative Texts
In this unit, students explore representations of themes, ideas and concepts through a Comparative of texts. They analyse and compare the relationships between language, genre and context, comparing texts within and/or across different genres and modes. Students recognise and analyse the conventions of genre in literary and non-literary texts and consider how those conventions may assist interpretation and how they may be challenged. Students compare and evaluate the effect of different mediums on the structure of texts and how audiences respond to them. Understanding of these concepts is demonstrated through the creation of imaginative, interpretive and analytical responses.
Perspectives
In this unit, students examine different interpretations and perspectives to develop further their knowledge and analysis of purpose and style. They challenge perspectives, values and attitudes in literary and non-literary texts, developing and testing their own interpretations though debate and argument. Through close study of individual texts, students explore relationships between content and structure, voice and perspective and the text and its context. This provides the opportunity for students to extend their experience of language and of texts and explore their ideas through their own reading and viewing. Students demonstrate understanding of the texts studied through creation of imaginative, interpretive and analytical responses.
