English (Version 8.4)

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Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4

Understand how English works

Rationale

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.

Structure of English

In Unit 1 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.

Texts

Teachers will use an array of material in class. Texts include literary texts, fiction and non-fiction, media texts, everyday texts, and workplace texts, from increasingly complex and unfamiliar settings, ranging from the everyday language of personal experience to more abstract, specialised and technical language drawn from a range of contexts.

Representation of General capabilities

General capabilities covered in English include: Literacy, Numeracy, Information and communication technology (ICT) capability, Critical and creative thinking, Personal and social capability, Ethical understanding and Intercultural understanding.

Achievement standards

Unit 2

Unit 2 Description

In Unit 2, 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.

Unit 2 Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, students:

understand the ways in which ideas and attitudes are represented in texts
examine the ways texts are constructed to influence responses
create oral, written and multimodal texts that experiment with text structures and language features for particular audiences, purposes and contexts.

Unit 2 Content Descriptions

Compare texts in a variety of contexts, mediums and modes by:

explaining the relationship between purpose and context (ACEEN021)

analysing the style and structure of texts including digital texts (ACEEN022)

evaluating similarities and differences between hybrid texts, for example, infotainment, product placement in movies, hypertext fiction. (ACEEN023)

Investigate the representation of ideas, attitudes and voices in texts including:

analysing the ways language features, text structures and stylistic choices shape points of view and influence audiences (ACEEN024)

evaluating the effects of rhetorical devices, for example, emphasis, emotive language and imagery in the construction of argument (ACEEN025)

analysing the effects of using multimodal and digital conventions such as navigation, sound and image (ACEEN026)

analysing how attitude and mood are created, for example, through the use of humour in satire and parody. (ACEEN027)

Analyse and evaluate how and why responses to texts vary through:

the impact of language and structural choices on shaping own and others’ perspectives (ACEEN028)

the ways ideas, attitudes and voices are represented, for example, how events are reported differently in the media (ACEEN029)

the interplay between imaginative, persuasive and interpretive techniques, for example, how anecdotes are used in speeches to amuse, inform or influence, or the use of characteristation in advertising (ACEEN030)

analysing changing responses to texts over time and in different cultural contexts. (ACEEN031)

Create a range of texts:

using imaginative, interpretive and persuasive elements for different purposes, contexts and audiences (ACEEN032)

experimenting with text structures, language features and multimodal devices (ACEEN033)

developing and sustaining voice, tone and style (ACEEN034)

selecting and applying appropriate textual evidence to support arguments (ACEEN035)

using strategies for planning, drafting, editing and proofreading (ACEEN036)

using accurate spelling, punctuation, syntax and metalanguage. (ACEEN037)

Reflect on their own and others’ texts by:

analysing the values and attitudes expressed in texts (ACEEN038)

evaluating the effectiveness of texts in representing ideas, attitudes and voices (ACEEN039)

explaining how and why texts position readers and viewers. (ACEEN040)