Structure
Strands
The English key learning area is organised in three strands, which are the same for all levels:
Speaking and listening
Reading
Writing
The learning in these strands is interrelated. For example, speaking and listening contribute to the development of students' reading responses. Writing contributes to communication about texts read or viewed and to reflection and learning. To help support student progress in all three strands, learning contexts should be diverse and include situations that are informal, formal, planned and spontaneous.
The Speaking and listening strand refers to all ways of communicating through oral language. The focus is on producing and listening to spoken texts ranging from informal conversations, storytelling or personal accounts for small groups to more formal and complex texts for the purpose of interpreting, evaluating, analysing or entertaining. The Reading strand refers to all ways of constructing meaning from print and non-print texts. This includes reading texts such as books, magazines, posters, charts, CD-ROMs and Internet sites, and viewing texts such as films, videos, television programs and graphic materials. The Writing strand refers to all ways of creating, composing, editing and publishing texts, including the use of word processing and multimedia software.
Substrands
Each strand is organised into four substrands, which are the same for all levels:
Texts
Contextual understanding
Linguistic structures and features
Strategies
As the Texts substrand sets the context at each level and always remains the principal focus of the English classroom, the four strands are grouped into two categories: Texts and Aspects of language (incorporating Contextual understanding, Linguistic structures and features and Strategies), as shown in the following diagram, which uses the Speaking and listening strand as an example:
SEE DIAGRAM ABOVE
Texts
The Texts substrand deals with what students typically do with texts at a given level and describes the kinds of texts encountered at that level. The Texts substrand may include speeches or conversations, novels, storybooks, newspaper articles, transactional texts such as letters, invitations or interviews, as well as reports, posters, performances of plays or films, and advertisements. Texts also include the communications composed on, or transmitted by, computers or other technological tools, such as multimedia. It is recommended that teachers draw material from:
literature
everyday texts
media texts
workplace texts
As these categories are interrelated, some texts may belong to more than one category.
Literature
Literature, which is fundamental to the English curriculum, uses language to represent, re-create, shape and explore human experience. Literature can be based on fiction or fact and includes written and spoken texts. Examples include picture storybooks, traditional stories, speeches, novels, short stories, plays, poetry, translated works, non-print texts and non-fiction works such as biographies. Through reading, writing, listening to and talking about literature, students extend their understanding of the world and of themselves, and they see how cultural beliefs and values are formed.
Everyday texts
Everyday texts include spoken, print and non-print texts that are part of daily life. They include, for example, classified advertisements, personal letters, telephone conversations, messages, instructions, labels, electronic mail and web pages. Everyday texts also include newsletters, notices, signs and timetables associated with the specialised demands of schooling. In general terms, the English curriculum gradually shifts in emphasis from simple everyday texts used in the home and school for personal, informal purposes towards more formal and complex everyday texts used in the home and the wider community.
Media texts
Media texts include spoken, print, graphic and electronic communications with a public audience. They often involve numerous people in their construction and are usually shaped by the technology used in their production. The media and multimedia texts studied in English are found in newspapers, magazines, and on television, video, film, radio, computer software and the Internet.
Workplace texts
Workplace texts include spoken, print and electronic forms of communication commonly encountered in enterprises across a wide range of industries, including business letters, resumes, memoranda, short reports, formal and informal minutes. Practice in interpreting and producing such texts is a valuable part of students' preparation for the world of work and further training.
Aspects of language
The other three substrands focus on the need for students to understand how language is used through the explicit study of language. The English curriculum aims to develop students' ability to use language effectively through learning about language and applying that understanding in creating their own texts. This means developing in students an awareness of the importance of context - who creates texts; the meanings audiences will make of them; the expectations people bring to texts and text types; and the importance of time, place and social setting in the making and interpreting of texts.
Students also need to be explicitly taught the structures and features of language, including all the key elements of Standard Australian English, from sounds, letters and accurately spelled words, through sentence structure, grammar and punctuation, paragraphing and other structural elements, to discourse structures. This will include learning terminology, or 'metalanguage', for describing and discussing conventions of language use. Students will learn and apply strategies to create, revise and edit texts using a range of text types from the simple to the complex, from texts dealing with concrete and straightforward information to those dealing with increasingly complex and abstract issues and ideas.
Contextual understanding
This substrand sets out what students should know about situational context and sociocultural context. The first relates to the situation in which the language is used and how the use of language varies according to the following situational factors:
purpose
subject matter
the mode of communication (that is, spoken or non-verbal, written or non-print mode)
the roles and relationships between the speaker or writer and the audience
The sociocultural context relates to the effects of the expectations, values, behaviour and responses of people in the broader social or cultural context. To use English appropriately, effectively and critically in a wide range of contexts, students need to understand the following:
There are standard varieties of spoken and written English that are distinguished by their grammars and vocabularies. These varieties are associated with contexts of social and informal interaction, formal communication, the education system and professional life.
The ways in which people use language reflect and shape the values, attitudes and assumptions of their sociocultural group. This is particularly important in relation to gender, ethnicity and status.
Language is constructed, used and manipulated in powerful ways to influence others.
Because people interpret texts in the light of their own sociocultural values and understanding, texts will have different meanings for different people. Students need to develop the ability to interpret texts, including texts they write themselves, from perspectives other than their own.
Linguistic structures and features
Linguistic structures refer to characteristics of the overall ordering and organisation of texts. Linguistic features refer to the grammar of speech and of writing. Throughout the years of schooling, the English curriculum will develop students' abilities to use the following linguistic structures and features:
print elements, such as letters, words, spelling, paragraphs, punctuation, layout and presentation
textual and grammatical aspects of language, such as sentence structure and vocabulary
patterns of text structure and organisation of various kinds of texts, including narrative, exposition, verse, narrative voice and point of view
intonation, rhythm, pace, pitch, volume and pauses in spoken language
non-verbal elements of communication, such as facial expression, body movement, proximity and gestures, and the graphic elements of texts, such as the impact of illustrations on the meaning of a text.
To compose, comprehend and respond to texts, students need to be effective users of these linguistic structures and features. While much will be learned incidentally through using language, teachers should plan learning activities that focus on the teaching of knowledge about language and control of language. This learning should be focused on the use of language in authentic situations rather than being taught as a set of skills in isolation.
Strategies
The Strategies substrand focuses on techniques or approaches that help students to become effective speakers, listeners, readers and writers. To create and comprehend texts, students need to learn a range of strategies. In discussing the processes involved, teachers help students to become more aware of the range of approaches available. Students develop a repertoire of strategies from which to select the most appropriate means of achieving their communicative goals.
Strategies for speaking and listening include:
monitoring understanding and listening for sources of information, such as key words
identifying and staying on the topic
taking turns
making relevant comments in dialogues and small and large group discussions
planning, composing, revising and delivering formal presentations.
Strategies for reading include:
techniques such as reading the cover and contents page when selecting texts
predicting, checking, confirming and self-correcting using knowledge of a topic
browsing, skimming and scanning for key words and content
using computer technology to locate and explore information.
Strategies for writing include:
planning, composing, recording, editing and publishing
using word processing and graphics programs to create, edit and publish texts
phonic, visual and morphemic strategies for attempting to spell unfamiliar words
consulting resources.
AL
Jan 8, 07
