English Learning Area

In English, students practise, consolidate and extend what they have learned from previous years. They extend their understanding of how language works, and learn to transfer this knowledge to different contexts. To achieve this, students develop an understanding of the requirements of different types of texts; they are introduced to increasingly sophisticated analyses of various kinds of literary, popular culture, and everyday texts; and they are given opportunities to engage with the technical aspects of texts.

The notion of valuing certain texts as 'literature' is introduced. Students learn how such texts can be discussed and analysed in relation to perspectives, ideas and historical and cultural contexts.

Students engage with a variety of genres and modes. They re-enact, represent and describe texts in order to display their understanding of narrative, perspective, purpose, context and argument and to defend their ideas in written and oral modes. Students are given further opportunities to create increasingly sophisticated texts in groups and individually.

English aims to ensure that students:

• listen to, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose.
• recognise the richness of language and its power to evoke feelings, convey information, form ideas, facilitate interaction with others, entertain, persuade and argue.
• understand how the English language works in its spoken and written forms and in combination with non-linguistic forms of communication to create meaning.
• develop skills in inquiring into the aesthetic and political aspects of texts, and develop an informed appreciation of literature.