SENIOR ENGLISH
Why Study English? What Do Students Learn? How Do Students Learn? Assessment How Can Parents Help? Benefits
English is used by most Australians to communicate with others in our culturally diverse communities. As a major international
language, it has power and influence in the world context. Proficiency in English for all Australians enables them to share in
and contribute to current and future local, national and global communities and cultures.
Students will engage with a wide variety of literary, mass media and everyday texts. As they study the increasingly demanding texts that Senior English requires, students write, speak or sign, view, listen and think critically. In studying the texts of others, and in writing their own texts, students conceptualise, imagine, appreciate, experiment, speculate, reflect, make decisions, hypothesise, hypothesise, analyse and evaluate to enhance their ability to think, use language, and make meaning. They reflect on ways of being in the world, shape their identities, develop meaningful relationships with others, and express their ideas and feelings. They are encouraged to gain pleasure from texts while developing understandings of the power of texts to influence, tell the stories of a culture and promote shared understandings.
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At different times in its development, English has taken different focuses and this course draws understandings from a range of approaches. Students develop:
The range and balance in the texts that students read, listen and view, will include:
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Students learn by working with language and texts. Learning experiences in English are designed to cater for the diverse range of learning styles, interests and abilities of senior students. They may include:
Senior English encourages the use of computer-based technology such as webpages, the internet, the production of hyperlinked text and the use of electronic presentation of student work, for example using PowerPoint displays.
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Assessment in Senior English is criterion-based and is designed to help students to demonstrate achievement in the objectives
of the syllabus. The criteria used are Knowledge and understanding of texts in their context, Knowledge and understanding of textual
features, and Knowledge and application of the constructedness of texts.
Assessment is both written and spoken/signed. In Year 11, students complete five or six written tasks and two or three spoken/signed tasks. In Year 12, students complete four or five written tasks and two or three spoken/signed tasks. Written tasks include responses to literature, imaginative texts produced by students, and persuasive or reflective texts. Spoken/signed assessment tasks may include dramatic re-creations, seminars, panel discussions, and addresses designed for a public audience. Spoken/signed tasks may include videotaped or multimodal presentations that include electronic and other visual material. Some assessment tasks are completed under test conditions, some using a combination of class and student time.
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Parents can assist their children as they study Senior English by taking an active interest in the texts that the students are
using. Parents can encourage their children to read widely, and to participate in activities such as debating, school plays and
musicals, the creation of school magazines, and in school excursions to plays and films. Some of the subject matter for English arises from
the contemporary world and its issues and concerns. Parents can help their students by taking an interest in and discussing
with their students the range of views that are held in the community about such issues.
Parents can also assist their students to develop a systematic approach to managing class notes and other information and resources, to manage time effectively and to meet deadlines for assessment tasks. Parents are welcome to visit the school to establish contact with their child's English teacher. The English syllabus and the school work program are available to all parents at the school, to help them to understand the work that their students will be undertaking in English. It is also helpful for parents to familiarise themselves with the subject's requirements and deadlines.
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