Developing a program

A course outlines the nature and sequence of teaching and learning necessary for students to demonstrate achievement of the set of outcomes for a unit. The areas of study describe the learning context, the knowledge and skills required for the demonstration of each outcome.

Teachers must develop courses that include appropriate learning activities to enable students to develop the knowledge and skills identified in the outcomes in each unit.

In all units of VCE English Language, teachers are expected to provide students with the opportunity to read and analyse language in a wide range of texts: from popular culture, literature, students’ personal experiences, and from print through to multimodal forms.

Teachers may suggest reference material to encourage wide reading by students, either before or during units of study. Texts suitable for students’ general reading are included in Resources. Students should be encouraged to keep an ongoing folio of reference material.

Throughout the English Language course, students should be provided with many opportunities for writing, including close analyses of the language features of a text, as well as essays exploring the broader issues relating to language use in contemporary Australia. The structure of Units 3 and 4 helps students develop their understanding and use of the metalanguage needed to analyse linguistic features of a text, and to discuss language use at a deeper, more conceptual level.

Teachers should provide a wide variety of learning activities which challenge students to develop and utilise a range of skills. Students need to do more than just identify the language features in a discourse. Students need to be able to analyse the linguistic features of texts in context, explore language related issues, and discuss and present their ideas and opinions clearly and concisely in a written or an oral format. Teachers should help students develop a nuanced understanding of the use of English in contemporary Australian society. The focus in Unit 3 on informal and formal language invites a more subtle exploration of language in spoken, written and electronic texts, and reflects the fluid nature of English in our contemporary global society. The formality of texts should always be measured along a continuum rather than as something a discourse is or is not; students should also be attentive to shifts in formality within a discourse.