Language Arts (English) Curriculum for Adolescents Aged Fifteen to Eighteen Years

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

01.   Listen to others politely and respectfully

02.   Listen effectively in meetings, seminars, discussion groups and collaborative tasks

03.   Listen and provide specific and constructive criticism to peer presentations

04.   Identify key ideas and information, and take effective notes, from oral lectures, presentations, and discussions

05.   Listen to a range of texts and explain how texts are created in and for different contexts 

06.   Identify and analyse how vocabulary, idiom and rhetoric are used for different purposes and contexts 

07.   Explain the ways language features, text structures and conventions in heard texts communicate ideas and points of view 

08.   Use appropriate metalanguage to describe and discuss spoken texts, for example, repetition, anaphora personification, voice-over, flashback, salience 

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

01.   Engage in spoken exchanges in a variety of contexts with peers, teachers, experts and community members

02.   Show increasing maturity and organisation in spoken presentations including the sequencing of material and ability to manage multimodal elements

03.   Participate effectively in seminars, discussion groups and collaborative tasks, formal debates and meetings

04.   Read passages aloud to engage an audience

05.   Deliver a range of spoken presentations effectively, including:

• reciting poetry and storytelling

• presenting information, ideas and points of view through sustained analysis and argument

• delivering a monologue, speech or a proposal

• collaborative spoken performance, including dialogues and plays

06.   Research and interpret through performance the character of a person (non/fictional) from another time and/or place or text

07.   Create multimedia performance pieces, for example, multimedia presentation, artwork or light show for a variety of audiences

08.   Evaluate the effects of rhetorical devices, for example, emphasis, emotive language and imagery in the construction of argument 
09. Consider and apply these techniques in their own presentations

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

01.   Read to build understanding across the curriculum

02.   Read to ‘do’ i.e. reading to learn how to complete practical tasks and how to use equipment and technology

03.   Understand how texts are structured to organise information eg hyperlinks, chapter headings, indexes etc

04.   Read for enjoyment and entertainment

05.   Read as a study skill:

• applying reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, vocabulary building, text analysis, summarising, paraphrasing, acknowledging sources and note-taking to achieve study goals

• establishing reading goals and priorities as part of larger research or other projects

• understand and apply ethical research practices and academic honesty

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

01.   Understand the role reading plays in social life, and its applications in the life of the adolescent community and in the wider community, including school and beyond

02.   Read for enjoyment beyond assigned reading tasks

03.   Respond personally and critically to a variety of literary works

04.   Understand how to read and bring analysis to different formats, including literary and factual texts of different types in paper-based, digital or multimedia forms

05.   Build upon previous understanding of the elements of a literary text to incorporate added elements such as narrative viewpoint, voice, analogy and satire; the form, metre and rhyme scheme of a poem

06.   Build upon previous understanding of literary conventions and technique and structures and explore and evaluate their effects

07.   Explain how a text conforms to or challenges the conventions of particular genres or modes such as crime fiction, advertising or short films and the effect of this on the reader/viewer 

08.   Participate in discussion of texts exploring the conventions of genres to share and discuss ideas and interpretive questions collaboratively

09.   Consider how the conventions of genres can be challenged, manipulated, appropriated or parodied and to what effect

10.   Consider and analyse the techniques and conventions used in different genres, mediums and modes 

11.   Use analysis of literary texts to inform imaginative writing

12.   Explore the effects of a range of elements as well as how mode and medium, paragraphs, stylistic devices and images can be arranged for different purposes, audiences and perspectives on meaning and response to a range of texts including digital texts 

13.   Employ the appropriate metalanguage in the analysis of texts including digital texts and digital technologies

14.   Read closely a range of non-fiction texts, including factual texts, biography, media texts, articles and essays with an awareness of authorial intent and techniques of the form

15.   Identify and analyse the different points of view represented in texts eg characters, narrators and the implied author

16.   Read and respond to a range of traditional and contemporary texts, including short stories, novels, plays, poetry and multimedia, with specific attention to the effects of structure and language features upon meaning

17.   Appreciate the diversity of the literary tradition through reading works by authors from many racial, ethnic, and cultural groups

18.   Investigate, adapt and analyse different cultural stories and evaluate how people and cultures are represented in texts

19.   Evaluate and reflect on how representations of culture and identity vary in different texts

20. Analyse changing responses to texts over time and in different cultural contexts

21.  Reflect upon the way different literary forms may evolve e.g. digital storytelling

22.   Evaluate texts studied and be able to make relevant thematic connections within and between texts

23.   Analyse and reflect upon the ways in which texts are influenced by other texts and contexts.

24.   Use annotation and citation effectively when interpreting a text

25.   Expand, through reading, an increasingly mature and sophisticated vocabulary relevant to a range of contexts and language varieties

26.   Analyse textual evidence to assess the purpose and context of texts and comparing the contexts in which texts are created and received and be able to explore other interpretations and aspects of context 

27.   Explain how and why texts position readers and viewers 

28.   Identify similarities and differences in their own and others’ responses to texts and question these responses

29.   Investigate the impact and uses of imaginative, interpretive and persuasive texts

30.   Analyse and evaluate similarities and differences between hybrid texts, for example, infotainment, product placement in movies, hypertext fiction. 

31.   Examine and evaluate the ways ideas, attitudes and voices are represented, for example, how events are reported differently in the media including the use of humour in satire and parody. 

32.   Understand and examine 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 characterisation in advertising 

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

01.   Use the steps of the writing process as a means to composing texts for:

• planning: generating ideas, selecting a topic/focus, gathering and collating details, building vocabulary, organising information

• seeking and responding to feedback

• editing to improve clarity and effectiveness

• proofreading for spelling and punctuation

• publishing (handwriting/word processing, illustrating, presenting)

• drafting, editing and proofreading 

02.   Build a repertoire of text structures to achieve a range of purposes, including: describe, recount, narrate, compare and contrast, respond, interpret, critique, instruct, explain, report, persuade

03.   Write for a range of audiences:

• from informal to formal

• from peers to an audience of higher or lower status in the context e.g. more or less exper

04.   Write for a range of media, including written text, spoken presentation or dialogue, digital media, and multimedia

05.   Write in a range of forms, including notes and messages, letter, essay, article, short answer, prose, poetry

06.   Write spontaneously for practical purposes and enjoyment

07.   Develop a personal voice in writing

08.   Share drafts with ‘critical friends’ (e.g. other students, teachers, parents) in order to gather ideas for revision and respond to suggestions

09.   Develop criteria for evaluating own and other’s texts

10.   Improve awareness and mastery of the conventions of language (paragraphs, spelling, punctuation) and the effect of conventional usage on clarity

11.   Gathering different points of view eg through interviews, surveys, questionnaires, library and/or internet resources

12.   Develop a range of strategies for organising ideas and content prior to writing, including graphic organisers, concept mapping, note-taking, file system, bibliography

13.   Draw from multiple sources and integrate into own work with correct citation and attention to ethical practices

14.   Use word processing, graphics, and publishing as a medium of exchange

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

01.  Introduce, consolidate and/or review knowledge about:

• written texts, their purposes and structure

• the structure of paragraphs

• the study of grammar: the function of words, groups and phrases, the analysis and composition of clauses and sentences

• the study of style

• word study, spelling and etymology

• punctuation

• syntax and metalanguage 

• using appropriate quotation and referencing protocols 

02.   Use appropriate form, content, style and tone for different purposes and audiences in real and imagined contexts 

03.   Draw on a range of technologies in, for example, research, communication, and representation of ideas 

04.   Combine visual, spoken and written elements where appropriate 

05.   Experiment with text structures, language features and multimodal devices to transform, adapt and appropriate texts for different purposes, contexts and audiences 

06.   Reflect on the significance of variations to texts

07.   Using evidence-based argument including selecting and applying appropriate textual evidence to support argument

08.   Create analytical texts using the appropriate linguistic, stylistic and critical terminology

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

01.   Create texts for a range of purposes

02.   Consider the ways in which texts communicate ideas, attitudes and values including the use of narrative features

03.   Consider and analyse the effects of using multimodal and digital conventions such as navigation, sound and image 

04.   View and critique visual texts, reflecting on intention, techniques and style

05.   Evaluate the impact of description and imagery, including figurative language, and still and moving images in digital and multimodal texts

06.   Compare and contrast visual texts with written texts, for example, compare a book with a film or computer game adaptation

07.   Create multimedia presentations, using a range of equipment and techniques