VCE English

English  

Course Description 

The study of English contributes to the development of literate individuals capable of critical and creative thinking, aesthetic appreciation and creativity. This study also develops students’ ability to create and analyse texts, moving from interpretation to reflection and critical analysis. Through engagement with texts from the contemporary world and from the past, and using texts from Australia and from other cultures, students studying English become confident, articulate and critically aware communicators and further develop a sense of themselves, their world and their place within it. English helps equip students for participation in a democratic society and the global community. 

Unit 1 

In this unit students engage in reading and viewing texts with a focus on personal connections with the story. They discuss and clarify the ideas and values presented by authors through their evocations of character, setting and plot, and through investigations of the point of view and/or the voice of the text. They develop and strengthen inferential reading and viewing skills, and consider the ways a text’s vocabulary, text structures and language features can create meaning on several levels and in different ways. Through crafting of texts, they engage with and develop an understanding of effective and cohesive writing. They apply, extend and challenge their understanding and use of imaginative, persuasive and informative text through a growing awareness of situated contexts, stated purposes and audience. 

Unit 2 

In this unit, students read or view a text, engaging with the ideas, concerns and tensions, and recognise ways vocabulary, text structures, language features and conventions of a text work together to create meaning. Through discussions about representations in a text, they examine the ways readers understand text considering its historical context, and social and cultural values. They also explore the text through the prism of their own cultural knowledge, experiences and understanding of the world, and extend their observations into analytical and abstracted explorations. Through the exploration of argument, students consider the way arguments are developed and delivered in many forms of media. Through the prism of a contemporary and substantial local and/or national issue, students read, view and listen to a range of texts that attempt to position an intended audience in a particular context. They explore the structure of these texts, including contention, sequence of arguments, use of supporting evidence and persuasive strategies. They closely examine the language and the visuals employed by the author and offer analysis of the intended effect on the audience. Students apply their knowledge of argument to create a point of view text for oral presentation.  

Unit 3  

In this area of study, students apply reading and viewing strategies to critically engage with a text, considering its dynamics and complexities and reflecting on the motivations of its characters. They analyse the ways authors construct meaning through vocabulary, text structures, language features and conventions, and the presentation of ideas. They are provided with opportunities to understand and explore the historical context, and the social and cultural values of a text, and recognise how these elements influence the way a text is read or viewed, is understood by different audiences, and positions its readers in different ways. 

Sustained analytical writing about a text provides students with opportunities to further develop skills to engage with and challenge ideas, to refine their application of appropriate metalanguage, to integrate evidence from a text to support key points, and to improve their use of organisational structures such as formal essays. Through participation in discussion, students test their thinking, clarify ideas and form views about a text that can be further developed in their writing. 

Unit 4 

In this unit, students further sharpen their skills of reading and viewing texts, developed in the corresponding area of study in Unit 3. Students consolidate their capacity to critically analyse texts and deepen their understanding of the ideas and values a text can convey.

Students apply reading and viewing strategies to engage with a text, and discuss and analyse the ways authors construct meaning in a text through the presentation of ideas, concerns and conflicts, and the use of vocabulary, text structures and language features. They engage with the dynamics of a text and explore the explicit and implicit ideas and values presented in a text. They recognise and explain the ways the historical context, and social and cultural values can affect a reader, and analyse how these social and cultural values are presented. They establish how these values can influence the way a text is read or viewed, can be understood by different audiences, and can position readers in different ways.

To access further information about VCE English, please visit the VCAA website for English: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/english-and-eal/Pages/index.aspx  

English as an Additional Language (EAL) 

***Students need to meet the VCAA criteria for enrolment in EAL*** 

Course Description 

This study is designed for students whose first language is not English and who qualify for enrolment.  It is designed to enable students to demonstrate their understanding through a range of spoken, written and visual forms, including class discussion, note-taking, graphic organisers and responses to short-answer questions.  

Unit 1 Details 

In this unit, students read and respond to texts analytically and creatively. They explore how authors use structures, conventions and language to represent characters, settings, events, explore themes, and build the world of the text for the reader. They analyse arguments and the use of persuasive language in texts and create their own texts intended to position audiences. In considering the presentation of arguments in oral form, students also learn about the conventions of oral communication for persuasive purposes. 

Unit 2 Details 

In this unit, students explore how comparing texts can provide a deeper understanding of ideas, issues and themes. They examine how features of texts, including structures, conventions and language, convey ideas, issues and themes that reflect and explore the world and human experiences, including historical and social contexts. Students analyse arguments presented and the use of persuasive language in texts and create their own texts intended to position audiences. 

Unit 3 Details  

The focus of this unit is on reading and responding to texts analytically and creatively. Students identify, discuss and analyse how the features of selected texts create meaning and how they influence interpretation. They present sustained creative responses to selected texts, demonstrating their understanding of the world of the texts and how texts construct meaning. Students also analyse arguments and the use of persuasive language in texts. They read and view media texts in a variety of forms and develop their understanding of the ways in which language and argument complement one another in positioning the reader. 

Unit 4 Details 

In this unit students explore the meaningful connection between two texts by analysing the interplay between character and setting, voice and structure, and how ideas, issues and themes are conveyed. They create an oral presentation intended to position audiences about an issue currently debated in the media. Students write a statement of intention to accompany their oral presentation, articulating the intention of decisions made in the planning process, and how these demonstrate the understanding of argument and persuasive language. 

To access further information about VCE English as an Additional Language, please visit the VCAA website for English: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/english-and-eal/Pages/index.aspx  

English Language 

Course Description 

The study of English Language contributes to the development of literate individuals capable of critical and creative thinking, aesthetic appreciation and creativity. This study builds on students’ previous learning about the conventions and codes used by speakers and writers of English. Students studying English Language examine how uses and interpretations of language are nuanced and complex rather than a series of fixed conventions. They explore how people use spoken and written English to communicate, to think and innovate, to construct identities, to build and interrogate attitudes and assumptions and disrupt social cohesion. Students studying English become confident, articulate and critically aware communicators and further develop a sense of themselves, their world and their place within it.  

Unit 1 

In this unit, students consider the way language is organised so that its users have the means to make sense of their experiences and interact with others. Students explore the various functions of language and the nature of language as an elaborate system of signs. They study the relationship between speech and writing as the dominant modes of language and the impact of situational and cultural contexts on language choices. Students also investigate children’s ability to acquire language and the stages of language acquisition across a range of subsystems. 

Unit 2 

In this unit, students focus on language change. Students consider factors contributing to change over time in the English language and factors contributing to the spread of English. They explore texts from the past and the present, considering how all subsystems of the language system are affected – phonetics and phonology, morphology and lexicology, syntax, discourse and semantics. Students explore the various possibilities for the future of English and consider how the global spread of English has led to a diversification of the language. They investigate how contact between English and other languages has led to the development of geographical and ethnic varieties, but has also hastened the decline of indigenous languages. Students consider the cultural repercussions of the spread of English.  

Unit 3 

In this unit students investigate English language in contemporary Australian social settings, along a continuum of informal and formal registers. They consider language as a means of social interaction, exploring how through written and spoken texts we communicate information, ideas, attitudes, prejudices and ideological stances. Students examine the stylistic features of formal and informal language in both spoken and written modes: the grammatical and discourse structure of language; the choice and meanings of words within texts; how words are combined to convey a message; the purpose in conveying a message; and the particular context in which a message is conveyed. Students learn how to describe the interrelationship between words, sentences and text as a means of exploring how texts construct message and meaning. Students consider how texts are influenced by the situational and cultural contexts in which they occur. They examine how function, field, mode, setting and the relationships between participants all contribute to a person’s language choices, as do the values, attitudes and beliefs held by participants and the wider community. Students learn how speakers and writers select features from within particular stylistic variants, or registers, and this in turn establishes the degree of formality within a discourse. They learn how language can be indicative of relationships, power structures and purpose through the choice of a particular variety of language and through the ways in which language varieties are used in processes of inclusion and exclusion. 

Unit 4 

In this unit students focus on the role of language in establishing and challenging different identities. There are many varieties of English used in contemporary Australian society, including national, regional, cultural and social variations. Standard Australian English is the variety that is granted prestige in contemporary Australian society and it has a role in establishing national identity. However, non-Standard English varieties also play a role in constructing users’ social and cultural identities. Students examine a range of texts to explore the ways different identities are constructed. These texts include extracts from novels, films or television programs, poetry, letters and emails, transcripts of spoken interaction, songs, advertisements, speeches and bureaucratic or official documents. Students explore how our sense of identity evolves in response to situations and experiences and is influenced by how we see ourselves and how others see us. Through our language we express ourselves as individuals and signal our membership of particular groups. Students explore how language can distinguish between ‘us’ and ‘them’, creating solidarity and reinforcing social distance. 

To access further information about VCE English Language, please visit the VCAA website for English Language: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/englishlanguage/Pages/Index.aspx  

Literature 

Course Description 

This subject enables students to develop effective reading strategies, to examine the ideas and views of life which are presented in the literature studied, and relate what they read to their own lives and social contexts. Students develop an understanding of, and a critical response to, past and contemporary literature and analyse and interpret literary texts for a variety of purposes. 

VCE Literature focuses on the meaning derived from texts, the relationship between texts, the contexts in which texts are produced and read, and the experiences the reader brings to the texts. 

In VCE Literature students undertake close reading of texts and analyse how language and literary elements and techniques function within a text. The study provides opportunities for reading deeply, widely and critically, responding analytically and creatively, and appreciating the aesthetic merit of texts.  

VCE Literature enables students to examine the historical and cultural contexts within which both readers and texts are situated. It considers how literary criticism informs the readings of texts and the ways texts relate to their contexts and to each other. Accordingly, the texts selected for study are drawn from the past through to the present, and vary in form and social and cultural contexts. 

Unit 1  

In this unit, students consider how language, structure and stylistic choices are used in different literary forms and types of text. They consider both print and non-print texts, reflecting on the contribution of form and style to meaning. Students reflect on the degree to which points of view, experiences and contexts shape their own and others’ interpretations of text. Students closely examine the literary forms, features and language of texts. They begin to identify and explore textual details, including language and features, to develop a close analysis response to a text.  

Unit 2 

In this unit students explore the voices, perspectives and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors and creators. They consider the interconnectedness of place, culture and identity through the experiences, texts and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including connections to Country, the impact of colonisation and its ongoing consequences, and issues of reconciliation and reclamation. Students examine representations of culture and identity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ texts and the ways in which these texts present voices and perspectives that explore and challenge assumptions and stereotypes arising from colonisation. Students acknowledge and reflect on a range of Australian views and values (including their own) through a text(s). Within that exploration, students consider stories about the Australian landscape and culture. They focus on the text and its historical, social and cultural context. Students reflect on representations of a specific time period and/or culture within a text. They explore the text to understand its point of view and what it reflects or comments on. They identify the language and the representations in the text that reflect the specific time period and/or culture, its ideas and concepts. Students develop an understanding that contextual meaning is already implicitly or explicitly inscribed in a text and that textual details and structures can be scrutinised to illustrate its significance. Students develop the ability to analyse language closely, recognising that words have historical and cultural import. 

Unit 3 

In this unit students consider how the form of a text affects meaning, and how writers construct their texts. They investigate ways writers adapt and transform texts and how meaning is affected as texts are adapted and transformed. Students draw on their study of adaptations and transformations to develop creative responses to texts.  

Unit 4 

In this unit students develop critical and analytic responses to texts. They consider the context of their responses to texts as well as the ideas explored in the texts, the style of the language and points of view. They investigate literary criticism informing both the reading and writing of texts.  

To access further information about VCE Literature, please visit the VCAA website for Literature: https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/literature/Pages/Index.aspx  

• Students need to complete a Unit 1 and 2 in any English at Year 11 (even if they have accelerated the year before).