​​​​General senior subject

English focuses on the study of both literary texts and non-literary texts, developing students as independent, innovative and creative learners and thinkers who appreciate the aesthetic use of language, analyse perspectives and evidence, and challenge ideas and interpretations through the analysis and creation of varied texts.

Students are offered opportunities to interpret and create texts for personal, cultural, social and aesthetic purposes. They learn how language varies according to context, purpose and audience, content, modes and mediums, and how to use it appropriately and effectively for a variety of purposes. Students have opportunities to engage with diverse texts to help them develop a sense of themselves, their world and their place in it.

Students communicate effectively in Standard Australian English for the purposes of responding to and creating texts. They make choices about generic structures, language, textual features and technologies for participating actively in literary analysis and the creation of texts in a range of modes, mediums and forms, for a variety of purposes and audiences. They explore how literary and non-literary texts shape perceptions of the world, and consider ways in which texts may reflect or challenge social and cultural ways of thinking and influence audiences.

Pathways

A course of study in English promotes open-mindedness, imagination, critical awareness and intellectual flexibility — skills that prepare students for local and global citizenship, and for lifelong learning across a wide range of contexts.

Objectives

By the conclusion of the course of study, students will:

• use patterns and conventions of genres to achieve particular purposes in cultural contexts and social situations
• establish and maintain roles of the writer/speaker/signer/designer and relationships with audiences
• create and analyse perspectives and representations of concepts, identities, times and places
• make use of and analyse the ways cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs underpin texts and invite audiences to take up positions
• use aesthetic features and stylistic devices to achieve purposes and analyse their effects in texts
• select and synthesise subject matter to support perspectives
• organise and sequence subject matter to achieve particular purposes
• use cohesive devices to emphasise ideas and connect parts of texts
• make language choices for particular purposes and contexts
• use grammar and language structures for particular purposes
• use mode-appropriate features to achieve particular purposes