Background to the VELS − Communication domain
The Communication domain focuses on the variation in language and discourse in the domains in all strands of learning. Successful communication requires students to understand and use language and conventions appropriate to the contexts, purposes and audiences of different domains. The Communication domain makes explicit the need to learn the literacies of the various domains.
As a domain within the Interdisciplinary Learning strand, Communication identifies knowledge, skills and understandings that are essential to support learning in all domains. Language helps to construct all learning and is central to the capacity to convey what has been learnt in different contexts and to a range of audiences.
The two dimensions in the Communication domain are Listening, viewing and responding; and Presenting. The first dimension relates to how students gain access to knowledge, ideas, skills and understandings; and how they respond. The second dimension, Presenting, is about how students present their knowledge, ideas, skills and understandings to others.
All key learning areas in the previous curriculum guidelines for Victorian schools, the Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF) II required students to listen, view and respond to content in a variety of contexts. Likewise, the CSF II required students to present the outcomes of their learning coherently and appropriately.
Effective communication was required in the CSF II. However, the requirements were embedded in each key learning area. The English CSF II contained a statement about literacy, and it is useful to compare this statement with the Interdisciplinary Communication strand of the VELS. This statement noted that in English, students learnt to be literate. Literacy was described as:
A set of active, dynamic and interactive practices that involves making meaning from texts and constructing meaning through texts. The term ‘text’ is used broadly to mean any communication involving language.
Literacy enables people to understand, to appreciate, to make judgments and decisions, to act to control their lives, and to learn about themselves and the world. Students use literacy to learn, and they learn how language functions in society.
The increasing use of technological tools has implications for literacy acquisition and development.
(CSF II, English, p 5)
The English CSF II included a statement about the role of literacy in all learning areas.
Effective literacy learning is central to the English classroom but all learning areas have a role in promoting literacy, in particular the specific literacy requirements of their areas. The learning students undertake in LOTE, SOSE, the Arts, Mathematics, Health and Physical Education, Science and Technology both contributes to and draws on their literacy development in English. Literacy is critical to an understanding of the physical world and the environment, and to the exploration of scientific discoveries and technological innovations that is part of the study of science. Students need literacy to develop the aesthetic and creative appreciation required in the arts. The study of a LOTE offers considerable insights into the workings of English as well as other languages, helping to develop students’ language skills, their use of descriptive and metalinguistics tools, and their cultural understandings. In turn, these understandings contribute to students’ knowledge about and use of English. Students require literacy to support the study of Health and Physical Education, to understand what is necessary to participate actively in sport and develop a healthy lifestyle.
(CSF II, English, p6)
