English Level 5 (Years 7 and 8)
Learning focus
As students work towards the achievement of Level 5 standards in English, they consolidate and expand their knowledge and understanding of a range of texts and appreciate how to use formal language to construct texts for school purposes, and for purposes relevant to their lives beyond school.
Students begin to respond in more detached and critical ways to a wide range of print, visual, electronic and multimodal texts that explore familiar and more challenging themes and issues. They include literary texts such as novels, short stories, plays and poetry, and informative and persuasive texts including everyday texts and media texts. Students discuss texts analytically and develop confidence in the use of metalanguage to describe and discuss particular structures and features of language. They explore the power of language and the ways it can influence roles and relationships and represent ideas, information and concepts. They learn that texts can be created for multiple purposes.
Students read and interpret texts that present some challenging issues. They compare texts that explore similar themes and ideas, and recognise that writers can express views and values other than their own. They develop a critical understanding about the ways that writers and producers of texts try to position readers to accept particular views of people, characters, events, ideas and information. They discuss the ways in which persuasive texts present opinions and evidence, justify positions and persuade.
Students learn to use formal language to construct spoken and written texts for a range of purposes and audiences. They extend their knowledge of the structure of a variety of text forms (such as narratives, transactions, reports, procedures, explanations and persuasive texts) and practise writing expressively and in detail about challenging ideas and information. They continue to adjust their writing in response to purpose, context, and audience needs. They improve the accuracy and readability of their writing through the use of appropriate spelling and punctuation, and the control of tenses, subject-verb agreement and noun-pronoun agreement. They continue to develop their planning, drafting, editing and proofreading skills, using computer technology to organise, format, revise and present their texts.
Students work cooperatively in discussion groups, using talk to explore and analyse challenging themes and issues. They develop their skills in identifying main issues in a topic, providing supporting detail and evidence for opinions, asking relevant clarifying questions and building on the ideas of others. They apply their knowledge of spoken texts and oral language to experiment with techniques to influence audiences, including vocabulary, rhythm, intonation, timing, pausing, body language and facial expression. They examine how situational and sociocultural factors affect audience responses and the impact of different text and sentence structures on readers and viewers. They explore ways of using multimodal texts to enhance visual and verbal communication.
National Statements of Learning
This learning focus statement, in conjunction with aspects of the Communication Level 5 learning focus statement, incorporates aspects of the Year 7 National Statement of Learning for English.
Standards
Reading
At Level 5, students read and view imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that explore ideas and information related to challenging topics, themes and issues. They identify the ideas, themes and issues explored in these texts, and provide supporting evidence to justify their interpretations. They produce personal responses, for example, interpretive pieces and character profiles. They infer meanings and messages in texts, analyse how social values or attitudes are conveyed, compare the presentation of information and ideas in different texts, and identify cause and effect in informative texts.
Writing
At Level 5, students produce, in print and electronic forms, texts for a variety of purposes, including speculating, hypothesising, persuading and reflecting. They write extended narratives or scripts with attention to characterisation, consistency of viewpoint and development of a resolution. They write arguments that state and justify a personal viewpoint; reports incorporating challenging themes and issues; personal reflections on, or evaluations of, texts presenting challenging themes and issues. Students improve the accuracy and readability of their writing, developing confidence in the identification and use of grammatical conventions and features of language and in their use of figurative language. They use a range of punctuation accurately to support meaning, including the use of ellipses, dashes, colons and semi-colons. They control tenses, and subject-verb and noun-pronoun agreement. They accurately identify and use different parts of speech. They edit their writing for clarity, coherence and consistency of style, and proofread and correct spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.
Speaking and listening
At Level 5, students express creative and analytical responses to texts, themes and issues. They identify main issues in a topic and provide supporting detail and evidence for opinions. They critically evaluate the spoken language of others and select, prepare and present spoken texts for specific audiences and purposes. They use a variety of multimodal texts to support individual presentations in which they inform or persuade an audience.
When listening to others, students ask clarifying questions and build on the ideas of others. They identify key ideas and take notes. They show an awareness of the influence of audience on the construction and presentation of spoken texts, and of how situational and sociocultural factors affect audience responses.
Downloads
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English booklet (
PDF - 255KB) - English standards table (Doc - 51KB)
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Victorian Essential Learning Standards Level 5 ( PDF - 755KB)
