VCE English

VCE English focuses on how English language is used to create meaning in written, spoken and multimodal texts of varying complexity. Literary texts selected for study are drawn from the past and present, from Australia and from other cultures. Other texts are selected for analysis and presentation of argument.

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.

Engagement with texts from the contemporary world and from the past, helps equip students for participation in a democratic society and the global community.

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. 

Students 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.

Areas of Study:

1. Reading and exploring texts

2. Crafting texts

Students develop their reading and viewing skills, including deepening their capacity for inferential reading and viewing, to further open possible meanings in a text, and to extend their writing in response to text. Students will develop their skills from Unit 1 through an exploration of a different text type from that studied in Unit 1. 

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. 

Areas of Study:

1. Reading and exploring texts

2. Exploring argument

In this unit, 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. Students build on the knowledge and skills developed through Unit 1. They read and engage imaginatively and critically with mentor texts, and effective and cohesive writing within identified contexts. 

Texts selected for study in Area of Study 1 must be chosen from the Text List published annually by the VCAA. The issues selected for study in Unit 3 Area of Study 2 must have appeared in the media since 1 September of the previous year.

The term ‘selected text’ refers to a text chosen from the list of prescribed texts in the Text List published by the VCAA.

Areas of Study:

1. Reading and responding to texts

2. Creating texts

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 study one text selected from the annual VCE English and EAL Text List. The text selected for study must be of a different text type from that which is selected for study in Unit 3.

Students analyse the use of argument and language, and visuals in texts that debate a contemporary and significant national or international issue. The texts must have appeared in the media since 1 September of the previous year and teachers are advised to work with their students to select an issue of relevance to the cohort. 

The term ‘selected text’ refers to a text chosen from the list of prescribed texts in the Text List published by the VCAA.

Areas of Study:

1. Reading and responding to texts

2. Analysing argument

EAL (English as an Additional Language) learners may qualify to be assessed as VCE English EAL. This course structure is very similar to the VCE English program, with students completing this subject within VCE English classes. Their are a few small differences in the types of assessments students are required to do.

Students may be eligible to be assessed in English (EAL) if they have been in an English speaking country for fewer than 7 years by the time they complete their Unit 3/4 study. 

Students should discuss their eligibility for this enrollment with the year 12 Year Level Learning Leaders, and should select VCE English in their subject selection process irrespective of their eligibility for this program.

Ms Sarah Gross: sgross@cmc.vic.edu.au (English and Humanities Learning Leader)

Mr Davide Angelo: dangelo@cmc.vic.edu.au

Ms Amy Clark: aclark@cmc.vic.edu.au

Mr Dylan Mead: dmead@cmc.vic.edu.au 

Mrs Rebecca Boxshall: rboxshall@cmc.vic.edu.au 

Mr Matthew Greenwood: mgreenwood@cmc.vic.edu.au 

Ms Sue-Anne Bradley: sbradley@cmc.vic.edu.au 

Ms Ros Trimble: rtrimble@cmc.vic.edu.au

Mrs Michelle Everett: meverett@cmc.vic.edu.au