English Language

UNIT 1:

AOS1: The Nature and functions of language

In this area of study students explore the nature of language and the various functions that language performs in a range of Australian and other contexts. They consider the properties that distinguish human communication as unique, the differences between the modes of spoken and written language, and the relationship between meaning and conventions that govern language use. Students are introduced to the theory that language is a system of signs and conventions, and that while the relationship between words and meanings may be arbitrary, our use of language is governed by conventions and informed by accepted systems.

Meaning can be conveyed through the key language modes of writing and speaking. Languages allow for communication through actions, like speech sounds, or graphic symbols such as letters. Communication can also occur through systems such as sign languages, and students can consider the role of paralinguistic features in conveying meaning, but the focus of this area of study is on the language modes of writing and speaking.

Students learn that our language choices are always influenced by the function, register and tenor and the situational and cultural contexts in which they occur, and are based on understandings and traditions that shape and reflect our view of the world. They come to understand that language is never a neutral and transparent means of representing the world we inhabit; rather, it is influenced by situational and cultural understandings.

Students learn that the situational elements of a language exchange, such as the field, language mode, setting and text type, influence language choice. Cultural factors, such as the values, attitudes and beliefs held by participants and the wider community, also affect people’s linguistic choices.

AOS 2: Language Acquisition

This area of study focuses on the developmental stages of language acquisition, both first- and additional-language learning. Students explore how, in addition to words and their meanings, people learn to use the phonological and grammatical conventions of the language, as well as the appropriate use of these conventions in different situational contexts.

Students are introduced to two linguistic theories – universal grammar and usage-based accounts – that attempt to explain how children acquire their first language. They research the so-called ‘critical period’, the window of opportunity during which language must be acquired. As children acquire language, they can be seen to change their language system gradually in response to the language use of others. At different stages, children’s language develops across a range of subsystems of language, allowing for increasingly complex communication and a greater range of functions.

Students also examine the similarities and differences between first- and additional-language acquisition, and multilingualism. They consider differences in the language acquisition process in children who are brought up multilingual compared with those who learn additional languages as they grow up. This extends to examining the language acquisition processes in adults who learn additional languages.

Students examine case studies and engage in field work to explore language acquisition.

UNIT 2:

AOS1: English Across Time

This area of study examines the changes that have occurred in English over time. Students investigate the factors that bring about language change, including those that come from contact with other languages, from social and technological transformation, and from within the language itself. They explore language change across some subsystems of language as represented in texts.

Students consider the relationship and influence of Indo-European languages on the English language.

Students examine the general concept of standardisation and the notion of ‘correct English’. While some language changes are critiqued by the wider community, with linguistic change often viewed as indicative of declining standards, others occur without widespread acknowledgment. The role of prescriptivist attitudes in establishing and maintaining standard language is considered in this area of study, as are descriptivist approaches to language change.

Students must be introduced to all the events and periods listed in the elective options below but study only ONE elective option in depth (that is, choose EITHER ‘Incursions’ OR ‘Inventions’ and study each of the dot points listed beneath those options in depth). The in-depth exploration must consider how significant social and cultural change impacts language and leads to language change across the subsystems of language. Teachers can consider significant texts that emerged in Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English and Modern English.

Incursions

·    The Vikings

·    Norman conquest in 1066

·    Religion

·    Plagues

Inventions

·    Gutenberg and the printing press

·    Dictionaries

·    Typewriters/keyboards

·    The internet

AOS 2: Englishes in Contact

In this area of study students consider the effects of the global spread of English by learning about both the development and decline of languages as a result of English contact, the elevation of English as a global lingua franca and the cultural consequences of language contact. Students explore the many ways English is used as an expression of identity and culture in written and spoken texts

Students explore factors that contributed to the spread of English in the past, such as trade and colonisation, and factors that continue to contribute to the spread of English today. They consider the development of Australian Englishes, including Aboriginal Australian Englishes, through the lens of colonialism.

Students explore the development and features of English-based varieties, including pidgins and creoles, and the consequences on the languages of indigenous peoples around the world. Students become familiar with the distinctive features of a number of national, ethnic and regional varieties of English and explore the ways that some of these varieties show the effects of intensive contact with other languages. Students explore how changes to and loss of language affect its users’ cultural identities and worldviews, as evidenced by language reclamation and maintenance movements in contemporary Australian society.

UNIT 3:

AOS 1: Informality

In this area of study students consider the way speakers and writers choose from a repertoire of language to vary the style of their language to suit particular purposes. They identify the function and consider and analyse the features of informal language in written, spoken and electronic interactions, understanding that the situational and cultural contexts of an exchange influence the language used.

Students examine the features that distinguish informal language from more formal language. They understand how spontaneity and planning can both play a role in informal language and the ways in which informality may play an important role in building rapport. They examine how users of informal language may be idiosyncratic in their linguistic choices and structure texts in a non-linear way, and they explore the role of colloquial language and language varieties in establishing informal registers. Students consider features of ‘chat’ associated with both speaking and writing, such as a reliance on sequencing, cooperation and turn-taking, as well as features that are particular to each language mode. Students learn that speakers have at their disposal a support system of prosodic and paralinguistic cues that they can use to organise and present information. They explore how writers may choose to rely on abbreviations, spellings that reflect pronunciation and prosodic patterns, emoticons, emojis and context-specific graphemes. Both written and spoken informal texts may contain non-fluency features, ellipses, shortened lexical forms and syntactic creativity.

Students investigate how informal language use can incorporate politeness strategies; how informal language choices can build rapport by encouraging inclusivity, intimacy, solidarity and equality; and how informal language features, such as slang and swearing patterns, are important in encouraging linguistic innovation and in-group membership.

AOS 2: Formality

In this area of study students consider the way speakers and writers choose from a repertoire of language to suit particular purposes. As with informal language, the situational and cultural contexts determine whether people use formal language and in which language mode they choose to communicate.

They identify the function and consider and analyse the features of formal language in written, spoken and electronic interactions, understanding that the situational and cultural context of an exchange influences the language used. They understand that formal language, in all language modes, tends to have greater cohesion, and is more likely to make some aspects of the presumed context more explicit. Formal language, however, can also be deliberately ambiguous and can obfuscate meaning. Students examine examples of formal texts, exploring how writers and speakers are more likely to consider how their audience might interpret their message. Students learn that formal written texts are more likely to have been edited and formal spoken texts may have been both edited and rehearsed. Formal speech has many of the organisational features of written language, but also draws on prosody and paralinguistic features.

Students explore the range of ways in which formal language can be used to perform various purposes. They investigate how formal language choices, particularly politeness strategies, can reinforce or challenge social distance, relationship hierarchies and rapport. Similarly, specialised language such as jargon can reinforce the user’s authority and expertise or promote in-group solidarity.

Students examine texts in which speakers and writers use formal language to celebrate and commemorate, and they explore how formal language can be used to clarify, manipulate or obfuscate, particularly in public language – the language of politics, reportage, the law and bureaucracy. Students learn that formal language enables users to carefully negotiate social taboos through the employment of euphemisms and non-discriminatory language. They explore how variations in language reveal much about the intentions and values of speakers or writers, as well as the situational and cultural contexts in which formal texts are created.

Assessment tasks



UNIT 4:

AOS 1: Language variation in Australian society

This area of study enables students to examine the range of language varieties that exist in contemporary Australian society and the role of those varieties in contributing to an increasingly contested national identity. Standard Australian English has much in common with Englishes from other continents, but the language has also developed features across all subsystems of language that distinguish it from other Englishes.

Australia is not linguistically uniform, and contemporary texts in both written and spoken modes both challenge and construct notions of what it means to be Australian and what might be meant by ‘national identity’. Increasing global contact, the influence of modern technologies and other social changes are shaping contemporary English in Australian society, and attitudes towards language continue to evolve.

Students examine how Standard Australian English is afforded prestige by public institutions. They explore how the language varieties operating in Australia provide further dimensions to English in Australian society. They consider a range of migrant ethnolects and Aboriginal Australian Englishes in addition to exploring language features associated with emerging and established stereotypes that can be adopted subconsciously or deliberately to establish or challenge identities. Students also consider and challenge the validity and use of language features associated with stereotypes in contemporary Australian society.

AOS 2: Individual and group identities

In this area of study students focus on the role of language in reflecting, imposing, negotiating and conveying individual and group identities. They examine how language users play different roles within speech communities and are able to construct their identities through subconscious and conscious language variation. In this work, students engage with social variables including age, gender, sexuality, occupation, interests, aspiration and education. While individual identity can be derived from the character traits that make us unique, our social identities are drawn from our membership of particular groups. Students investigate how, as individuals, we make language choices that draw on our understanding of social expectations and community attitudes.

Students examine overt and covert prestige in speech communities. They consider how knowing and being able to exploit overt norms – which are typically associated with Standard Australian English – allows users to convey a prestigious identity associated with their class, education, occupation, social status and aspirations. They also consider how covert norms – those that are given prestige by local groups – can be powerful in conveying identities, establishing those who use them as members of the ‘in’ group, while those who are unable to conform are excluded.

Students learn how societal attitudes, personal associations and individual prejudices can lead to social disadvantage and discrimination.

Assessment tasks



Unit 3 and 4 Assessment breakdown


Unit 3 School-assessed Coursework     25%

Unit 4 School-assessed Coursework     25%

End-of-year examination                         50%