Literature

Unit 1&2 Text Selection

The selection of texts should ensure that students experience a range of literature, from established to contemporary works, dealing with a diversity of cultural experiences and a range of points of view. Students are encouraged to read widely, guided by classroom exploration and their own interests, to support the achievement of all outcomes.

No text or part of a text studied in Units 1 and 2 may be studied again in Units 3 and 4.

For Unit 1, students must study at least:

·       two complete texts

·       one additional text that is either complete or a collection of excerpts.

For Unit 2, students must study at least:

·       two complete texts

·       one additional text that is either complete or a collection of excerpts.

Over the two units, the texts selected for study must include at least:

·       one prose text, such as a novel, collection of short stories, biography, autobiography, memoir or collection of letters

·       a collection of poetry (12 poems or more)

·       one script, for stage or screen

·       one multimedia text, such as a film, podcast or television series

·       two Australian texts, one of which must be by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander author or creator.

These categories may overlap. 

UNIT 1:

Outcome 1

Reading Practices 

In this area of study students consider how language, structure and stylistic choices are used in different literary forms and types of text. They consider both print and non-print texts, reflecting on the contribution of form and style to meaning. Students reflect on the degree to which points of view, experiences and contexts shape their own and others’ interpretations of text.

Students closely examine the literary forms, features and language of texts. They begin to identify and explore textual details, including language and features, to develop a close analysis response to a text.

Outcome 2

Exploration of literary movements and genres


In this area of study students explore the concerns, ideas, style and conventions common to a distinctive type of literature seen in literary movements or genres. Examples of these groupings include literary movements and/or genres such as modernism, epic, tragedy and magic realism, as well as more popular, or mainstream, genres and subgenres such as crime, romance and science fiction. Students explore texts from the selected movement or genre, identifying and examining attributes, patterns and similarities that locate each text within that grouping. Students engage with the ideas and concerns shared by the texts through language, settings, narrative structures and characterisation, and they experiment with the assumptions and representations embedded in the texts.

Students must study at least one complete text alongside multiple samples of other texts from the selected movement or genre.

UNIT 2:

Outcome 1

Voices of Country


In this area of study students explore the voices, perspectives and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors and creators. They consider the interconnectedness of place, culture and identity through the experiences, texts and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including connections to Country, the impact of colonisation and its ongoing consequences, and issues of reconciliation and reclamation.

Students examine representations of culture and identity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ texts and the ways in which these texts present voices and perspectives that explore and challenge assumptions and stereotypes arising from colonisation.

Students acknowledge and reflect on a range of Australian views and values (including their own) through a text(s). Within that exploration, students consider stories about the Australian landscape and culture

Outcome 2

The text in its context

In this area of study students focus on the text and its historical, social and cultural context. Students reflect on representations of a specific time period and/or culture within a text.

Students explore the text to understand its point of view and what it reflects or comments on. They identify the language and the representations in the text that reflect the specific time period and/or culture, its ideas and concepts. Students develop an understanding that contextual meaning is already implicitly or explicitly inscribed in a text and that textual details and structures can be scrutinised to illustrate its significance.

Students develop the ability to analyse language closely, recognising that words have historical and cultural import.

UNIT 3&4 Text Selection

In Units 3 and 4 students must study at least six texts (including an adapted text). The selection of texts should ensure that students experience a range of literature, from early to contemporary works, dealing with a diversity of cultural experiences and a range of points of view. Students are encouraged to read widely, guided by classroom exploration and their own interests, to support the achievement of all outcomes.

No text or part of a text studied in Units 1 and 2 may be studied again in Units 3 and 4.

Five texts must be selected from the VCE Literature Text List published by the VCAA for the year of study. All five texts selected from the text list must feature in teaching and learning programs, but students may be formally assessed on only four of these texts.

The selection of five texts must include:

·       one novel

·       one collection of poetry

·       one play

·       two further texts selected from novels, plays, collections of poetry, collections of short stories or other literature.

At least one of the texts selected must be Australian.

Students study a sixth text for Unit 3 Area of Study 1. The text used for Unit 3 Area of Study 1 must be an adaptation of one of the five required texts selected from the text list published by the VCAA.

The text may include but is not limited to a:

·       live performance by a professional theatre company

·       film or screenplay

·       television mini-series

·       play script.

A student adaptation cannot be used as the adaptation text for Unit 3 Area of Study 1.

Supplementary readings studied for Unit 3 Area of Study 2 are not prescribed.

In assessing levels of achievement across Units 3 and 4, teachers must ensure that the assessment tasks are based on a least five texts (including the adapted text).  

UNIT 3:

Outcome 1

Adaptations and Transformations

In this area of study students focus on how the form of a text contributes to its meaning. Students explore the form of a set text by constructing a close analysis of that text. They then reflect on the extent to which adapting the text to a different form, and often in a new or reimagined context, affects its meaning, comparing the original with the adaptation. By exploring an adaptation, students also consider how creators of adaptations may emphasise or minimise viewpoints, assumptions and ideas present in the original text.

Outcome 2

Developing Interpretations


In this area of study students explore the different ways we can read and understand a text by developing, considering and comparing interpretations of a set text.

Students first develop their own interpretations of a set text, analysing how ideas, views and values are presented in a text, and the ways these are endorsed, challenged and/or marginalised through literary forms, features and language. These student interpretations should consider the historical, social and cultural context in which a text is written and set. Students also consider their own views and values as readers.


Students then explore a supplementary reading that can enrich, challenge and/or contest the ideas and the views, values and assumptions of the set text to further enhance the students’ understanding. Examples of a supplementary reading can include writing by a teacher, a scholarly article or an explication of a literary theory. A supplementary reading that provides only opinion or evaluation of the relative merits of the text is not considered appropriate for this task.


Informed by the supplementary reading, students develop a second interpretation of the same text, reflecting an enhanced appreciation and understanding of the text. They then apply this understanding to key moments from the text, supporting their work with considered textual evidence.



 Assessment Tasks for Unit 3

 


Unit 4:

Outcome 1

Creative responses to texts


In this area of study students focus on the imaginative techniques used for creating and recreating a literary work. Students use their knowledge of how the meaning of texts can change as context and form change to construct their own creative transformations of texts. They learn how authors develop representations of people and places, and they develop an understanding of language, voice, form and structure. Students draw inferences from the original text in order to create their own writing. In their adaptation of the tone and the style of the original text, students develop an understanding of the views and values explored.

Students develop an understanding of the various ways in which authors craft texts. They reflect critically on the literary form, features and language of a text, and discuss their own responses as they relate to the text, including the purpose and context of their creations.


Outcome 2

Close analysis of texts

In this area of study students focus on a detailed scrutiny of the language, style, concerns and construction of texts. Students attend closely to textual details to examine the ways specific passages in a text contribute to their overall understanding of the whole text. Students consider literary forms, features and language, and the views and values of the text. They write expressively to develop a close analysis, using detailed references to the text.

 

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%