English Standard

Board Developed Course - 2 Units for each of Year 11 and Year 12                                        

Exclusions:  English Advanced; English EAL/D; Extension 1 & 2; English Studies, English Life Skills

Course description

The English Standard course provides students, who have a diverse range of literacy skills, with the opportunity to analyse, study and enjoy a breadth and variety of English texts to become confident and effective communicators. English Standard offers a rich language experience that is reflected through the integrated modes of reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and representing. Through study of the course modules students continue to develop their skills to analyse, reconsider and refine meaning and to reflect on their own processes of responding, composing and learning.

What students learn

Year 11 course

• Content common to the English Standard and English Advanced courses is undertaken through a unit of work called Reading to Write: Transition to Senior English. Students explore texts and consolidate skills required for senior study.

• Two additional modules: Critical Study of Literature, and Narratives that Shape our World in which students explore, examine and analyse the ways in which texts and contexts shape and are shaped by different attitudes and values.

Year 12 course

• The HSC Common Content consists of one module Texts and Human Experiences common to the HSC English Standard, the HSC English Advanced and the HSC English Studies courses where students analyse and explore texts and apply skills in synthesis.

• Three additional modules emphasise particular aspects of shaping meaning and representation, questions of textual integrity and ways in which texts are valued.

Course requirements

Year 11 course

Students are required to study:

• a range of types of texts drawn from prose fiction, drama, poetry, nonfiction, film, media and digital texts

• a wide range of additional texts and textual forms.

Year 12 course

Students are required to study:

• at least four prescribed texts, one drawn from each of the following categories: Shakespearean drama; prose fiction; poetry OR drama. The remaining text may be film or media or a nonfiction text OR may be selected from one of the categories already used

• at least two additional prescribed texts from the list provided in Module C: The Craft of Writing

• at least one related text in the Common module: Texts and Human Experiences.