Rationale :

Accreditation Period 2023-2027

The study of VCE Literature fosters students’ enjoyment and appreciation of the artistic and aesthetic merits of stories and storytelling, and enables students to participate more fully in the cultural conversations that take place around them. By reading and exploring a diverse range of established and emerging literary works, students become increasingly empowered to discuss texts. As both readers and writers, students extend their creativity and high-order thinking to express and develop their critical and creative voices. 

Throughout this study, students deepen their awareness of the historical, social and cultural influences that shape texts and their understanding of themselves as readers. Students expand their frameworks for exploring literature by considering literary forms and features, engaging with language, and refining their insight into authorial choices. Students immerse themselves in challenging fiction and non-fiction texts, discovering and experimenting with a variety of interpretations in order to develop their own responses. 

Structure

The study is made up of four units: 

Unit 1: Reading practices

Unit 2: Voices of Country 

Unit 3: Adaptations and transformations

Unit 4: Creative responses to texts

Unit 2

Area of Study 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.

Unit 4

Area of Study 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.