Rationale: 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.

This study enables students to:

• enjoy reading a range of challenging literary texts;

• approach unfamiliar texts and negotiate diverse literary territories with confidence;

• explore the ways in which authors craft their writing;

• recognise there are many possible ways of interpreting literary texts;

• develop their own responses to texts, recognising the impact of form, features and language in the creation of meaning;

• write creatively and critically, and develop their individual voice;

• consider the views of others, including when developing interpretations; and 

• express their ideas, through all language modes, with insight and flair.

Structure: This study comprises four units.

Unit 1

Area of Study 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.

Outcome 1 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to respond to a range of texts through close analysis.

Area of Study 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.

Outcome 2 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to explore conventions common to a selected movement or genre, and engage with the ideas, concerns and representations from at least one complete text alongside multiple samples of other texts considered characteristic of the selected movement or genre. 

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.

Outcome 1 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to explore and reflect on the voices, perspectives and knowledge in the texts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors and creators.

Area of Study 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.

Outcome 2 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse and respond to the representation of a specific time period and/or culture explored in a text and reflect or comment on the ideas and concerns of individuals and groups in that context.

Unit 3

Area of Study 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 1 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse aspects of a text, drawing on close analysis of textual detail, and then discuss the extent to which meaning changes when that text is adapted to a different form.

Area of Study 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. 

Outcome 2 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to develop interpretations of a set text informed by the ideas, views and values of the set text and a supplementary reading.

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.

Outcome 1 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to respond creatively to a text and comment critically on both the original text and the creative response. 

Area of Study 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.

Outcome 2 - On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse literary forms, features and language to present a coherent view of a whole text.

Entry:

There are no prerequisites for entry to Units 1, 2 and 3. Students must undertake Unit 3 and Unit 4 as a sequence. Units 1–4 are designed to the equivalent standard of the final two years of secondary education. Unit 3 and 4. Students must complete Unit 3 prior to undertaking Unit 4.

Students must successfully complete three English units to satisfy the requirements of the VCE. They must include Units 1 or 2 of either English, Literature or English as an Additional Language and Units 3 and 4 of English, Literature or English as an Additional Language. A study score for an English subject must be included in the calculation of an ATAR.

If students plan to complete only one English study in Year 12 they can complete English or Literature, although it is recommended that for students who identify English as an area of strength they should complete Literature 1-4 or both English 1-4 and Literature 1-4. The Year 10 Advanced English course is designed to complement and prepare students for transition into VCE Literature.

ASSESSMENT:

Units 1 and 2: Creative Response with Reflective Commentary, Close Passage Analysis, Oral Presentation, Analytical Text Response, Review, Adaptations and Transformations Response. 

Unit 3: School Assessed Coursework: 25% (Close Passage Analysis, Adaptations and Transformations Response, Oral Presentation, Analytical Response).

Unit 4: School Assessed Coursework: 25% (Creative Response, Critical Comment, Close Passage Analysis)

End of Year exam: 50% (2 hour and 15 minute exam comprising one Literary Perspectives Task - Section A and one Close Analysis Task - Section B).

Contact Time

Lessons per week:

Year 11: 5

Year 12: 5

Duration:  Year long

Further Information

Head of English:

Kelly Brown