The English curriculum is organised under 3 interrelated strands: Language, Literature and Literacy. While each strand articulates the essential skills of English, they should be seen as interlinked and interconnected. Together, the 3 strands focus on developing students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing. The English curriculum is underpinned by the selection of texts appropriate for the level...
The English curriculum is organised under 3 interrelated strands: Language, Literature and Literacy. While each strand articulates the essential skills of English, they should be seen as interlinked and interconnected. Together, the 3 strands focus on developing students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing. The English curriculum is underpinned by the selection of texts appropriate for the level.
The achievement standards explicitly link together skills drawn from the 3 strands, and map directly into the sub-strands. Unlike the strands, the achievement standards are organised through the language modes of Speaking and Listening, Reading and Viewing, and Writing. Further information about the connections between the content descriptions and the achievement standards can be found in the ‘Learning in English’ section.
At Level 2, learning in English builds on the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF) and each student’s prior knowledge and experiences.
Students vary language choice according to context and learn there are different modes of communication with distinct features.
Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment and learning. They listen to, read and view spoken, written and multimodal texts that may be narrative, informative and persuasive. Texts may include oral texts, picture books, various types of print and digital stories, simple chapter books, rhyming verse, poetry, non-fiction, various types of information texts, short films and animations, multimodal texts, dramatic performances, and texts used by students as models for constructing their own work.
The range of literary texts comprises the oral narrative traditions and literature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and classic and contemporary literature from a wide range of Australian and world authors, including texts from and about Asia.
Students transition to become independent readers. They continue to develop their decoding and comprehension skills, using a range of texts. Informative texts present new content about topics of interest and topics being studied in other learning areas, and they may include illustrations and diagrams that extend the text. Literary texts may include sequences of events that span several pages, unusual happenings within a framework of familiar experiences, and images that extend meaning. These texts include language features such as varied sentence structures, some unfamiliar vocabulary, a significant number of high-frequency words, more complex words that need to be decoded using phonic and morphemic knowledge, and a range of punctuation conventions.
Students create texts whose purposes may be narrative, informative and persuasive. Texts created may include recounts of stories and experiences, reports and explanations of learning area content, explanations of simple processes, and expressions of opinions about texts or experiences, including supporting reasons. These texts are created for an audience.
By the end of Level 2, students demonstrate the following skills in English.
When interacting with others, students apply learnt vocabulary and vary language choices depending on context, actively listen to others, and extend their own ideas.
They explore the language of appreciation and provide reasons for preferences.
When speaking to an audience, students deliver short spoken texts, engaging with topics for a familiar audience and appropriate for purpose, using features of voice.
When reading and viewing, students engage with a range of different types of texts for meaning.
They read using phonic, morphemic and vocabulary knowledge; grammatical knowledge such as compound sentences, noun and verb groups; and knowledge of punctuation.
They read some unfamiliar words and most high-frequency words.
When demonstrating understanding of texts, students discuss and compare connections between characters, settings and events, and draw on their knowledge of context to build literal and inferred meanings. They express personal preferences for particular texts.
They describe how different types of texts across the curriculum, both print and digital, are organised for purpose and navigation. They understand that elements other than language – such as images and sounds – can multiply meanings in texts.
When creating short written and spoken texts, including stories to inform, express an opinion, explore an idea or narrate for audiences, students use ideas and details from previously encountered texts, learnt topics or topics of interest, and include appropriate multimodal elements. They re-read their texts and edit for improvement.
They use narrative and informative text structures to organise their own texts, and they use grammar and punctuation to create links.
They begin to make deliberate choices when applying learnt vocabulary.
They write words using consistently legible unjoined lower-case and upper-case letters. They spell words with regular spelling patterns and use phonic and morphemic knowledge to attempt to spell words with less common patterns.
