Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business Introduction to the Australian Curriculum: English Literacy as a general capability

Literacy SecretariatLiteracy is everyone’s business

Introduction to the Australian Curriculum:

•English•Literacy as a general capability


The Australian Curriculum:

English

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/





Role of English curriculum in teaching literacy

• In the Early Years, English provides the foundational skills knowledge and understandings for further learning

• (Shaping paper May 2009 p11)


Three strands

Language knowing about the English language

Literatureunderstanding, appreciating, responding to,

analysing and creating literature

Literacy expanding the repertoire of English usage.


What is the relationship between the three strands?








• Achievement standards

• Scope and sequence provided

Other important bits


Integrated and balanced curriculum

• Language and literacy taught through literature: Texts

provide the medium for communication (p4).

• Content descriptions incorporate all modes in an

‘integrated and interdependent way’.

• Achievement standards divided into comprehending

modes (listening, viewing, reading) and composing

modes (speaking, creating and writing) (p5).


LIT

ER

AT

UR

EL

ITE

RA

CY

Phonemic awareness

Grapho-phonicsL

AN

GU

AG

E

Handwriting / spelling / punctuation / grammatical accuracy

Language for comprehending, creating, discussing and responding to literary/creative works.

plays drama

Enjoying, appreciating, interpreting and creating literary works in a variety of modes and media:

picture bookspoetry

graphic novelschapter books

filmsmultimodal texts

biographiesspeechesrhymes

novelsshort stories

Personal responses Reviews Character analyses Thematic interpretations

Responding to a range of creative works:

How language works in its various modes and settings for different purposes and audiences, from the level of the text through to the word.

Comprehending, composing, using and critically engaging with texts:- for a variety of purposes (eg describing, explaining, arguing, recounting)- interacting with a range of audiences (from familiar through more formal)- in different modes and media (oral, written, digital and multimedia) - from a variety of sources (eg popular media, textbooks, workplaces, community)- to build knowledge across all areas of the curriculum - using appropriate strategies and processes

Bev Derewianka: Literacy in Science. Presentation at Literacy Leaders’ Network, June 20th 2010.

Handout 1


Literacy as a general

capability


The Literacy capability - two overarching processes:

• Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing

• Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating

Applicable to both processes: – Text knowledge – Grammar knowledge – Word knowledge – Visual knowledge


Organising elements of literacy


Literacy is everyone’s business…

• all teachers are responsible for teaching the subject-specific literacy of their learning area

• all teachers need a clear understanding of the literacy demands and opportunities of their learning area

• literacy appropriate to each learning area can be embedded in the teaching of the content and processes of that learning area.

(Draft) Literacy General Capability: ACARA Nov 2011


Theoretical Background

Based on a social view of language: considers how language works to construct meaning in different social and cultural contexts

Vygotsky (1976)

Brice Heath (1983)

Halliday and Hasan (1985)

Freebody and Luke (1990)

Gee (1991, 2008)

Christie and Derewianka (2008)

Handout 2


Text knowledge• learning about the structure and purpose of a range

of imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, and how these are used in different learning areas

• learning about text cohesion

• identifying and using text features to access and navigate print and digital texts.


Grammar knowledge

• learning how different types of sentence structures – including simple, compound and complex sentences – are used to structure ideas and present information in different learning areas

• learning how different types of words – including nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and word groups such as phrases – are used to convey information and ideas in different learning areas

• learning how opinion and point of view are presented through specific word choices in different types of texts.


Word knowledge

• understanding and using new vocabulary, including learning area vocabulary, to compose and comprehend texts in different learning areas

• developing strategies to spell a range of subject-specific words.


Visual knowledge

• understanding how visual elements create meanings using features such as construction, placement of elements, framing and colour

• composing and comprehending a range of visual forms typical of each learning area, including illustrations, film, maps, graphs and digital graphics.


Literacy capability and English

Relationship with the English curriculum

• The general capability of Literacy is drawn from the content descriptions in the Language and Literacy strands of the English curriculum. The literacy knowledge and skills are developed and applied through all three strands: Language, Literature and Literacy.

Source: English/General capabilities /Literacy


Literacy ContinuumAustralian Curriculum: English

Language Literacy

Comprehending texts throughlistening, reading and viewing

Expressing and developingideas

Interpreting, analysing,evaluating

Composing texts throughspeaking, writing and creating

Language for interactionInteracting with others Creating texts

Text knowledge

Text structure andorganisationConcepts of print andscreen

Interpreting, analysing,EvaluatingCreating texts

Grammar knowledgeExpressing and developingideasLanguage for interaction

Word knowledgeExpressing and developingideas

Visual knowledge

Expressing and developingideas

Interpreting, analysing,evaluating, creating

texts

Source: Literacy as a general capability p5

Handout 3


Literacy in the learning areas

The Literacy general capability has been developed for use across the curriculum in all learning areas. It is written for teachers of all years of schooling and learning areas and incorporates language and literacy demands specific to learning areas other than English.

English/General capabilities /Literacy


Text knowledge: in history

By the end of Year 2 students





Including:

Historical retellings ofan event Descriptions of a historical figure or place Narratives built around historical events

Including:

Historical reports of an event Historical narratives told from a particular perspective Descriptions of a historical figure or place

Including:

Historical recounts of a series of events with some summative commentary Historical narratives that retell past events from a particular personal or cultural perspective Detailed descriptions of particular places from the past demonstrating use of source material Persuasive texts for example presenting a particular point of view in relation to an historical event or figure

Including: Historical recounts of a series of events with someevaluative or summative commentaryHistorical narratives that retell past events from a particular personal or cultural perspective- detailed descriptions of particular places from the past demonstrating use of evidence from sourcesExplanations for example that present the causes of an event- discussion texts with supporting evidence

Including: Historical recounts of a series of events or developments within a chronological framework with some summative or evaluative commentary

Explanations that consider past events from a particular personal or cultural perspective Detailed descriptions of particular places from the past demonstrating use of primary and secondary source material, using appropriate referencing - discussion texts for example that present historical arguments with supporting evidence

Source: Literacy as general capability pp 11-14

Handouts 4 and 5


Handout 6

Source: Literacy as general capability Learning Continuum

Documents

Literacy Secretariat Literacy is everyone’s business Introduction to the Australian Curriculum: English Literacy as a general capability