Glossary

Question 1

Aesthetic

Answer 1

A sense of beauty or an appreciation of artistic expression

Question 2

Analyse

Answer 2

Consider in detail for the purpose of finding meaning or relationships and identifying patterns, similarities and differences.

Question 3

Appreciation

Answer 3

The act of discerning quality and value of literary texts

Question 4

Context

Answer 4

The environment in which a text is responded to or created.

Question 5

Evaluate

Answer 5

Evaluation of an issue or information that includes considering important factors and available evidence in making judgement that can be justified.

Question 6

Idiom

Answer 6

A group of fixed words having a meaning not deducible from the individual word. Idioms are typically informal expressions used by particular social groups

Question 7

Personification

Answer 7

The description of an inanimate object as though it were a person or living thing.

Question 8

Attitudes

Answer 8

An outlook or a specific feeling about something. Our values underlie our attitudes. Attitudes can be expressed by what we say, do and wear.

Question 9

Audience

Answer 9

The group of readers, listeners or viewers that the writer, designer, filmmaker or speaker is addressing. Audience includes students in the classroom, an individual, the wider community etc.

Question 10

Author

Answer 10

The composer or originator of a work

Question 11

Convention

Answer 11

An accepted practice that has developed over time and is generally used and understood.

Question 12

Digital technologies

Answer 12

The use of digital resources to effectively find, analyse, create, communicate, and use information in a digital context and incorporates the hardware of
mobile phones, cameras, tablets, laptops and computers and the software to power these devices.

Question 13

Digital texts

Answer 13

Audio, visual or multimodal texts produced through digital or electronic technology

Question 14

Figurative language

Answer 14

Word groups/phrases used in a way that differs from the expected or everyday usage. They are used in a non‐literal way for particular effect
(for example, simile - ‘white as a sheet’; metaphor - ‘all the world’s a stage’; personification - ‘the wind grabbed at my clothes’).

Question 15

Form; forms of text

Answer 15

The shape and structure of texts.

Question 16

Genre

Answer 16

The categories into which texts are grouped. For example, detective fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy fiction, poetry, novels, biography, short stories).

Question 17

Hybrid texts

Answer 17

Composite texts resulting from a mixing of elements from different sources or genres

Question 18

Ideas

Answer 18

Has an open meaning and can be interpreted as understandings, thoughts, notions, opinions, views or beliefs. Usually a sentence long

Question 19

Interpretation/reading

Answer 19

The process of making meaning of text.

Question 20

Issues

Answer 20

Matters of personal or public concern that are in dispute; things which directly or indirectly affect a person or members of a society and are considered to be problems. These are raised in texts and it is for the reader/audience to identify these.

Question 21

Language features

Answer 21

The aspects of language that support meaning. This helps define a type of text and shape its meaning. These choices vary according to the purpose of a text, its subject matter, audience, and mode or medium of production.

Question 22

Language patterns

Answer 22

The arrangement of identifiable repeated or corresponding elements in a text.

Question 23

Literacy texts

Answer 23

Past and present texts across a range of cultural contexts that are valued for their form and style and are recognised as having enduring or artistic value.

Question 24

Media texts

Answer 24

Spoken, print, graphic or electronic communications with a public audience. They often involve numerous people in their construction and are usually shaped by the technology used in their production.

Question 25

Medium

Answer 25

The means or channel of communication such as the spoken word, print, graphics, electronic/digital forms (for example, television, newspapers and radio).

Question 26

Metalanguage

Answer 26

Language used to discuss language. For example mise‐en‐scène, symbolism, characterisation.

Question 27

Mode

Answer 27

The various processes of communication: listening, speaking, reading/viewing and writing/creating.

Question 28

Mood

Answer 28

The atmosphere or feeling in a particular text.

Question 29

Multimodal text

Answer 29

Combination of two or more communication modes

Question 30

Narrative

Answer 30

A story of events or experiences, real or imagined. In literary theory, this includes the story and the discourse.

Question 31

Narrative point of view

Answer 31

The ways in which a narrator may be related to the story.

Question 32

Perspective

Answer 32

A position from which things may be viewed or considered.

Question 33

Point of view

Answer 33

The opinion or viewpoint expressed by an individual in a text, for example an author, a narrator, a character or an implied reader.

Question 34

Prose

Answer 34

Ordinary language used in speaking or writing, distinguished from poetry by its lack of a marked metrical structure.

Question 35

Readings

Answer 35

Particular interpretations of a text. The classification into alternative, resistant or dominant is quite arbitrary, depending on the ideology held by the reader.

Question 36

Representation

Answer 36

Representation refers to the way people, events, issues or subjects are presented in a text. The term implies that texts are not mirrors of the real world; they are constructions of ‘reality’. These constructions are partially shaped through the writer’s use of conventions and techniques.

Question 37

Rhetoric

Answer 37

The language of argument, using persuasive and forceful language.

Question 38

Rhetorical devices

Answer 38

Language techniques used in argument to persuade audiences
(for example, rhetorical questions, repetition, propositions, figurative language).

Question 39

Short answer response

Answer 39

Well‐developed paragraph or paragraphs in Standard Australian English which include supporting detail and typically ranging between 200‐300 words depending on time allocation. While not required to conform to the conventions of formal essay writing, short answer responses should be succinct and directly address the question.

Question 40

Standard Australian English

Answer 40

The variety of spoken and written English language in Australia used in more formal settings such as for official or public purposes, and recorded in dictionaries, style guides and grammars. While it is always dynamic and evolving, it is recognised as the ‘common language’ of Australians.

Question 41

Stylistic choices

Answer 41

The selection of stylistic features to achieve a particular effect.

Question 42

Stylistic features

Answer 42

The ways in which aspects of texts (such as words, sentences, images) are arranged and how they affect meaning.

Question 43

Synthesise

Answer 43

Combine elements (information/ideas/components) into a coherent whole.

Question 44

Text structure

Answer 44

The ways in which information is organised in different types of texts (for example, chapter headings, subheadings, tables of contents, indexes and glossaries, overviews, introductory and concluding paragraphs, sequencing, topic sentences, taxonomies, cause and effect)

Question 45

Theme

Answer 45

An idea, concern or argument developed in a text; a recurring element (for example, the subject of a text may be love, and its ______ could be how love involves sacrifice). A work may have more than one _______.

Question 46

Tone

Answer 46

The way the ‘voice’ is delivered or the author’s attitude to their subject matter.

Question 47

Analytical texts

Answer 47

Texts whose primary purpose is to identify, examine and draw conclusions about the elements or components that make up other texts. These texts develop an argument or consider or advance an interpretation.

Question 48

Imaginative texts

Answer 48

Texts whose primary purpose is to entertain or provoke thought through their imaginative use of literary elements. They are recognised for their form, style and artistic or aesthetic value.

Question 49

Interpretive texts

Answer 49

Texts whose primary purpose is to explain and interpret personalities, events, ideas, representations or concepts.

Question 50

Persuasive texts

Answer 50

Texts whose primary purpose is to put forward a point of view and persuade a reader, viewer or listener. They form a significant part of modern communication in both print and digital environments.

Question 51

Visual elements

Answer 51

Visual components of a text such as composition, framing, representation of action or reaction, shot size, social distance and camera angle.

Question 52

Voice

Answer 52

The distinct personality of a piece of writing.