Syllabus Concepts

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

Attitudes

Answer 4

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 5

Audience

Answer 5

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, review writers, critics and the implied audience.

Question 6

Author

Answer 6

The composer or originator of a work (for example, a novel, film, website, speech, essay, autobiography).

Question 7

Context

Answer 7

The environment in which a text is responded to or created. Context can include the general social, historical and cultural conditions in which a text is responded to and created (the context of culture) or the specific features of its immediate environment (context of situation). The term is also used to refer to the wording surrounding an unfamiliar word that a reader or listener uses to understand its meaning.

Question 8

Convention

Answer 8

An accepted practice that has developed over time and is generally used and understood, for example, the use of specific structural aspects of texts such as in report writing with sections for introduction, background, discussion and recommendations.

Question 9

Digital technologies

Answer 9

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 10

Digital texts

Answer 10

Audio, visual or multimodal texts produced through digital or electronic technology, which may be interactive and include animations and hyperlinks. Examples of digital texts include DVDs, websites and e-literature.

Question 11

Evaluate

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Figurative language

Answer 12

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 13

Form; forms of texts

Answer 13

The shape and structure of texts. Literary texts, for example, include a broad range of forms such as novels, poetry, short stories, plays, fiction, multimodal texts, and non-fiction. (See Texts under Organisation of content.)

Question 14

Genre

Answer 14

The categories into which texts are grouped. The term has a complex history within literary theory and is often used to distinguish texts on the basis of their subject matter (for example, detective fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy fiction), form and structure (for example, poetry, novels, biography, short stories).

Question 15

Hybrid texts

Answer 15

Composite texts resulting from a mixing of elements from different sources or genres (for example, infotainment). Email is an example of a hybrid text, combining the immediacy of talk and the expectation of a reply with the permanence of print.

Question 16

Ideas

Answer 16

In this course the word has an open meaning and can be interpreted as understandings, thoughts, notions, opinions, views or beliefs.

Question 17

Idiom

Answer 17

A group of (more or less) fixed words having a meaning not deducible from the individual words. Idioms are typically informal expressions used by particular social groups and need to be explained as one unit (for example, ‘I am over the moon’, ‘on thin ice’, ‘a fish out of water’, ‘fed up to the back teeth’).

Question 18

Issues

Answer 18

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. Many issues are raised in texts and it is for the reader/audience to identify these.

Question 19

Language features

Answer 19

The features of language that support meaning (for example, sentence structure, noun group/phrase, vocabulary, punctuation, figurative language, framing, camera angles). Choices in language features and text structures together 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 20

Language patterns

Answer 20

The arrangement of identifiable repeated or corresponding elements in a text. These include patterns of repetition or similarity (for example, the repeated use of verbs at the beginning of each step in a recipe, or the repetition of a chorus after each verse in a song). The patterns may alternate (for example, the call and response pattern of some games, or the to and fro of a dialogue). Other patterns may contrast (for example, opposing viewpoints in a discussion, or contrasting patterns of imagery in a poem). The language patterns of a text contribute to the distinctive nature of its overall organisation and shape its meaning.

Question 21

Literary texts

Answer 21

Literary texts refers to 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. While the nature of what constitutes ‘literary texts’ is dynamic and evolving, they are seen as having personal, social, cultural and aesthetic appeal and potential for enriching students’ scope of experience. Literary texts include a broad range of forms, such as novels, poetry, short stories, plays, fiction,
non-fiction and multimodal texts.

Question 22

Media texts

Answer 22

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. The media texts studied in English courses can be found in newspapers and magazines and on television, film, radio, computer software and the internet.

Question 23

Medium

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Metalanguage

Answer 24

Language used to discuss language (for example, language used to discuss film or literary study, such as mise-en-scène, symbolism, characterisation, or language used to talk about grammatical terms, such as ‘sentence’, ‘clause’, ‘conjunction’).

Question 25

Mode

Answer 25

The various processes of communication: listening, speaking, reading/viewing and writing/creating. Modes are also used to refer to the semiotic
(meaning-making) resources associated with these communicative processes, such as sound, print, image and gesture.

Question 26

Mood

Answer 26

The atmosphere or feeling in a particular text. For example, a text might create a sombre, reflective, exhilarating or menacing mood or atmosphere depending on the imagery or other language used.

Question 27

Multimodal text

Answer 27

Combination of two or more communication modes (for example, print, image and spoken text, as in film or computer presentations).

Question 28

Narrative

Answer 28

A story of events or experiences, real or imagined. In literary theory, narrative includes the story (what is narrated) and the discourse (how it is narrated).

Question 29

Narrative point of view

Answer 29

The ways in which a narrator may be related to the story. For example, the narrator might take the role of first or third person, omniscient or restricted in knowledge of events, reliable or unreliable in interpreting what happens.

Question 30

Personification

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Perspective(s)

Answer 31

A position from which things may be viewed or considered. People may have different perspectives on events or issues due to (for example) their age, gender, social position and beliefs and values. A perspective is more than an opinion; it is a viewpoint informed by one or more contexts. While a pregnant woman, a homeless man and a police officer, for example, view the world from different perspectives, they may still share the same opinion about something. Texts through an embedded ideology can also present a particular perspective

Question 32

Point of view

Answer 32

(See also Narrative point of view.) The opinion or viewpoint expressed by an individual in a text, for example, an author, a narrator, a character or an implied reader.

Question 33

Prose

Answer 33

Ordinary language used in speaking or writing, distinguished from poetry by its lack of a marked metrical structure. Many modern genres, such as short stories, novels in fiction, for example, and letters, essays, and other types of non-fiction writing are typically written in prose.

Question 34

Reading/Interpretation

Answer 34

The process of making meaning of text. This process draws on a repertoire of social, cultural and cognitive resources. Reading occurs in different ways, for different purposes, in a variety of public and domestic settings. Reading is therefore a cultural, economic, ideological, political and psychological act. The term applies to the act of reading print texts or the act of viewing a film or static image.

Question 35

Readings

Answer 35

Readings are particular interpretations of a text. The classification of readings 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 (SAE)

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. Style can distinguish the work of individual authors (for example, Jennings’ stories, Lawson’s poems), as well as the work of a particular period (for example, Elizabethan drama,
nineteenth-century novels), or of a particular genre or type of text
(for example, recipes, scientific articles, play-by-play commentary). Examples of stylistic features are narrative viewpoint, structure of stanzas, juxtaposition, nominalisation, alliteration, metaphor and lexical choice.

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). Choices in text structures and language features together define a text type and shape its meaning. Examples of text structures in literary texts include sonnets, monologues and hypertext.

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 theme could be how love involves sacrifice). A work may have more than one theme.

Question 46

Tone

Answer 46

Tone describes the way the ‘voice’ is delivered. For example, the tone of a voice or the tone in a passage of writing could be friendly or angry or persuasive.

Question 47

Types of texts

Answer 47

Classifications of texts according to the particular purposes they are designed to achieve. In general, in the senior courses in the English curriculum, texts are classified as imaginative, interpretive, persuasive or analytical types of texts, although these distinctions are neither static nor discrete and particular texts can belong to more than one category.

Question 48

Analytical Texts

Answer 48

Texts whose primary purpose is to identify, examine and draw conclusions about the elements or components that make up other texts. Analytical texts develop an argument or consider or advance an interpretation. Examples of these texts include commentaries, essays in criticism, reflective or discursive responses and reviews.

Question 49

Imaginative Texts

Answer 49

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. These texts include novels, traditional tales, poetry, stories, plays, fiction for young adults and children, including picture books, and multimodal texts such as film.

Question 50

Interpretive texts

Answer 50

Texts whose primary purpose is to explain and interpret personalities, events, ideas, representations or concepts. They include autobiography, biography, media feature articles, documentary film and other non-fiction texts. There is a focus on interpretive rather than informative texts in the senior years of schooling.

Question 51

Persuasive texts

Answer 51

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. They include advertising, debates, arguments, discussions, polemics and essays and articles.

Question 52

Visual elements

Answer 52

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

Question 53

Authorial Voice

Answer 53

In the literary sense, voice can be used to refer to the nature of the voice projected in a text by an author; the persona, role or character adopted by an author.

Question 54

Voices in texts

Answer 54

As well as an author’s voice, texts often contain ‘multiple voices’. These are the views, positions, ideas and perspectives of other individuals or groups. It is important to recognise the various voices in a text, how they relate to one another, and how the creator of a text uses these to shape audience response.

Question 55

Alternative Readings

Answer 55

Readings that focus on the gaps and silences in texts to create meanings that vary from those meanings that seem to be foregrounded by the text.

Question 56

Dominant Reading

Answer 56

The reading that seems to be, for the majority of people in society, the natural or normal way to interpret a text. In a society where there are strongly competing discourses (i.e. most societies), the definition of what is a dominant reading depends on the ideology of the person making the decision.

Question 57

Resistant Reading

Answer 57

A way of reading or making meaning from a text which challenges or questions the assumptions underlying the text. Resistant readings employ a discourse different from the discourse that produces the dominant reading.

Question 58

Narrative Voice

Answer 58

The ways in which a narrator may be related to the story. For example, the narrator might take the role of first or third person, omniscient or restricted in knowledge of events, reliable or unreliable in interpreting what happens.