English Advanced

2 units for each of Preliminary and HSC.
Exclusions: English Standard

Course Description

In the Preliminary English Advanced course, students explore the ways events, experiences, ideas, values and processes are represented in and through texts and analyse the ways in which texts reflect different attitudes and values. In the HSC English Advanced course, students analyse and evaluate texts and the ways they are valued in different contexts.

English Advanced is designed for students to undertake the challenge of higher order thinking to enhance their personal, social and vocational lives. These students apply critical and imaginative skills in their composition of, and response to, texts in order to develop their academic achievement through understanding the nature and function of complex texts.

This course is typically chosen by students who enjoy a deeper study of classic literary texts, including Shakespeare. It requires a greater depth of study of the ideas and values represented in texts. Normally students who score 75% or above in Year 10 English would consider choosing Advanced English.

Main Topics Covered

Preliminary Course

The course has two sections. The first section is common to the Standard and Advanced courses and is undertaken through a module called ‘Reading to Write’. Students explore texts and develop skills in synthesis organised around the skills of writing. The common content comprises 40% of the course content. the section is content specific to the Advanced course and undertaken through two Electives which vary from year to year. In these Electives, students explore, examine and analyse texts and analyse aspects of shaping meaning and the ways in which texts and contexts shape and are shaped by different attitudes and values. The Electives comprise 60% of the content.

HSC Course

The course has two sections. The first section is the HSC Common Content - 'Texts and the Human Experience' - this is common content to both the HSC Standard and the HSC Advanced courses where students analyse and explore texts and apply skills in synthesis. The second section - the Modules - is content that emphasises particular aspects of shaping meaning and representation, as well as questions of textual integrity and the ways in which texts are valued. Students study one elective from each of three Modules A, B and C.

Assessment

In Year 11 and Year 12 Advanced English, there is one assessment per term. Students are required to write in a range of forms including imaginative, discursive, persuasive, reflective and informative. However, the conventional essay remains a key form of writing. A variety of modes are assessed including reading, writing, viewing, representing, speaking and listening.