STAGE 6 ENGLISHWhy study English?

Proficiency in English enables you to take your place as a confident, articulate communicator, a critical and imaginative thinker and an active participants in society.

In contemporary English language usage, people who are timid, easily led, or stupid are often compared to sheep. Your study of English in years 11 & 12 will help you develop critical thinking skills and thus avoid becoming a member of the SHEEPLE herd.

The study of English enables YOU to make sense of, and to enrich, your life in

personal, social and professional situations and to deal effectively with change.

You will develop a strong sense of yourself as an autonomous, reflective and creative

learner.

““Think for yourself, question Think for yourself, question authority.” - TOOLauthority.” - TOOL

How? Look beyond the obvious…

The English Stage 6 syllabus is designed to help you develop the faculty to perceive and understand your world from a variety of perspectives, and it enables you to appreciate the richness of Australia’s cultural diversity.

Different perspectives? Try this :

Stare at the four dots in the centre of this page for about 30 seconds.  Try not to blink.  Then lean back, look at the ceiling and blink your eyes a few times.  Did you see Jesus?

What really IS a ‘text’?

▼Texts are communications of meaning produced in any medium that incorporates language, including sound, print, film, electronic and multimedia.

►Texts include written, spoken, nonverbal or visual communication of meaning.

▲They may be extended unified works (e.g. a novel) or presented as a series of related pieces (e.g. an anthology of poems).

“What types of texts will I study?”

During the Preliminary and HSC Extension English Course you will explore a range of types of text drawn from:

• prose fiction

• drama

• poetry

• nonfiction

• film

• media and/or multimedia texts

WHAT EXAMPLES OF EACH TEXT TYPE HAVE YOU STUDIED SO FAR AT HIGH SCHOOL?

‘‘Death of the Author’Death of the Author’by Roland Barthesby Roland Barthes

• ““To give a text an Author” and assign a To give a text an Author” and assign a single, corresponding interpretation to it “is single, corresponding interpretation to it “is to impose a limit on that text.” – to impose a limit on that text.” – BarthesBarthes

• Readers must separate a literary work from Readers must separate a literary work from its creator in order to liberate it from its creator in order to liberate it from interpretive tyrannyinterpretive tyranny for each piece of writing for each piece of writing contains multiple layers and meanings. contains multiple layers and meanings.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_author

Shakespeare is DEAD!

Reading Critically…it’s Reading Critically…it’s all about POWER!!all about POWER!!

Barthes notes that the traditional critical approach to literature raises a thorny problem:

How can we detect precisely what the writer intended?

His answer is that we cannot.

The implications of Barthes’s radical vision of critical reading are indicative of the inherently political nature of this vision, which reverses the balance of authority and power between author and reader. Like the dethroning of a monarchy, the “death of the author” clears political space for the multi-voiced populace at large, ushering in the long-awaited “birth of the reader.”

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

It can be said that a text does not belong to its author; rather, "it is detached from the author at birth and goes about the world beyond his power to intend about it or control it. The (text) belongs to the public."

- William Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley 1946

So, what is the English Extension Course 1?

The Preliminary and HSC English (Extension) courses enable students who are accomplished, analytical and imaginative in their use of English to refine their understanding and appreciation of the cultural roles and significance of texts. The courses are designed for students with a desire to pursue a specialised study of English.

These courses provide students with the opportunity to pursue areas of interest with increased independence and to theorise about the processes of responding to and composing texts. Through extended engagement in investigation and composition, students explore multiple meanings and relative values of texts. They explore a range of conceptual frameworks for the reading and composition of texts and examine a range of reading practices to develop awareness of the assumptions that guide interpretation and evaluation.

- Stage 6 English Syllabus

So, what is the English Extension Course 1?

Preliminary English (Extension)

In the Preliminary English (Extension) course, you will explore how and why texts are valued in and appropriated into a range of contexts. You will consider why some texts may be perceived as culturally significant.

Preliminary Module: 60 indicative hours

HSC English Extension Course 1

In the HSC English Extension Course 1, students explore ideas of value and consider how cultural values and systems of valuation arise.

HSC Extension 1: 60 indicative hours

What is expected of you?

• You are expected to explore more complex texts, as well as simple texts in more complex ways, refine your knowledge of language forms and features, and of the structures of texts. You apply this knowledge to develop communication skills in specific post-secondary contexts for personal, academic, workplace and social purposes.

• You will come to value and appreciate your own and others’ use of language. You will enjoy the diversity of language and literature and appreciate the role of English in your life and in learning.

English (Extension) Objectives

Preliminary English (Extension) Outcomes

Preliminary English (Extension) Content

Students will develop knowledge and understanding of how and why texts are valued.

1. A student understands how and why texts are valued in and appropriated into a range of contexts.

1. Students learn about how and why texts are valued in and appropriated into a range of contexts by:1.1 recognising different kinds and degrees of appropriation and their effects1.2 considering the relationships between a text and the culture in which it was composed1.3 exploring and examining the ways in which language shapes and reflects values 1.4 considering the effects of different ways of responding to texts 1.5 considering the ways and reasons early and later manifestations of the text are valued1.6 considering why some texts may be perceived as culturally significant.

Students will develop skills in extensive independent investigation.

2. A student develops skills in independent investigation involving particular texts and their manifestations in various forms, and within particular cultural contexts.

2. Students learn to develop skills in independent investigation by:2.1 engaging with a range of key texts 2.2 engaging in independent investigation of specific key texts, cultures and forms.

Students will develop skills in sustained composition.

3. A student develops skills in sustained composition in a range of modes and media for different audiences and purposes.

3. Students learn to develop skills in sustained composition by:3.1 refining the clarity of their own compositions to meet the demands of increasing complexity of thought and expression3.2 recreating texts by varying perspectives and contexts to demonstrate how values are maintained and changed3.3 using and manipulating a range of generic forms in a range of modes and media for different audiences and purposes 3.4 using stylistic devices appropriate to purpose, audience and context.