English – Year 8
Learning Objectives
The English curriculum is built around the 3 interrelated strands of Language, Literature and Literacy. Together, the 3 strands focus on developing students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating. Learning in English is recursive and cumulative, building on concepts, skills and processes developed in earlier years.
In Year 8, students communicate with others for a variety of purposes.
Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment. They listen to, read, view, analyse, interpret, evaluate, create and perform a range of spoken, written and multimodal texts. Texts may include various types of media texts including online and digital texts, novels, non-fiction, poetry and dramatic performances. Students develop their understanding of how texts are influenced by context, purpose and audience. They understand how the features of texts may be used as models for creating their own work.
The range of literary texts for Foundation to Year 10 comprises the oral narrative traditions and literature of First Nations Australians, and classic and contemporary literature from wide-ranging Australian and world authors, including texts from and about Asia.
Literary texts that support and extend students in Year 8 as independent readers may be drawn from a range of realistic, fantasy, speculative fiction and/or historical genres. They may involve intertextual references, some challenging sequences and/or non-stereotypical characters. These texts may explore themes of interpersonal relationships and ethical dilemmas in real-world and fictional settings, and/or represent a variety of perspectives. Informative texts may present technical information and abstract content from credible sources about specialised topics and concepts. Language features may include successive complex sentences with embedded clauses, unfamiliar technical vocabulary, figurative and rhetorical language, and/or information supported by various types of images and graphics.
Year 8 students create a range of texts whose purposes may be aesthetic, imaginative, reflective, informative, persuasive and/or analytical; for example, narratives, performances, reports and discussions, literary analyses and reviews for different audiences.
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 8, students interact with others, and listen to and create spoken and/or multimodal texts including literary texts. With different purposes and for audiences, they discuss, express and elaborate on ideas with supporting evidence. They select and vary text structures to organise, develop and link ideas. They select and vary language features including literary devices, and/or multimodal features and features of voice.
They read, view and comprehend a range of texts created to inform, influence and/or engage audiences. They explain how ideas are represented and how texts reflect or challenge contexts. They explain the aesthetic qualities of texts. They explain how text structures shape meaning. They explain the effects of language features including intertextual references and literary devices, and visual features.
They create written and/or multimodal texts, including literary texts for different purposes and audiences, expressing and advancing ideas with supporting evidence. They select and vary text structures to organise, develop and link ideas. They select and vary language features including literary devices, and/or multimodal features.