English Studies

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English Studies

• SAETA Refresher Course
• 2009

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Overview of the Session

• While the 2008 English Studies Assessment Report
  has been used as the basis for this session, this
  is a peer TD session organised by SAETA.
• Should you have any queries or concerns
  regarding the administration or assessment of the
  English Studies course, please contact the
  Curriculum Officer at the SACE Board of SA.

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The Individual Study
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CriteriaThe students performance in the
individual study will be judged by the extent to
which he or she demonstratesunderstanding and
analysisTo what extent does the student
demonstrate knowledge of the texts?How clearly
does the student explain authors use of
techniques to shape the readers response? To
what extent does the student recognise the
interplay between what an author presents in the
texts and the values, beliefs, and experiences of
the reader?comparisonHow clearly does the
student recognise the similarities and
differences between the texts in the critical
essay? How effective is the critical essay in
developing the connections between texts?
applicationHow coherently does the student
develop the argument in the critical essay?How
effectively does the student use evidence from
the texts to support the argument?How
effectively does the student integrate quotations
into the line of discussion?communicationHow
effective is the structure of the critical essay?
How accurate and fluent is the expression in the
critical essay?How appropriate to the audience
and form is the register used by the student in
the critical essay?
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Choosing Texts

• Literary merit challenging enjoyable
• Assisting in the choice of texts
• Book reviews
• Lists under thematic headings
• Prescribed texts list
• Lists on SAETA website and in Assessment Reports
• Individual discussion
• Avoid texts constructed primarily on the basis of
  plot and character
• Begin with a single text

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Choosing Texts Healthy Approaches

• Allow study of the first text to stimulate choice
  of the second
• Choose texts with comparative elements
• Think outside of the box

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Choosing Texts Exercising Caution

• Same author studies
• Biographies
• Filmed versions paired with the original printed
  text
• Short stories

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The Supporting Study

• Successful Critical Essays are clearly based upon
  thorough Supporting Studies.
• The Supporting Study might consist of
• Brief notes
• Annotated excerpts
• Visual/creative responses
• Notes on oral discussions
• Mini-essays (writing to a question)etc
• The best material will be analytical in nature
  (not simply the fruits of hunting and gathering)
• Be stimulated by others work, but internalise
  ideas
• Formalise the process to emphasise its
  seriousness

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Developing a Successful Question

• successful essays are founded upon useful
  questions that stimulate criteria-aware
  responses

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Limited Questions may

• Lead to thinking of characters as real people
• Be topic based, rather than developed with an
  implicit sense of the authors roles in
  constructing the texts
• Lead to recount
• Lack tension or comparative elements
• Lead to two mini-essays

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Successful Questions

• Are Comparative
• Are Technique-based
• Develop tension
• Stimulate an argument rather than just an answer
• Are succinct

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Changing Limited questions to useful ones

• Oppressive societies damage people. Discuss
  with reference to Gattaca and 1984.

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• In what different ways do Andrew Nicoll in
  Gattaca and George Orwell in 1984 show that
  oppressive societies damage people?

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• Compare the ways in which Andrew Nicoll in
  Gattaca and George Orwell in 1984 use the
  features of their text types to explore the idea
  that oppressive societies damage people.

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Changing Limited questions to useful ones

• Do William Shakespeare in King Lear and Tim
  Winton in Dirt Music use their settings to help
  tell their stories?

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• How do William Shakespeare in King Lear and
  Tim Winton in Dirt Music use their settings to
  explore ideas?

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• Compare the ways in which William Shakespeare
  in King Lear and Tim Winton in Dirt Music use
  their settings to
• Explore the complexities of human interactions
  (or)
• Reflect the cognitive journey of their central
  protagonists

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Succeeding in the Critical Essay

• Students who understand that the essay is a
  planned, drafted and polished piece of work will
  achieve greater success

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Things to avoid

• Quoting and discussing external references
• Footnoting
• Abbreviating titles
• Exceeding the word limit
• Plagiarism

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Features of a Successful Critical Essay

• Clear argument, well structured
• Discussion equally balanced between texts
• Utilises word range
• Polished (drafted and edited)
• Develops clarity over verbosity
• Presents students own ideas
• Aware of authors techniques and purpose
• Answers the question
• Considers the audience
• Textual references fluently integrated into the
  line of discussion

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The Critical Reading
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From the curriculum statement Critical
Reading is a shared activity based on short texts
chosen by the teacher to address a range of texts
types, which may include prose, verse and texts
with graphical or visual elements.
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A range of text types

• Play script
• Diary entry
• Web site / blog
• Poster
• Cartoon
• Short story
• Narrative extract
• Letter to the editor
• Speech
• Article newspaper / magazine

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Assessment Report 2008 in the Critical
Reading, the most successful students were those
who drew upon the skills of textual analysis they
had developed in the shared texts and applied it
to the unseen passage.
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Students should

• Be familiar with the conventions of different
  text types
• Read past exam papers
• Use the knowledge gained from the shared studies
• Read for content
• WHAT the author is saying
• AND
• Read for technique
• HOW the author is saying it

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From the curriculum statement

• The study should emphasise the students
  development of techniques of analysis and their
  ability to recognise the authors role in
  constructing the text. They will compare texts
  to increase their understanding of the craft of
  the author.

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Assessment Report 2008

• Discussing the text using terminology
  appropriate to the text type was crucial to each
  students success in this section of the paper.

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Students should / could

• Learn to identify the structures and features of
  a range of text types
• Develop a repertoire of techniques
• Create a text construction piece
• ( In the style of . )
• Be careful not to expect a certain text type

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Assessment Report 2008

• It is essential that students understand the
  imperative of addressing the requirements of the
  question they choose in each section of the
  examination.

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Students should

• Be familiar with the requirements of the key
  words of the question
• What
• Why Analysis of content
• Where
• How Analysis of techniques
• The ways
• Make sure the fulfil the task

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Assessment Report 2008

• While most students were able to identify the
  techniques used by the author, not all were then
  able to connect these devices to the exploration
  of the power of literature.
• qu. d
• What techniques does the author use to show the
  power of literature?

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Assessment Report 2008

• The quality of answers presented was often
  determined by the number of examples which
  students chose to include and the depth to which
  they analysed the effectiveness of the
  techniques.
• Discuss the effect of the technique
• Link the technique to the question focus

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Assessment Report 2008

• The tendency of some students to quote
  excessively was still apparent in the more
  limited responses.

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Students should

• Answer the questions in their own words
• Avoid over quoting
• Support points with a few select phrases
• Embed quotations in the point they are making
• Explain the relevance of quotations

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Assessment Report 2008

• Some students again found that poor time
  management had cost them dearly by the time they
  came to answering this section of the paper
  Good time management within and across the paper
  is the key to success.
• Divide time equally
• Answer critical reading questions in order
• Do not repeat information this wastes valuable
  time
• Follow the directions given in brackets

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Shared Studies
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Shared Studies 2008 - General

• As one marker described it, students revealed,
  sensitivity and insight and expressed their
  perceptions maturely and fluently.
• Those students who combine this (understanding of
  the content of the shared texts) with their
  knowledge of techniques and successfully apply
  this combination to unseen question foci, achieve
  the best outcomes.

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Question Choice

• It is essential that students understand the
  imperative of addressing the requirements of the
  question they choose in each section of the
  examination.
• Students must take the time to read through the
  paper carefully and consider their options before
  making a final choice in order to be successful.
• Students who present relevant information about
  their texts, discuss ideas and techniques with
  confidence, and produce well developed arguments
  achieve the best results.

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Question Choice

• The ability to quickly and accurately identify
  the key words in the question is one of the
  skills which underpins a successful response.
• Words or phrases in the question such as ways,
  how, what techniques, compare, influence,
  position are the key.
• Actively engaging with all aspects of the
  question throughout their response is essential.

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Terminology and Quotations

• Better responses are those where the student
  evaluates the question, the point they are
  making, and then chooses carefully the most
  suitable technique or quotation to utilise.
• Students should avoid including learned phrases,
  terminology, or quotations despite their
  irrelevance to the question being addressed.

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Time Management

• Students who divide their time equally across all
  sections of the paper are those who, on balance,
  achieve the best results.
• Close reading of the questions, planning of the
  responses and keeping within time limits underpin
  success in examinations.

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The Essence of the Course

• How? Why?
• Who? What?

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General Points

• Some typical characteristics of better responses
  are
• correctly delineated titles
• correct spelling
• use of correct terms
• controlled use of paragraphing
• focussed, relevant and connected points
• appropriate and embedded textual references
• focussed and succinct opening and concluding
  paragraphs
• relevant, original discussion/thoughts avoiding
  multiple repetitions of the terms of the
  question.

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Shared Text Selections

• In courses provided at all sites there must be
• one film text only
• at least one extended prose text
• at least one written drama text
• at least 1000 lines of poetry, most of which must
  come from one of the anthologies in the list of
  prescribed texts
• a range of short texts for the critical reading
  study.

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Poetry Section

• Best responses provide an integrated discussion
  which actively engages with the question, avoids
  the poem by poem approach and therefore
  provides evidence of comparative analysis.
• Five to six poems generally seems to be a
  suitable and manageable range.
• Inclusion of too many poems leads to structural
  fragmentation and a lack depth.
• refer to a range of poems and poets
• Inclusion of 3 or less poems usually indicates a
  lack of knowledge and understanding of this
  section of the course.
• Quotations are important but they should not
  stand alone - integration into the discussion is
  generally the key to success.

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Single Text Section

• The Single Text option of Section B was clearly
  the preference of a majority of students.
• Integrated discussion of both the ideas presented
  in a text and the techniques employed by the
  author is the hallmark of a well controlled
  response.
• Focus on the chosen question is crucial to
  success last years questions are not the focus
  of this years paper.
• Addressing the question and sustaining the focus
  of discussion leads to success.

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Paired Texts Section

• There were fewer responses to a Paired Text
  question in Section B.
• Again integrated answers where students sustain
  the comparative element, are the strongest
  responses.

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Paired Texts Selections

• Some successful pairings were
• Blade Runner / 1984
• The Crucible / The Glass Menagerie
• A Dolls House
• The Piano
• Raise the Red Lantern
• One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
• The Reader
• Good Night, and Good Luck
• God of Small Things / Monsoon Wedding
• Border Crossing / Dead Man Walking
• A Dolls House / Educating Rita
• The Kite Runner / Atonement
• One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest / Shawshank
  Redemption

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Paired Texts Selections

• Some popular non- prescribed texts used as part
  of a pair were
• Brave New World
• The Handmaids Tale
• A Man for All Seasons
• Ten Things I Hate About You
• Bridget Jones Diary
• The Great Gatsby
• A Clockwork Orange
• That Eye, The Sky

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Support Materials / People

• SACE Board of South Australia
• English Curriculum Officer Meridie Howley
• Performance Standards, Learning Outcomes,
  Criteria for Judging Performance
• Annotated Work Samples Examples of annotated work
  samples by sample unit
• English Studies
• Assessment Component 1 Examination
• SAETA Website, Resources and Publications
• Teachers of English Studies past and present