EDLA111 - Introductory English

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Students wishing to pursue a teaching career need to meet the required admission prerequisites to initial teacher education programs.

In this unit, students will gain skills in interpretation, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of texts, demonstrating understanding of and expressing ideas and perspectives on a variety of textual forms, features and structures. All students will identify, analyse and critically reflect on the ways texts are composed in response to influences such as purposes, audiences and contexts. Acting on this knowledge of textual forms, features and structures, students will develop skills in critical reading and compose their own imaginative and analytical texts. Additionally, the literacy and language needs of the students will be analysed and guidance given for correction to fundamental errors in literacy.

The aim of this unit is to provide students with learning outcomes and unit learning activities specifically designed to demonstrate the achievement of Australian Qualifications Framework Level 5 for English.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Demonstrate detailed and thorough knowledge, perceptive understanding and effective evaluation of the ways meanings and ideas are shaped and changed by context, medium of production, audience and the influences that produce different responses to texts (GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8)

LO2 - Display a well-developed ability to describe, analyse and use a broad range of language forms, features and structures of texts and explain the ways these shape meaning and influence responses in a variety of texts and contexts (GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA9)

LO3 - Present reflections in a variety of modes showing well-developed skills in interpretation, analysis, synthesis and evaluation and use of texts and textual detail (GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA9)

LO4 - Compose imaginatively, interpretively and critically with control for a variety of audiences, purposes and contexts in order to explore and communicate ideas, information and values (GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA9, GA10) 

LO5 - Engage critically and creatively with a variety of texts in all language modes through the study of literature, media and language features (GA5, GA6, GA7, GA8, GA9, GA10).

Graduate attributes

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

• How language use can have inclusive and exclusive social effects and can empower or disempower people
• Evaluation of texts and the influence of value systems, the context, purpose and mode of communication
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of a wide range of sentence, clause, phrase, vocabulary and abstract nouns in a variety of texts and on particular audiences
• Composition of sophisticated imaginative, interpretive and analytical texts
• Language forms, features and structures of:
• Non-fiction texts (such as biography, autobiography, documentary, newspaper and advertisements)
• Visual and multimodal texts (such as picture books, postmodern picture books, graphic novels and manga, e-books, and film and book trailers)
• Narrative texts (such as short stories, novels and young adult novels)
• Poetry
• Plays and vignettes.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Students will be involved in a variety of teaching-learning strategies to progress and demonstrate their understandings in this unit. 

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is 150 hours of study for this unit, including class attendance, readings and assignment preparation.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks and their weightings are designed to allow students to progressively demonstrate achievement against the unit learning outcomes and to develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements.

A range of assessment procedures are used, consistent with University assessment requirements.

Minimum Achievement Standards

The assessment tasks and their weighting for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome. In order to pass this unit, students are required to submit and participate in all assessment tasks. Students are also required to bring their own smart (ability to connect to the Internet) devices to tutorials. Devices can also be borrowed from the library.  

Electronic Submission, Marking and Return

Assessment task submission and return of marked assessment will be done through Turnitin on LEO (unless otherwise specified). Tasks will be marked and returned within three weeks after the assessment is completed.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

MacDonald, L. (2013). A literature companion for teachers. Newtown, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).

Macken-Horarik, M., Love, K. Sandiford, C. & Unsworth, L. (2018). Functional grammatics; Reconceptualising knowledge about language and image for school English. London. Routledge.

Macken-Horarik, M., Sandiford, C., Love, K., & Unsworth, L. (2015). New ways of working ‘with grammar in mind’ in School English: Insights from systemic functional grammatics. Linguistics and Education, 31, 145-158.

Macken-Horarik, M., & Unsworth, L. (2014). New challenges for literature study in primary school English: building teacher knowledge and know-how through systemic functional theory. Onomázein, 230-251.   

Print Texts:

Austen, J. (1995). Pride and Prejudice. New York: Modern Library.

Burningham, J. (1977). Come Away From the Water, Shirley. New York: Crowell.

Miller, A. (1996). Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin.

Miramito, J. (1990). My Hiroshima. New York: Viking.

Siolkas C. (2010). The Slap. New York: Penguin.

Tan, S. (2009). Tales from Outersuburbia. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine.