Unit rationale, description and aim
Australian literature for young readers is globally recognised as cutting edge, with authors achieving high sales figures both in-country and internationally. This unit introduces students to a range of Australian literature written for children and young adults, exploring the cultural context of literature for young readers through issues such as race, gender and class. The unit explores the historical development of Australian literature for children as well as recent theoretical approaches to the literary study of such works. The aim of this unit is to generate a wide understanding of texts for younger readers and the dynamic function of these texts within arguments about Australian identity.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.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.
Discuss theoretical approaches towards and textual...
Learning Outcome 01
Communicate clearly in written form, in a style ap...
Learning Outcome 02
Locate, evaluate and appropriately reference a var...
Learning Outcome 03
Apply the methods that literary theorists have use...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- a selection of Australian literary texts across a range of periods
- historic and cultural contexts in which texts were written and read
- issues such as race, gender and class within specific texts
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and publishers
- a sense of place – suburbs, city and country
- censorship
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks and their weighting for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome and assess students’ ability to link interpretations to specific issues within Australian literature for younger readers.
Assessment task one will be timed no later than mid-semester and will be a low risk, relatively lightly weighted assessment task (reading-related task/s) designed to introduce the students to literary works for young readers within their historical context.
The second task requires students to demonstrate their ability to take up a particular issue and offer an interpretation of a literary text in terms of how that issue is represented. This task will require students to place the work within a cultural and historical context in order to show how discourses about the issue are taken up in the text.
The final task is summative and requires students to demonstrate an understanding of some key debates in literary studies. This will be achieved through a series of informed responses to questions in Australian Young Adult literature. It will test the detailed knowledge of several works in YA literature and the ability understand and use elements of key debates in the field to generate interpretations of these works.
Overview of assessments
Unit Reading-related Task Requires students to de...
Unit Reading-related Task
Requires students to describe literary works for young readers within their historical context.
20%
Analytical/Research Task Requires students to res...
Analytical/Research Task
Requires students to research and complete a written interpretation of the representation of an issue found in a literary text for young readers.
40%
Examination or Reflective Writing Task The exam r...
Examination or Reflective Writing Task
The exam requires students to discuss and interpret key debates in literary studies and incorporate detailed knowledge of several works in Young Adult literature.
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This fully online unit is designed to maximise student engagement through participation. Students will develop an understanding of basic questions in Australian literature for children and young adults through reading online lectures which offer students a detailed account of key texts, historical contexts and critical and/or theoretic approaches. Lectures are accompanied by exercise sheets which require students to perform exercises in locating material, analysing particular texts or employing skills and approaches relevant to the field. In particular, the historical sections of the unit require the development of basic competencies in utilising database collections of Australian literature for younger readers. Participation in online debates in an informed manner using linked material will encourage a sense of belonging in the unit. Students will also execute a research task and summative task which will require a command of relevant primary and secondary materials while mobilising appropriate literary critical terms.
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 approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy.