§-English syllabus

QLD · QCAA← English

English syllabus, dot point by dot point

Every dot point in the QLD English syllabus, in syllabus order, with a focused answer for each. Open any dot point for the answer, exam-style questions and links to related points.

Unit 1: Perspectives in English

Unit overview →

How do persuasive techniques and rhetorical strategies work in non-literary texts?

Identify and analyse persuasive techniques (ethos, pathos, logos) and rhetorical strategies (repetition, parallelism, rhetorical question, anecdote, statistics) in QCE Year 11 English non-literary texts

How are audiences positioned by texts?

Identify and analyse the ways texts construct intended audiences and reading positions, including how readers can accept, negotiate or resist these positions

How does the genre of a text shape its meaning and reception?

Identify and analyse the conventions of literary, non-literary and multimodal genres, including how genre choices shape audience expectations and the construction of meaning in QCE Year 11 English texts

How is an imaginative response constructed?

Construct imaginative responses (short fiction, monologue, poetry, multimodal text) that demonstrate control of voice, structure, language features and an explicit perspective

What aesthetic features and stylistic devices construct meaning in Year 11 QCE General English texts?

Aesthetic features and stylistic devices (voice, sentence shape, imagery, motif, rhythm, focalisation, dialogue) and their effect on the reader

How are cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs constructed and conveyed in Year 11 QCE General English texts?

Cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs implicit in texts, and how these shape both the perspectives a text constructs and the way audiences engage with the text

How are perspectives and representations constructed in texts in Year 11 QCE General English?

Perspectives in texts, including who is speaking, whose perspective is foregrounded or marginalised, and how perspectives shape representations of concepts, identities, times and places

How is textual evidence used in analytical writing?

Select and use textual evidence (direct quotation, paraphrase, reference) to support analytical claims about meaning, technique and effect in QCE Year 11 English texts

What are the features of an analytical response in Year 11 QCE General English?

The structure, conventions and language of an analytical response to a text, building the habits required for Year 12 IA2 and the EA

How do language features at the level of word, sentence and text construct meaning?

Analyse the use of language features (vocabulary, syntax, modality, cohesion, tense, person) and grammatical choices in QCE Year 11 English texts, and account for the effects of those choices on meaning

How do spoken and multimodal texts construct meaning?

Analyse and construct spoken and multimodal texts, understanding how voice, body language, image, sound and editing interact with language to construct meaning

How do the contexts of production and reception shape meaning?

Analyse how the social, cultural and historical contexts of production and reception, and the purpose of a text, shape the construction of meaning in QCE Year 11 English texts

Unit 2: Texts and culture

Unit overview →

How do symbols and motifs construct meaning?

Identify and analyse the use of symbolism and motif in QCE Year 11 English literary texts, including conventional, cultural and contextual symbols

How is theme constructed in literary texts?

Identify and analyse the construction of theme in literary texts, distinguishing topic, idea, and theme, and showing how multiple textual elements work together to construct meaning

How is an analytical essay structured?

Construct an analytical essay in QCE Year 11 English with a clear thesis, body paragraphs that develop the argument through TEEL or PEEL structures, and a conclusion that synthesises rather than summarises

How are texts compared, and what is intertextuality in Year 11 QCE General English?

Comparing texts from different periods, cultures or genres, and the concept of intertextuality (how texts speak to and through other texts)

How are imaginative and persuasive texts produced and analysed in Year 11 QCE General English?

Imaginative texts (creative writing in various modes and genres) and persuasive texts (texts arguing a position), and the craft choices that characterise each

How do literary texts engage with their cultural context in Year 11 QCE General English?

Literary texts (novels, plays, poetry, short stories, screenplays) and their engagement with cultural context, including the relationship between the text's context of production and its context of reception

What is close reading and why does it matter?

Practise close reading as a method of analysis, attending to word choice, syntax, image, and structure to construct interpretations of QCE Year 11 English texts

What is the structure of a comparative analytical response in Year 11 QCE General English?

The structure, conventions and language of a comparative analytical response that brings two texts into dialogue, building habits for Year 12 IA1

How does narrative structure shape meaning?

Analyse the structural features of narrative texts (Freytag's pyramid, in medias res, framing devices, foreshadowing, pacing), and how structural choices shape reader experience

How does historical context shape literary texts?

Analyse how literary texts engage with their historical and cultural contexts, including political events, social movements, and intellectual traditions

What is voice in literary writing?

Analyse and construct voice in literary writing, including the distinctive vocabulary, syntax, rhythm and tonal qualities that mark a character or speaker as recognisable

How are characters constructed and how does perspective shape narrative?

Analyse the construction of characters in literary texts, including how narrative perspective (first person, limited third, omniscient, free indirect) shapes the reader's access to characters

Unit 3: Textual Connections

Unit overview →

Topic 1: Conversations about concepts in texts (IA1)

Apply a critical perspective to a literary text to analyse how cultural assumptions, perspectives and representations are constructed and conveyed

10 min read →

Establish, develop and sustain an analytical thesis across an extended response, supported by selection of textual evidence and effective sequencing of analysis

Use and analyse the patterns and conventions of genres, modes and mediums, and the textual features that suit particular purposes and audiences

Analyse the aesthetic features and stylistic devices used in literary texts and how they shape meaning, perspective and representation

Examine and analyse representations of concepts, identities, times and places in texts, including how representations are constructed and how attitudes, values and beliefs are conveyed

Examine and analyse how perspectives of concepts, identities, times and places are constructed in literary and non-literary texts

Analyse and evaluate the cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs that underpin texts and how these are conveyed

Examine and analyse the relationships between writer, text, audience, purpose and context, and how these relationships shape meaning

Topic 2: Conversations about issues in texts (IA2)

Establish, develop and sustain a persuasive thesis across an extended response, supported by selection of subject matter and effective sequencing of ideas

Unit 4: Close Study of Literary Texts

Unit overview →

Topic 1: Creative responses to literary texts (IA3)

Construct creative responses that transform, extend or re-imagine literary texts, applying the conventions of the imaginative genre while sustaining close engagement with the source text's concepts, characters, settings or aesthetic features

Apply stylistic and aesthetic features (voice, sentence shape, imagery, motif, rhythm, focalisation, dialogue) to construct a creative response whose craft choices serve the controlling idea

Sustain close engagement with the source text in a creative response, carrying across characters, settings, aesthetic features and concerns while shaping the transformation for purpose, audience and context

Establish and sustain a controlling idea in a creative response, ensuring purpose, audience and context shape every selection of voice, structure, image and rhythm

Topic 2: Close study of literary texts (EA)

Build an arguable analytical thesis for the External Assessment, responding directly to the prompt and supported by a sequence of body paragraphs that develop and complicate the thesis

Read a literary text closely to identify how language, structure, voice and aesthetic features construct meaning, in preparation for the External Assessment analytical essay on a study text

Manage the structure of an EA analytical essay (introduction, three body paragraphs, conclusion) and the 2-hour exam time so that every section is complete and the central thesis is developed across the essay

Integrate textual evidence (short embedded quotations) and precise metalanguage into the EA analytical essay, ensuring every quotation is followed by analysis that names a feature and argues its effect