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Unit 3: Textual Connections

9 dot points, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

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

Critical perspectives. The five lenses QCAA most commonly recognises (feminist, postcolonial, Marxist, ecocritical, reader-response), what each looks for, and how to apply a critical perspective as an analytical tool in IA2 without forcing theory onto the text.

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

Analytical extended response. The QCAA analytical-conversational genre conventions for IA1, how to build an analytical thesis around a critical perspective, how to sequence close reading to develop the thesis, and how to avoid the technique-spotting trap.

9 min read →

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

Genre, mode and medium. The QCAA distinction between the three terms, common genre conventions for persuasive and analytical writing, and how to use mode-appropriate features in IA1.

8 min read →

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

Aesthetic features and stylistic devices. The QCAA distinction between the two terms, a working list of devices you can name precisely, and how to make every device serve an argument about meaning in IA1 extended writing for a public audience.

9 min read →

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

Representation. The QCAA distinction between representation and reflection, the four objects representation acts on (concepts, identities, times and places), and how to write about representation in IA1 and IA2.

9 min read →

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

Perspective. What a perspective is in QCAA's sense (not opinion, not bias, but a constructed standpoint), the textual moves that build it, and how to write about perspective in IA1 extended writing for a public audience and IA2 persuasive spoken responses.

9 min read →

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

What underpins texts. The QCAA four (assumptions, attitudes, values, beliefs), how each one operates, how to surface them through textual evidence, and how to use them in IA1 extended writing for a public audience and IA2 persuasive spoken responses.

9 min read →

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

Writer-text-audience relationship. The five-term frame QCAA uses (writer, text, audience, purpose, context), how each shapes meaning, and how to deploy the frame in IA1 extended writing for a public audience and IA2 spoken persuasive responses.

8 min read →

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

Persuasive thesis construction. What an IA2 spoken contention is (a defensible claim, not a topic), the four moves that make a thesis arguable, and how to sequence subject matter so the thesis builds rather than restates across the 5 to 8 minute delivery.

8 min read →