§-Literature syllabus

WA · SCSA← Literature

Literature syllabus, dot point by dot point

Every dot point in the WA Literature 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 3: Interpretations and Perspectives

Unit overview →

What makes an analytical Literature essay argue an interpretation rather than describe a text?

Construct a sustained analytical essay that argues a coherent interpretation supported by close textual analysis

How do different critical perspectives produce different readings of the same text?

Apply critical perspectives such as feminist, post-colonial, Marxist and reader-response to generate and justify interpretations

How do the discourses a text draws on shape the way it represents the world?

Analyse how discourses and language choices in a text construct particular ways of thinking and speaking about the world

How does point of view control what a reader knows, trusts and feels?

Analyse how point of view and narrative perspective control knowledge, sympathy and reliability

How do the conventions of drama shape the meaning of a play?

Analyse how dramatic conventions such as dialogue, stagecraft, silence and structure shape meaning in plays

How do the conventions of prose fiction shape the meaning of a story?

Analyse how prose conventions such as narration, focalisation, free indirect discourse and pacing shape meaning in fiction

How do style, voice and structure work together to shape a reader's experience of a text?

Analyse the relationship between style, voice and structure and the meanings and effects they produce

How does a text position its reader to feel, assume and judge in particular ways?

Analyse how a text positions the reader and how reader-response approaches account for meaning made in reading

How does a text represent people, places and ideas rather than simply reflect them?

Analyse how literary texts construct representations of people, ideas and events through deliberate selection and framing

How do the conventions of poetry shape the meaning of a poem?

Analyse how poetic conventions such as form, sound, image and line shape meaning in poetry

How does close reading reveal the layered meanings a literary text makes available?

Analyse how language, form and stylistic features in a literary text shape meaning and invite particular readings

How does a feminist reading change what a text appears to mean?

Produce a feminist reading that analyses how a text constructs gender, power and agency

How does a Marxist reading expose the work that class and money do in a text?

Produce a Marxist reading that analyses how a text represents class, labour, money and power

How does a psychoanalytic reading interpret desire, repression and the unconscious in a text?

Produce a psychoanalytic reading that analyses how a text represents desire, repression and the unconscious

How does a post-colonial reading expose whose perspective a text privileges?

Produce a post-colonial reading that analyses how a text represents colonised peoples, cultures and lands

Unit 4: Literary Texts, Contexts and Values

Unit overview →

How do you build a sustained interpretation of a studied text under timed exam conditions?

Construct a sustained, evidenced interpretation of a studied text within the constraints of the external examination

How do you close-read an unseen text under exam conditions?

Construct a sustained interpretation of a previously unseen literary text through close analysis of its language, form and values

How does a text make meaning by drawing on, answering or rewriting another text?

Analyse how allusion, appropriation and rewriting create meaning through the relationship between texts

How do genre and its conventions shape the way a text means and is read?

Analyse how genre and generic conventions shape meaning, and how texts conform to, adapt or subvert them

How do literary texts both reflect and challenge the values of their context?

Examine how texts endorse, question or subvert the social, cultural and ideological values of the context that produced them

How does film make literary meaning through its own visual and aural conventions?

Analyse how film conventions such as mise en scene, camera, editing and sound construct meaning and values

How does what a text leaves out and silences shape its meaning and values?

Analyse the silences, gaps and marginalised perspectives in a text and the values these absences reveal

How do the context of writing and the context of reading shape a text's meaning?

Analyse how the context of production and the context of reception shape the meanings and values of a text

How does a text make a particular set of beliefs feel natural and obvious?

Analyse how texts naturalise ideology, making particular values and assumptions appear obvious or universal

How do you compare texts to reveal what each one means and values?

Analyse the connections, contrasts and intertextual relationships between texts and the values their comparison exposes

How can a reader read against the grain of what a text invites?

Produce a resistant or alternative reading that reads against the dominant reading a text invites

How do you write a reflection that defends the craft choices in your creative response?

Produce a reflective commentary that explains and justifies the literary choices made in a creative or transformative response

How do you transform a text creatively and explain your choices?

Produce a creative transformation of a studied text and reflect on how your choices reposition its meaning and values

How do you analyse the aesthetic qualities of a text and discuss its literary value?

Evaluate the aesthetic features of a text and discuss how and why texts are valued as literature