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NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

11–12English Advanced 11–12 Syllabus

Record of changes
Implementation from 2026
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Year 11

Critical study of literature

Students develop analytical and critical knowledge of a substantial literary text. Through increasingly informed personal responses to the text in its entirety, students develop their understanding and appreciation of the text’s distinctive qualities, meaning and value. Students explore how the author’s ideas are expressed in the text by analysing its construction, content and language. This allows them to develop their own interpretations of the text, basing their judgements on evidence drawn from their research and reading, enabling the development of a deeper and richer understanding of the text. Students consider the context of the text’s composition and reception, investigate the perspectives of others, and explore the ideas in the text, further strengthening their personal perspectives.

Understanding
  • The ways a text can be valued for its themes, aesthetic qualities and representation of ideas, values and attitudes

  • The ways particular texts are influenced by other texts and contexts

  • The ways a text may conform to or subvert conventions of form, genre or style

  • Language, style and form, and the ways they support interpretations of a text

  • The effect of language choices in a range of personal, social and cultural contexts, and how these choices can influence meaning

Responding
  • Compose informed personal responses to texts, supported by critical perspectives and close textual analysis

  • Compose sustained, structured arguments that synthesise complex ideas, using relevant textual evidence

  • Compose texts that integrate elements of form, personal voice, language and content for a variety of audiences and purposes

  • Use the language of analysis and literary criticism to shape their own interpretations of a complex text

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