11–12English EAL/D 11–12 Syllabus

In acknowledgement of its role as the national language, English is a mandatory subject from Kindergarten to Year 12 in the NSW Curriculum. Knowledge, understanding and skills acquired in English are central to students’ learning and development.

Language and text shape an understanding of individuals and the world. Language allows students to relate to others, and contributes to their intellectual, social and emotional development. In English K–12, students study language in its various textual forms, with increasing complexity, to understand how meaning is shaped, conveyed, interpreted and reflected.

Students engage with literature from Australia and across the world. They develop an understanding of the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and the interconnections of Country/Place, Culture and Community. Texts communicate in distinctive ways and are shaped by experiences, knowledge and cultures. By exploring past and contemporary texts, with a range of cultural and social perspectives, students broaden their experiences and become empowered in their identities, values and ethics.

Through interrelated practices and experiences in understanding and creating texts, students explore the power, purpose, value and art of English. These support students to become literate and confident communicators, critical and imaginative thinkers, and informed and active participants in society.

The study of English in this syllabus is founded on the belief that language learning is recursive and develops through ever-widening contexts. Students learn English through explicit teaching of language and literacy, and through their engagement with a range of purposeful and increasingly demanding textual experiences.

The English EAL/D 11–12 Syllabus is designed to support students learning English as an additional language or dialect whose first language is a language or dialect other than Standard Australian English and students whose first language is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Language, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students whose first language is Aboriginal English. Aboriginal Languages are unique to each Aboriginal Language Group and are in various stages of revival, revitalisation and maintenance. The course is designed to strengthen language knowledge and skills, provide an opportunity to develop students’ intellectual, social and emotional development, and understand how meaning is shaped, conveyed, interpreted and reflected.

In English EAL/D 11–12, students have the opportunity to enjoy, analyse and respond to a range of English texts so they can become confident communicators in the integrated modes of reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and representing and to allow them to improve their English language skills. Students engage critically with a wide range of texts from diverse cultures, including multimodal and interactive texts. They engage critically with a range of texts from academic, personal, social, cultural, historical and workplace contexts.

The Stage 6 English EAL/D course provides students with the opportunity to develop and refine speaking and listening English skills, collaborative and critical thinking skills as well as intercultural understandings. Explicit and targeted English language instruction supports students’ learning about literature. The syllabus supports a range of approaches to developing skills to interact with texts so that students develop confidence in critical thinking, capable of understanding the diversity and variety of cultural heritages that make up Australian society.

EAL/D learners come from diverse backgrounds and bring a variety of linguistic and cultural experiences to the classroom. The EAL/D course reflects and extends students’ lived experiences and provides them with the opportunity to improve their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the diversity of Australian society and the rich Histories and Cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.