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NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

K–10English K–10 Syllabus

Record of changes
Implementation for K–2 from 2023 and 3–10 from 2024
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Stage 3

Oral language and communication

Content in Oral language and communication focuses on speaking and listening. For some students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing, this will be through signing and watching Auslan as well as, or instead of, speaking and listening. Complementary content has been provided as alternative means to demonstrate aspects of the outcome for students who use other forms of communication to supplement or replace speech. Content should be taught through speaking and listening experiences, where appropriate, in combination with the student’s preferred communication forms. Teachers use the content for alternative communication forms in combination with the content for oral language to meet the needs of individual students.

Interacting
  • Initiate and contribute to sustained discussions, through questioning, building on and evaluating shared information

  • Identify varying social conventions that influence interactions across wide audiences

  • Describe ways of interacting with cultural protocols or practices used by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples

  • Follow agreed-upon protocols and define individual roles as needed for in-person or online interactions, establishing specific goals, criteria or timeframes

  • Interact in a range of contexts and deliberately adjust language and style

  • Ask and respond to analytical and evaluative questions about literature that contribute to own or others’ enjoyment and understanding

  • Evaluate the role of gesture during social and learning interactions and describe its impact on the audience

Listening for understanding
  • Respond to questions with elaboration and detail

  • Apply interactive listening strategies by responding to and providing feedback to the speaker

  • Apply active listening strategies by retelling or repeating what another person has expressed and by building on what has been said

  • Analyse key ideas and perspectives expressed by others through paraphrasing and note-taking

  • Analyse how audio elements in texts integrate with linguistic, visual, gestural and spatial elements to create meaning and impact

  • Evaluate the effectiveness of rhetorical questions used for intentional effect

  • Evaluate features of spoken texts that contribute to own or others’ enjoyment

Presenting
  • Deliver presentations suited to purpose and audience

  • Experiment with volume, pace and intonation to enhance meaning when presenting and reciting, and recognise the effects these have on audience understanding

  • Select and use a variety of sentence lengths to suit the purpose of planned spoken texts

  • Use connectives to signal a change in perspective or to show causal relationships when speaking

  • Use expanded noun and verb groups to present planned, detailed descriptions

  • Present multimodal arguments that include research and references, topic-specific vocabulary and the selection of persuasive techniques appropriate to audience

  • Select multimedia components, visual displays or use gestural features to enhance and bring clarity to presentations

  • Reflect on and monitor own and peer presentations according to given criteria

Complementary content for alternative communication forms: Listening for understanding
  • Attend to a presenter and respond using facial expression, gesture, symbols, signs or spoken language to provide feedback

  • Attend to a communication partner and respond to their ideas using gestures, symbols, signs or spoken language

  • Evaluate nonverbal features of communication in texts, such as facial expression, posture and eye gaze, that contribute to own or others’ enjoyment

Complementary content for alternative communication forms: Presenting
  • Experiment with elements of body language, including facial expression and gesturing, and recognise the effect these have on audience understanding

  • Select words and phrases to communicate information in a planned spoken text

  • Select visual resources that suit the purpose of a planned presentation

  • Use facial expression, gesture, posture, symbols or signs to communicate a change in perspective

  • Combine images, symbols and/or words representing nouns and verbs to present detailed descriptions

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