K–10English K–10 Syllabus

Choose literary forms with appropriate text structures, features and language to engage target audiences

Make creative choices about temporal and spatial settings, character profiles and motives to enhance reader engagement

Experiment with characterisation

Choose and control narrative voice across a text

Experiment with the development of thematic elements

Select and use poetic forms to descriptively express ideas

Choose text formats with appropriate text structures, features and language to inform target audiences

Develop informative texts that include headings, ideas grouped into paragraphs that include a topic sentence, and a paragraph with concluding information

Describe and/or explain ideas through logically sequenced paragraphs

Compare and contrast or discuss cause and effect through sequenced paragraphs

Create factual and historical accounts that incorporate broader contextual information

Choose text formats with appropriate text structures, features and language to persuade a target audience

Group ideas to develop a statement of position, and clear, logical lines of argument that synthesise points, and structure a rhetorically effective conclusion

Create objective, impersonal arguments

Combine personal and objective arguments for persuasive effect

Present arguments from one or multiple viewpoints to persuade target audiences

Use rhetorical devices targeted to the audience

Use modality to qualify or strengthen arguments

Control tense across a text according to purpose, shifting between past, present and future tense if required

Maintain correct noun–pronoun referencing, subject–verb agreement and use temporal, conditional and causal connectives to build cohesive links across a text

Use word repetition and word associations as cohesive devices across texts

Substitute specific nouns with all-purpose words as a cohesive device to replace verb groups, noun groups or whole clauses

Experiment with figurative language for effect and to engage the reader, including metaphor, hyperbole, oxymoron and allusion

Create written texts that include multiple paragraphs with clear, coherent transition of ideas

Choose multimodal features suited to a target audience and purpose, to reinforce and extend ideas

Acknowledge sources of information to add credibility and authority to arguments and information

Experiment with the use of non-finite verbs in adverbial clauses

Make choices about verbs and verb groups to achieve precision and add detail

Experiment with embedding adjectival clauses with the subject and/or object of other clauses, to modify the meaning or to add detail to a noun or noun group

Experiment with the placement of adverbial clauses, to modify the meaning or to add detail to a verb or verb group

Include appositives to provide details to nouns and to vary sentence structures suited to text purpose

Create nominalisations to convey abstract ideas and concepts succinctly and authoritatively

Make choices about the use of declarative, exclamatory, interrogative and imperative sentences to suit text purpose, and for meaning and effect

Vary sentence structures or lengths when using simple, compound and complex sentences, with a focus on achieving clarity and effect suited to text purpose

Use capital letters at the beginning of a sentence, to indicate proper nouns, for headings and subheadings, to indicate the beginning of a poetry line, for emphasis, and when using acronyms

Use a comma to separate a subordinate clause or a phrase from the main clause, or to separate information within a sentence, or to separate items in a list

Use quotation marks consistently across a text to distinguish words that are spoken by characters in dialogue or words authored by others

Understand that texts, such as poetry, may include innovative use of punctuation, and experiment with punctuation to suit purpose and for effect

Use parentheses in the first instance when abbreviating names using acronyms, and when acknowledging a source

Experiment with dashes and parentheses for humorous or ironic effect

Understand and use simple hyphenation generalisations

Use topic-specific Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary intentionally to add credibility and enhance authority

Experiment with word choices to create humour, for clarity or emphasis, to suit audience and purpose

Control modality related to probability, occurrence, obligation or inclination for precision

Select and use a range of synonyms in a longer text, for precision and to create variety for reader engagement

Select text formats for combined purposes, creating hybrid texts for target audiences

Use print or digital tools to plan, sequence, create, revise, edit and publish texts

Research and summarise information from several sources to plan for writing

Create texts using digital technologies suited to a target audience and purpose, to support and enhance the development of ideas

Assess the reliability and authority of sources, including digital sources, when researching and acknowledging texts

Reflect on own writing by explaining and justifying authorial decisions regarding text-level features, sentence-level grammar, punctuation and word-level language

Re-read, proofread and edit own and other’s writing, and use criteria and goals in response to feedback