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English K–12

Oral language and communication

Improving and building on student’s word knowledge is a pervading element of any teaching and learning program, and opportunities to develop vocabulary have been identified (Beck, McKeown & Kucan, 2008).

Students can develop and demonstrate speaking, listening and interacting competencies through the suggested learning activities below. Most activities do not require materials. They provide opportunities for assessment with selected observable behaviours being identified.

These learning activities can function independently or as an element of a holistic program, supporting the understanding of the English textual concepts:

  • narrative
  • character
  • connotation, imagery and symbol

Differentiation and adjustment

When making decisions about teaching and learning activities, teachers should consider a student’s preceding knowledge, experiences and skills as well as the literacy demands of the activity. Teachers may be required to provide differentiation and adjustments to support students to access and participate in the teaching and learning activities on the same basis as their peers, and these will need to be considered prior to and throughout the lesson. See the additional information below for further advice to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students with disability and additional learning and support needs, high potential and gifted students and EAL/D students.

Aboriginal education and communities

In their study of English, students learn about the interconnected elements of Country and Place, People, Culture and Identity and engage in a range of experiences showing links between cultural expression, language and spirituality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

When planning and programming content relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, teachers are encouraged to involve local Aboriginal communities and/or appropriate knowledge holders in determining suitable resources, or to use Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander authored or endorsed publications.

When assessing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in speaking and listening activities, teachers should acknowledge and be sensitive to the different ways of expressing emotions which may impact student involvement and contribution. For example, their use of non-verbal responses, common use of silence, lack of eye-contact and feelings of shame.

Further information and support can be found on the Aboriginal education and communities’ page and through your area’s School Services Aboriginal Education team.

Students with disability and additional learning and support needs

Under the Disability Standards for Education (2005) all principals and teachers have legal obligations to ensure that every student is able to participate in the curriculum on the same basis as their peers. This can be achieved by making reasonable adjustments according to a student's personalised learning and support needs. Adjustments may be made to the curriculum, the instruction and/or the environment.

Adjustments to the curriculum may include:

  • modifications to the amount of the lesson or unit content taught
  • modifications to the time allocated to complete work
  • teaching the core or critical content first
  • teaching the key terminology and vocabulary needed for the subject area

Adjustments to the instruction or how the lesson is delivered may include:

  • providing alternative representations of teaching and learning materials (e.g. using multimedia, Braille, illustrated texts, simplified texts or captioned video)
  • motivating students through engagement with their personal interests
  • additional, explicit and systematic instructions
  • increased levels of prompting
  • additional modelling
  • guided practice

Adjustments to the environment apply to playground, outdoor learning areas, school library, sporting fields and excursions, and may include:

  • supporting physical access needs
  • peer assistance (for example, using buddy systems, peer-assisted learning and peer tutoring)
  • alternative equipment and furnishings
  • support personnel
  • scheduling (for example, a sequence of events)
  • technology and augmentative and alternative communication systems
  • modifications to buildings and classrooms

Early Stage 1 students with speech, language and communication needs may also require extra support to demonstrate speaking, listening and interacting competencies, particularly as they learn new concepts and vocabulary needed to extend their use of language in the classroom. The scaffolds and support that help students with speech, language and communication needs will also benefit the whole class. Supports may include:

  • explaining activities repeatedly in simple, short sentences along with visuals. Naming objects and describing actions is an area that students may find particularly demanding.
  • specific support to understand the concept of turn-taking
  • visuals representing story structure such as, who, what, where, why, when retelling events or telling simple stories
  • explicit teaching of the concepts of a sentence, story and character with frequent reminders and prompts during every learning opportunity. This is particularly important with abstract concepts such as fairy tales and when discussing emotions.

Students in Stage 1 with speech, language and communication needs may also require extra support to demonstrate speaking, listening and interacting competencies, particularly with the vocabulary needed to describe story structure elements. The scaffolds and support that help students with speech, language and communication needs will also benefit the whole class. Supports may include:

  • visuals to represent character, setting, and plot
  • structured prompting to ensure correct sequencing with specific focus on time concepts such as before, after, first and last. Some students may only need a question prompt such as ‘What happened first?” other students may need more structure such as “The ant came after the…”, “First, the story began when the…, Next, the…..
  • story structure visuals as the student does their retell to help their understanding of time and sequencing
  • sentences repeated and stories presented in small chunks.

Students in Stage 2 with speech, language and communication needs may also require extra support to demonstrate speaking, listening and interacting competencies, particularly to extend their vocabulary especially in terms of descriptive language, figurative language and building noun groups. The scaffolds and support that help students with speech, language and communication needs will also benefit the whole class. Supports may include:

  • providing students with choices of words they can use instead of generic descriptors such as ‘nice’ and ‘good’. Introducing these words along with student-friendly definitions with examples of what the words mean and don’t mean would also be of benefit. Word webs with visuals may be particularly useful.
  • frequently reviewing vocabulary specific for poetry and literary devices with clear examples and scaffolds before learning opportunities
  • numerous learning opportunities on similes and metaphor, as these may be particularly difficult for some students to understand
  • assistance to remember a prepared presentation due to difficulty recalling spoken information. Recording presentations in small chunks and presenting the recorded presentation is an option.
  • prompting and scaffolds when sequencing events and using time concepts in retells and narratives.

Students in Stage 3 with speech, language and communication needs may also require extra support to demonstrate speaking, listening and interacting competencies, particularly to extend their vocabulary in terms of figurative language, persuasive language, discussing personality traits and complex character roles. The scaffolds and support that help students with speech, language and communication need will also benefit the whole class. Supports may include:

  • student friendly definitions with examples linked to their environment before they can understand, use and define new vocabulary. Word webs with visuals may be particularly useful.
  • reviewing vocabulary specific for poetry and literary devices often with clear examples and scaffolds before learning opportunities
  • giving students explicit examples of inferring and problem-solving before they are expected to infer information and give solutions to story or character problems. This will be particularly important when required to understand the moral of a story and understand the difference between truth and lies.
  • opportunities to record presentations in small chunks may be helpful, as students may have difficulty recalling spoken information and struggle to remember a prepared presentation. Presentations and reading from palm cards will be particularly difficult for students with weak literacy skills.

The school learning and support team assists teachers to meet the educational needs of their students and to identify appropriate adjustments that may be needed. Consultations between the student, parents or carers and school take place before any adjustments are made. Adjustments must be regularly reviewed through a consultation process and should be changed or withdrawn if necessary.

Further information and advice can be found on the Disability, Learning and Support page.

High potential and gifted students

The High Potential and Gifted Policy promotes engagement and challenge for every student in every school across intellectual, creative, social-emotional and physical domains of potential, while explicitly identifying and addressing the learning needs of high potential and gifted students.

When planning to further develop speaking and listening skills in the Early Stage 1 classroom, it is important to consider that many of these students are communicating informally and developing an emerging awareness of the purpose of spoken language. They are demonstrating active listening skills and ask relevant questions

It is the perfect time to further develop questioning skills using higher-order question stems This will not only encourage deep reflection from high potential students but will be an effective strategy for all students. Posing provocative questions leads students toward a deeper analysis. Other adjustments include asking students to find a connection between usually unrelated ideas and using the ‘what if…?’ question to stimulate thinking. Be aware that high potential learners may require additional adjustments so they can be further engaged, grow and achieve their personal best. Highly gifted students in this area may benefit from mentorship with an older student.

When planning to further develop speaking and listening skills in the Stage 1 classroom, it is important to consider that many of these students are communicating with a wider range of audiences and engaging effectively in group discussion.

At this level, you may observe students confident in speaking and listening activities beginning to demonstrate high potential in the social-emotional domain. Some of the behaviours you may observe in these students include advanced social and communication skills, demonstrated leadership and decision-making skills and empathy.

These learners may require adjustments so they can be further engaged, grow and achieve their personal best. These adjustments can include justifying thinking when given a provocative question and including students in debate and/or robust discussion viewed from diverse perspectives. Highly gifted students in this area may benefit from mentorship with an older student.

When planning to further develop speaking and listening skills in the Stage 2 classroom, it is important to consider that many of these students are communicating with a wider range of audiences and engaging effectively in group discussion.

At this level, you may observe students confident in speaking and listening activities beginning to demonstrate high potential in the social-emotional domain. Some of the behaviours you may observe in these students include advanced social and communication skills, demonstrated leadership and decision-making skills and empathy.

These learners may require adjustments so they can be further engaged, grow and achieve their personal best. These adjustments can include justifying thinking when given a provocative question and including students in debate and/or robust discussion viewed from diverse perspectives. Highly gifted students in this area may benefit from mentorship with an older student.

When planning to further develop speaking and listening skills in the Stage 3 classroom, it is important to consider that many of these students are communicating with a wider range of audiences and engaging effectively in group discussion.

At this level, you may observe students confident in speaking and listening activities beginning to demonstrate high potential in the social-emotional domain. Some of the behaviours you may observe in these students include advanced social and communication skills, demonstrated leadership and decision-making skills and empathy.

These learners may require adjustments so they can be further engaged, grow and achieve their personal best. These adjustments can include justifying thinking when given a provocative question and including students in debate and/or robust discussion viewed from diverse perspectives.

High potential students from diverse backgrounds may experience additional challenge in communicating effectively for various reasons, including cultural appropriation, limited vocabulary or experiences. These students will need explicit instruction to achieve their potential.

The provision of tailored support can help these students overcome some of the disadvantages that they experience. The school's learning support team has a role to play in the allocation of support or intervention.

Further information and advice can be found on the High potential and gifted education page.

English as an additional language or dialect

EAL/D learners are students whose first language is a language or dialect other than Standard Australian English who require additional support to assist them to develop English language proficiency. Students learning English are simultaneously learning English, learning in English and learning about English in order to successfully participate in social and academic contexts (EAL/D Advice for Schools, 2020).

The ACARA EAL/D teacher resource provides information about phases of language proficiency and the teaching and learning supports students require as they develop their English language skills.

Learning can be enhanced for EAL/D students through:

  • support from a speaker of their first language to confirm understanding, ask for clarification and build connections between first language and English
  • explicit and focused language teaching
  • opportunities to practice new target language through oral activities
  • targeted contextual scaffolds (for example, visuals and gestures)
  • using bilingual dictionaries including picture dictionaries
  • additional time to complete classroom activities and to process information
  • message abundancy – having the same information presented in multiple ways
  • opportunities for modelled and guided teaching and learning
  • opportunities to reuse, recycle and recast language.

Consider the following key questions/ considerations for supporting EAL/D learners to be successful in the classroom:

  • What are the language and cultural demands of the tasks that will require explicit teaching and scaffolded support so EAL/D students can participate and achieve success?
  • What is the language focus of the learning task and language structures and features to be taught relative to the phase of English language proficiency?
  • How will you adapt teacher instructions so they are provided in a way that EAL/D students can easily interpret them?

Further information and advice can be found on the multicultural education web pages.

English as a second language scales

Teachers should use the ESL scales in conjunction with the syllabus to address the needs of EAL/D students and to assist them to access English curriculum outcomes and content. The ESL scales are designed to heighten awareness of English, how it is used, how it develops and how EAL/D students may be assisted to develop cognitive and linguistic competence. Teachers plan teaching and learning activities to scaffold learning for EAL/D students working towards the achievement of English syllabus outcomes using the ESL scales outcomes and pointers.

Learning across the curriculum

Learning across the curriculum content, including cross-curriculum priorities, general capabilities and other areas identified as important learning for all students where appropriate, have been incorporated and identified during learning experiences. They can be identified with the learning across the curriculum content contained within square brackets.

Category:

  • Teaching and learning

Business Unit:

  • Educational Standards
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