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Author Topic: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown  (Read 41890 times)  Share 

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Deshouka

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #15 on: February 01, 2016, 10:41:48 pm »
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Aww no more Wuthering Heights  :'(
Willing to help out with anything Japanese! :)

shazziie

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #16 on: February 28, 2016, 07:02:15 pm »
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okay, please excuse the silly question but does this change apply to year 12 2017  NSW students as well ?  :P :P :P :P

literally lauren

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #17 on: February 28, 2016, 07:08:18 pm »
+1
okay, please excuse the silly question but does this change apply to year 12 2017  NSW students as well ?  :P :P :P :P
Nope! You New South Welshmen and Welshwomen have nothing to worry about - this is solely about the VCE curriculum, so very little of this will be applicable to you :) The HSC English Boards here will have relevant resources, guides, and question threads for you guys :)

coolaths

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #18 on: November 21, 2016, 10:59:00 pm »
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Thank you so much +literally lauren !!!!!!
I feel so much better now knowing what I need to do next year!
2016: Business Management [38]
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PM if want tutoring for years 7-11 maths, science and VCE Yr 11, Yr 12 Chem and Physics

EvangelionZeta

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #19 on: December 24, 2016, 01:21:16 pm »
+8
This is a great guide illustrating the changes in the new curriculum for VCE English 3/4 - I do want to offer a few alternate points of view though.

The first is with regards to analysing argumen. The study design sounds mostly the same as with language analysis, but it does mention at one point analysis of the quality of "reasoning", which suggests to me that ~perhaps~ there might be some necessity to look at the logic of the piece and assess the soundness and validity of its argumentation (e.g. Are there gaps? Do they make logical leaps? Etc). I say perhaps because this would be a massive change and I think they would make a much bigger deal about it if it was a legit focus, but the frustrating thing about VCAA is that they're often vague until the next year's examiners report comes out so who the hell knows what the deal is.

The second thing I want to say is I actually strongly disagree with Lauren on comparative essay structure. I think it is a perfectly viable choice to have one paragraph (or even two) focus exclusively on one text in comparative; I did this in VCE Classical Studies (which had a comparative component much like this), where I got a 50, and did so in my university literary essays (and have read professional critics who do the same). The reasoning behind this approach is that sometimes, before you can get into the nitty gritty and thoroughly compare things, it is important to establish the "big picture" first.

For example, let's say 80% of both texts (let's say The Crucible and Year of Wonders) suggest devastating conflict arises from hysteria; in this case, it might be worthwhile to first flesh out the core ethos of the texts, and look in detail at the main picture they present through a thorough analysis of each. Often, when I did it this way, I'd have a paragraph on the first text in pure isolation, and then one on the second text focusing on it but with comparisons to the first sprinkled throughout the essay (some something like the 80-20 approach suggested by Lauren...but more like 90-10 really). Then, after you've done a paragraph (or two), you could have one, two, or even theee (preferably two or three tbh) going more microscopic and saying something like "in spite of the broad similarities, however, the two texts differ in that..." etc. 

The other strength of this approach is that it guarantees you go into sufficient detail on both texts to real give your analysis depth. From experience, a common issue people have when they constantly compare both texts in their essays in all paragraphs is that they aren't ever able to really fully flesh out analysis of one text, as they have to move on before they say something particularly interesting.

Note that I also think you can do an essay where you constantly compare throughout - I just want people to be wary of being prescriptive with their approach and saying there's only one right way of doing things (or that one approach is necessarily "pedestrian"), without considering the merits of both things.
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hola

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #20 on: December 24, 2016, 03:40:48 pm »
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This is a great guide illustrating the changes in the new curriculum for VCE English 3/4 - I do want to offer a few alternate points of view though.

The first is with regards to analysing argumen. The study design sounds mostly the same as with language analysis, but it does mention at one point analysis of the quality of "reasoning", which suggests to me that ~perhaps~ there might be some necessity to look at the logic of the piece and assess the soundness and validity of its argumentation (e.g. Are there gaps? Do they make logical leaps? Etc). I say perhaps because this would be a massive change and I think they would make a much bigger deal about it if it was a legit focus, but the frustrating thing about VCAA is that they're often vague until the next year's examiners report comes out so who the hell knows what the deal is.

The second thing I want to say is I actually strongly disagree with Lauren on comparative essay structure. I think it is a perfectly viable choice to have one paragraph (or even two) focus exclusively on one text in comparative; I did this in VCE Classical Studies (which had a comparative component much like this), where I got a 50, and did so in my university literary essays (and have read professional critics who do the same). The reasoning behind this approach is that sometimes, before you can get into the nitty gritty and thoroughly compare things, it is important to establish the "big picture" first.

For example, let's say 80% of both texts (let's say The Crucible and Year of Wonders) suggest devastating conflict arises from hysteria; in this case, it might be worthwhile to first flesh out the core ethos of the texts, and look in detail at the main picture they present through a thorough analysis of each. Often, when I did it this way, I'd have a paragraph on the first text in pure isolation, and then one on the second text focusing on it but with comparisons to the first sprinkled throughout the essay (some something like the 80-20 approach suggested by Lauren...but more like 90-10 really). Then, after you've done a paragraph (or two), you could have one, two, or even theee (preferably two or three tbh) going more microscopic and saying something like "in spite of the broad similarities, however, the two texts differ in that..." etc. 

The other strength of this approach is that it guarantees you go into sufficient detail on both texts to real give your analysis depth. From experience, a common issue people have when they constantly compare both texts in their essays in all paragraphs is that they aren't ever able to really fully flesh out analysis of one text, as they have to move on before they say something particularly interesting.

Note that I also think you can do an essay where you constantly compare throughout - I just want people to be wary of being prescriptive with their approach and saying there's only one right way of doing things (or that one approach is necessarily "pedestrian"), without considering the merits of both things.

Hey EvangelionZeta! Thanks for your insight into the new study design. I have a question regarding your comparative structure; in your 2nd paragraph (where you talk about the 2nd text, with a "sprinkling" of the first), how would you go about that? If not too much of a hassle, could you please provide a brief plan of sorts? Also with the remaining paragraphs, would you just talk about differences or similarities too?

EvangelionZeta

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #21 on: December 24, 2016, 06:31:42 pm »
+1
^yeah you should talk about and focus on differences and similarities after the first paragraphs for sure.

Here's a sample of what a Classical Studies comparative essay looks like (from 2009, lol). Note that I was in year 11 so there are still some reasonably sized flaws in this, and also there's some history stuff in this essay cos Classical Studies requires you to discuss that too.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cwax4j6nldga9ud/Classical%20literature%20explores%20the%20attempts%20of%20individuals%20to%20deal%20with%20unbearable%20conflict.doc?dl=0

What I would probably do in transferring this structure to English is get rid of the two history paragraphs, and then expand the very last paragraph to at least two (dividing them up more clearly by particular themes of differences).
« Last Edit: December 24, 2016, 06:35:13 pm by EvangelionZeta »
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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #22 on: December 24, 2016, 07:17:12 pm »
+3
This is a great guide illustrating the changes in the new curriculum for VCE English 3/4 - I do want to offer a few alternate points of view though.

The first is with regards to analysing argumen. The study design sounds mostly the same as with language analysis, but it does mention at one point analysis of the quality of "reasoning", which suggests to me that ~perhaps~ there might be some necessity to look at the logic of the piece and assess the soundness and validity of its argumentation (e.g. Are there gaps? Do they make logical leaps? Etc). I say perhaps because this would be a massive change and I think they would make a much bigger deal about it if it was a legit focus, but the frustrating thing about VCAA is that they're often vague until the next year's examiners report comes out so who the hell knows what the deal is.

The second thing I want to say is I actually strongly disagree with Lauren on comparative essay structure. I think it is a perfectly viable choice to have one paragraph (or even two) focus exclusively on one text in comparative; I did this in VCE Classical Studies (which had a comparative component much like this), where I got a 50, and did so in my university literary essays (and have read professional critics who do the same). The reasoning behind this approach is that sometimes, before you can get into the nitty gritty and thoroughly compare things, it is important to establish the "big picture" first.

For example, let's say 80% of both texts (let's say The Crucible and Year of Wonders) suggest devastating conflict arises from hysteria; in this case, it might be worthwhile to first flesh out the core ethos of the texts, and look in detail at the main picture they present through a thorough analysis of each. Often, when I did it this way, I'd have a paragraph on the first text in pure isolation, and then one on the second text focusing on it but with comparisons to the first sprinkled throughout the essay (some something like the 80-20 approach suggested by Lauren...but more like 90-10 really). Then, after you've done a paragraph (or two), you could have one, two, or even theee (preferably two or three tbh) going more microscopic and saying something like "in spite of the broad similarities, however, the two texts differ in that..." etc. 

The other strength of this approach is that it guarantees you go into sufficient detail on both texts to real give your analysis depth. From experience, a common issue people have when they constantly compare both texts in their essays in all paragraphs is that they aren't ever able to really fully flesh out analysis of one text, as they have to move on before they say something particularly interesting.

Note that I also think you can do an essay where you constantly compare throughout - I just want people to be wary of being prescriptive with their approach and saying there's only one right way of doing things (or that one approach is necessarily "pedestrian"), without considering the merits of both things.

I actually prefer this method, because if you're a simple basic poop like me and can't deal with so many texts and their ideas at the same time, it's probably best if you focus on one thing at a time before realising effective links for further interesting discussion (for that lasting wow factor). But I probably wouldn't recommend structuring it so you have two BP for isolated discussion for both texts eg. one BP for text 1 and one BP for text 2, because examiners might take that as an inability to express ideas fluently.

This is an example of how I usually structure my comparatives for literature last year as well as classics.
BP 1: Text 1 100% (you would have to be selective which text you choose for a starting point for your discussion/essay)
BP 2: Text 1 60% + Text 2 40%
BP 3: Text 2 80% + Text 1 20%

And if you have time:
BP 4; Text 2 60% + Text 1 40% (for symmetry)

This way of structuring things help me register the prompt in a way where it would allow for fluid transitions between ideas from both texts...ie. like the first paragraph might be about love and its benefits (how Character A needs it to overcome daddy issues or whatever) as emphasised by text 1 ---> and then the second BP is talking about how we return to the properties of love and how diplomacy and communication was fundamental as seen with how Character B in text 1 overcame her marital issues etc, but then later in the paragraph you might add a poisonous relationship remarked in Text 2 and the implications of how the author of text 2 views love through the miserable death of Jane at the end (is love simply depicted as illusory? Why was it unsuccessful -- was it because they were too career-driven? What does this say about marriage in their society? Is text 1 naive in the way it portrays love? etc). idk something like that (I really didn't know where I was going with that, but hopefully you get what I mean there).

But it just gives you more time and space for making interesting and valid points in tandem with whatever prompt you get.

There's a number of ways you could structure an essay, but in this way, it's a lot easier, and I'd definitely recommend it for someone who likes to think slowly upon ideas before writing them down.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2016, 07:19:48 pm by peterpiper »
2017: VCE COMPLETED

EvangelionZeta

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #23 on: December 24, 2016, 08:26:20 pm »
+1
I actually prefer this method, because if you're a simple basic poop like me and can't deal with so many texts and their ideas at the same time, it's probably best if you focus on one thing at a time before realising effective links for further interesting discussion (for that lasting wow factor). But I probably wouldn't recommend structuring it so you have two BP for isolated discussion for both texts eg. one BP for text 1 and one BP for text 2, because examiners might take that as an inability to express ideas fluently.

This is an example of how I usually structure my comparatives for literature last year as well as classics.
BP 1: Text 1 100% (you would have to be selective which text you choose for a starting point for your discussion/essay)
BP 2: Text 1 60% + Text 2 40%
BP 3: Text 2 80% + Text 1 20%

And if you have time:
BP 4; Text 2 60% + Text 1 40% (for symmetry)

This way of structuring things help me register the prompt in a way where it would allow for fluid transitions between ideas from both texts...ie. like the first paragraph might be about love and its benefits (how Character A needs it to overcome daddy issues or whatever) as emphasised by text 1 ---> and then the second BP is talking about how we return to the properties of love and how diplomacy and communication was fundamental as seen with how Character B in text 1 overcame her marital issues etc, but then later in the paragraph you might add a poisonous relationship remarked in Text 2 and the implications of how the author of text 2 views love through the miserable death of Jane at the end (is love simply depicted as illusory? Why was it unsuccessful -- was it because they were too career-driven? What does this say about marriage in their society? Is text 1 naive in the way it portrays love? etc). idk something like that (I really didn't know where I was going with that, but hopefully you get what I mean there).

But it just gives you more time and space for making interesting and valid points in tandem with whatever prompt you get.

There's a number of ways you could structure an essay, but in this way, it's a lot easier, and I'd definitely recommend it for someone who likes to think slowly upon ideas before writing them down.

Yeah this is definitely a strong and viable alternative as well. It's probably true you want to get into the constant comparative sooner rather than later because VCE examiners often subconsciously look for "tells" of higher or lower essays. I think the most important point is that people find what works for them, and just stick to that! :)
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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #24 on: January 05, 2017, 09:31:43 pm »
+7
I would be very careful with the 'block' approach to a Comparative analysis. The examination specifications were released a couple of weeks ago and the examination criteria for Section B is quite specific:

Quote
• knowledge and understanding of both texts, and the ideas and issues they present
• discussion of meaningful connections, similarities or differences between the texts,
in response to the question
• use of textual evidence to support the comparative analysis
• control and effectiveness of language use, as appropriate to the task

Keep in mind that at the end of the year you'll be writing a response to an unseen topic and you'll only have sixty minutes writing time to do it. Within that sixty minutes you'll need to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of both texts. Also the second criterion; discussion of meaningful connections... etc etc. Do you think its possible to create a detailed comparison between texts in an exam based scenario if you are spending one or two of your key body paragraphs only discussing one text?

Given that this is the first year of the new study design at Year 12 level, I would suggest that VCAA are being quite obvious in what they are looking for with their exam criteria. I'd also look at Insight's English Year 12 textbook. You can get it new for just under $50 on the Insight website. I haven't seen any on eBay yet but you might strike gold. That textbook gives some great pointers about the Block approach vs Integrated approach when it comes to Comparative essay writing.

My recommendation is that the core of the task is asking you to compare and so the brain dead obvious thing you should be doing from the get-go is drawing comparisons. You can still 'paint the picture' or 'focus more on one text' or whatever it is you want to do, but I would ensure that you are focusing on identifying similarities and differences between your texts from the outset.

This is coming from a teacher and head of department by the way. :)

literally lauren

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #25 on: January 24, 2017, 10:54:20 am »
+4
The first is with regards to analysing argumen. The study design sounds mostly the same as with language analysis, but it does mention at one point analysis of the quality of "reasoning", which suggests to me that ~perhaps~ there might be some necessity to look at the logic of the piece and assess the soundness and validity of its argumentation (e.g. Are there gaps? Do they make logical leaps? Etc). I say perhaps because this would be a massive change and I think they would make a much bigger deal about it if it was a legit focus, but the frustrating thing about VCAA is that they're often vague until the next year's examiners report comes out so who the hell knows what the deal is.
Yeah, I wasn't sure if they were actually going to start allowing for a genuine unpacking of effective rhetoric and logic, but it seems like they're still very anti-evaluation, unfortunately.
(some pretty boring af videos of senior teachers talking about the changes - more or less confirms it's a shift in focus from L.A. but not a substantial overhaul :/ )

Apparently there'll be a sample exam published "in Term 1" at some stage, so should have more clarity then :)

The second thing I want to say is I actually strongly disagree with Lauren on comparative essay structure. I think it is a perfectly viable choice to have one paragraph (or even two) focus exclusively on one text in comparative; I did this in VCE Classical Studies (which had a comparative component much like this), where I got a 50, and did so in my university literary essays (and have read professional critics who do the same). The reasoning behind this approach is that sometimes, before you can get into the nitty gritty and thoroughly compare things, it is important to establish the "big picture" first.

For example, let's say 80% of both texts (let's say The Crucible and Year of Wonders) suggest devastating conflict arises from hysteria; in this case, it might be worthwhile to first flesh out the core ethos of the texts, and look in detail at the main picture they present through a thorough analysis of each. Often, when I did it this way, I'd have a paragraph on the first text in pure isolation, and then one on the second text focusing on it but with comparisons to the first sprinkled throughout the essay (some something like the 80-20 approach suggested by Lauren...but more like 90-10 really). Then, after you've done a paragraph (or two), you could have one, two, or even theee (preferably two or three tbh) going more microscopic and saying something like "in spite of the broad similarities, however, the two texts differ in that..." etc. 

The other strength of this approach is that it guarantees you go into sufficient detail on both texts to real give your analysis depth. From experience, a common issue people have when they constantly compare both texts in their essays in all paragraphs is that they aren't ever able to really fully flesh out analysis of one text, as they have to move on before they say something particularly interesting.

Note that I also think you can do an essay where you constantly compare throughout - I just want people to be wary of being prescriptive with their approach and saying there's only one right way of doing things (or that one approach is necessarily "pedestrian"), without considering the merits of both things.
Absolutely, I'm not suggesting an integrated approach would be the only viable method, but I think it's one worth striving for since there's been soooo much emphasis placed on the marks for comparison. Not sure if they've finalised the criteria for this AOS yet, but I'm pretty confident that next year's assessor's report will be railing against "the tendency for students to spend too much time analysing each text in isolation at the expense of making connections between them" or something to that effect.

That said, a really erratic approach where you're jumping between both texts every couple of sentences would also be phenomenally disadvantageous, so getting the balance right will probably be a key separating factor between mid and high range pieces.

Yeah this is definitely a strong and viable alternative as well. It's probably true you want to get into the constant comparative sooner rather than later because VCE examiners often subconsciously look for "tells" of higher or lower essays. I think the most important point is that people find what works for them, and just stick to that! :)
^^

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #26 on: March 30, 2017, 02:43:32 pm »
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Is there a new version of this excellent article on atar notes?

Corey King

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #27 on: September 04, 2020, 10:58:59 am »
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Anyone know if this will be updated for the 2021 curriculum? :)

literally lauren

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #28 on: September 04, 2020, 11:40:57 am »
+5
Hey Corey, the English study design has actually been extended until the end of 2022, so all of this info is still relevant! :) The only things that have changed are the set texts, but the curriculum itself will be the same :)

Corey King

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Re: English Study Design 2017-2020 Breakdown
« Reply #29 on: September 14, 2020, 02:18:06 pm »
+1
Hey Corey, the English study design has actually been extended until the end of 2022, so all of this info is still relevant! :) The only things that have changed are the set texts, but the curriculum itself will be the same :)

Oh sweet, thank you for letting me know Lauren :)