What would you tell next years Y12s?

[MrVCEEnglishLanguageTeacher]

Aimed moreso at 2018 EL 3/4 students...

So you probably heard all sorts of advice for SACs and exams from your teachers and past students on how to achieve the best that you can.

My question is, now that you have finished year 12 / English Language, was/is there any piece of advice that you wish you knew, or that was wrong / inaccurate that you were told or taught that you'd wish you had known / been taught instead?

Or even just general advice that you would pass on to 2019 year 12 students that isn't always often shared/taught etc?

[MissSmiley]

   

Aimed moreso at 2018 EL 3/4 students...

So you probably heard all sorts of advice for SACs and exams from your teachers and past students on how to achieve the best that you can.

My question is, now that you have finished year 12 / English Language, was/is there any piece of advice that you wish you knew, or that was wrong / inaccurate that you were told or taught that you'd wish you had known / been taught instead?

Or even just general advice that you would pass on to 2019 year 12 students that isn't always often shared/taught etc?

Hey! Welcome to AtarNotes!

Just to mention for a start, this is just my view and I’m nowhere near perfect, so please just look at it from that lens!

Any piece of advice that you wish you knew
- I wish I’d known this from Year 11 itself, but VCAA have now (most of the places) have replaced the word ‘function’ with ‘social purpose.’ So you can see this majorly in Short answer questions. I’ve written below on how people get mixed up with this.

- I wish I knew that English Language does not need super elegant or ‘complex’ language that maybe one has to consider using in Mainstream English or Literature. Here in Eng Lang, you just have to get the point across and keep your sentences short to medium length, so you can make sense! (My teacher hated complex words and sentences and would mark us down if our writing wasn’t simple, so I think you get the idea!

- I wish I knew right from Year 11 that assessors like it when you use terminology from the study design like literally copy and paste! For example, use the exact wording of the social purpose, even write in your essay, a couple of sentences directly from the study design’s big paragraphs at the start of every unit. (Obviously when it’s possible and not just putting it in for the sake of it)

- I wish I knew the really slight but nuanced differences or properties of some of the metalanguage items. I asked my teacher during exam prep that why are antonyms listed in the cohesion section of the study design? So the answer was that it it the contrast that makes the cohesive tie! Wish I’d thought of this or asked about this before! So you’ve gotta be really curious but at the same time, make sure you get things cleared right from the start!

Anything that was wrong / inaccurate that you were told:
- that social purpose and function are the same thing. They’re not actually, and there’s a clear difference. Social purpose is to do with ‘people’ as social suggests. What is the author trying to do with the people? For example, building rapport with the audience. However, the way you write the function does not necessarily involve people. For example, to inform, to persuade, to entertain. These verbs without the word ‘audience’ are functions. As soon as you include some people, the function turns into a social purpose —> it becomes more specific and this is exactly why VCAA is pushing for social purpose rather than function. For example, entertaining the spectators - this would be a social purpose.

- that ‘lexeme’ and ‘word’ mean the same thing. Again, a clear difference once you think about it. A lexeme is a unit, something that has a clear meaning. It can be either one word or two words. However, you cannot call any word a lexeme. For example, ‘the,’ ‘them,’ ‘how’ are not lexemes because they do not carry any meaning that for example words like ‘table’ ‘whiteboard’ do.

- that you have to quote directly from the stimulus material in your essay section. Even if you write about the idea behind a particular stimulus item and then mention it somewhere in your writing (for example ‘as implied in stimulus ii) then you’ll be fine and they’ll take it as valid that you’ve referenced some of the stimulus material. (Reminder to not forget to mention the stimulus ideas or any quotes in that essay section)

Just be curious all year! Experiment with different text types - narratives, letter, email, blog, advertisement and create your own set of short answer questions for these, or write an AC on anything you find! That way you’ll know the conventions and particular elements of each text type!

Hopefully others can contribute to this thread too, and you’ll have a collection of handy tips!

Hope this helps!