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1. Home
2. English Literacy 7-10
3. NSW English 7-10 Syllabus
4. NSW English 7-10 Syllabus

NSW English 7-10 Syllabus

Literacy demands of the English 7-10 Syllabus

The Write it Right research identified a set of genres, or types of texts, that students are expected to read and write in the context of the curriculum set out in the English 7-10 Syllabus (Rothery 1994). These genres give teachers and students a basic framework for recognising and interpreting the texts they are expected to read, respond to and compose within the English curriculum, including written, spoken and visual texts. They also provide a systematic framework for sequencing the development of reading and writing skills (Feez 1998). The following key genres in the English curriculum were identified in this research.

	genre	purpose	stages
Stories	recount	recounting events	Orientation Record of events
	narrative	resolving a complication in a story	Orientation Complication Evaluation Resolution
	exemplum	judging character or behaviour in a story	Orientation Incident Interpretation
	anecdote	sharing an emotional reaction in a story	Orientation Remarkable event Reaction
Text responses	personal response	reacting emotionally to a text	Evaluation Reaction
	review	evaluating a literary, visual or musical text	Context Description of text Judgement
	interpretation	interpreting the message of a text	Evaluation Synopsis of text Reaffirmation
	critical response	challenging the message of a text	Evaluation Deconstruction Challenge
Arguments	exposition	arguing for a point of view	Thesis Arguments Reiteration
	discussion	discussing two or more points of view	Issue Sides Resolution
Factual stories	autobiographical recount	recounting life events	Orientation Record of stages
	biographical recount	recounting life stages	Orientation Record of stages

Teachers at the start of the program demonstrated that they had a strong intuitive knowledge of the genres and language patterns of texts in the English curriculum. But all were concerned that many of their students were unable to achieve the outcomes of the Syllabus, and were unlikely to succeed in secondary schooling. At the start of the professional development, teachers were asked to identify and classify a range of texts in relation to the English curriculum. There was consensus about the place and purposes of each text in the curriculum, and these interpretations by teachers were then systematically related to the genres of the English curriculum. This activity demonstrated that:

• the genres and their purposes are consistent with the expectations of teachers for the English curriculum
• teachers involved in the project had a clear understanding of the genres their students are expected to read and write in the English curriculum.

Teachers then agreed that the appropriate starting point for the project was with reading and writing stories, followed by interpretation and writing of thematic stories, followed by critique and writing of text responses.