Area of Study: The Prescriptions Rubric The key focus points of the Area of Study: Discovery Discovery have been broken down as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Discovery, discovering discovering and re-discovery re-discovery as a process. (pink) (pink) Discovery, discovering discovering and and re-discovery as meaningful meaningful and life-changing. life-changing. (green) (green) Impact, consequences consequences and/or and/or outcomes of discovery, discovery, discovering discovering and re-discovery. (blue) (blue) Discovery through through studying the the representation representation of discovery, discovering discovering and re-discovery. re-discovery. (orange)
Discovery as meaningful and life-changing in a number of different ways.
Discovery revealing new values, attitudes, ideas, understanding and perspective.
Discovery as unique and particular to the individual and influenced by their formative context
Discovery as a process that has consequences for the individual and/or society.
How discovery is represented by composers and their influence on meaning.
Area of Study: Discovery This Area of Study requires students to explore the ways in which the concept of discovery is represented in and through texts. Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something for the first time or rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed. Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected, or they can emerge from a process of deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity or wonder . Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be emotional, creative, intellectual, physical and spiritual. They can also be confronting and provocative. They can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable us to speculate about future possibilities . Discoveries and discovering can offer new understandings and renewed perceptions of ourselves and others. An individual’s discoveries and and their process of discovering discovering can vary according to personal, cultural, historical and social contexts and values. The impact impact of of these discoveries can be far-reaching and transformative for the individual and for broader society.. Discoveries may be questioned or challenged when society viewed from different perspectives and their worth may be reassessed over time. time . The ramifications of particular discoveries may differ for individuals and their worlds. By exploring the concept of discovery, students can understand how texts have the potential to affirm or challenge individuals’ or more widely-held assumptions and beliefs about aspects of human experience and the world. Through composing and responding to a wide range of texts, students may make discoveries about people, relationships, societies, places and events and generate new ideas . By synthesising perspectives, students may deepen their understanding of the concept of discovery. Students consider the ways composers may invite them to experience discovery through their texts and explore how the process of discovering is represented using a variety of language modes, forms and features. English Stage 6 Prescriptions Area of Study electives and Texts Higher School Certificate 2015-20 p:9
Discovery as a process where the individual moves through the stages of departure, significant experience, realisation and transformation
Discovery as a process that encourages the individual to consider the future, to be forward thinking, innovative, creative.
Discovery as dynamic and ongoing in its nature as well as subject to time.
Discovery through exploring works of literature broadens the individual’s understanding of human experience
Breaking it down even further… 1. Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something for the first time OR rediscovering something that has been: lost forgotten concealed.
2. Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected. 3. Discoveries can emerge from a process of deliberate deliberate and careful planning evoked by: curiosity necessity wonder
4. Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be: emotional creative intellectual physical spiritual
5. Discoveries can lead us to new worlds and values. 6. Discoveries can stimulate new ideas. 7. Discoveries can enable us to speculate about future possibilities. 8. Discoveries and discovering can off er new understandings. understandings. 9. Discoveries and discovering can off er renewed perceptions of ourselves and others. 10. An 10. An individual’s individual’s discoveries and and their process process of discovery can vary according according to their their context: personal cultural historical social
11. An 11. An individual’s individual’s discoveries and and their process process of discovery can vary according according to their values. 12. The impact of these discoveries can be far-reaching and transformative transformative for: the individual indivi dual broader society.
13. Discoveries may be questioned questioned or challenged ch allenged when when viewed from different perspectives. 14. The ramifications of particular discoveries may differ for individuals and their worlds. 15. By studying texts, an individual’s perspectives about discovery are affirmed or challenged challenged
Reviewing the concepts a) Underline the words/phrases words/phrases that identify the key ‘ discovery’ concept in each statement. b) Using the breakdown from the previous page, colour code each statement into pink, green, blue or orange focus points.
Area of Study: How to Evaluate It An Area of Study is the exploration of a concept that that affects our perceptions perceptions of ourselves ourselves and our world. world. Students explore, analyse, question and articulate the ways in which perceptions of this concept are shaped in and through a variety of texts. In the Area of Study, students explore and examine examine relationships between language and text, and interrelationships among texts. They examine closely the individual qualities of texts while considering the texts’ relationships to the wider context of the Area of Study. They synthesise ideas to clarify meaning and develop new meanings. They take into account whether aspects such as context, purpose and register, text structure, stylistic features, grammatical features and vocabulary vocabulary are appropriate to the particular text. The Area A rea of Study integrates the range and variety of practices students undertake in their study and use of English. It provides students with opportunities to explore, assess, analyse and experiment with: • meaning conveyed, shaped, interpreted and reflected in and through texts • ways texts are responded to and composed • ways perspective may affect affect meaning and interpretation interpretation • connections between and among texts • how texts t exts are influenced by other texts and contexts. Students’ responses responses to texts are supported by their own composition of, and experimentation with, imaginative imaginative and other texts. t exts. They explore ways of representing events, experiences, ideas, values and processes, and consider the ways in which changes of form and language language affect meaning. meaning. Stage 6 Syllabus English © Board of Studies NSW. 1999 p32 This Syllabus rubric emphasises important important points, some of which are not made as strongly in the Prescriptions rubric: • Perceptions and perspectives are both shaped by texts and shape the meaning of texts. Texts can shape our perceptions of a particular concept. This implies that different perspectives of a concept are possible and that these perspectives can shift because of textual experiences. Moreover, the exploration of a concept can affect the ways in which we see ourselves and our worlds, i.e. can influence our perceptions generally. However, the opposite is also true: our perspectives can affect our interpretation of texts and how we make meaning of texts. • The focus of study is more on how the concept is represented as a way of explaining how we understand the concept culturally. Notice the number of times this rubric uses the word ‘ways’, especially referring to the ways in which a concept is represented. represented. These ‘ways’ include ‘register, text structure, stylistic features, grammatical features a nd vocabulary’. • Students are required to engage in higher order thinking to succeed in the Area of Study. The Syllabus rubric requires students to ‘explore’, ‘analyse’, ‘question’, ‘articulate’, ‘synthesise’, ‘clarify’, ‘develop’, ‘assess’ (or evaluat e) and ‘experiment’. The activities designed by teachers should encourage students to engage in the higher order thinking required by such practices. • Students should consider the ‘connections between and among texts’ . It is not enough enough for students to consider consider texts separately – separately – they they also need to explore the connections between and among texts. These connections could be similarities or differences and may relate to what the texts say about the concept or, perhaps more importantly, how the concept is represented through the language mode or form and how context affects meaning. • Students need to study ‘a variety of texts’. Apart from a prescribed text, students must explore texts of their own choosing ‘from a variety of sources, in a range of genres and media’. The wording here suggests more than one or two other texts. While the question in Section 3 of Paper 1 often specifies that students should refer to ‘ONE other related text of your own choosing’ (as in 2013), they could also be asked to refer to ‘two other related texts’ or simply ‘other related texts’ (without a number being specified). Studying a few texts allows students to choose the best texts to answer the question in the exam. • Students are required to compose their own texts about the concept being studied. Students must have opportunities to compose imaginative and other texts and experiment in their composing, looking at how changing form and language affects meaning. Such composing is an important end in itself, and ultimately tested in Section 2 of Paper 1, but is also a means for them to develop their understanding of the concept and how it can be represented and to deepen their appreciation of how and why other composers choose to represent the concept in particular ways.
