Assessment Type 1: Academic Literacy Study (30%)

Students develop their academic literacy skills through creating written and oral academic texts and extending their communication skills and strategies.

Students investigate a question or a topic and present their findings in an academic style by producing two tasks:

• a written report
• an oral interaction, such as a tutorial or discussion.

When investigating the question or topic, students use a range of sources. One of the sources must include a listening and/or multimodal presentation on an aspect of the question or topic studied (e.g. public lecture, online lecture, conference keynote address, public address, seminar, broadcast, podcast, TED talk, interview, speech).

In presenting their findings, students use language appropriate to an academic context.

Written Report

The written report consists of the findings of the study.

The findings of the study should be a maximum of 1500 words. The written report must be structured with an introduction that indicates the question or topic. The body of the report should be organised under headings and subheadings. Elements such as an abstract, a sources analysis, an annotated bibliography, or an account of the research methodology may be included as part of the report, provided that they are within the word count. The conclusion should summarise the findings, evaluate information, and/or make recommendations. The report must include references to sources, using consistent referencing.

Oral Interaction

In the oral interaction, within a group context, students should:

• briefly present the findings of their study or an aspect of their study
• answer questions posed by other group members, and/or lead a group discussion, and/or contribute collaboratively to the group.

The oral interaction focuses on the spontaneous use of language within a prepared structure.

Students may use technology to aid the presentation of the oral interaction.

The oral interaction should be a maximum of 10 minutes.

For this assessment type, students provide evidence of their learning primarily in relation to the following assessment design criteria:

• communication
• comprehension
• application.