Assessment Type 2: Responses to Texts (40%)

The responses to texts focus on developing comprehension skills and language and text analysis strategies.

In developing comprehension skills, students evaluate facts and opinions in texts. They also explain personal, social, and cultural perspectives reflected in texts. Each response to texts should focus on at least one of these perspectives, but it is not necessary for all three to be covered each time. 

In developing language and text analysis strategies, students analyse the effects of persuasive techniques and how language features and conventions influence audiences.

Students complete four responses to a range of texts, at least one of which must be a literary text. (A suggested text list is available on the subject minisite.) At least one response must be presented in oral form and two must be in written form. These responses must include:

• a response to one or more texts with a focus on a theme or issue
• a creative response to a text or texts (e.g. a journal entry written by a character in the text; a narrative from a minor character’s viewpoint; a speech by a character from the text; a role play)
• an analysis of a persuasive text or the emotive elements of a text (e.g. poem, short story, film trailer).

Students also complete a fourth, free‑choice response (i.e. teachers and students may choose the form of this response). The responses should total a maximum of 3000 words or the equivalent in oral or multimodal form, where 6 minutes is equivalent to 1000 words.

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

• communication
• comprehension
• analysis.