Levels 5 and 6

Achievement Objectives

Written language: Reading

Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Examples

Example 1

Achievement Objectives
Close reading: exploring language

Teaching and Learning
Context: reading a range of short stories

• The teacher selects one story to share with the class.
  
• Before reading, the teacher asks students to write briefly, from their own experiences, about an idea, situation, or relationship which is relevant to the story.
  
• Several students read aloud their responses and the class discusses significant points and ideas.
  
• The teacher reads the story aloud, or plays a recorded reading.
  
• A class discussion of students' responses follows.
  
• Students silently reread the story, identifying particular features which make it effective. These might include sentence construction, the structure of the text as a whole, vocabulary, dialogue, or imagery.
  
• In groups or as a class, students share their responses to reinforce their understanding of the text.
  
• Students individually select and read several new short stories and choose one for a written or oral response, discussing how the language features create effects and contribute to meaning.

Assessment

• The teacher assesses the students' personal assignments in terms of their understanding of how language features contribute to the effects of written texts.

Links With Other Strands
Writing, Speaking, Listening

Example 2

Achievement Objectives
Personal reading; close reading: processing information; exploring language; thinking critically

Teaching and Learning
Context: exploring the background to a novel

• Students read more than one novel of their choice.
  
• The teacher conferences with each student to discuss their responses to the texts and to share ideas for further research and reading.
  
• In groups, students share their responses to different novels.
  
• Students then select one of the novels they have read, and research its background and social climate, using a wide range of resources, such as biographies, newspapers, reference books, diaries, and official documents.
  
• Students present information from their study, using selected media, and making connections with the novel itself by identifying and quoting extracts which reflect its social context.

Assessment

• The teacher observes the students' ability to relate their research to the topic.
  
• Students assess each other's presentations for the interest in the novel which they demonstrate.

Extension Option

• Students read, discuss, and analyse extracts from the various texts which they used for their research, identifying characteristic features of each genre.

Links With Other Strands
Presenting, Speaking, Listening

Example 3

Achievement Objectives
Close reading: exploring language

Teaching and Learning
Context: exploring language through poetry or song lyrics

• Each student selects a lyric poem which has been set to music, or the lyric of a song, and makes a transcript of the words.
  
• In groups, students select one of the texts and discuss aspects of the form, such as rhymes, line division, and stanza division.
  
• Students take turns reading the text aloud. The group discusses the effects of different emphases, stresses, and rhythms. They listen to the musical version and compare its effect with their spoken interpretations.
  
• Students examine the imagery of the lyric and discuss its effects, noting any unusual words or phrases, and any complex or unusual sentence structures, and discussing their meaning and impact.
• Students prepare a group reading, using, for example, a chorus and solo voices, and present it to the class, with mime or other visual elements, where appropriate. The class then listens to the musical version.

Assessment

• Each group assesses what they have learned about the effect of language features in lyric poetry.
  
• The group presentations are assessed in terms of how they conveyed the mood and meaning of the lyric.

Links With Other Strands
Speaking, Listening, Presenting, Viewing

Example 4

Achievement Objectives
Close reading: exploring language; thinking critically; processing information

Teaching and Learning
Context: a study of the language of information technology

• The class brainstorms what students know about the language of information technology, and where they will find resources and examples of relevant texts.
  
• Students map their information and establish questions for the investigation.
  
• In groups, students retrieve and select information relevant to one area of information technology by investigating different genres such as advertisements, manuals, and encyclopaedias.
  
• Students describe, discuss, and analyse the language features of each text, such as specialised vocabulary, neologisms, sentence construction, and the use of active and passive voice.
  
• Students choose a way to organise their findings and present them to the class.
  
• The class draws conclusions from the group presentations, in a set of descriptive statements about the language of information technology and how it is used for different audiences.

Assessment

• Students write up individual reports, with samples included, of the language of technology and the ways in which it varies according to audience and purpose. The report is assessed for breadth of information and interpretation and analysis of language.
  
• Students record the information processes and variety of sources that were used, setting out their bibliography in a standard format. The teacher notes these records.

Links With Other Strands
Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Presenting