Level C4 Reading and Viewing

The students' performance in these tasks suggest that they are working within the range of Level C4 in Reading and Viewing. The assessing teacher will need to consider a range of student samples in order to determine whether each student is at the beginning of C4, consolidating C4 or at the C4 standard in Reading and Viewing.

At beginning Level C4 students:

• have the confidence to attempt a range of technical and general texts which are not too culturally laden, from a range of media
• are able to comprehend even quite lengthy texts on unfamiliar topics, but will need extra time to do so
• will not usually need to use a dictionary to understand the gist of such pieces, but will need help to extract more precise meanings
• are able to offer a personal response to a text that takes into account the meaning of the text beyond a literal understanding, but may not necessarily have understood subtle shades of meaning with complete accuracy
• have begun to use a variety of strategies for extracting and organising information from printed sources in a variety of media.

At consolidating Level C4 students:

• can read a wide range of accessible and culturally appropriate texts across the curriculum and from a range of media, but sometimes have to use self-help strategies to assist them with finer points of meaning (e.g. searching for further references, consulting English dictionaries, asking peers for clarification, etc.)
• use strategies that they find personally effective for extracting, organising, and manipulating information from printed sources for their own purposes, such as writing or presentations
• their analyses of texts show a developing awareness of how culture influences the ways in which texts are produced and interpreted, and in their own responses to texts they attempt to address subtleties such as humour, imagery, and idioms.

At Level C4 Achievement Standardstudents:

• compare and make judgments about different texts (such as texts on the same topic by different authors)
• read a wide range of accessible and culturally appropriate texts from across the curriculum with a high degree of independence. These texts may be print or digital texts, including handwritten, visual, multimodal and interactive texts.
• take notes that identify main ideas, issues and plot developments
• identify supporting information to justify a response, including significant quotations that relate to key themes
• understand the main meaning by focusing on the first lines of key paragraphs
• adjust their reading style to the task
• locate and organise information from a range of reference sources, including the internet
• identify reference items across complex sentences
• predict the way a text may be organised and its likely language features
• identify a few specific facts and the basic perspective of the writer with more difficult texts.
  

Student information

The student is of Romanian background but was born and educated in Austria before coming to Australia. Romanian is her home language and she also speaks German. The student went to school in Austria for just over six years, including primary school and some high school. The language of instruction was German, and she learned English as a foreign language in primary school. She has been in Australia for two years and eight months and is in Year 8.

Task

The student was being assessed on her explanation of character development in the novel Blueback by Tim Winton.

In previous lessons the students had read and completed a range of tasks on the novel Hatchet and read Blueback in a literature circle in which they adopted a range of roles including summariser, drawer, word watcher, quoter, connector and discussion leader.

For this task, the student has been asked how the character Brian changes in Hatchet and to think about how this compares with the way Abel changes in Blueback. She has been asked to sequence selected events to indicate their significance in the development of Abel’s character and then choose one of these events and explain it.

Following completion of this task, the students will be writing an essay about the development of Abel’s character in the novel. In this task, the teacher is aiming to get the student to map the development of the character and use information from the text to support her views about significant events in the story.

The teacher is assessing how well the student:

• describes the development of the character
• identifies the important events in the development of the character
• interprets inferences made in the novel
• identifies the character’s motivation at points of change
• locates supporting materials from the novel with guidance, for example, quotations
• justifies opinions about the character with reference to evidence from the novel.

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by the teacher and other students are in normal font.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Extract and manipulate relevant information from a range of texts (VCEALC759)
• Adjust reading style to match the purpose for reading a text (VCEALC761)
  
• Analyse and interpret language choices and organisation of particular text types in relation to their purpose, audience and context (VCEALA764)
  

Overall, this student can also:

•  Summarise the nature and content of a text, including making evaluative comments (VCEALC760)
• Interpret a text at literal and inferential levels (VCEALC762)
• Read a range of sustained, complex texts (VCEALA765)

Possible next steps for this student's learning

• Analysing and interpreting language choices in the text and their impact on the reader (VCEALA764)
• Using graphic organisers to analyse characters in texts, for example, thoughts, words, actions (VCEALC762)
• Encouraging the student to read for pleasure and read independently of the class texts  (VCEALC758)
• Using personal word lists to build vocabulary knowledge (VCEALA767)
• Considering the text's themes and how they relate to the student's own life or life in general (VCEALA766)
• Finding quotes to support an argument about a text (VCEALC761)
  

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 8 student who is working within the range of C4 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway C of the EAL curriculum in all language modes.

A Year 8 student should consistently demonstrate the final achievement standard in Pathway C (Level C4) in all three language modes before they transition to the English curriculum.

They will need to be equally capable across all three language modes to be able to meet the learning expectations in the English curriculum at the level taught to their mainstream peers, and without substantial language support.

They will need to be sufficiently proficient in understanding and using the academic language across the learning areas to participate in learning activities across the Victorian curriculum.

They will also need to be able to understand and use the academic English of the curriculum in subsequent years without substantial language support, when the cognitive and linguistic demands of the Victorian curriculum increase.

Depending on whether the student meets the eligibility criteria, they may be able to undertake VCE EAL in Year 12.

Student information

The student was born in Romania and Romanian is her home language. The student completed two years of primary school in Romania and then missed two years of schooling. She has been in Australia for four years and ten months. She started in Year 4 when she commenced school in Australia. She also attended a Kumon program for one year. She is currently almost 14 and in Year 8 in a secondary school.

Task

The student was being assessed on her explanation of character development in the novel Blueback by Tim Winton.

In previous lessons the students had read and completed a range of tasks on the novel Hatchet and read Blueback in a literature circle in which they adopted a range of roles including summariser, drawer, word watcher, quoter, connector and discussion leader.

For this task, the student has been asked how the character Brian changes in Hatchet and to think about how this compares with the way Abel changes in Blueback. She has been asked to sequence selected events to indicate their significance in the development of Abel’s character and then choose one of these events and explain it.

Following completion of this task, the students will be writing an essay about the development of Abel’s character in the novel. In this task, the teacher is aiming to get the student to map the development of the character and use information from the text to support her views about significant events in the story

The teacher is assessing how well the student:

• describes the development of the character
• identifies the important events in the development of the character
• interprets inferences made in the novel
• identifies the character’s motivation at points of change
• locates supporting materials from the novel, with guidance, for example, quotations
  
• justifies opinions about the character with reference to evidence from the novel.
  

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by the teacher and other students are in normal font.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

• Extract and manipulate relevant information from a range of texts (VCEALC759)
• Adjust reading style to match the purpose for reading a text (VCEALC761)
• Interpret a text at literal and inferential levels (VCEALC762)
• Analyse and interpret language choices and organisation of particular text types in relation to their purpose, audience and context (VCEALA764)
• Discuss specific characteristics and features of texts in relation to another known language

Overall, this student can also:

• Adjust reading style to match the purpose for reading a text (VCEALC761)
• Summarise the nature and content of a text, including making evaluative comments (VCEALC760)
• Interpret a text at literal and inferential levels (VCEALC762)

Possible next steps for this student's learning