Mind Over Module:
The HSC English Syllabus
‘Unplugged’
STRUCTURE
• PAPER 1
Area of Study: Unseen text responses
/15
Creative composition
/15
Integrated essay
/15
• PAPER 2
Module A: Extended response
/20
Module B: Extended response
/20
Module C: Extended response
/20
POSSIBLE TOTAL: 105
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PAPER 2: MODULES
• ADVANCED
Module A: Comparative Study of Texts and Context
Module B: Critical Study of Text
Module C: Representation and Text
• STANDARD
Module A: Experience Through Language
Module B: Close Study of Text
Module C: Texts and Society
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Module A: Comparative Study
This module requires students to compare texts in order to explore them in
relation to their contexts. It develops students’ understanding of the
effects of context and questions of value.
Each elective in this module requires the study of groups of texts which are to
be selected from a prescribed text list. These texts may be in different
forms or media. Students examine ways in which social, cultural and
historical context influences aspects of texts, or the ways in which
changes in context lead to changed values being reflected in texts. This
includes study and use of the language of texts, consideration of purposes
and audiences, and analysis of the content, values and attitudes conveyed
through a range of readings.
Students develop a range of imaginative, interpretive and analytical
compositions that relate to the comparative study of texts and context.
These compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.
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Elective 1: Exploring Connections
In this elective students will explore how meanings
of a pair of texts can be shaped and re-shaped
by considering the nature of the connections
between them. Exploration of the connections
between the texts will enhance understanding of
the values and context of each text.
Relationships between these texts may be
implicit or explicit. Connections may be
established through direct or indirect references ,
contexts, values, ideas, and the use of language
forms and features.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
• Shakespeare, William, King Richard III
Pacino, Al, Looking for Richard, Fox, 2005
• White, Patrick, The Aunt’s Story
Dobson, Rosemary, Selected Poems
• Pride and Prejudice, Austen, Jane
Weldon, Fay, Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane
Austen
• Donne, John, Selected Poetry
Edson, Margaret, W;t
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Elective 2: Texts in Time
In this elective students compare how the
treatment of similar content in a pair of texts
composed in different times and contexts
may reflect changing values and perspectives.
By considering the texts in their contexts and
comparing values, ideas and language forms
and features , students come to a heightened
understanding of the meaning and
significance of each text.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
• Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
Scott, Ridley Bladerunner
• Fitzgerald, F Scott The Great Gatsby
Browning, Elizabeth Barret Selected Poems
• Albee, Edward Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Woolf, Virginia A Room of One’s Own
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Module B: Critical Study
This module requires students to explore and evaluate a specific text and its
reception in a range of contexts. It develops students’ understanding of
questions of textual integrity. Each elective in this module requires close
study of a single text to be chosen from a list of prescribed texts.
Students explore the ideas expressed in the text through analysing its
construction, content and language. They examine how particular features of
the text contribute to textual integrity. They research others’ perspectives of
the text and test these against their own understanding and interpretations
of the text. Students discuss and evaluate the ways in which the set work has
been read, received and valued in historical and other contexts. They
extrapolate from this study of a particular text to explore questions of textual
integrity and significance.
Students develop a range of imaginative, interpretive and analytical compositions
that relate to the study of their specific text. These compositions may be
realised in a variety of forms and media.
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Descriptor
This module requires students to engage with and
develop an informed personal understanding of their
prescribed text. Through critical analysis and
evaluation of its language, content and construction,
students will develop an appreciation of the textual
integrity of their prescribed text. They refine their own
understanding and interpretations of the prescribed
text and critically consider these in the light of the
perspectives of others. Students explore how context
influences their own and others’ responses to the text
and how the text has been received and valued.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
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Shakespeare, William Hamlet
Ondaatje, Michael In the Skin of a Lion
Winton, Tim Cloudstreet
Jones, Gail Sixty Lights
Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Ibsen, Henrik A Doll’s House
Wells, Orson Citizen Kane
Yeats, WB Selected poems
Harwood, Gwen Selected poems
Slessor, Kenneth Selected poems
Orwell, George Selected essays
Speeches inc. Atwood, Keating, Pearson, Suu Kyi, Bandler, Sadat
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Module C: Representation and Text
This module requires students to explore various representations of events,
personalities or situations. They evaluate how medium of production,
textual form, perspective and choice of language influence meaning. The
study develops students’ understanding of the relationships between
representation and meaning.
Each elective in this module requires the study of one prescribed text offering
a representation of an event, personality or situation. Students are also
required to supplement this study with texts of their own choosing
which provide a variety of representations of that event, personality or
situation. These texts are to be drawn from a variety of sources, in a range
of genres and media. Students explore the ways in which different media
present information and ideas to understand how various textual forms
and their media of production offer different versions and perspectives for
a range of audiences and purposes.
Students develop a range of imaginative, interpretive and analytical
compositions that relate to different forms and media of representation.
These compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.
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Elective 1: Conflicting Perspectives
In their responding and composing, students consider the
ways in which conflicting perspectives on events,
personalities or situations are represented in their
prescribed text and other related texts of their own
choosing. Students analyse and evaluate how acts of
representation, such as the choice of textual forms,
features and language, shape meaning and influence
responses.
Students choose one of the following texts as the basis of
their further exploration of the representations of
conflicting perspectives.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
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Shakespeare, William Julius Caesar
Guterson, David Snow Falling on Cedars
Whelan, David The Herbal Bed
Levinson, Barry Wag the Dog
Hughes, Ted Birthday Letters
Robertson, Geoffrey The Justice Game
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Elective 2: History and Memory
In their responding and composing, students
consider their prescribed text and other texts
which explore the relationships between
individual memory and documented events.
Students analyse and evaluate the interplay of
personal experience, memory and documented
evidence to broaden their understanding of how
history and personal history are shaped and
represented.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
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Kingston, Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior
Carey, Peter The True History of the Kelly Gang
Fears, Stephen The Queen
Levertov, Denise Selected poems
Baker, Mark Raphael The Fiftieth Gate
Website: Smithsonian National Museum of
American History, September 11
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Examples of Supplementary Material
• Newspaper articles (children overboard,
Schapelle Corby, Russia’s re-writing of history)
• War propaganda posters
• Akira Kurosawa’s Rashômon (1950)
• Nam Le, Short Stories
• Julian Barnes, Talking it Over
• Helen Garner, A Scrapbook, An Album
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Student Response
In adopting the present tense while recalling the past, evident in “a
single finger waves Yossl and Baruch to the right”, Baker outlines his
belief that memory gives history a sense of immediacy and
relevance. The repetition and questioning of Genia’s, “you read, you
read, books, books, but do you know how it feels?” allows Baker, as
the mediator between evidence and experience, to stress the
importance of the emotionally intensive memory in providing a
more sentimental truth for the responder...
In comparison, A Beautiful Life stresses that the recollection of
memory allows for a continued understanding for all viewpoints
involved. As the mediator of the story, Amir’s soliloquy conveys that
Australians “don’t want to know [the refugee’s] stories, we expect
them to be silent…when the best service we can provide is to
listen”. As with Baker, Amir therefore suggests ...
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Module A: Experience through
Language
This module requires students to explore the uses of a particular
aspect of language. It develops students’ awareness of language
and helps them to understand how our perceptions of and
relationships with others and the world are shaped in written,
spoken and visual language. Each elective in this module requires
study of a prescribed text through a key aspect of language. This
provides the basis for the study and use of this aspect of language
in other texts, including texts drawn from students’ own
experience. Students examine particular language structures and
features used in the prescribed text and in a range of situations that
they encounter in their daily lives. They explore, examine and
analyse how the conventions of textual forms, language modes
and media shape meaning. Composition focuses on
experimentation with variations of purpose, audience and form to
achieve different effects. These compositions may be realised in a
variety of forms and media.
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Elective 1: Distinctive Voices
In their responding and composing students
consider various types and functions of
voices in texts. They explore the ways
language is used to create voices in texts, and
how this use of language affects
interpretation and shapes meaning. Students
examine one prescribed text, in addition to
other texts providing examples of distinctive
voices.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
• Day, Marele The Life and Crimes of Harry
Lavender
• Shaw, George Bernard Pygmalion
• Burns, Joanne On a Clear Day (poetry)
• Paterson, A.B Paterson Collected Verse
• Speeches inc. Luther-King, Cullis-Suzuki,
Kennedy, Street, Spencer, Gandhi
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Elective 2: Distinctively Visual
In their responding and composing students
explore the ways the images we see and/or
visualise in texts are created. Students
consider how the forms and language of
different texts create these images, affect
interpretation and shape meaning. Students
examine one prescribed text, in addition to
other texts providing examples of the
distinctively visual.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
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Lawson, Henry Short Stories
Goldsworthy, Peter Maestro
Misto, John The Shoe-Horn Sonata
Stewart, Douglas Selected poems
Tykwer, Tom Run Lola Run
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Examples of Supplementary Material
• Miranda July, short stories eg: The Shared
Patio
• THE ALMANAC SINGERS, 1942 Song lyrics,
‘Belt Line Girl’
• Propaganda posters
• Dorothy Parker, The Waltz
• Derek Walcott, ‘Blues’
• John Agard, ‘Listen Mr Oxford Don’
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Module B: Close Study of Text
This module requires students to engage in detailed analysis
of a text. It develops students’ understanding of how the
ideas, forms and language of a text interact within the text
and may affect those responding to it. Each elective in this
module involves close study of a single text from a list of
prescribed texts. Students engage with the text to respond
imaginatively, affectively and critically. They explore and
analyse particular characteristics of the text, considering
how these shape meaning. They also consider the ways in
which these characteristics establish the text’s distinctive
qualities. Composition focuses on meaning shaped in and
through the text. These compositions may be realised in a
variety of forms and media.
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Prescribed Texts
• Haddon, Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog
in the Night-time
• Yolen, Jane Briar Rose
• Malouf, David Fly Away Peter
• Nowra, Louis Cosi
• Shakespeare, William The Merchant of Venice
• Owen, Wilfred War poems
• Krakauer, Jon Into the Wild
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Module C: Texts and Society
This module requires students to explore and analyse texts used in a
specific situation. It assists students’ understanding of the ways
that texts communicate information, ideas, bodies of knowledge,
attitudes and belief systems in ways particular to specific areas of
society. Electives in this module are designed around a specific
social context and the texts that are characteristic of and valued
within it. Prescribed texts will be drawn from a variety of
professional and social contexts.
Students are also required to supplement this study with texts of
their own choosing related to the module. Students explore the
role of textual features in the shaping of meaning in specific
contexts. They develop the communication skills necessary for a
wide variety of personal, social, historical, cultural and workplace
contexts. Composition focuses on analysing and experimenting
with textual forms characteristic of the specific contexts. These
compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.
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Elective 1: The Global Village
In this elective students explore a variety of texts that
deal with the way in which individuals and
communities experience and live in a global context.
Students consider the positive and negative aspects of
the global village and the consequences of these on
values, attitudes and beliefs. Students also consider
the role of media and technology within the global
village and different attitudes people may have
towards them. Students respond to and investigate a
range of texts to investigate how and in what ways
living in a global village may influence the ways we
communicate, engage and interact with each other.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
• Koch, Christopher The Year of Living
Dangerously
• Enright, Nick A Man with Five Children
• Sitch, Rob The Castle
• Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
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Elective 2: Into the World
In this elective students explore a variety of texts that
deal with aspects of growing up or transition into new
phases of life and a broader world. People encounter
different experiences and respond to them individually.
These personal experiences may result in growth,
change or other consequences.
Students respond to and compose a range of texts that
illustrate different pathways into new experiences.
They examine the features of texts that shape our
knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about individuals
venturing into new experiences.
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PRESCRIBED TEXTS
• Burke, JC The Story of Tom Brennan
• Russell, Willy Educating Rita
• Blake, William Songs of Innocence and
Experience
• Watson, Ken At the Round Earth’s Imagined
Corners
• Pung, Alice Unpolished Gem
• Daldry, Stephen Billy Elliot
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Examples of Supplementary Texts
Unfriendly modern mobiles
Tuesday, 27 February,
Letters
THERE IS much talk is about aged folk making up the greater percentage of our population.
So why do technology “experts” and marketers forget the basic needs of the old?
This was brought home to me when my trusty old CDMA mobile died. I relied on it when, at
nearly 80, I was working on my property or driving to town. I felt safer with it should I have a
fall or break down.
So all I asked for was a simple mobile on which I could make or receive a call but I was told
there is nothing made without “extras” and that I must contract for a tiny thing, most of
which I can’t read without glasses. The print is unreadable in tiny, pale letters on a coloured
background using symbols that mean nothing to me. Sure, as with every other modern
technical device, there are volumes of explanatory drivel – also
unreadable. I need to learn a new language before I make head or tail of voluminous, garbled
instructions.
How many want these extras? When technologists get old, they will understand that the
majority of people (not just oldies) want to do a job quickly and efficiently. They don’t want
keys so small that arthritic fingers can’t handle them or video calls, messages, cameras,
etcetera. Bring on a simple, uncluttered mobile that simply makes or takes calls.
Pat Graham
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RESPONSE
bg (27 February at 01:36 AM)
In the time it took to write the email some kids
could have shown you how to do it. It’s nice to
think though that you can still enjoy your farm at
80 with all the mod cons assisting you. I don’t
know what’s wrong with old people these days.
They have got it so good but they just keep
whingeing. In Africa the old people have to walk
five miles barefoot in the noonday sun just to get
a drink, and dodge bullets too.
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CONTACT DETAILS
Lucy Swiatek
e: [email protected]
ph: 9701 - 1032
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