Year 12 ATAR ENGLISH Glossary

Aesthetic

A sense of beauty or an appreciation of artistic expression.

Analyse

Consider in detail for the purpose of finding meaning or relationships, and identifying patterns, similarities and differences.

Appreciation

The act of discerning quality and value of literary texts.

Audience

The group of readers, listeners or viewers that the writer, designer, filmmaker or speaker is addressing. Audience includes students in the classroom, an individual, the wider community, review writers, critics and the implied audience.

Author

The composer or originator of a work (for example, a novel, film, website, speech, essay, autobiography).

Context

The environment in which a text is responded to or created. Context can include the general social, historical and cultural conditions in which a text is responded to and created (the context of culture) or the specific features of its immediate environment (context of situation). The term is also used to refer to the wording surrounding an unfamiliar work that a reader or listener uses to understand its meaning.

Convention

An accepted practice that has developed over time and is generally used and understood, for example, the use of specific structural aspects of texts such as in report writing with sections for introduction, background, discussion and recommendations.

Digital Technologies

The use of digital resources to effectively find, analyse, create, communicate,

and use information in a digital context and incorporates the hardware of

mobile phones, cameras, tablets, laptops and computers and the software to

power these devices.

Digital Texts

Audio, visual or multimodal texts produced through digital or electronic

technology, which may be interactive and include animations and hyperlinks.

Examples of digital texts include DVDs, websites and e-literature.

Evaluate

Evaluation of an issue or information that includes considering important factors

and available evidence in making judgement that can be justified.

Figurative Language

Word groups/phrases used in a way that differs from the expected or everyday

usage. They are used in a non-literal way for particular effect

(for example, simile - 'white as a sheet'; metaphor - 'all the world's a stage';

personification - 'the wind grabbed at my clothes').

Form; forms of texts

The shape and structure of texts. Literary texts, for example, include a broad

range of forms such as novels, poetry, short stories, plays, fiction, multimodal

texts, and non-fiction. (See Texts under Organisation of content.)

Genre

The categories into which texts are grouped. The term has a complex history

within literary theory and is often used to distinguish texts on the basis of their

subject matter (for example, detective fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy

fiction), form and structure (for example, poetry, novels, biography, short

stories).

Hybrid Texts

Composite texts resulting from a mixing of elements from different sources or

genres (for example, infotainment). Email is an example of a hybrid text,

combining the immediacy of talk and the expectation of a reply with the

permanence of print.

Ideas

In this course the word has an open meaning and can be interpreted as

understandings, thoughts, notions, opinions, views or beliefs.

Idiom

A group of (more or less) fixed words having a meaning not deducible from the

individual words. Idioms are typically informal expressions used by particular

social groups and need to be explained as one unit (for example, 'I am over the

moon', 'on thin ice', 'a fish out of water', 'fed up to the back teeth')

Interpretation

See reading and readings

Issues

Matters of personal or public concern that are in dispute; things which directly

or indirectly affect a person or members of a society and are considered to be

problems. Many issues are raised in texts and it is for the reader/audience to

identify these.

Language Features

The features of language that support meaning (for example, sentence

structure, noun group/phrase, vocabulary, punctuation, figurative language,

framing, camera angles). Choices in language features and text structures

together define a type of text and shape its meaning. These choices vary

according to the purpose of a text, its subject matter, audience, and mode or

medium of production.

Language Patterns

The arrangement of identifiable repeated or corresponding elements in a text.

These include patterns of repetition or similarity (for example, the repeated use

of verbs at the beginning of each step in a recipe, or the repetition of a chorus

after each verse in a song). The patterns may alternate (for example, the call and

response pattern of some games, or the to and fro of a dialogue). Other

patterns may contrast (for example, opposing viewpoints in a discussion, or

contrasting patterns of imagery in a poem). The language patterns of a text

contribute to the distinctive nature of its overall organisation and shape its

meaning.

Literary Texts

Literary texts refers to past and present texts across a range of cultural contexts

that are valued for their form and style and are recognised as having enduring or

artistic value. While the nature of what constitutes 'literary texts' is dynamic and

evolving, they are seen as having personal, social, cultural and aesthetic appeal

and potential for enriching students' scope of experience. Literary texts include

a broad range of forms, such as novels, poetry, short stories, plays, fiction,

non-fiction and multimodal texts.

Media Texts

Spoken, print, graphic or electronic communications with a public audience.

They often involve numerous people in their construction and are usually

shaped by the technology used in their production. The media texts studied in

English courses can be found in newspapers and magazines and on television,

film, radio, computer software and the internet.

Medium

The means or channel of communication such as the spoken word, print,

graphics, electronic/digital forms (for example, the medium of television, the

medium of newspapers and the medium of radio).

Metalanguage

Language used to discuss language (for example, language used to discuss film

or literary study, such as mise-en-scène, symbolism, characterisation, or

language used to talk about grammatical terms, such as 'sentence', 'clause',

'conjunction').

Mode

The various processes of communication: listening, speaking, reading/viewing

and writing/creating. Modes are also used to refer to the semiotic

(meaning-making) resources associated with these communicative processes,

such as sound, print, image and gesture.

Mood

The atmosphere or feeling in a particular text. For example, a text might create a

sombre, reflective, exhilarating or menacing mood or atmosphere depending on

the imagery or other language used.

Multimodal Text

Combination of two or more communication modes (for example, print, image

and spoken text, as in film or computer presentations).

Narrative

A story of events or experiences, real or imagined. In literary theory, narrative

includes the story (what is narrated) and the discourse (how it is narrated).

Narrative Point of View

The ways in which a narrator may be related to the story. For example, the

narrator might take the role of first or third person, omniscient or restricted in

knowledge of events, reliable or unreliable in interpreting what happens.

Personification

The description of an inanimate object as though it were a person or living thing.

Perspective(s)

A position from which things may be viewed or considered. People may have

different perspectives on events or issues due to (for example) their age,

gender, social position and beliefs and values. A perspective is more than an

opinion; it is a viewpoint informed by one or more contexts. While a pregnant

woman, a homeless man and a police officer, for example, view the world from

different perspectives, they may still share the same opinion about something.

Texts through an embedded ideology can also present a particular perspective.

Point of View

(See also Narrative point of view.) The opinion or viewpoint expressed by an

individual in a text, for example, an author, a narrator, a character or an implied

reader.

Prose

Ordinary language used in speaking or writing, distinguished from poetry by its

lack of a marked metrical structure. Many modern genres, such as short stories,

novels in fiction, for example, and letters, essays, and other types of non-fiction

writing are typically written in prose.

Reading

The process of making meaning of text. This process draws on a repertoire of

social, cultural and cognitive resources. Reading occurs in different ways, for

different purposes, in a variety of public and domestic settings. Reading is

therefore a cultural, economic, ideological, political and psychological act. The

term applies to the act of reading print texts or the act of viewing a film or static

image.

Readings

Readings are particular interpretations of a text. The classification of readings

into alternative, resistant or dominant is quite arbitrary, depending on the

ideology held by the reader.

Alternative Readings

Readings that focus on the gaps and silences in texts to

create meanings that vary from those meanings that seem to be foregrounded

by the text.

Dominant Reading

The reading that seems to be, for the majority of people in

society, the natural or normal way to interpret a text. In a society where there

are strongly competing discourses (i.e. most societies), the definition of what is

a dominant reading depends on the ideology of the person making the decision.

Resistant Reading

A way of reading or making meaning from a text which

challenges or questions the assumptions underlying the text. Resistant readings

employ a discourse different from the discourse that produces the dominant

reading.

Representation

Representation refers to the way people, events, issues or subjects are

presented in a text. The term implies that texts are not mirrors of the real world;

they are constructions of 'reality'. These constructions are partially shaped

through the writer's use of conventions and techniques.

Rhetoric

The language of argument, using persuasive and forceful language

Rhetorical Devices

Language techniques used in argument to persuade audiences

(for example, rhetorical questions, repetition, propositions, figurative language).

Short Answer Response

Well-developed paragraph or paragraphs in Standard Australian English which

include supporting detail and typically ranging between 200-300 words

depending on time allocation. While not required to conform to the conventions

of formal essay writing, short answer responses should be succinct and directly

address the question.

Standard Australian English (SAE)

The variety of spoken and written English language in Australia used in more

formal settings such as for official or public purposes, and recorded in

dictionaries, style guides and grammars. While it is always dynamic and

evolving, it is recognised as the 'common language' of Australians.

Stylistic Choices

The selection of stylistic features to achieve a particular effect.

Stylistic Features

The ways in which aspects of texts (such as words, sentences, images) are

arranged and how they affect meaning. Style can distinguish the work of

individual authors (for example, Jennings' stories, Lawson's poems), as well as

the work of a particular period (for example, Elizabethan drama,

nineteenth-century novels), or of a particular genre or type of text

(for example, recipes, scientific articles, play-by-play commentary). Examples of

stylistic features are narrative viewpoint, structure of stanzas, juxtaposition,

nominalisation, alliteration, metaphor and lexical choice

Synthesise

Combine elements (information/ideas/components) into a coherent whole.

Text Structure

The ways in which information is organised in different types of texts

(for example, chapter headings, subheadings, tables of contents, indexes and

glossaries, overviews, introductory and concluding paragraphs, sequencing,

topic sentences, taxonomies, cause and effect). Choices in text structures and

language features together define a text type and shape its meaning. Examples

of text structures in literary texts include sonnets, monologues and hypertext.

Theme

An idea, concern or argument developed in a text; a recurring element

(for example, the subject of a text may be love, and its theme could be how love

involves sacrifice). A work may have more than one theme.

Tone

Tone describes the way the 'voice' is delivered. For example, the tone of a voice or

the tone in a passage of writing could be friendly or angry or persuasive.

Types of Texts

Classifications of texts according to the particular purposes they are designed to

achieve. In general, in the senior courses in the English curriculum, texts are

classified as imaginative, interpretive, persuasive or analytical types of texts,

although these distinctions are neither static nor discrete and particular texts

can belong to more than one category.

Analytical Texts

Texts whose primary purpose is to identify, examine and draw conclusions

about the elements or components that make up other texts. Analytical texts

develop an argument or consider or advance an interpretation. Examples of

these texts include commentaries, essays in criticism, reflective or discursive

responses and reviews.

Imaginative Texts

Texts whose primary purpose is to entertain or provoke thought through their

imaginative use of literary elements. They are recognised for their form, style

and artistic or aesthetic value. These texts include novels, traditional tales,

poetry, stories, plays, fiction for young adults and children, including picture

books, and multimodal texts such as film.

Interpretive Texts

Texts whose primary purpose is to explain and interpret personalities, events,

ideas, representations or concepts. They include autobiography, biography,

media feature articles, documentary film and other non-fiction texts. There is a

focus on interpretive rather than informative texts in the senior years of

schooling.

Persuasive Texts

Texts whose primary purpose is to put forward a point of view and persuade a

reader, viewer or listener. They form a significant part of modern

communication in both print and digital environments. They include advertising,

debates, arguments, discussions, polemics and essays and articles.

Visual Elements

Visual components of a text such as composition, framing, representation of

action or reaction, shot size, social distance and camera angle.

Authorial Voice

In the literary sense, voice can be used to refer to the nature of the voice

projected in a text by an author; the persona, role or character adopted by an

author

Narrative Voice

The ways in which a narrator may be related to the story. For example, the

narrator might take the role of first or third person, omniscient or restricted in

knowledge of events, reliable or unreliable in interpreting what happens.

Voices in Texts

As well as an author's voice, texts often contain 'multiple voices'. These are the

views, positions, ideas and perspectives of other individuals or groups. It is

important to recognise the various voices in a text, how they relate to one

another, and how the creator of a text uses these to shape audience response.