Three teachers talk – text version

Literacy learning in the early years

In Kindergarten, students begin to link their knowledge about oral language to their growing knowledge about written language. They contribute to class discussions, listen to, ask and respond to questions. They discuss the meaning of texts read aloud by the teacher and begin to use a number of skills and strategies to read and view texts.

They use their ability to hear sounds in words and their knowledge of letter-sound relationships to help them read and write. They compose simple texts. They learn about sentence punctuation and elementary grammar.

As students progress through the early years, they learn how to read and respond to more demanding written, visual and digital texts for pleasure, to communicate and to gain information. They create texts that become increasingly sustained as the range of contexts, audiences and purposes broadens.

Literacy learning in the early years provides the foundation for future literacy learning.

Literacy learning in the middle years

In the middle years, students learn how to understand and produce increasingly sophisticated texts. In particular, they develop and extend their comprehension strategies, vocabulary knowledge and reading fluency. As well, they create extended spoken, written and multimodal texts and further develop their ability to spell, punctuate and use more complex grammar. They increasingly articulate these understandings about language and transfer them to different circumstances and learning areas.

Students read, respond to and compose increasingly complex texts in different media, both print-based and digital, that have multiple purposes and audiences. They investigate, craft, manipulate and exploit texts creatively and analyse the differences between texts, purposes and audiences.

Literacy learning in the later years

In the later years, students consolidate, expand and polish the literacy skills and knowledge learned in the middle and early years, including important aspects of ongoing literacy learning, such as structure, syntax, spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary. Students read, view and analyse more complex and sophisticated texts in different modes from a variety of historical, social and cultural contexts.

Students learn how to be more critically, visually and technologically literate, reflecting on and evaluating content and the effects of language choices and different forms of texts, and considering how these shape the way texts are received and read in different contexts.

 

Students use subject area vocabulary and metalanguage, such as the language of analysis, evaluation, persuasion or explanation.

They use the structures and forms of texts appropriate to different disciplines. Students experiment with language by manipulating texts for diverse audiences, purposes and contexts.