English as an Additional Language

English

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level AL, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level AL

Content descriptions – Level AL

Listening and Speaking

Reading and Viewing

Writing

The Level AL curriculum supports students who are beginners in English – and who have had minimal exposure to literacy in their home language(s) and little or no prior schooling (including early childhood education experiences) – as they develop very early foundational knowledge, understanding and skills in English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students begin to learn the basic oral English needed to navigate the English-speaking classroom. They build their capacity to participate in routine exchanges in English with their peers. As a result, they begin to recognise and attempt some English pronunciation, stress and intonation and develop an emerging awareness of the conventions of spoken English.
Students explore short print texts and picture books, with teacher modelling and support. They are introduced to the alphabet and learn to recognise common letters and letter patterns. They begin to develop foundational reading skills and practise strategies that provide opportunities to decode short, simple words and images. Students begin to learn about writing processes, including how to hold a writing tool, how to create illustrative drawings and how to form letters and words. They develop a basic understanding of the layout and direction of English writing.

Level description – Level AL

<html><head></head><body>Students use simple English words and phrases to communicate with teachers and peers in familiar routine situations. They listen to others and concentrate for short periods. They follow one- and 2-step instructions, exchange simple personal information and attempt to use the foundational oral English needed to manage learning in an English-speaking classroom. They begin to adapt their emerging English language skills and knowledge to respond to new communicative and functional demands. They use simple, learnt formulaic responses to communicate. Their utterances are characterised by a reliance on key vocabulary and/or paralinguistic (non-verbal) communication such as gestures, facial expressions and head movements with many home language influences. They use some basic communication and learning strategies to participate and/or repair miscommunication in English. They demonstrate familiarity with some basic patterns in the sounds, intonation, rhythm, grammar and meaning of English. They attempt to copy pronunciation, stress and intonation used by others. They repeat key words and phrases that others use. They use home language peers as supports for learning and use resources, including classroom print texts such as pictures, diagrams, posters and other visual texts, to help them communicate.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students show interest in a variety of English texts and concentrate for short periods of time when reading or viewing short texts in print or visual form. They demonstrate reading-like behaviours, including holding a book, looking at the cover and pages of a book, turning single pages and looking at pictures. They recognise basic features of English texts, including page order and the role of illustrations in texts. They focus on images and other visual features that assist them to understand texts, and rely on peer or teacher support to complete simple structured activities such as sequencing pictures or acting out the key elements of a text. They read some environmental print, including their name and other familiar words and signs. They recognise and name some familiar letters and know the sounds commonly related to some letters and letter groups. When listening to texts being read aloud, they identify key words, and repeated words and phrases. They attempt to participate in shared reading experiences.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate their ideas and experiences through drawings and attempts at writing copied from other sources such as environmental print and very short teacher-modelled texts, showing evidence of an emerging understanding of writing processes. They demonstrate interest and some ability to concentrate in shared writing activities, including watching the teacher and other students writing. They participate in shared writing experiences. They demonstrate awareness that written texts in English are presented through conventions that change according to context and purpose. They use drawings to represent simple descriptions, recounts and procedures. They copy words or phrases from books, vocabulary lists and other resources, and can write their own name. They attempt to use different writing implements and learn how to hold and use them correctly. They demonstrate some understanding of the left-to-right directionality of English script and the importance of spacing and writing on lines. They demonstrate knowledge of some phoneme–grapheme correspondences. They talk about their pictures and copied writing using simple words and sentences that draw on their developing oral English language skills, and/or their home language(s), especially when sharing with home language peers or a multilingual teacher.</body></html>

Pathway A: Early immersion (Prep–Year 2)

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level A1, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level A1

Content descriptions – Level A1

The Level A1 curriculum supports students who have had some exposure to English and/or literacy in their home language(s) through prior schooling (including early childhood education experiences) to develop basic functional knowledge, understanding and skills in English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students build their capacity to participate in routine and familiar exchanges in English with their peers. Through reciprocal exchanges, they develop an early awareness of the conventions of spoken English. As a result, they begin to recognise the ways that pronunciation, stress and intonation impact clarity of expression. They learn how to check and clarify understanding by using a range of resources, including home language(s).
Students explore a range of short print texts and picture books, and learn to recognise common letters and letter patterns. They develop fundamental reading skills and practise strategies to decode simple texts. They use vocabulary charts that include images, and words in English and their home language(s). Students learn about writing processes, and begin to sequence some of their ideas and to extend short sentences into paragraphs. They develop an understanding of the role of punctuation and how to apply punctuation in their own work.

Level description – Level A1

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate in simple English phrases and sentences in routine and familiar social and classroom situations. They follow and give simple instructions, exchange personal information, and participate in familiar and predictable activities and contexts. They modify their responses and manner of interaction to match the responses of others and the context. They use learnt formulaic responses and patterns, and create original utterances by substituting words. Their utterances have a short, simplified structure with simple subject–verb–object construction and overgeneralisation of rules. They use basic communication and learning strategies to participate in and sustain interactions in English. They recognise that intonation carries meaning, and they identify key words and repeated words and phrases. They use comprehensible pronunciation, stress and intonation. They use classroom resources such as picture cards and other visual texts to aid communication.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read and engage with a wide range of short, simple, repetitive texts, including shared recounts and fictional and everyday texts, in print or visual form. Students read, in context, some familiar words, phrases, numbers and signs. They complete simple, structured activities such as sequencing sentences and pictures. They understand that texts are written and structured for a variety of purposes. They recognise some common letters and letter patterns. They name some letters of the alphabet and know the sounds commonly related to some letters and letter groups. They recognise features of texts, including text directionality and page order, and understand the function of titles and images. They hold and manipulate books appropriately. When listening to texts being read aloud, they listen for key words and for repetition of words and phrases. They focus on images and other visual features that assist them to understand texts.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate their ideas and experiences through drawings, copied writing, dictated texts and their own writing, showing evidence of a developing understanding of the writing process. They contribute to shared writing activities. They demonstrate awareness that written texts in English are presented through particular conventions, which change according to context and purpose. They write and draw for basic purposes and, with support, produce simple descriptions, recounts and procedural texts. Students’ writing reflects their spoken structures, and they link ideas using basic conjunctions. They use basic punctuation in their writing. They demonstrate knowledge of some phoneme–grapheme correspondences when writing and spelling words. They show evidence of some basic planning for writing. They model their writing on shared writing activities and published texts, often copying words or phrases from books or vocabulary lists. They form letters and place text appropriately on a page. They use basic digital resources to write and present their texts.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level A2, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level A2

Content descriptions – Level A2

The Level A2 curriculum supports students who may have already had several years of age-appropriate formal instruction in the basics of English language and literacy, and some exposure to home language literacy, to expand their repertoire of spoken and written English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students explore spoken communication in predictable social situations. Students learn to identify key points in familiar topics and develop their capacity to use images as cues to decode meaning. They learn how to negotiate and sustain spoken interaction and resolve misunderstandings by using a range of resources, including home language(s).
Students explore a wide range of familiar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. With support, they learn to read familiar texts such as everyday texts and short literary texts with some fluency. They practise strategies such as referring to a picture or home language–English bilingual dictionary to check the spelling or meaning of English words. They also learn about context, phoneme–grapheme correspondences, word patterns and text structure, which assist with reading unfamiliar texts. Students explore the writing process to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills involved in planning a short written text. They create their own texts using simple, coherently linked sentences, basic structures and familiar vocabulary. They are introduced to unfamiliar words and learn about spelling patterns and base words as a way of broadening their vocabularies. Students develop and improve their own writing through engaging in discussion of simple stories, recounts and factual texts.

Level description – Level A2

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate in a range of predictable and familiar social and learning situations. They express ideas and identify key points of information in classroom discussions about familiar topics, and about new topics when they are well supported by visual material, an appropriate pace of delivery, and discussion that links their prior knowledge to the new context. They follow a short sequence of instructions related to classroom procedures and learning activities. They negotiate familiar social and learning situations, using English appropriate to the situation. They adjust their speech choices in response to audiences and topics. They combine known conversational formulas and vocabulary, including some from texts read in class, and apply grammatical rules to make original utterances of varying grammatical accuracy. They sustain communication by negotiating turn-taking and by using strategies such as asking a speaker to repeat or to speak slowly, or by asking what a word means.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read and respond to a wide range of familiar print or digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They predict, ask questions, retell and talk about texts read and viewed in class. With support, students read a range of topic-related classroom texts. They can read familiar texts with some fluency. They read back their own writing or their own sentences recorded by another student. They use texts purposefully, following simple procedural texts and finding basic information in texts. They discuss the events and characters’ feelings and actions in texts. They identify the purposes of familiar text types, including classroom text, simple story and factual text. They use their developing knowledge of context, phoneme–grapheme correspondences, word patterns and text structure to read simple texts, both familiar and unfamiliar. They interpret simple images and identify the layout of a range of text types.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate ideas, events and experiences through simple texts based on familiar spoken and written language. They write for a variety of personal and classroom purposes, using known and modelled structures and features. They write everyday texts and simple stories, recounts and factual texts based on their own and shared class experiences. They use their developing oral and reading skills when writing their own texts. They write texts using simple but coherently linked sentences, basic structures and well-known vocabulary. They use some common irregular past tense verbs correctly, and link clauses using basic conjunctions and connectives. They make plausible attempts to spell unfamiliar words, based on known spelling patterns and base words. They use vocabulary lists, modelled texts and familiar books to find out how to write unfamiliar words. They write letters legibly, include some punctuation and make some changes to their texts when editing. They use digital resources to write and present their texts.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level BL, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level BL

Content descriptions – Level BL

The Level BL curriculum supports students who are beginners in English – and who have had minimal exposure to literacy in their home language(s) and little or no prior schooling (including early childhood education experiences) – as they develop basic knowledge, understanding and skills in English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students build their capacity to initiate and sustain simple conversations with their peers. They begin to learn the grammatical patterns of spoken English, and to recognise the ways that pronunciation, stress and intonation impact their clarity of expression. Through reciprocal exchanges, students develop an early awareness of the conventions of spoken English.&nbsp;Students participate in scaffolded and supported interactions with teachers and English-speaking peers to practise speaking English. Students interact with peers who speak their home language and can assist with translation. This supports students to make connections between their home language(s) and their developing English language skills.
Students are introduced to the English alphabet through a wide range of short print texts and picture books, and they begin to recognise common letters and letter patterns. They develop fundamental reading skills and practise strategies that assist with the decoding of simple texts. Students use visual texts to support their comprehension, including illustrations, picture dictionaries and home language–English bilingual word charts.&nbsp;Students participate in shared experiences with their teachers and peers to develop their reading and viewing skills, including paired reading aloud activities, small group tasks with targeted comprehension activities and classroom learning.
Students learn about the writing process. Targeted spelling and writing activities support students to develop a knowledge of some English phoneme–grapheme correspondences and the spelling of high-frequency words. Students practise writing, focusing on the formation of letters and letter placement. Through reading different texts, students begin to understand the structure and purpose of simple print texts.

Level description – Level BL

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate in familiar social and classroom contexts, using simple formulaic and some creative structures. They understand spoken English that is supported by teacher direction and cues from classroom context. They contribute relatively complex ideas through simple spoken English, and use simple English to respond to the ideas of others. This is achieved through continuing support and scaffolding from teachers and English-speaking peers who provide authentic interactions and space to practise English. Peers who speak home language(s) also offer shared translation opportunities. This supports students to make connections between their home language(s) and their developing English language skills.
Students use short utterances and simple subject–verb–object constructions. They use common adjectives and adverbs to describe or add emphasis. They use repeated grammar patterns copied from stories, songs, rhymes or other short texts. Students’ pronunciation, stress and intonation are comprehensible but carry elements of home language pronunciation. They use some basic communication strategies, such as asking for repetition, and by questioning to check, clarify or confirm understanding. They use some basic strategies to initiate and sustain simple conversations in English, including restating, repeating or re-pronouncing as appropriate.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read a variety of short, simple, familiar, repetitive fiction and everyday texts in print and digital form, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They complete basic structured activities for the texts they read.&nbsp;
Students retell simple, familiar stories, and sequence a process using simple sentences and pictures. They understand that texts are written for a variety of purposes. They understand the basic phoneme–grapheme correspondences of English. Students read some familiar words and phrases in context. They recognise, name and know the sounds related to all letters and some common letter groups. They recognise that meaning is carried by intonation, and they listen for key words and for repetition of words and phrases in texts read aloud. They focus on illustrations and other non-written features when reading. They use vocabulary lists and simple pictorial and bilingual dictionaries to assist them to read unfamiliar words.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate their ideas and experiences simply through written, drawn, copied or dictated texts. They contribute to whole-class or small-group shared writing activities. They understand that written texts in English comprise specific conventions, which change according to context and purpose. They write simple sequenced descriptions, recounts and procedures, following models. They write or draw for specific audiences. Students engage in a variety of writing activities where they develop ideas with peers, seek feedback from teachers and use model texts to inform their own writing.
Students’ writing reflects the text structures and linguistic features of their spoken language. They link ideas using common conjunctions, and understand the purpose of basic punctuation and use it in their texts. They demonstrate knowledge of some English phoneme–grapheme correspondences and spelling of high-frequency words, and show evidence of some planning. They model their writing on shared writing activities and published texts, and use some basic strategies, such as copying words or phrases from lists, using images and asking how to write a word. They begin to form letters and place text appropriately. They copy and write texts using digital tools.</body></html>

Pathway B: Mid-immersion (Years 3–6)

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level B1, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level B1

Content descriptions – Level B1

The Level B1 curriculum supports students who have had some exposure to English, and to age-equivalent schooling in their home language(s) and literacy, to develop both verbal and paralinguistic (non-verbal) communication skills. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students learn to follow simple instructions, answer predictable questions, make basic requests and express needs simply. Through active participation in conversations, students learn about the ways that English changes according to context and audience.
Students explore a wide range of familiar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. With support, they read short, familiar texts based on simple language structures and features, common vocabulary and familiar contexts.&nbsp;They actively participate in modelled, shared and teacher-supported independent reading and writing activities. They use simple home language–English bilingual dictionaries to check meaning or spelling. They also develop knowledge about context, phoneme–grapheme correspondences, spoken and sight vocabulary, conventions of text organisation and English grammar that assists them to read and write by&nbsp;engaging with peers and working closely with teachers to build confidence.
Students create and present simple texts for a variety of basic purposes. With support, they learn to communicate familiar ideas and experiences. Students engage with different texts, studying basic structures and features of these texts so that they can incorporate these into their own writing.

Level description – Level B1

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate verbally and non-verbally in routine and familiar social and classroom situations, supported by cues in the immediate context. They use formulas, well-rehearsed and common sentence patterns, and short, simple utterances to contribute relatively complex ideas, usually about concrete subject matter.
Students follow simple instructions, answer predictable questions, make basic requests and express their needs using simple sentences. They understand that English changes according to context and audience, and they modify their use of English in response to a range of familiar classroom and social purposes. They use appropriate social formulas and non-verbal language. Their utterances are characterised by varying grammatical accuracy. They use common adjectives and adverbs to describe or add emphasis. They use basic communication strategies, asking for repetition and questioning to clarify and confirm understanding. They restate their ideas and repeat or re-pronounce key words when necessary.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read short, familiar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts, that use simple language structures and features, common vocabulary and familiar contexts. They retell simple stories, predict likely outcomes, sequence ideas and complete basic comprehension activities.&nbsp;
Students understand the basic purposes of texts and choose texts appropriate for their purpose. With support, they read and gather basic information from simple, accessible texts. When reading, students combine their basic knowledge of English phoneme–grapheme correspondences, their developing spoken and sight vocabulary, their knowledge of the conventions of text organisation and their knowledge of English grammar. They use appropriate intonation and phrasing when reading aloud, showing an understanding of a text’s meaning and the function of basic punctuation. They demonstrate understanding of a narrow range of text organisational features including headings, labels, diagrams and contents pages.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students write and present simple texts for a variety of basic classroom and personal purposes. With support, they communicate familiar ideas, events and experiences, writing simple narratives, recounts, descriptions and reports. They use some of the basic structures and features common to these text types, demonstrating a growing awareness that purpose influences the way texts are written and presented.&nbsp;
Students’ written texts incorporate the basic grammatical features of their spoken English. They spell some common and familiar words accurately and make plausible attempts to spell unfamiliar words using known English phoneme–grapheme correspondences. They use simple strategies for spelling words, such as checking vocabulary lists or books. With support, they plan and edit their texts, providing additional information through visual images. They use a range of digital tools to write and present their texts.&nbsp;</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level B2, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level B2

Content descriptions – Level B2

The Level B2 curriculum supports students who have already had 1 to 2 years of age-appropriate formal instruction in the basics of English language and literacy, and some exposure to home language literacy learning, to develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to their spoken English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students learn to negotiate simple exchanges in English, combining their understanding of both verbal language and paralinguistic communication. They refine and further develop a wide range of fundamental communication skills in increasingly complex and de-contextualised situations and settings. They continue to learn about ways to improve consistency and fluency when speaking in English.
Students explore a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They learn to apply their developing vocabulary and their knowledge of sentence structure and English phoneme–grapheme correspondences to predict and self-correct as they read. They use home language–English bilingual dictionaries to find specific key words. Students begin to read more widely, assessing text difficulty and selecting new texts to read with increasing independence.&nbsp;They participate in modelled, shared and independent reading activities, working closely with their teachers and peers who support reading aloud, encourage self-correction and model reading strategies.
Students write for a broad range of purposes on familiar topics. Students’ written texts may include a narrow range of language features, including simple and compound sentences, some unfamiliar vocabulary and some high-frequency words. They learn to plan, draft, revise and edit their writing so that they can create texts that are more detailed and sequential.&nbsp;Students participate in shared and independent writing activities with teacher and peer support.

Level description – Level B2

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate in English in predictable social and learning situations. They understand some de-contextualised English and express simple messages in basic English. They negotiate simple transactions and ask and answer simple questions on familiar topics, using familiar response structures.
Students identify and describe people, places and things using simple vocabulary. They describe a series of events or actions using some detail. They initiate and manage interactions appropriately in a range of familiar contexts. They understand instructions, recounts and explanations when contextually supported. They use simple English with varying degrees of grammatical accuracy. They combine known formulaic responses, learnt grammatical features and new vocabulary to construct new utterances. They use basic time and sequence markers, and simple negative forms. They use verb endings with some consistency. They use some of the terminology of new topics in their utterances. They pronounce familiar words comprehensibly. They employ familiar strategies to sustain and enhance communication in English.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read familiar and unfamiliar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts, that contain predictable structures and familiar vocabulary.&nbsp;
Students follow simple written instructions and respond to simple written questions. They identify the main purposes of a range of texts and recognise the basic features of common text types. They use their developing vocabulary and their knowledge of sentence structure and English phoneme–grapheme correspondences to predict and self-correct. They modify intonation to distinguish questions, exclamations and dialogue when reading aloud. They follow logical relationships between events and ideas expressed by common cohesive devices. They sequence sentences from known texts or a text on a familiar topic or experience. They use simple strategies to assess text difficulty and to choose new texts to read.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students write for a range of purposes on familiar topics. They write simple, organised texts that demonstrate the use of specific vocabulary and simple sentence structures. Their writing demonstrates their understanding of the purposes, structures and features of common text types.&nbsp;
Students’ written texts include basic information and simple detail. Students use common conjunctions to link ideas, and use pronoun references with some noun–pronoun agreement. They use simple phrases to express basic comparisons, and use some basic punctuation with consistency. They make plausible attempts to spell unfamiliar words using known English phoneme–grapheme correspondences. They use a range of strategies for spelling words, including checking vocabulary lists and keeping a personal dictionary. They write new sentences using known sentence structures. They draw on their knowledge of the writing process to plan and write simple texts and, with support, redraft them. They use a range of digital tools to write, edit and present their texts.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level B3, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level B3

Content descriptions – Level B3

The Level B3 curriculum supports students who have already had 2 to 3 years of age-appropriate formal instruction in the basics of English language and literacy, and some exposure to home language literacy, to enhance their knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to their spoken English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students learn to respond to and use English appropriately in a wide range of contexts. Pronunciation, stress and intonation are the focus for extending students’ spoken skills. Students learn strategies to self-correct and adapt language to convey meaning more clearly.
Students explore a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They learn to identify the main ideas in texts, and to paraphrase their understanding in spoken English. They develop strategies that help them to read unfamiliar texts, including using bilingual dictionaries to build vocabulary knowledge. Students expand their known repertoire of written text types. They apply their understanding of purpose and audience to shape their writing. They explore how to sequence paragraphs by using conjunctions, and how to create consistent tenses to help clarify expression. They plan, draft, revise and edit their writing to improve spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. They learn strategies such as referring to a bilingual dictionary to confirm accuracy of spelling and word choice.&nbsp;Through a range of shared and independent writing activities, students incorporate feedback into their written texts.

Level description – Level B3

<html><head></head><body>Students appropriately respond to and use the structures and features of spoken English in a variety of familiar formal and informal contexts. They demonstrate awareness of the register requirements such as tone, formality of language, vocabulary and body language of spoken English that are used when speaking for different purposes. They understand the essential meaning of unfamiliar topics expressed in familiar spoken English, and extract specific information from spoken texts. They use appropriate sequence markers and consistently use the most common irregular past tenses. They provide detail by using longer noun groups and adverbial phrases when speaking, and use comprehensible pronunciation, stress and intonation. They access English from a variety of spoken and written sources, and extend their spoken skills by incorporating new vocabulary from these sources into their own repertoire. They self-correct some errors, reformulate language to convey meaning more clearly, and add essential details.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read with increasing independence for a range of purposes, and identify the main ideas and specific information in classroom texts. These texts may be print or digital, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. Students demonstrate understanding of the main storyline and most key information when retelling, paraphrasing and answering questions, and they compare details in texts. They demonstrate awareness of how information is organised in English texts. They recognise the cohesive devices that connect ideas and the organisation of information in a text. They use appropriate metalanguage to talk about the structure and features of a text. They recognise how relationships are signalled by an increasing range of conjunctions. They integrate a number of strategies to help them read unfamiliar texts. They use English dictionaries to check the meaning of unfamiliar words, and use contents pages, indexes, glossaries and headings to find information.&nbsp;</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate for a range of purposes on a variety of topics, using a repertoire of familiar text types. They write sequenced and ordered information texts, and narrative texts that maintain a cohesive storyline and characterisation. They demonstrate an awareness of how effective writing is tailored to a purpose, the requirements of the topic and the needs of the reader. They gather and present information appropriately in texts. They write texts that demonstrate overall cohesion and coherence.
Students can combine and sequence simple sentences and paragraphs using common conjunctions and pronouns. They generally maintain appropriate tense throughout their texts. They discuss and reflect on their own writing, incorporating feedback when planning, reviewing or presenting their texts. They revise texts during writing, and proofread them after a first draft has been written, improving spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. They present their writing appropriately, in print and digital forms.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level CL, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level CL

Content descriptions – Level CL

The Level CL curriculum supports students who are beginners in English – and who may have had minimal exposure to literacy in their home language(s), and little or no prior schooling – as they develop basic knowledge, understanding and skills in English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students build their capacity to participate in routine and familiar exchanges in English with their peers. Students learn about and practise pronunciation, stress and intonation of English, and recognise how these skills impact on their clarity of expression. Through reciprocal exchanges, they develop an early awareness of the conventions of spoken English and engage in basic, sustained verbal exchanges.
Students are introduced to the English alphabet, and begin to recognise some letters and know the sounds related to common letter combinations, supported by the study of a wide range of short, familiar print and digital texts. They develop skills to decode simple texts, such as using images to support comprehension or referring to picture dictionaries and bilingual word charts to find unfamiliar words. They read aloud and apply simple strategies, such as pointing to words, to assist with fluency.
Students create short written texts. They learn about the purposes of some common text types and practise their writing using models and examples. They learn to write short texts using conventional letter formation and basic punctuation. They also learn to use digital technologies to support or construct their writing.

Level description – Level CL

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate using simple spoken English in familiar, structured social and classroom contexts. They use formulaic language; short, simple and well-rehearsed grammatical features; and adaptations of their emerging English repertoire. They use stress and intonation appropriately in some familiar interactions and can imitate model texts with some accuracy. They understand common instructions and questions, and simple descriptions and explanations, when strongly supported in familiar contexts. They understand and use basic subject–verb–object grammatical patterns, common regular and irregular verbs, basic prepositions and connectives such as time and sequence markers. They ask and respond to questions in predictable contexts, express simple ideas and preferences, and provide short explanations and descriptions. They use some strategies to initiate and sustain basic conversations in English, repeating and re-pronouncing as necessary.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read a wide range of simple, familiar fiction, information and everyday print and digital texts in handwritten, visual, multimodal and interactive formats. They complete simple structured activities about these texts. Students read their own writing and other simple texts based on well-rehearsed spoken English. They name some letters and know the sounds related to many letters and common letter combinations. They attempt to sound out words, recognise some high-frequency words and read some unfamiliar words based on the similarity of these to known words. They demonstrate awareness of basic punctuation and use stress, intonation or pausing appropriately when reading familiar texts aloud. They use simple strategies such as pointing to words as they read, or as shared texts are read aloud in class. They understand the basic practical and cultural purposes of the texts they read.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students write short, grammatically simple texts based on well-rehearsed spoken and well-practised written English in familiar contexts. They write for a range of basic classroom and personal purposes, such as making lists and writing simple recounts and notes, and complete activities following models and examples. They recognise that print texts in English are based on certain conventions, which change according to context and purpose. Their texts use familiar sentence patterns from well-known texts or classroom models. They begin to use conventional letter formations when writing or copying text, attending to the relative sizes and shapes of letters, their position on a line and basic punctuation. They leave appropriate spaces between words. They attempt to write some unfamiliar words using their developing knowledge of phoneme–grapheme correspondences in English, referring to personal dictionaries, glossaries and classroom resources and asking for assistance. They copy and create texts using digital tools.</body></html>

Pathway C: Late immersion (Years 7–10)

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level C1, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level C1

Content descriptions – Level C1

The Level C1 curriculum supports students who have had some exposure to English, and to age-equivalent schooling in their home language(s) and literacy, to develop their verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Students interact with peers through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies. They actively participate in conversations, and learn about and apply formulaic language and well-rehearsed grammatical structures to initiate and sustain verbal exchanges.
Students explore a range of short, familiar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They develop decoding and comprehension skills through reading. They use simple bilingual dictionaries to find the meaning of unfamiliar words. Students discuss texts at a literal level and begin to develop inferential understanding. Students learn to draw on their expanding knowledge of English phoneme–grapheme correspondences, spoken and sight vocabulary, conventions of print text organisation and English grammar to support their reading.
Students create short written texts made up of simple sentences. They learn to express their ideas using familiar vocabulary, and modelled structures and features of other texts. They incorporate basic conventions such as headings and paragraphs to increase the fluency of their texts. They learn how to use digital technologies to support and present their written work.

Level description – Level C1

<html><head></head><body>Students communicate simply but effectively in English, in social and classroom contexts across the curriculum. They negotiate meaning and interact with others using formulaic language; short, simple and well-rehearsed grammatical features; and creative adaptations of their English repertoire. They use some stress and intonation appropriately in familiar interactions. They use subject–verb–object utterances, basic prepositions and some common regular and irregular verbs. They understand and use introduced vocabulary, common basic grammatical patterns and connectives such as time and sequence markers with varying grammatical accuracy to express ideas and preferences, and to provide simple explanations and descriptions. They understand simple instructions and questions, descriptions or explanations in familiar contexts and topics related to their prior knowledge and experience. They use some basic strategies to initiate and sustain conversations, including repeating or re-pronouncing as necessary.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read and comprehend a range of short, simple, familiar information or fictional texts developed by the teacher. These texts may be print or digital, including handwritten, visual, multimodal and interactive texts.
Students understand a range of basic print instructions and questions in context. They discuss texts at a literal level and show some inferential understanding. They demonstrate an understanding of basic text structure, reading for different purposes, and they use titles and chapter headings to make predictions about texts. They combine their developing knowledge of English phoneme–grapheme correspondences, their developing oral and sight vocabulary, their beginning knowledge of the conventions of print text organisation in English and their emerging knowledge of English grammar to read unfamiliar texts with support. They read some common letter combinations and make logical attempts at reading unfamiliar words. They use appropriate stress, intonation and phrasing when reading known texts aloud, showing an understanding of the function of basic punctuation.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students write for a range of basic classroom and personal purposes, including making lists and writing simple journal entries, notes, descriptions, recounts of events and instructional texts. They write simple sentences and short texts that are based on well-practised spoken English and familiar contexts. They write with varying grammatical accuracy, expressing themselves using familiar vocabulary and modelled structures and features. They order and sequence sentences about familiar topics into simple coherent texts, incorporating basic conventions such as headings and paragraphs. They correct some grammatical errors and rework drafts in response to the teacher’s suggestions. With support, they plan their texts and provide some additional information through visual texts. They use a range of strategies for finding and spelling words, using spelling patterns and checking resources. They use digital tools to write and present their texts.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level C2, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level C2

Content descriptions – Level C2

The Level C2 curriculum supports students who have already had 1 to 2 years of age-appropriate formal instruction in the basics of English language and literacy, and some exposure to home language literacy, to enhance their knowledge, understanding and skills in English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students learn to initiate and negotiate topics when speaking in English, in a range of contexts. A focus on pronunciation, stress and intonation extends students’ spoken skills. In addition, they learn about ways to use paralinguistic (non-verbal) cues to support meaning.
Students explore a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They learn to identify the main ideas in texts, and can paraphrase their understanding in spoken English. They learn strategies that help them to read unfamiliar texts and deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words, including using bilingual dictionaries to check or confirm meanings. They begin to explore basic texts and identify different reading purposes.
Students write for a range of purposes on different topics. They learn to organise their ideas and use simple sentence structures. They incorporate basic punctuation into their writing to increase the fluency of their texts. They use digital technologies to support, edit and present their written work.

Level description – Level C2

<html><head></head><body>Students use simple strategies for initiating communication and negotiating meaning. They communicate effectively in a range of familiar social and some basic academic contexts, experimenting with and adapting their developing English and cultural understanding. With support in academic contexts, they extract some specific information from texts and understand teacher explanations involving familiar, specific curriculum area vocabulary. With support, they use some increasingly complex grammatical features, and a basic range of connectives such as time and sequence markers, to show relationships between ideas. They use some conventional expressions to express views and attitudes. They demonstrate some understanding of the structures and features of extended texts by using appropriate stress, intonation, pauses and eye contact, and modelled introductory and concluding sentences.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students read and comprehend a range of short, familiar fictional and information print and digital texts and, when well supported, some unfamiliar texts. These texts include handwritten, visual, multimodal and interactive texts.
Students demonstrate comprehension beyond the literal level, by suggesting appropriate interpretations and identifying basic cultural variables where evident. They use headings and diagrams to assist in reading texts from all the curriculum areas and for a range of purposes. They extract the main ideas from information texts. They show awareness of how some connectives link and sequence ideas within a text. They read and consider the context when deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words. They read aloud with a degree of fluency, and draw on their understanding of the text to use stress and intonation with increasing accuracy. They use their developing knowledge of sentence structure and phoneme–grapheme correspondences to read unfamiliar words and self-correct. They select basic texts appropriate for specific reading purposes.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students write for a range of everyday classroom and personal purposes, such as describing, explaining and recounting. They independently write some basic texts and experiment with presenting their own ideas. Their texts show varying spelling and grammatical accuracy. They incorporate emerging vocabulary, punctuation and grammatical features to achieve desired effects. They use an increasing range of simple connectives to indicate basic relationships within and between sentences and paragraphs. They choose appropriate text structures and use headings, tables and images. They use simple model texts as a basis for their own texts. They use strategies to organise information in supported research tasks. With teacher support and feedback, they review, redraft and improve their writing by discussing alternative ways of arranging and expressing ideas. They use a range of digital resources to write, edit and publish their texts.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level C3, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level C3

Content descriptions – Level C3

The Level C3 curriculum supports students with 2 to 3 years of age-appropriate formal instruction in English language and literacy, and some exposure to home language(s) literacy, to expand their knowledge, understanding and skills in English. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students learn to listen, question and respond in English in a wide range of contexts. They participate in a variety of listening and speaking opportunities and develop their control of stress, rhythm and intonation during one-on-one conversations. They move beyond the literal understanding of language and start to comprehend how some abstract information is articulated in English.
Students explore a wide range of familiar and unfamiliar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They learn to identify the main ideas in texts and can paraphrase their understanding in spoken English. They develop strategies that help them to read unfamiliar texts and deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words, including using bilingual dictionaries to confirm meanings and to check and extend their vocabulary. Students explore basic texts and identify different reading purposes and ways in which the structures and features of texts contribute to meaning.
Students write with a degree of autonomy for a wide range of purposes and contexts. They write independently about personal experiences and experiment with the presentation of their ideas. They learn to plan, draft, revise and edit their writing independently, as well as use increasingly advanced digital resources to create texts that are more detailed, cohesive and sequential.

Level description – Level C3

<html><head></head><body>Students listen, question and respond successfully in a wide range of social and academic contexts. They demonstrate sufficient control of stress, rhythm and intonation to be understood in most contexts. They use appropriate non-verbal language, take account of purpose and audience, and structure extended texts appropriately when participating in group debates and discussions. They discuss texts from across the curriculum using modelled examples in supportive classroom situations and structured group work. With varying accuracy, they use a range of question types, time signals, conjunctions and modal verbs to express points of view and to give and justify opinions. They interpret spoken and print texts and, with support, understand the full text. They listen for specific information when questions are given beforehand. They understand small amounts of abstract and generalised information when appropriate background is provided.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students demonstrate a basic understanding of the main ideas, issues or plot developments in a range of print and digital texts across all curriculum areas. These texts include handwritten, visual, multimodal and interactive texts. Students demonstrate a basic understanding of the different purposes and structures of a range of text types and can make predictions about the likely content of texts. They identify the structure of imaginative texts they read, and the role of headings, diagrams and captions in information texts. They follow meaning across sentences and paragraphs by tracking basic cohesive and reference items, and clearly expressed cues in sentence structure and vocabulary. They use appropriate metalanguage to talk about the structure and features of a text. They adjust their rate of reading to a task, reading closely for analysis, scanning for specific information and skimming for the main idea. They use their knowledge of phoneme–grapheme correspondences and cues from surrounding text to assist in reading unfamiliar words.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Through guided activities, students write texts based on an extensive range of fictional and information text types across all curriculum areas, showing an awareness of purpose and audience. They consistently use the basic structures of these text types, and demonstrate consistent but not complete control of the English grammar appropriate to these. They demonstrate some control of passive voice, a range of tenses and direct speech. They produce paragraphs with topic sentences and incorporate some cohesive devices to make links and contrasts between and within paragraphs through a range of conjunctions, connectives and pronoun references. When planning, writing, reviewing and redrafting, they pay some attention to whole-text, sentence and word-level issues, including punctuation. They use a range of strategies when spelling unfamiliar words. They present their writing appropriately, in print and digital forms.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>By the end of Level C4, students demonstrate the following skills in English as an Additional Language.</body></html>

Achievement standard – Level C4

Content descriptions – Level C4

The Level C4 curriculum supports students who have had 3 to 4 years of age-appropriate formal instruction in English language and literacy, and extended exposure to home language literacy, to expand their knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to English to make them more autonomous users of language. Through structured immersion in English and the use of plurilingual and cultural strategies, students learn to use their expanding vocabulary and knowledge of a wide range of grammatical features to engage in increasingly complex exchanges in English. They participate in a variety of listening and speaking opportunities and develop their control of stress, rhythm and intonation during verbal interactions. They move beyond the literal understanding of language and comprehend how some abstract information is articulated in English.
Students explore a variety of familiar and unfamiliar print and digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive texts. They learn strategies that help them to read unfamiliar texts and to deduce meanings of unfamiliar words, including using bilingual dictionaries to crosscheck meaning in their home language(s) and English. They begin to extract information from complex texts by learning how to identify key ideas. They participate in language analysis and evaluation of increasingly complex texts.
Students write with autonomy for a range of purposes. They are encouraged to develop their capacity to extend and connect their ideas and write sustained information and fictional texts. In response to feedback and self-assessment, they learn to draft and edit their writing to enhance fluency, clarity, accuracy and appropriateness for purpose, audience and context. They learn to present their writing in a range of print and digital forms.

Level description – Level C4

<html><head></head><body>Students demonstrate greater autonomy and control over their use of English, combining their expanding vocabulary with the appropriate use of a wide range of complex grammatical features including modal verbs, passive voice and tenses. They demonstrate understanding of the ways in which pauses, stress, rhythm and intonation help to clarify meaning. They speak clearly and pronounce most sounds correctly. They take part in extended discourse on factual and interpersonal topics using an appropriate modelled structure, and respond appropriately to listeners’ reactions. They deliver formal and informal presentations to an audience. They identify the intention of supportive speakers, using their knowledge of how intonation, volume, stress and lexical choices support and convey meaning and emphasise opinions and emotions. They identify examples of relatively explicit subjective language. They extract information from challenging spoken texts, using guide questions and taking notes on key ideas.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students compare and make judgements about different texts (such as texts on the same topic by different authors) and 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, including handwritten, visual, multimodal and interactive texts.
Students take notes that identify main ideas, issues and plot developments. They identify supporting information to justify a response, including significant quotations that relate to key themes. They understand the main meaning by focusing on the first lines of key paragraphs. They adjust their reading style to a task. They locate and organise information from a range of reference sources, including the internet, and begin to synthesise and make meaning from increasingly complex texts. They identify reference items across complex sentences. They predict the way a text may be organised and its likely language features. With more difficult texts, they identify a few specific facts and the basic perspective of the writer.</body></html>

<html><head></head><body>Students write, with appropriate support, the full range of extended imaginative and information text types undertaken across the curriculum. With support, they vary their writing to be consistent with the text type, the context and the needs of the reader, presenting similar content in different ways. They demonstrate reasonably consistent control of a wide range of grammatical features, including spelling. They incorporate direct and indirect speech, including quotations, appropriately. They employ an extended range of appropriate cohesive devices between sentences and paragraphs, retaining clarity and fluency. They use some abstract noun groups. In response to feedback and self-assessment, they review and redraft their writing to enhance fluency, clarity, accuracy and appropriateness for purpose, audience and context. They plan, draft, edit and present their writing in a range of print and digital forms, as appropriate.</body></html>

Introduction

Curriculum

Scope and sequence

Resources

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