028992 Shaping Meaningful Worlds: Language Texts and Context

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

Description

This subject aims to develop student capacity to use language appropriately, imaginatively and precisely for a diverse range of purposes, contexts and audiences. The subject emphasises writing for different purposes and audiences, and provides opportunities for students to respond to and compose a wide array of texts with increasing confidence, capability and enjoyment. The subject develops student knowledge, skills and understanding about composing short and extended texts for different purposes, drawing attention to developing effective structures and language, including the effective flow of ideas, paragraphing, sentence construction and vocabulary. Students also read, view and discuss texts to identify, analyse and evaluate purposes, forms and features to further assist in their composition of texts. The subject also requires students to develop their skills in listening, speaking, viewing and representing through their engagement with texts and each other.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

• Operate professionally in a range of educational settings, with particular emphasis on their specialisation (GTS 1, 2) (1.1)
• Make judgements about their own learning and identify and organise their continuing professional development (GTS 3, 6) (1.3)
• Act as a developer of learning with colleagues and possess collaborative skills (GTS 7) (1.4)
• Analyse and synthesise research and engage in inquiry (GTS 3) (2.1)
• Make well-informed contributions to contemporary debates pertinent to education (GTS 3) (2.2)
• Communicate effectively using diverse modes and technologies (GTS 2, 3, 4) (6.1)
• Exhibit high-level numeracy and literacies (GTS 2) (6.2)

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

This subject addresses the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:

1. Professional Readiness
1.1 Operate professionally in a range of educational settings, with particular emphasis on their specialisation (GTS 1, 2)
1.2 Design and conduct effective learning activities, assess and evaluate learning outcomes and create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments (GTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
1.3 Make judgements about their own learning and identify and organize their continuing professional development (GTS 3, 6)
1.4 Act as a developer of learning with colleagues and possess collaborative skills (GTS 7)

2. Critical and Creative Inquiry
2.1 Analyse and synthesise research and engage in inquiry (GTS 3)

3. International and Intercultural Engagement
3.1 Respond critically to national and global changes that affect learners, learning and the creation of a well-informed society (GTS 3)

6. Effective Communication
6.2 Exhibit high level numeracy and literacies (GTS 2)

Teaching and learning strategies

Face-to-face classes will incorporate a range of teaching and learning strategies including short presentations, videos, simulations, discussion of readings and student groupwork. Independent student reading, writing and reflection will complement these strategies. Students will be be expected to demonstrate high levels of active and collaborative interaction and independent research into examples of writing appropriate for their own learning and relevant to the subject.

Content (topics)

This subject will focus on different types of writing including analytical, imaginative and interpretive writing. Students will learn about constructing effective written arguments; developing and integrating poetic language into imaginative and analytical writing; developing effective writing habits; building confidence through reflecting on their reading and writing practices and planning for future projects; appropriate aspects of grammar, punctuation and spelling. The subject will involve reading and viewing a range of fiction and non-fiction print medium, visual, multimedia and digital texts in order to strengthen and extend students’ ‘language resources’.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: The Writing Continuum: Narrative (your short story)

Assessment task 2: Classroom resource (video)

Assessment task 3: Video Transcript

Required texts

Whitla, W. (2010). The English Handbook. A Guide to Literary Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

Recommended texts

Ashton, P, Clark, A. & Crawford, R. (2016) Once Upon a Time: Australian Writers On Using The Past. Australian Scholarly Publishing.

Barry, P. (1995). Beginning Theory. An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press.

Harper Collins. (2009). Improve Your Writing. Learn the skills, master the language. HarperCollins.

Jose, N. (Ed.). (2009). Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. Allen & Unwin.

May, S. (2014). Get Started in Creative Writing. Hodder & Stoughton.

Whitla, W. (2010). The English Handbook. A Guide to Literary Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

References

Arana. M. (Ed.) (2003). The Writing Life. Writers on How They Think and Work. Public Affairs.

Bane, R. (2010). The Writer’s Brain: What Neurology Tells Us about Teaching Creative Writing. Creative Writing: Teaching Theory & Practice, 2:1, 41-50.

Chatman, S. (1978). Story and Discourse. Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Cornell University Press.

Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. National Academy of Sciences: Washington DC.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creatvity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. Harper Perennial.

Grenville, K. (2001). Writing from Start to Finish. A Six-Step Guide. Allen & Unwin.

Halpin, D. (2011). Hazlitt’s contrariness and familiar prose style: lessons on how to be critical. The London Review of Education, 9:3, 1-14.

Iser, W. (1974). The Implied Reader. Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Hamp-Lyons, L. & Heasley, B. (2006). Study Writing: A Course in Written English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge University Press.

Lohrey, A. (2014). The Best Australian Stories 2014. Black Inc.

McDonald, L. (2018). A Literature Companion for Teachers. 2nd edition, PETAA.

Morrison, B. (2013). The Rise of Creative Writing Programmes. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, 20:1, 23-28.

Okri, B. (1992). Of Poets and their Antagonists. Bradbury, M. & Cook, J. (Ed.). New Writing. Minerva.

Pullinger, D & Whitely, D. (2013). Sounding Sense: The Place, Problems and Potential of Performance in Poetry. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, 20:2, 160-173.

Sarup, M. (1992). Jacques Lacan. Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Saunders, L. (2012). Silences and silence in ‘creativity’. London Review of Education, 10:2, 215-225.

Stephens, J. (1992). The Reading Signs. Sense and Significance in Written Texts. Kangaroo Press.

Thomson, L. (2013). Learning to Teach Creative Writing. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, 20:1, 45-52.

Winch, G. (2013). The Grammar Handbook. Oxford University Press.