vcaa history essay rubric

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History Essay VCAA: Guidelines for Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

Navigating the vcaa history essay: a comprehensive guide.

The VCAA History Essay is a significant component of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) History curriculum. Mastering this essay type requires careful planning, research, and effective writing. This guide will provide you with insights into the key aspects of the VCAA History Essay, helping you achieve success in your assessment.

Understanding the Requirements

The VCAA History Essay is a demanding task that requires you to demonstrate a deep understanding of historical events, concepts, and perspectives. Here are the key elements to consider:

1. The Essay Prompt

The essay prompt will provide the focus for your essay. It will typically outline a specific historical event, period, or theme. You must analyze the prompt carefully, identifying the key concepts, historical context, and the specific aspects you are expected to address.

2. Historical Evidence

Your essay must be grounded in historical evidence. This can include primary sources (original documents, artifacts, and eyewitness accounts) and secondary sources (books, articles, and scholarly interpretations). It's crucial to use a variety of reliable sources to support your arguments.

3. Historical Arguments

The VCAA History Essay encourages you to develop and present your own historical arguments. You should present a clear thesis statement that outlines your main argument. Use evidence to support your points and engage with opposing viewpoints, demonstrating a nuanced understanding of the historical context.

4. Structure and Organization

A well-structured essay is essential for clarity and coherence. The essay should have a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each paragraph should focus on a specific point, logically connecting to the main argument.

5. Writing Style

Your essay should be written in a clear, concise, and academic style. Avoid informal language, slang, and personal opinions. Use precise language and cite your sources appropriately.

Tips for Success

To excel in your VCAA History Essay, follow these essential tips:

1. Start Early and Plan Well

Begin your essay early to allow ample time for research, planning, and writing. Break down the task into smaller steps, such as choosing a topic, conducting research, and drafting outlines.

2. Conduct Thorough Research

Gather a comprehensive range of historical evidence from both primary and secondary sources. Explore different perspectives, analyzing the strengths and limitations of each source.

3. Develop a Strong Thesis Statement

Formulate a clear thesis statement that directly addresses the essay prompt. Your thesis statement should be specific, debatable, and supported by historical evidence.

4. Structure Your Essay Logically

Organize your essay into distinct paragraphs, each focusing on a specific point. Use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph and ensure smooth transitions between ideas.

5. Cite Your Sources

Use footnotes or endnotes to accurately cite all sources used in your essay. This ensures academic integrity and allows readers to verify your information.

6. Proofread Carefully

Before submitting your essay, carefully proofread for any errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Ensure your writing is clear, concise, and easy to understand.

The VCAA History Essay is a challenging yet rewarding assessment that allows you to explore and analyze historical events in depth. By following these guidelines and tips, you can effectively navigate the requirements and achieve success in your essay.

History Essay, VCAA, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, history essay vcaa, Guide, Essay Writing, Historical Research, Evidence, Arguments, Structure, Organization, Tips, Success

Unit 1: Change & Conflict

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Preparation sheet, practice source analysis, skills continuum, unit 2: the changing world order.

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The Ultimate Guide to VCE Literature

February 11, 2023

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Updated for the new 2023-2027 Study Design!

AoS 1: Adaptations and Transformations

Aos 2: developing interpretations.

• AoS 1: Creative Responses to Texts

AoS 2: Close Analysis

This is your ultimate guide to everything you need to know to get started with VCE Literature. We will be covering all the sections within Units 3 and 4, and have included resources that will help improve your skills and make you stand out from the rest of your cohort!

Scope of Study

Here's what the VCAA study design states...

'The study of VCE Literature fosters students’ enjoyment and appreciation of the artistic and aesthetic merits of stories and storytelling, and enables students to participate more fully in the cultural conversations that take place around them. By reading and exploring a diverse range of established and emerging literary works, students become increasingly empowered to discuss texts. As both readers and writers, students extend their creativity and high-order thinking to express and develop their critical and creative voices.'

'Throughout this study, students deepen their awareness of the historical, social and cultural influences that shape texts and their understanding of themselves as readers. Students expand their frameworks for exploring literature by considering literary forms and features, engaging with language, and refining their insight into authorial choices. Students immerse themselves in challenging fiction and non-fiction texts , discovering and experimenting with a variety of interpretations in order to develop their own responses.'

...but don't worry if the above is vague, we'll take you through exactly what you need to know for Year 12 Literature! Let's get into it! ‍ ‍

In Unit 3, students consider how meaning is created through form, and how different interpretations may be developed out of a singular text. First, students understand how writers adapt and transform texts, and how their interpretation of the text impacts this transformation into a different form. Secondly, students use another text to develop their own interpretations of a text with regard to its context , and views and values . Unit 3 School-Assessed Coursework is worth 25 per cent of your total study score!

This task is designed for you to critically analyse and actively engage with the text, understanding its nuances inside and out in order to decipher its meaning. Be individual in comparing and contrasting the two texts – avoid the obvious similarities/differences everyone in your class will also notice. It is the insightful analysis of the subtleties of how meaning is altered that will help you stand out!

Here are some important aspects to consider and questions to ask yourself while tackling this SAC:

• Identify the unique conventions in the construction of the original text
• Now do Step 1 with the adapted/transformed text
• How do the two text forms differ ? How are they the same ? The most crucial step is what meaning can be derived from the similarities and differences? How does the meaning change? ‍
• Note additions and omissions (and even silences) ‍
• Historical context and setting ‍
• How does the change in form impact you as the reader/viewer ?
• Incorporate pertinent quotations from both forms of text to substantiate and support your ideas and key points.

Most importantly, share your original interpretation of what meaning and significance you can extract from the text, and how you believe it changes once the form alters.

Also ask yourself these questions:

• ‍ What makes the text in its original form interesting or unique?

Is that quality captured in its adaptation/transformation?

‍ For more detailed explanations on these 7 aspects, you might want to check out Adaptations and Transformations Lit SAC: A How To Guide.

Developing interpretations is an AoS that focuses on investigating the meaning and messages in texts, as evidenced by the text itself, it’s author and their context . As per the study design:

'Students first develop their own interpretations of a set text, analysing how ideas, views and values are presented in a text, and the ways these are endorsed, challenged and/or marginalised through literary forms, features and language. These student interpretations should consider the historical, social and cultural context in which a text is written and set. Students also consider their own views and values as readers.'

Following this, you investigate a supplementary reading which will offer another interpretation of the text, which may enrich or challenge your interpretation by agreeing or disagreeing with your interpretation. Using this supplementary reading, you reconsider your initial interpretation and apply your new understanding of the text to key moments. 

The SAC for Developing Interpretations is a little bit weird. It’s worth 50% of unit 3 (or 25% of your total study score), but is split into two parts:

Part A: An initial interpretation of the text’s views and values within its historical, social and cultural context.

Part B: A written response that compares/interweaves and analyses an initial interpretation with a subsequent interpretation, using a key moment from the text.

Your teacher might do the two parts together, or separately. In any case, Part B will include the use of a passage from the set text that you must engage with. How does the passage help you to interpret the text, and how does that interpretation agree or disagree with the interpretation presented in the supplementary reading? 

The most difficult part of the SAC for this AoS is balancing your interpretation, the textual evidence, and the alternative interpretation of the supplementary reading. It is vital that if you are doing Literature this year, that you know your 3.2 text like the back of your hand, and that you practice writing loads and loads. It is also worth trying to make your interpretation incredibly specific, so that you can go in-depth into one idea, rather than simply skimming over 3 or 4 big ideas. 

For more on Developing Interpretations, you might want to check out VCE Literature Study Design (2023-2027): A Guide to Developing Interpretations which explains in detail what the new AoS is about and what you need to do.

And, if you're studying Alias Grace you'll find our Developing Interpretations SAC Guide on interpreting Alias Grace especially helpful.

‍ Unit 4: Interpreting Texts

Aos 1: creative response & reflective commentary.

The most important part of this task is that you must have a highly convincing connection between the original text and your creative response .

There must be a tangible relationship present, through an in-depth understanding of the original text’s features. These features include characterisation (what motivates these characters), setting, context, narrative structure, tone and writing/film style.

You can establish this relationship by: ‍

• Adopting or resisting the same genre as the original text
• Adopting or resisting the author’s writing/language style
• Adopting or resisting the text’s point of view
• Adopting or resisting the original setting, narrative structure or tone
• Writing through a peripheral character’s perspective
• Developing a prologue, epilogue or another chapter/scene
• Rewriting a key event/scene from another character’s point of view: Does this highlight how important narrative perspective is?
• Recontextualising the original text

For detailed explanations on how to establish these relationships, read "Creative Response To Text" Ideas .

The VCAA Literature Study Design also determines that students must submit a ‘close analysis of a key passage’. This aspect of the assessment counts for 20 of the 60 marks available for the Create Response outcome. The study design elaborates that students must produce:

‘A close analysis of a key passage from the original text, which includes reflections on connections between the creative response and the original text.’

In short, VCAA wants you to not only analyse the original text and use it as the basis for your Creative Response, they want you to be able to closely analyse a section of the original text, and link it to and reflect upon your creative response. This is different from previous years and the same task in English, the Reflective Commentary. You must use the skills of close analysis in this task. To include these things, look to the key knowledge and skills outlined in the study design. 

Key Knowledge:

• Understanding of the point of view, context and form of the original text
• The ways the literary form, features and language convey the ideas of the original text
• Techniques used to create, recreate or adapt a text and how they represent particular views and values

Key Skills:

• Discuss elements of construction, context, point of view and form particular to the text, and apply understanding of these in a creative response
• Analyse closely the literary form, features and language of a text
• Reflect on how language choices and literary features from the original text are used in their adaptation

As you write, ensure you are discussing how the author uses point of view, context, form, elements of construction and stylistic features in their text. It is imperative that you describe how you have similarly used such device in your creative response. Ensure that you also discuss how you are involving the ideas and themes of the text in your creative piece, and how you are discussing them further, or exploring them in greater depth. Obviously only talk about those that are relevant to your creative response!

To read a sample Reflective Commentary, check out Elly's blog post on how to Score 10/10 On The Reflective Commentary ‍

From the VCAA study design:

'In this area of study students focus on a detailed scrutiny of the language, style, concerns and construction of texts. Students attend closely to textual details to examine the ways specific passages in a text contribute to their overall understanding of the whole text. Students consider literary forms, features and language, and the views and values of the text. They write expressively to develop a close analysis, using detailed references to the text.'

In plain words, your teacher (and eventually examiner in the end of year exam) will give you 3 passages from your text. You'll be asked to read each of these passages, identify key ideas or themes present in each of the passages, and write an essay in response.

Writing the Introduction

Introductions are an excellent way to showcase your ability to provide an insight into your personal “reading” of the text, interpret the passages and allow you an avenue through which to begin your discussion of the material.

When constructing introductions, it is important to note that the VCAA Literature Exam Criteria is as follows: ‍

Understanding of the text demonstrated in a relevant and plausible interpretation

Ability to write expressively and coherently to present an interpretation

Understanding of how views and values may be suggested in the text

Analysis of how key passages and/or moments in the text contribute to an interpretation

Analysis of the features of a text and how they contribute to an interpretation

Analysis and close reading of textual details to support a coherent and detailed interpretation of the text

• Considering these points, your introduction should feature these 2 elements: your personal reading of the text and your interpretation of the passages.
• In terms of structure, try to begin with a sentence or two explaining your personal reading of the text. The key to doing so in a manner befitting Close Analysis however, is to utilise quotes from the passages to supplement your assertion.

Head over to Jarrod's blog to read a sample introduction: VCE Literature Close Analysis: Introduction ‍ ‍

Extra Resources

Views and Values

VCE Literature Essay Approaches - Not a Language Analysis

What is Authorial Intent in VCE English and Why Is It Important?

The Importance of Context in Literature ‍

Study Techniques: How To Approach a Text That You Hate

Why Genre Matters in VCE Literature: An Analysis of Dracula

Developing Interpretations SAC Guide: Interpreting Alias Grace

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Now quite sure how to nail your text response essays? Then download our free mini-guide, where we break down the art of writing the perfect text-response essay into three comprehensive steps. Click below to get your own copy today!

Access a FREE sample of our Literature study guide

• Focused on Developing Interpretations and Close Analysis , both of which you need for your exam
• Covering what it means to ‘interpret a text’, how to breakdown critical essays, different Close Analysis structures and more
• Includes sample A+ essays with EVERY essay annotated and broken down on HOW and WHY past authors achieved A+
• Essays written by multiple authors all scoring 40+ so you can learn different strategies and implement the advice that resonates with you most

How Genre Works

We’re not supposed to judge a book based on its cover, but for some reason, we just can’t help it. Sure, we may not be able to tell if we’re going to enjoy the book, nor can we tell what exactly it’s about, but we can tell the tone, set our expectations, and most importantly, guess at the genre. Look at these three book covers and note how they perfectly show their genres - Sci-Fi, Horror and Life Drama, respectively. 

Genre is a way of categorising media. We split books, film and music into genres in order to better talk about them and because humans have a strange desire to sort and categorise things. Within whatever medium, genres display certain structures, characters and tropes that audiences expect from that genre . Audiences like to be able to tell the genre of a text because it’s comfortable. If I go to see a superhero movie I expect wacky costumes, cliche dialogue and a final battle scene that the heroes win - were these expectations not to be met, I would likely be a little bit peeved off. 

But why should you care about genre in VCE Literature? It’s not on the study design?  

Well, not explicitly. In each AoS of the study design, you must engage with ‘the ways the literary forms, features and language of texts affect the making of meaning’ , and/or ‘the ideas of a text and the ways in which they are presented’ . Genres are a feature of texts and are one of the ways that a text will present its ideas. Horror is the most notable example of a genre that uses its tropes to send a message - It Follows is a horror where the monster stands in for sexually transmitted disease, Carrie uses horror to show the horrors of high school, Frankenstein is a criticism of those who would ‘play god’. In the Literature study design, the horror genre is represented by Bram Stoker’s 1897 masterpiece, Dracula.  

For an overview of the Literature study design, check out The Ultimate Guide to VCE Literature . 

Dracula + The Gothic

I invite you to think hard about the horror films you’ve seen and to try to place Dracula into our modern view of horror. It’s hard to put Stoker’s vampire on the same stage as the Babadook , Annabelle or even the ‘70s slasher craze. This gives us an incredible opportunity to consider how audiences engaged and continue to engage with genres. In order to analyse genre, it is essential to recognise what the audience’s expectations were of a genre, and how the author has utilised those expectations for their own ends. Let’s consider Dracula in context .

‍ Dracula is a horror novel. But, we usually don’t think about those uptight Victorians reading texts that were designed expressly to scare. The Victorian era was actually one of the golden ages of horror literature though. But, it is distinctly different from our modern understandings of horror as defined by trailblazers like Stephen King. So, why is it different? It is here we must consider the sub-genre. If you have read anything about Dracula , you’ll note that it is referred to as a ‘gothic horror’ . The gothic genre of literature encapsulates some of the 19th century and certainly the Victorian period’s (1837-1901) best literature. Dracula of course belongs to this group, but it blows up around 1818 with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein . Edgar Allen Poe, with his short stories and poetry, is widely lauded as the ‘Father of American Gothic’, with ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ published in 1839. Note the dates here. Stoker published Dracula in 1897, a good 79 years after Frankenstein began haunting readers. Which means he had an established and large genre to work with. So, how did Stoker use the gothic in Dracula?

Tropes of the Gothic

1) the gothic monster.

The vampire myth used by Stoker is turned into the quintessential gothic monster. Dracula existed in the Victorian mind alongside Frankestein’s monster, Mr. Hyde, and Poe’s mixture of humans made monstrous and surreal monsters like that in ‘The Masque of the Red Death’. The defining feature of the gothic monster is its role in the story as a representation of something wrong with society, whether it’s increasingly amoral medicinal science, human greed or perverted desire. 

2) The Creepy Castle

The creepy castle doesn’t have to be a castle. It can be a mansion, a university or the graveyards of London. The important thing is that the setting of the gothic novel should always be - by default - terrifying and evoke a sense of danger. You can never get comfortable in Dracula’s castle, nor in Seward’s asylum, and neither can the characters. 

3) Damsel/s in Distress

For sure an outdated trope, but a constant in the gothic. It’s a quick and simple way to show that the innocence of young women is threatened by a malignant force. In Dracula , look to Mina, Lucy and Mrs. Westenra. But what happens when the damsel saves herself?

4) Omens, Portents, Visions

Visions in dreams? Random wild animals escaping from ships? Ships docking with a completely dead crew? Random changes in the weather? You might be dealing with a gothic villain, or going mad. In either case, Renfield, Dracula, Mina and Jonothan all deal with portents and visions. 

And This Is Important Because…

Stoker has followed the predominant tropes of the gothic horror genre. Why is this important for our analysis of Dracula ? The ways in which authors use genre and other stylistic elements like form, voice or plot relate directly to their intentions. If we investigate the particular aspects of Stoker’s use of the gothic, we may better understand the views and values that he is promoting. For instance, let’s take Dracula as the gothic monster. Since the gothic monster is always a way to reflect society back onto itself, how is Stoker doing that? A feminist analysis might take Dracula as a reflection of sexual deviancy, which then ties into his constant threat towards women. A post-colonial analysis might question the foreignness of Dracula, and view him as a part of the intrusiveness of foreigners in English society. Either way, you’re touching on a view or value presented by Stoker, and tying it to an aspect of the gothic genre in a way that conveniently also touches on characterisation. 

Let’s complicate things a little more. The ‘Damsel in Distress’ trope is clearly evident in Dracula , but what view or value is Stoker commenting on by its inclusion? The simplest answer is that, by showing that women cannot save themselves, Stoker is saying that women are inherently weak and need to be saved by men. But this answer isn’t sufficient for a number of reasons. Firstly, what are the women weak to? Is it a physical mismatch between the women and Dracula, keeping in mind that Dracula is also stronger than the novel’s men? Or is it a symbolic weakness to some aspect of Dracula’s character, be it sexuality or magic? Secondly, and more importantly, are all the women victimised by Dracula the same? Well, obviously not. 

It could very well be argued that Stoker is subverting the ‘Damsel in Distress’ trope by actually giving us a woman who is able to be her own saviour (which is actually becoming a trope in itself nowadays!). The dichotomy between Lucy and Mina is a crucial aspect of the text, and the way that Mina’s character doesn’t quite fit into the ‘Damsel in Distress’ archetype is a major interpretative dilemma. By considering the genre tropes, Lucy is clearly a ‘Damsel in Distress’ who cannot save herself and is unduly victimised by Dracula. It can be argued that her implicit promiscuousness is punished through her murder, but in whatever case, she is distressed and must be saved. Mina, however, has an entirely different view of her distresses. Not only does Mina take on a caring role towards Jonothan - in which Jonothan becomes a ‘Master in Distress’ - she actively supports the attempts to save her and kill Dracula. By compiling the journals, letters and newspaper clippings into the epistolary that we the audience are reading, and using herself as a window into Dracula’s mind through their psychic connection, Mina proves to be a means by which to save herself from her distress. So, the question of what Stoker actually thinks about women is still quite open: Lucy is seemingly punished for her character flaws, which indicates a misogynist view of women’s sexuality, but Mina is praised for her use of masculine qualities like leadership and stoicism. Is Stoker saying women should be more masculine? Less masculine and more traditionally feminine? This entire discussion revolves around how and why the ‘Damsel in Distress’ trope is being followed or subverted. 

Using Genre in VCE

Whilst a genre-based analysis (or a structural analysis) can be a fantastic way to open up discussion and leads to important questions about views and values , the way I have presented it may appear to be another useless and long-winded thing you have to try to shove into an essay when you already have to balance so much in Literature! Fear not, because there are a couple of really easy ways to fit genre into essays without taking up loads of space.

Option one is to use a genre trope as the basis of a paragraph. If your essay contention is that…

‍ ‘Stoker presents the dangers of foreign immigration to England at the height of its colonial empire’

…then you can easily write a paragraph discussing that…

‍ ‘Stoker employs the gothic trope of a supernatural monster in Dracula, using this vampire as a stand-in for foreigners in England’.

This paragraph would discuss Dracula’s characterisation, and the settings of Transylvania and London, whilst investigating Stoker’s views on England’s colonialism and race. In a Developing Interpretations or Close Analysis essay, you’ve just touched on several key criteria, including the author’s views and values , your own credible interpretation of the text and how the text presents its messaging (through characterisation and setting). You can do all these things without mentioning genre, but by explicitly using the language of genre analysis you are likely separating yourself from the student next to you - who had a similar idea but described it in a less interesting way. This is the utility of understanding genre, it gives you the words and concepts necessary to improve your writing and interpretation. The ‘Gothic monster’ is an easy way to describe an otherwise GIANT concept.

Another way is to add it to other analyses in passing. Instead of saying “ Dracula presents Lucy and Mina as foils to demonstrate the ways in which modern women’s promiscuity is ultimately harmful”, you can say “the presentation of Lucy and Mina as two ‘damsels in distress’ in dichotomy with each other demonstrates the differing ways in which Victorian women could doom or save themselves” . The latter sentence has not significantly changed the content of the first, still referring to the women’s opposition to each other, but by phrasing it with ‘damsels in distress’ I leave open the possibility of discussing not just Lucy’s promiscuity, but also Mina’s conservative womanhood. 

Finally, you need not even mention genre or its tropes in the essay, just use it as a thinking tool. If you go back through the previous section of this blog, you’ll see just how many questions I am asking about the tropes and ideas I am discussing. By using the trope as a jumping-off point for a series of questions, I can develop a nuanced understanding of multiple views and values and the ways in which they interconnect. Take a trope like the ‘creepy castle’ and ask:

“Why would Stoker put Dracula manor in the text?”

“Because it sets up the ‘otherness’ of Dracula.”

“Why do we need to know that Dracula is the other?” 

“Because he represents a supernatural foreignness that we need to be scared of.”

“Okay, but why is it right at the start, why is it from Jonothan’s perspective?” 

All of these questions offer ways of breaking down the text and they will naturally lead to questions about structure, characterisation and views and values. In doing this, you can start to come up with ways to turn those questions, or the order of those questions into an essay structure. Moreso, this type of questioning is what your teacher, tutors and top-tier Literature students are doing. It is a constant process of asking, answering, reconsidering, reasking and synthesising. And genre is an easy way to start the process. 

If you’ve been studying John Donne’s metaphysical poetry, you’ve probably noticed that his works are riddled with different symbols and motifs. Embedded throughout his poetry, these literary devices may seem slightly abstruse to the reader. You may find yourself asking: What do they mean? And in relation to what? Even Donne’s contemporaries failed to appreciate his poetry. The neoclassical poet John Dryden rejected Donne’s works because it “affects the metaphysics” and “perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts, and entertain them with the softnesses of love”.

One thing that you should understand about Donne’s romantic poetry, is that while his stark images of compasses and spheres may seem foreign to you, they were also alien to his predecessors too. So, if you’re struggling to comprehend his enigmatic poetry, not to fear! Because John Donne’s poetic peers didn’t initially get it either.

The reason for this is because Donne refused to conform to the poetic conventions of the time. The poet emerged as an idiosyncratic in the Elizabethan era, the Renaissance. Unlike his contemporaries, he didn’t employ elaborate descriptions of symbol natural landscapes, classical myths and female beauty. The reason for this was because Donne did not believe in the one-sided love and emotional frustrations that his contemporaries tried so hard to convey in such imagery.

Donne’s poetry was so different because he rejected and even openly mocked the idea of such a high-minded religious worship in literary romance. In “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” Donne criticises the “tear-floods” and “sigh-tempests” of the “dull sublunary lovers.”. In a similar vein, Donne satirises the “sighs” and “tears” (The Canonisation) so prevalent in Petrarchan works.

Instead, Donne advocated for a different kind of love. He espoused a love that comprised of the Body and the Soul, which was a dominant intellectual issue in the literary treatment of love in the 1590s. More specifically, Donne embraced the balance between Platonic love and the Ovidian love.

Platonic: Platonic love is essentially love that surpasses the mere sensual and physical. It is a very spiritual concept and is based on reason, affection, respect, intellect and compatibility.

Ovidian: Ovidian love

The idea of balance derived from discoveries being made about the human body during the Elizabethan era. The Renaissance was fundamentally a time of discovery (particularly in the area of science). Elizabethans believed that elements in the body needed to be balanced,

Top Tip: When you’re analysing John Donne’s poetry and writing essays, be aware of Donne’s overarching message in his romantic poetry. Most explanations about his use transcendent relationship with his lover is thus determined by obtaining a balance between the spiritual and earthly pleasures. Most examination questions will leave room for to discuss the connection between the material and the divine world! Make sure to understand this, because this is a huge component to his poetry.

Imagine a friend tells you eerie accounts of her witnessing a ghostly presence in her home. You scoff and condescendingly humour her. But as her stories begin to manifest itself in her gaunt appearance, you alarmingly notice how she truly believes in the apparitions she recounts. You begin to doubt her sanity, you begin to doubt the certainty with which you dismissed her supernatural visions and now, you begin to doubt yourself. THE SUSPENSE BUILDS.

But let’s say this friend filmed the ghostly apparitions and showed them to you. Sure – the evidence of this ghost is frighteningly scary. But the suspense that was built in the doubt, uncertainty and ambiguity of your friend’s tale is now lost. The ghosts caught in film acts as another eyewitness and another medium to validate your friend’s narrative. Your friend is no longer the only person who sees these ghosts, shattering all doubt within you of the ghost’s existence. THE SUSPENSE – is gone.

Notice how the form and genre of the spoken word in the first example was meaningful in its the effect on the reader? But when the form changed to a film, the meaningful suspense and ambiguity that was unique and crucial in the original text,  changed , and was no longer as pronounced. Yes – the film itself may be terrifying. But the very doubt and suspense around not knowing if your friend was a lunatic for seeing ghosts or if she was telling the truth all contributes to the meaning derived from the form of the ‘text’ in an unreliable first person narrative. This is the crux of adaptations and transformations, and what you need to identify and analyse –  how the meaning is changed/altered when the form of the text is changed .

Here are 7 lucky tips for how to tackle the SAC:

• Identify the unique  conventions  in the construction of the original text – characterisation, genre, tone, style, structure, point of view/narration (or any devices employed in constructing the text e.g. cinematic devices in a film such as camera angles, framing, lighting, costumes, interior/exterior settings, sound)
• Now do step 1 with the adapted/transformed text
• How do the two text forms  differ ? How are they the  same ? However, be sure you do not simply compare and contrast. The most crucial step is what  meaning  can be derived from the similarities and differences?  How does the meaning change?
• Note  additions and omissions  (and even silences) – do they change how readers/viewers perceive the narrative and alter your opinions and perceptions of the text?
• Historical context and setting  – what significance does the context have on the narrative? Has the adaptation/transformation been re-contextualised? Does that alter the meaning of the original text?
• How does the change in form  impact you as the reader/viewer ? Analyse your own reactions and feelings towards each text form. Do you sympathise with a character more in the original text? How are we positioned to feel this way? Why do you lack the same level of sympathy for the adapted/transformed text?
• Incorporate pertinent  quotations  from both forms of text to substantiate and support your ideas and key points.

Final questions to ponder

Most importantly is to share your  original  interpretation of what meaning and significance you can extract from the text, and how  you believe  it changes once the form alters.

What makes the text in its original form interesting or unique?

As always with Literature, this task is designed for you to critically analyse and actively engage with the text, understanding its nuances inside and out in order to decipher its meaning. Be individual in comparing and contrasting the two texts – avoid the obvious similarities/differences everyone in your class will also notice. It is the insightful analysis of the  subtleties  of how  meaning is altered  that will help you stand out!

The idea of critical lenses in literary perspective essays can often be tough to fully grasp. Is sticking to just one ok? Are there enough examples in the text to support a purely feminist viewpoint? Or a Marxist one? What about post-colonialism? Sometimes it’s difficult to find a clear through line, especially when the concepts you’re attempting to discuss are so complex.

Luckily when it comes to Shakespearean texts, Twelfth Night in particular, a lot of people throughout history have already studied these ideas and critical lenses, and there are many more resources out there for you to utilize than you might think.

Thus, we are faced with the extremely helpful nature of published critical readings. These critical essays are pieces often published by university professors or scholars which offer an in-depth analysis and examination of a given text. While much of the language is complicated and a bit overwrought at times, the content within the essays can give you helpful ideas and can help you gather a repertoire of vocabulary and evidence for your own literary perspectives essay. In fact, if you type in “Twelfth Night critical readings” into your google search tab, there will be pages of valuable content at your disposal.

Literary perspectives

For instance, the critical essay Rethinking Sexuality and Class in Twelfth Night by Nancy Lindhiem, gives insight into both the Marxist and the queer lens.

Here is an extract from Lindhiem’s reading in which she discusses the idea of “androgyny” and sexuality (noted specifically in the bolded words):

“While Viola is barely male except in attire, the dual aspect of Sebastian’s androgyny is carefully explored. The Elizabethan audience’s first, external, impression – he looks like his sister! – is reinforced ‘internally’ in his conversation with Antonio. His exquisite sensitivity to the quality of his friend’s feelings and the obligation it lays upon him might well be seen as a woman’s trait. ”

After reading Lindhiem’s discussion of the “androgynous” twins within the play and how this displays a disparity between gender identity, this student then decided to expand on in a similar idea in a part of their paragraph below (queer lens). In the first part of the sentence, the student outlines the idea of androgyny (shown in bold) specific to the character of Viola. Later on, the student also explores the idea of different behaviours contributing to certain gender traits much like Lindhiem’s notation of it in the above paragraph (shown in bold in the last sentence), however concludes on a broader outline of sexuality as a whole, rather than focussing on just female traits.

Viola’s mediatory role between Olivia and Orsino’s households, coupled with her androgynous performance as a woman playing a man (adding further confusion to the Elizabethan stage convention of a male actors playing women on stage) evokes a form of genderbending and identity perplexity that pervades the play’s dramatic trajectory and opens up what is possible, if not overtly permissible, on a spectrum of sexuality.

Another way of making use of these critical readings is to draw from some of their sophisticated vocabulary. The following is an example of how a student was able to adjust and expand her vocabulary specific to their chosen lens by reading critical essays.

After studying a couple of feminist and queer critical essays to Twelfth Night , the student highlighted some repetitive language and terms used within the essays, and was able to use them within their own essay.

Casey Charles’ Theatre Journal exert Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night uses the phrasing

“ the phenomenon of love itself operates as a mechanism that destabilizes gender binarism and its concomitant hierarchies”.

The student went on to use the term gender binarism in one of her essay’s sentences:

In all, Twelfth Night delineates the true fluidity within gender binarisms as well as the way in which societal structures are enforced and reiterated…

Alternatively, the critical essay Gender Ambiguity and Desire in Twelfth Night by Maria Del Rosario Arias Doblas makes use of the terms “homoerotic” and “heterosexual” throughout its text - “homoeroticism residing in theatrical transvestitism… and homosexual allusions and so on pervade the play to create the “most highly intricate misunderstandings”’ - thus outlining the type of high-level language specific to a queer reading of the play that the student was able to implement in their own work:

In fact, Shakespeare oscillates between reinforcing patriarchal ideology and heterosexual language, and the deconstruction of such romantic ideals, simultaneously closeting and disclosing the queer possibilities typical to conservative societies that use violence to repress homosociality and police the safe expression of homosexual exploration within heterosexual norms.

As you can see, the student’s language is now specified to the type of lens they are using in their literary perspectives essay, and is also of a high register.

External or Contextual references

Another benefit of going through critical readings is the external or contextual references they make. An example of this is in Rethinking Sexuality and Class in Twelfth Night by Nancy Lindhiem, where the author makes reference to Narcissus, a character from Metamorphoses – a Latin narrative poem from 8 AD:

“For all the likelihood that both Olivia and Sebastian are seduced by a visual perception, we probably feel that Olivia succumbs mainly to Cesario’s way with words.9 Several critics have commented on the allusion to Ovid’s Echo in Cesario’s ‘babbling gossip of the air’ (1.5.277)”

Noticing this reference as a motif in many other critical readings too, this student decided to insert it into their own essay here:

These central relationships therefore reapply the idea of self-reflexivity while blurring the structured boundaries of identity stability, central to the Narcissus myth of which Echo from Ovid’s Metamorphosis forms a part ; “a very echo to the seat/ where love is throned” invokes a doubling motif, as well as the troubling foundation of representation over reality.

See how the student was able to discuss it in their own way? Referencing external texts in your literary perspectives essay can prove very useful if done once or twice, as it demonstrates that you are able to apply the values within the chosen text to wider elements of society and culture.

Getting started

One of the most efficient ways of going through these sorts of essays (which are often quite elaborate and at times difficult to understand fully) is to print them out, grab a highlighter and pen and skim through as much as possible. Highlight words, terms or phrases which spark your intrigue, or ones you feel you may be able to manipulate as evidence to support your own essay.

Overall, reading as many of these expert-written critical essays as possible can be extremely beneficial in developing a greater understanding of the critical lenses, the ideals and context of the Elizabethan theatre, and the way both dialogue and staging can be used as evidence in your own essays.

The more you know about the play, the more you’ll be able to write about it. So, get reading!

Links to the readings:

Rethinking Sexuality and Class in Twelfth Night, Nancy Lindheim

Gender Ambiguity and Desire in Twelfth Night, Maria Del Rosario Arias Doblas ‍

Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night, Casey Charles

So there’s approximately a month to go before the Literature exam. Nervous? Confident? Over it?! You might be thinking that they best way to study up until the exam is to just churn out essays after essays after essays. This is a common misconception, and may even hurt your chances for the exam. You want your essays to be ‘fresh’ with original insight, not stale pieces that sound like you’ve written this a hundred times and you’re getting bored. Here are a few tips on how to study for the exam while still keeping your mind activated about Literature!

Critique critical commentary

Google critical commentary on your text. You might pick up a new insight or perspective that you’ve never thought of. These can help you inform your own original and individual interpretation of the text. It is important to note that while reading critical commentary is incredibly useful in providing ‘clever’ interpretations, examiners are really looking for your own interpretation – not a regurgitated version of other people’s analyses. Rather than passively reading critical commentary, critique it yourself! Acknowledge and file away its good points, but also form your own stance with whether you agree or disagree with that point of view. Ask yourself why that is your perspective. Developing this critical analysis skill is extremely valuable, and will put you in the mindset for the exam to provide your own original interpretation that  pushes the boundaries and the envelop e.

Choose random passages and annotate

Close your eyes and pick a random a couple of passages from your text. Photocopy them, print them, however you like, but the most important thing is to spend time annotating them in as much detail as possible. Focus on analysing the language for how the author constructs the text to create meaning. Note sentences that can link to the wider text. This really forces you to analyse the most random passage in the text in extreme detail, which you might have skipped over in class or in your own reading, because it might not have seemed important at the time. Who knows, the exam could throw in a surprise passage that students might not have thought to study in great detail, and you have because you’ve been analysing passages at random – not just the major key events!

Examiner reports and  word bank

Look through VCAA examiner reports for sample excerpts from high scoring responses. Highlight words and phrases that sound ‘good’ – and adapt them to use yourself! There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration (stealing) from the examiner reports essays… after all they’re there for you to learn from. Key: you’re drawing inspiration from words, not ideas or sentences – otherwise that’s just plagiarism and won’t help at all. Create a word bank of vocabulary that suit your texts, which can be a great prompter when you’re struggling to think of a word that accurately expresses on paper what you want to say in your mind.

Timed conditions

The biggest issue with every literature student in the exam is  timing . There’s always so many things you want to write and include, that it is simply not possible to include everything. Time yourself. Practice writing in timed conditions. Be disciplined with your time – going over time for the first essay to include maybe one more good point, is to sacrifice finishing your second essay.

Exams are without a doubt a stressful period of time for all VCE students, and it can be easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with expectations, wanting to prove yourself and balancing the workload of your other exams. Find time to do small things to benefit yourself for the exam without compromising your mental power (after a very long marathon). Good luck and believe in yourself!

Once you have finished all your Literature SACs for the year, all that is left is a 2 hour and 15 minute exam that will play a major part in determining your end of year study score. It seems extremely daunting, and because many of the SACs differ from the exam task, you may be feeling a bit nervous or confused about what exactly the exam entails.

In describing the task, the exam paper states:

For each of your selected texts, you must use one or more of the passages as the basis for a discussion of that text.

In your pieces of writing, refer in detail to the passage or passages and the texts. You may include minor references to other texts.

Therefore, you must write two close analysis pieces on the exam, one on each of your chosen texts. You must use the three passages included on the exam to explore and analyse the text as a whole. Most of your piece should be analysis of what is in front of you in the exam, but you must also use evidence from outside the passages, to demonstrate your knowledge and connection with the text.

The exam will be marked against a criterion that differs from any of your SACs (although it is quite similar to your close analysis SAC). Therefore it is imperative to understand the criteria you will be marked on before beginning to study for the Literature exam, and especially before you try some practice exams. They are as follows, and can be found on the VCAA Literature exam page.

This criteria relates to your ability to show your comprehension of the text. The examiner will be noting whether the concepts, ideas and themes in the text are understood. They will assess your interpretation of the text, and whether it is relevant and fair in relation to the meaning in the text

Literature is a writing subject, therefore this criteria asks that you write with fluency, an expressive vocabulary and clarity. Your piece must also be a coherent, unified work that clearly articulates your discussion and interpretation of the passages and text as a whole. This criteria can also relate to your use of grammar, punctuation and spelling as the clarity of your piece can be threatened if these are not used correctly.

You must demonstrate an ability to identify, discuss and analyze the views and values within the text. You must be able to support your discussion with evidence from the text

Your ability to analyse the three passages, as well as the text as a whole, and draw an interpretation from them. Examiners will be looking to see that you can use set material and the whole text as a basis for discussion.  

This criteria determines that you must identify factors including metalanguage, specific language and authorial techniques, and discuss how they create meaning. Remember that this is literature, so discussing the different elements used to construct a text (character, plot, setting, motifs, symbols” is imperative.

This criteria determines that you need to use evidence from the text (including quotes) in order to aid a logical and comprehensive interpretation of the text. Examiners will be looking at your ability to look deeply into smaller authorial choices, and how they create meaning.

Best of luck!

The big trap students doing both English and Literature fall into is the habit of writing Close Readings like a Language Analysis essay. In essence, the two of these essays must tick the same boxes. But, here’s why analysing texts in Literature is a whole different ball game – in English, you want to be focusing on the methods that the author utilises to get their message across, whereas Literature is all about finding your own message in the writing.

In a  Language Analysis  essay, the chances are that most students will interpret the contention of the writer in a similar fashion and that will usually be stated in the introduction of the essay. Whereas in Literature, it is the formulation of your interpretation of the author’s message that is what really counts. In a typical Language Analysis essay, the introduction is almost like a summary of what’s going to be talked about in the next few paragraphs whereas in a close reading, it is the fresh ideas beyond the introduction that the markers are interested in.

For this reason, every Close Reading that you do in Literature will be unique. The overarching themes of the text you are writing from may be recurring, but for every passage from the text that you are given, what you derive from that will be specific to it.

From my experience, this is what stumps a lot of students because of the tendency is to pick up on the first few poetic techniques used in the passages and create the basis for the essay from that. This usually means that the student will pick up on alliteration (or another technique that they find easy to identify) used by the author and then try and match it to an idea that they have discussed in class. Whilst this can be an effective way to structure paragraphs, many students aren’t consciously utilising this approach and instead are doing it ‘by accident’ under time pressure, or a lack of understanding of other ways to get a point across.

In general, there are two main approaches that can be followed for body paragraphs in a literature close reading analysis:

1. Start wide and narrow down.

What does this mean? So, as I mentioned before, each of your close readings should be very specific to the passages in front of you and not rehearsed. However, it’s inevitable that you are going to find some ideas coming back more often. So, after reading through the passage, you will usually get a general understanding of the tone that the author has utilised. This will indicate whether the author is criticising or commending a certain character or social idea. Using this general overview to start your paragraph, you can then move closer and closer into the passage until you have developed your general statement into a very unique and clear opinion of the author’s message (with the support of textual evidence of course).

This is the essay approach that is generally preferred by students but is often used poorly, as without practice and under the pressure of writing essays in exam conditions, many students revert back to the old technique of finding a literary device that they are comfortable with and pushing forth with that.

The good thing about this approach is that when you understand the general themes that the author covers, you will become better and better at using that lens to identify the most impactful parts of the passage to unpack as you scrutinise the subtle nuances of the writer’s tone.

2. Start narrow and go wide.

You guessed it - it’s basically the opposite of the approach above. However, this is a more refined way of setting out your exploration of the author’s message as opposed to what was discussed earlier (finding random literary devices and trying to go from there). Using this approach does not mean that you have no direction of where your paragraph might end, it just means that you think the subtle ideas of the author can be used in culmination to prove their wider opinion. For example, if you get a passage where the author describes a character in great detail (Charlotte Brontë students, you might be familiar!) and you think there is a lot of underlying hints that the author is getting at through such an intricate use of words, then you might want to begin your paragraphs with these examples and then move wider to state how this affects the total persona built around this character and then maybe even a step further to describe how the writer’s attitude towards this character is actually a representation of how they feel towards the social ideas that the character represents.

The benefit of this approach is that if you are a student that finds that when you try and specify on a couple of key points within a large theme, you end up getting muddled up with the potential number of avenues you could be writing about, this style gives a bit of direction to your writing. This approach is also helpful when you are trying to link your broader themes together.

The main thing to remember in the structure of your body paragraphs – the link between your examples and the broader themes that you bring up should be very much evident to the marker. They should not have to work to find the link between the examples you are bringing up and the points that you are making. Remember, a Close Reading is all about the passage that is right in front of you and its relation in the context of the whole text and the writer’s message. Be clear about your opinion, it matters!

Happy writing!

Ever since literary perspectives have been introduced into the VCE Literature study design in 2017, there’s been a hell of a lot of confusion surrounding what they actually are, and what students are supposed to do with them. Due to the incredibly subjective nature of English, and especially Literature, as a subject, there is no single correct answer as to how to go about it. However, I hope to shed some light for you on how to go about this elusive component of VCE Literature.

So, what are they?

Firstly, what actually are perspectives? Well, they can be compared to a lens which you use to colour or filter your analysis of the text. You use the ideas and schools of thought that are specific to each perspective to shape, influence and guide your writing. There are a whole bunch of these perspectives, including psychoanalytical, Marxist, feminist and postcolonial. For your SAC during the year, you are going to need to use two different perspectives in your essay, whilst you will only use one in the end of year exam. Personally, while studying Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘North and South’, I used Marxist and feminist in my SAC and narrowed it down to Marxist for the exam.

How do I begin?

The best place to start, after having read the text of course, is to read up on what other people have to say about the book. Perspectives are closely intertwined with literary criticisms; that is, other people’s analysis and interpretation of the texts. For Literature, this needs to go into a bit more depth than someone telling you whether or not they liked the text. Some people like to include excerpts of other critics’ writing in their perspectives essays. Whilst this is not wrong, it isn’t the only way to go about it either. My class simply used these critics as a way of finding inspiration for our own ideas.

I was fortunate enough to be given a whole bunch of scholarly readings and critiques of ‘North and South’ by my teacher; however, if you aren’t as lucky, scholar.google.com and the State Library of Victoria’s online database are both amazing sources for such information. You can simply search up the title of your text, and maybe the author’s name to narrow down results, and you’re provided with scores of articles. I’d recommend reading as many of these as possible, and maybe even jotting down some key points or ideas that stand out to you as important or useful as you go along.

How do I choose which perspective to use?

With all those different perspectives out there, it can become difficult to narrow all the options down to two, and then one. Whilst some texts definitely lend themselves to certain perspectives more than others, the idea is that you can use whichever perspective you want for whichever text if you try hard enough. Sure, it may be hard to find evidence to support them all, but it is expected that, as a Literature student, you are able to read deep enough into the texts that you could find what you need to write on any of them.

My advice is to choose the perspective that initially jumps out at you. When you read the text for the first, second and even third time, there will be certain plot points and themes that present themselves to you. By analysing these, you’ll be able to see what connects them, and most likely be able to relate them to a particular perspective.

How do I write a perspectives essay? As I mentioned earlier, there is no stock standard formula that all perspectives essays must follow. But there are a few basic guidelines that can help you get the ball rolling.

Perspectives essays have the same basic structure as a normal English essay, but differ in the sense that they are more focused on a particular school of thought.  

Be sure to build up an inventory of useful words or phrases unique to your chosen perspective that will help clue the examiner in to what approach you’re taking. For example, when I was exploring a Marxist perspective, I would include phrases like “bourgeoisie”, “interclass relations” and “social hierarchy”. That being said, there is no need to explicitly state, “From a Marxist perspective…” in your essay. By including those subtle, little expressions unique to your chosen perspective, you should be able to signpost to the examiner what your perspective is without making your essay seem basic. As you spend more time exploring your chosen perspective, you will become more familiar and comfortable with a range of these specific expressions.

Help! I can’t decide which perspective to choose! What do I do?

If you find yourself, like I did, stuck when choosing which perspective you want to use, there are a couple of different things to can do to try and get yourself out of this funk.

To start off, Literature is an extremely collaborative subject. It naturally opens itself to a discussion between you and your classmates. In fact, this is a great way to build more ideas and strengthen the ones you already have for all parts of the Literature study design, not only this one. I’d recommend you have a chat with the other people in your class and talk through all your options and the evidence that you could use to support them. I find that by talking in this way, my jumbled ideas tend to become a bit clearer in my head, and I’m often exposed to new ideas as well.

Secondly, your Literature teacher is, of course, another port of call. You literally pay them to teach you Literature and make sure you walk into your SAC and exam as prepared as possible, so why wouldn’t you take full advantage of their expertise? Explain to them your problem and your thoughts up until this point, and I’m sure they’ll be able to, if not provide you with, point you in the right direction towards finding some clarification.

Lastly, you need to remember that you are ultimately the one who needs to make the decision. As cheesy and cliché as it sounds, just listen to what your gut tells you. Your first thoughts are usually the best ones, so just go with your instinct and see where it tells you to go!

This blog is part of a series of blogs breaking down the 2023-2027 VCE Literature Study design. For in-depth takes on the study design and the new AoS (Developing Interpretations) check out The Ultimate Guide to VCE Literature and A Guide to Developing Interpretations . 

Here, we’ll take a deep look into the SAC for Unit 3.2: Developing Interpretations. We’ll be using Margaret Atwood’s 1996 Alias Grace to demonstrate parts A and B of the SAC criteria so you can see the thinking process behind developing interpretations. 

‍ The SAC has two parts: 

Your teacher may decide to do them in two separate SACs, Part A after considering the text, and Part B after considering the supplementary reading. Or they may do them together, having you analyse a passage and answer a question just based on your own understanding of the text, and then continuing that analysis by adding the supplementary reading. 

Understanding Context

Part A of the Developing Interpretations SAC task involves the text’s 'historical, social and cultural context’, so it is imperative we have an understanding of firstly, the author and their world, and the text and its world. 

‍ Alias Grace was published in 1996, close enough to our modern times that we can consider it contemporary literature. On the surface, there is not much to link it directly to the big global events of the 1990s - like the Gulf Wars, the Monica Lewinsky scandal or the uncertainty of the new millennium. Margaret Atwood is Canadian, and the events of Alias Grace also take place in Canada; any criticism of government or cultural issues in the text can then be considered criticisms of Canadian culture, but may also be of Western or Anglo societies at large. It’s also worth keeping in mind Atwood’s track record as a feminist activist who became famous for the feminist intentions in texts like The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Cat’s Eye (1988).

The world of Alias Grace is about 150 years prior to the text’s publication. The murder that put Grace in prison occurred in 1843, and Grace died sometime around 1873. Feminism as a socio-political movement did not exist at this time, so any ‘feminist bent’ that Grace or Mary Whitney display is the result of independent dissatisfaction, not the influence of wider cultural forces. The role of psychology is strong in Alias Grace and in the afterword, Atwood notes the increasing academic interest in the mind and subconscious. Whilst we could venture into the specific who’s who of 1850s new world psychological history, it is most important to recognise that there were disparate ideas of how memory is formed and recalled, and that defiant or mentally ill women were often stigmatised and categorised as 'insane', when we would now acknowledge the range of mental health diagnoses and traumatic backgrounds that would better explain certain behaviours. Note also that mental health institutions were tools of a patriarchal system that viewed the internment of women as a means of control over women, regardless of mental illness, leading to the regular and indiscriminate use of procedures like lobotomy or Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) to keep women 'in check'. 

Part A of the SAC: An Initial Interpretation

When forming an interpretation of the text, it is necessary to first decide two things. Firstly, you need to recognise the author’s intention and what you think are the primary views and values . Then, you need to find aspects of the text that support your understanding of the text’s primary meaning.

Of all the concepts and ideas in Alias Grace , two are particularly pertinent and stick out to me as a reader. One is memory , the other is sexuality . There are of course other ideas, but these two were the big ones I noted reading the text. Thinking about what you find interesting or core to the text will help you to form an initial interpretation. Once you have the initial ideas, try to expand them into full sentences. To use memory as our example:

‍ Atwood explores the fallibility and role of memory in our understandings of ourselves and our actions, in particular, noting how people subconsciously decide which memories to keep or forget.

See how meaty this sentence is? Even if I can’t quite touch on all of these ideas in a full essay, I have so much I can talk about that it basically makes it impossible to fall short. Now, I want some aspects of the text that help provide through-lines. By this, I mean that I want a smaller part of the text that helps to exemplify my interpretation and that, preferably, would be evident in a passage analysis. I’m someone who finds structure really interesting in texts, so I look at things like form, genre and plot very closely. Alias Grace is really interesting for its use of ‘primary source’ quotes at the start of sections, as well as the fact it has basically no quotation marks to delineate dialogue. Moreover, the fact that Grace’s narration is first-person and that Jordan’s narration is third-person provides ripe territory for analysis. I need to link this to memory, and put it in a sentence:

‍ Atwood’s use of Grace’s first-person narration without quoted dialogue, thus structuring the plot around her speech and remembering, provides a long-form case study in how the psychological process of remembering helps provide understandings of the self. 

So, just based on my understanding of the context (1850s psychology and its impact on women) and the world of the text, I am able to determine my initial interpretation: that Alias Grace is about memory and forgetting in the face of trauma and an indeterminate sense of self. This idea is displayed in the structure of the text which relies heavily on displaying thought processes. 

Part B of the SAC: The Supplementary Reading

The supplementary reading can be a number of pieces of writing given to you by your teacher. This could be something written by your teacher, an explainer of a literary theory (like Marxism or feminism), or as I’ll be using here, an academic article. Check out our blog on Developing Interpretations which goes into how to read academic articles. 

The article I’ve chosen is Margaret Rogerson’s ‘Reading the Patchworks in Alias Grace’ (1998). At the core of Rogerson’s argument is that the recurring motif of sewing and patchwork is a significant indicator of Grace’s identity and her self-expression and that Atwood uses the symbolism of various quilting patterns to reflect the ambiguity of Grace’s character and our understanding of her (since quilting symbols are heavily subjective). Just based on this brief summary of Rogerson’s interpretation, we can start to see how it is somewhat at odds with my initial interpretation (from Part A) - Rogerson isn’t as concerned with memory and psychology, nor am I concerned with symbolism because I focus on structures and narrative. 

Rogerson’s article doesn’t necessarily disagree with my interpretation, in fact, both exist alongside each other quite nicely. I would phrase Rogerson’s interpretation as 'running parallel' to my own because they don’t always touch on the same ideas. Recognising where the supplementary reading sits in relation to your own interpretation is important because it helps to break down how to respond to its position and enhance your own interpretation. Try to place it on a scale of ‘total disagreement’ to ‘total agreement’. It will probably be somewhere in the middle. 

Self-Reflection and Reinterpretation

Now that I’ve read my supplementary reading and placed it in relation to my initial interpretation, I need to ask myself a few questions, and be honest with myself:

• What new information have I learnt from the reading?
• What ideas/themes/motifs did I initially ignore?
• How do these new ideas and pieces of information challenge my interpretation?
• How do these new ideas and pieces of information support my interpretation?
• Can I find links between the seemingly challenging aspects of the reading and link them to my initial interpretation? 
• Can I link specific aspects of my initial interpretation to the theories and ideas presented in the supplementary reading?

Rogerson’s article contained a lot of ideas and information that I had previously glossed over. Significantly, I learnt that 'quilt patterns [...] appear with their names as section headings throughout the text' (p. 8), a theme I hadn’t noticed. Moreover, Rogerson explains the literary and political significance of quilting and patchwork symbolism, drawing attention to the role it played in women’s lives and the inaccessibility of this symbolism to men. 

Do these new ideas challenge my interpretation? Not really. Do they fully support my interpretation? Not really, BUT, they do provide a new way of thinking about my initial interpretation. I can link the quilting symbolism to the idea of Grace’s narrative style because Rogerson emphasises that when Grace discusses quilting, she is discussing her own life. In addition, Rogerson notes that 'sections of the novel [are] separate patterns that are to be fitted into a whole quilt' (p. 8) so that 'the reader becomes a quilt maker in the process of interpreting the text' (p.9). The concept of the physical book being a ‘quilt’ supports and extends on my understanding of structure, thus allowing me to further investigate how that structure functions. 

The notion of the reader as a ‘quilt maker’ interpreting the text also allows me to consider something else I have ignored in my initial interpretation: self-presentation. I initially took for granted Grace’s investigation into her own mind, and that her novel-length yarn reflects the burgeoning field of psychology. Rogerson emphasises through the quilting work, however, that Grace’s motivations are entirely ambiguous to Jordan, the reader and others, so we have to try to decide if she is actually remembering events, or simply telling a story. At the end of the text, Grace makes her own quilt using cloth given to her or taken from the women of her past, Rogerson posing the question 'does the quilt represent memory, amnesia, or madness?' (p. 21). The result, therefore, is that my initial interpretation does make sense, but with some important new additions to be made. 

‍ Atwood’s Alias Grace investigates how individuals relate to their memories through the use of Grace Marks’ speech and interactions with medical psychology, which intend to force her to remember (1). This process of remembering, however, is simultaneously hindered and deepened by Grace’s presentation of self, which wonders into utter performativity, amnesia, and potentially disingenuous motivations for her continued speech (2). Rogerson emphasises Grace’s relationship with the language of patchwork and how this relationship influences her narrative style and remembering, and thus the reader’s ability to fit separate patterns 'into a whole quilt' (p. 8) (3).

This interpretation is significantly more chunky, but that’s because I’m trying to make the nuance of the argument incredibly clear. The first sentence (1) is a reworded version of my initial interpretation with slightly less detail. The second sentence (2) is an elaboration of my previous interpretation that includes ideas gleaned from Rogerson’s article. The final sentence (3) is a brief summary of Rogerson’s method that introduces her work as well as some extra details about Grace’s story-telling and the analysis of readers’ responses. 

The key to developing interpretations is self-reflection. Constantly question why you think the things you do, and it will force you to reconsider your interpretation. The supplementary reading is to provide you with a way to self-reflect and another interpretation to respond to. I strongly encourage those looking to do exceptionally in developing interpretations to read widely and around the text you’ve been set. Some of those texts for Alias Grace are in the resources section below.

Further Resources

Rogerson, Margaret. ‘Reading the Patchworks in Alias Grace’ The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 33 (1998): 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/002200949803300102  

VCE Literature Study Design (2023-2027): A Guide to Developing Interpretations

For Alias Grace 

Margaret Atwood’s other texts including: Cat’s Eye , The Handmaid’s Tale , and Oryx and Crake.

Glaspell, Susan. Trifles . 1916. Available here. ‍ A play cited in Rogerson’s article, featuring an accused murderess and a quilt. Sound familiar?

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams . 1899. Available Via Gutenburg ‍ A very dense text on the psychoanalysis of dreams. Useful for its discussions of symbolism as a signifier of psychology

‍ Atwood cites a number of texts in her acknowledgements (p. 543), the most interesting appear as follows:

Moodie, Susanna. Life in the Clearings . 1853

Crabtree, Adam. From Mesmer to Freud: Magnetic Sleep and the Roots of Psychological Healing . 1993. 

Brandon, Ruth. The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries . 1983. 

1. Don't focus just on ideas and avoid language engagement.

Language engagement is every bit as important as ideas. Sometimes, when you get stuck in philosophical musings, you might find yourself in a place where you're spouting on and on about solipsism or the intrinsic desire for independence in the 19th century Norwegian working class. Literature essays are all about finding balance, and here, that balance means language engagement. Whether you are writing about literary criticism or a passage analysis, you have to be able to support your interpretations with textual evidence.

Often, this requires some creative thinking. You can have a lot of fun with it and the examiners like you to pick up on small details and connect it to a grander scope.

Here's an example from Jane Eyre.

“my eyes seemed as if they had beheld the fount of fruition, and borrowed beams from the lustrous ripple.”

“I was not surprised...to feel...the breathing of a fresh and fragrant breeze...The rooks cawed, and blither birds sang; but nothing was so merry or so musical as my own rejoicing heart.”

In this passage, Jane is rejoicing over her marriage proposal, but readers are led to understand that this may be a false, idealistic dream of hers. Note the patterns of alliteration – the fricative 'f' shifting to the plosive 'b' in “fount of fruition” and “borrowed beams” then again from “fresh and fragrant breeze” to “blither birds”. What could it possibly mean?

Fricatives tend to indicate freedom, whereas plosives tend to indicate an abruptness – a harsh change. Perhaps, Jane's wild, free joy is immediately followed by plosive alliteration so as to illustrate how her happiness is cut short and her dream is a false one – she will attempt to achieve freedom through this romance, but she will be abruptly and unceremoniously prevented from attaining it.

Regardless, in any passage, there are always things to talk about and little language quirks to exploit to figure out an interpretation. Start from these little details, and build out and out until you tackle your big ideas. All of these ideas should be rooted in language.

2. Don't prioritise complicated language over ideas.

Often, when you think that expressive, complicated writing takes priority over ideas in Literature, you tend to end up with flowery material that becomes more convoluted than it is effective. If you are one of those people (I know it's hard) but kill your darlings. Focus on coming up with original ideas, and express them clearly. Cut out redundancies. Be expressive in a way that is natural and in a way where you know that first and foremost, your language is accurate. Don't go around using metaphors purely for the sake of sounding intellectual when you can express something equally eloquently and beautifully with simpler, fluent text.

Remember: this is not to say that you shouldn't be expressive in Literature. In fact, writing style and the ability to write well is a fundamental component to doing well in this subject. It is just vital that you strike the right balance. This is a good lesson to learn sooner rather than later - and you'll be steering into prime territory for the exam.

3. Don't treat Literature like an English essay. Be free!

Good Literature essays generally tend to be more lively and expressive than English essays. Why? Because Literature just doesn't operate under the same criteria, and it shouldn't be treated as such.

Don't feel like putting in an introduction/conclusion? No need! Don't feel like sticking to a TEEL structure? No problem!

Your focus is creating writing that moves along at a natural, expressive pace, moving through textual evidence to broader ideas. You don't have a structure. You don't have a paragraph quota. You have free reign over a lot of how you write your Literature essays – so find out what works for you.

4. Come up with original interpretations and don't stick with popular readings.

Literature is one of very few subjects in the entirety of VCE that rewards original thinking. You don't need to go with the crowd consensus on how to read your text: as long as you have the evidence to support your reading! The examiners will reward complex, creative, and unique ideas. Every passage analysis you write should be approached with a fresh perspective – base your interpretation around the text in front of you, and not a dogmatic set of ideas that you bring with you.

5. Let the text before you provide you with the ideas, don't force your ideas into the text.

By reading literary criticism and expanding the scope of your ideas, you can apply original readings to each set of passages you have. Your essays stand out when they cover new, uncharted territory.

Literature is all about balance. If you can find it in you to balance language engagement, interpretation, and writing style, I'd say you have yourself a pretty good essay.

Remember not to fall into any of the common traps of the subject, and you'll have put yourself on solid footing to become a true literati.

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Crafting Texts: Assessment and Reflection

This is the third post in a series which goes deeper into the new VCE English and EAL Crafting Texts outcome. Each post includes some discussion of the Area of Study along with practical lesson ideas. Even if you’re not a VCE English teacher, you’ll find this post useful if you use mentor or model texts when teaching fiction and nonfiction writing.

Since the new Study Design was released last year I’ve had a lot of questions about how to structure the unit, how to assess the outcomes, and how to manage the spread of the two assessment tasks plus written reflection.

If you’ve been around here for a while you’ll know that I have some pretty strong opinions about how we should run assessments at a VCE level. Most schools conduct all Year 11 and 12 assessments and School Assessed Coursework under timed examination conditions. The argument goes that this is practice for the VCE Year 12 examination. In this post, I’ll explore alternatives and go into why I think the “mini-exam” is far from the best approach to assessing Crafting Texts.

If you missed the previous post on ideas , you can check that out here:

Crafting Texts: Ideas

Assessment mythbusting

I’ve taught VCE English and Literature for over a decade, and assessed for over five years. In that time, I’ve heard every single reason for completing assessments under timed examination conditions. Here are the most common:

It prepares students for the exam

The exam is worth more than the sacs.

• VCAA want us to do it this way
• It’s in the VCAA rules
• It’s for authentication

It’s time to put those excuses to rest so that we can assess Crafting Texts the way the students deserve.

Chances are you’re reading this around the middle of Term 1 as you plan to start Crafting Texts in year 11. That means the Year 12 examination is… a lot of months away (not a maths teacher). With more than a year’s worth of preparation for the exam, squeezing in an extra bit of timed writing this early isn’t going to make much of a difference. The experience is unlikely to stick.

But timed assessment as “exam practice” is problematic for more reasons than this. Timed examinations disadvantage many of our students, including those likely to suffer in the actual exam. ADHD, dyslexic, autistic students. Students with learning difficulties and disabilities. Students with anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses. Students with physical disabilities – temporary and permanent – including problems with fine motor skills, chronic pain, and more. Even students from lower socio-economic backgrounds . Examinations under timed conditions with unseen materials punish all of these students.

You may be wondering how many of your students actually benefit from examination conditions. The answer is simple: those likely to already do well under the conditions of the formal end of Year 12 exams.

Examination style assessments don’t prepare students for the exam: they provide an unfair disadvantage to students who are already favoured by the system. Me, just now.

They’re not even a reasonable replica of the exam. How many of your timed assessments run for three hours in an exam hall? If you want students to practice exams, I suggest staging practice exams.

This one comes from a misunderstanding of the statistical moderation process . The examination for English does carry a lot of weight: 50% of the total graded assessment. It isn’t worth “more” than the SACs, however, and the examination doesn’t “change” the SAC results.

If you’re at all unsure of how statistical moderation works I highly recommend either the VCAA VCE Assessment professional developments that run each year, or the statistical moderation videos on the VCAA website . Or, get in touch with me and I’ll happily run through the entire process with you and your faculty.

TL;DR: Statistical moderation means that SACs can be “hard” in one school and “easy” in another, but all students are ultimately graded on a comparable scale across the state. It doesn’t mean that the exam is “worth more” than the SACs.

In fact, the way statistical moderation works is actually an argument in favour of my previous point. Allowing disadvantaged students to shine in non-exam conditions makes the SAC marking process more equitable and does not have a negative impact on anyone’s final results. If your best student is good at assessments and exams, they’ll still get the highest mark.

VCAA wants us to do it this way/it’s in the rules/it’s for authentication

These three points come hand in hand and my general response is “prove it”. Unless I’ve misread the study design or the VCAA Administrative Handbook, there is no mention of exam-style SACs anywhere. In fact, conversations I have had with VCAA staff again suggests the opposite: a frustration at the “tail wagging the dog” approach of Y12 exams driving the assessment narrative.

This isn’t a rule VCAA invented to punish students. That is especially true for Year 11, where all assessment outcomes are at the discretion of the school and carry a Satisfactory or Not Satisfactory grade without a score.

Here are a few choice quotes from VCAA to back me up.

Teachers must develop courses that include appropriate learning activities to enable students to demonstrate achievement of outcomes. To make sure that the work submitted by the students is clearly their own, undue assistance should not be provided to students while undertaking assessment tasks. Students should be clearly informed of the timelines and the conditions under which assessment tasks are to be conducted, including whether any resources are permitted. VCAA Administrative Handbook 2023

So, clearly inform students of timelines and conditions, and don’t provide undue assistance. No mention of exams there…

Most work for the assessment of unit outcomes and school-assessed coursework (SACs) will be completed in class; however, this does not preclude normal teacher expectations for students to complete research and learning activities that contribute to gaining key knowledge and skills outside of class time… VCAA Administrative Handbook 2023

Nothing saying that SACs must be completed entirely in school either…

For SACs undertaken outside of class time, teachers must monitor and record each student’s progress through to completion. This requires regular sightings of the work by the teacher and the keeping of records in the Authentication Record for school-based assessment form which is available to download on VASS. VCAA Administrative Handbook 2023

In fact, VCAA even provides us the advice and the authentication form for SACs which aren’t carried out at school, so… obviously SACs can be completed outside of exam conditions.

Teachers are not required to formally sight drafts or record students’ completion of drafts unless it is a requirement of the VCE study design or for authentication purposes or both. Drafting can remain a part of a teaching and learning strategy , and students may do preliminary drafting for SACs . However, students and teachers must follow the VCAA authentication rules regarding acceptable levels of assistance in relation to providing feedback on the draft , in order to maintain the integrity of the SACs and ensure the authenticity of each student’s work. VCAA Administrative Handbook 2023 (emphasis added)

This is my personal favourite, and it has actually changed since 2021. Not only can students draft for SACs, teachers can provide “acceptable levels or assistance” and feedback. Pre-2021, teachers were advised to avoid providing feedback. This has now changed, and it has huge implications for Crafting Texts.

Finally from the admin document, here are a few points under Strategies for avoiding authentication problems :

• “A significant amount of class time should be spent on the task so that the teacher is familiar with each student’s work in progress and can regularly monitor and discuss aspects of the work with each student.”
• “Students should document the specific stages of the development of work, starting with an early part of the task, such as the topic choice, list of resources or preliminary research or both.”
• “Copies of each student’s written work should be filed at given stages in their development.”

All three of those points suggest that VCAA endorses SACs which are conducted over time, with a known topic, and which follow drafting and development processes.

Perhaps authentication just got harder for everyone with the advent of ChatGPT. But good authentication comes from open, trusting conversations about academic integrity . It doesn’t come from forcing students to conduct their “important” work under timed examination conditions.

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Assessing Crafting Texts

Right. I’ll step down from the soapbox now to discuss what I came here to talk about: Crafting Texts. The reason I spent such a long time contextualising the discussion with my position on exams is that I don’t think you can legitimately assess this outcome under timed conditions.

There will be a Creating Texts outcome on the examination. We don’t know what it will look like yet, but we can safely assume it will draw on the Key Knowledge and Skills of Unit 3 Outcome 2, and likely be anchored by the chosen framework of ideas.

But… and excuse me if I’m sounding like a broken record here… the SAC is not the exam.

Let’s take a look at some of the Key Skills students must draw on in Crafting Texts for to achieve the outcome which can’t be judged in conditions:

• develop and employ writing processes
• generate ideas , and discuss , develop and elaborate on these ideas
• plan, create, draft, refine and complete individual writing
• collaborate on the processes of writing with peers and teachers through discussion and feedback

The Administrative Handbook supports drafting, and the Study Design requires it. Crafting texts is absolutely dependent on a writing process which includes genuine opportunities to plan, edit, draft, discuss, and peer review work.

I suggest that you split the tasks into separate due dates: the first original piece due about two-thirds of the way through the term, the second a week or two after that, and the reflective commentary at the end of the unit (or even later – there’s no reason students can’t work on the reflective task after you’ve moved on and they’ve received feedback on the first parts).

Follow a writing cycle like this one, which is from our upcoming book Practical Writing Strategies . If you’re keen to read about these stages before the book comes out, I already posted an excerpt from the introduction here .

The two student-created texts

The first part of the outcome requires both English and EAL students to write,

two student-created texts such as: short stories, speeches (with transcripts), essays (comment, opinion, reflective, personal), podcasts (with transcripts), poetry/songs, feature articles (including a series of blog postings) and memoirs VCAA VCE English and EAL Study Design

If you follow my suggestion and have the first of these due about two-thirds of the way through the unit, that provides plenty of time beforehand to discuss the purpose of writing, explore the mentor texts, generate ideas and to draft and peer assess. The second piece can be submitted shortly after and could reflect on feedback from teachers on the first response, or not: there’s no hard and fast rule there.

If you’re going to do a timed exam-style assessment (you’re not though, right?) then I’d recommend only one of the two pieces is written under timed conditions. Preferably, this would be the second piece after the first has received some feedback.

Bear in mind that these don’t have to be thousands of words long. There is no expectation that the total word count of this outcome is three times that of a normal assessment. There is also no requirement that students write two different forms, though that has been suggested in talks from VCAA as a way of diversifying students’ responses before Year 12.

The reflective commentary

English students are required to produce “a description of writing processes” and EAL students may do either that or “a set of annotations on the student-created texts, identifying the qualities of effective writing.”

I’m thinking of this very much like the written explanation/statement of intent from current outcomes (the creative SAC and the oral). I’d expect it to be short – probably a few hundred words max. In it, students should “reflect on and share the implications of authorial choices made in their own writing and in the writings of others”.

Adapting the Unit 3 Performance Descriptors

I already broke down the Unit 3 OC2 Performance Descriptors for the Year 12 Creating Texts SAC in a previous post , so I’ll reuse that information here. I think that the two outcomes are close enough in Key Knowledge and Skills that the descriptors could apply to both. However, you should adapt the language of the performance descriptors to suit your students, breaking the criteria down where necessary.

First of all, there are some stand-out points from the descriptors:

• Purpose, audience, and context are important throughout. Even at the “very low” level students must be able to at least acknowledge an audience.
• Language develops from an “attempt” to experiment with vocabulary and structure through to a creative control of those features, in relation to the ideas.
• The word “generic” is applied to low pieces in both the quality of the writing, and the overall “voice” of the pieces.
• High and very high pieces connect and develop multiple ideas.
• “Voice” is sustained and individual in the higher range pieces.
• There is a balance in the high range between creativity and precision. more on this later.

Exploring the criteria

The criteria for U3OC2 Task 1 are as follows:

• Generation and development of ideas

Audience, purpose, and context

Vocabulary, text structures, and language features related to ideas

Vocabulary, register, and language conventions

Right away you can see the focus on writing technique (vocab, vocab, and more vocab!). You should also start to see how the  form  of the text the student writes matters less than the appropriateness of their structure, language, and ideas: the criteria can be applied in the same manner to blogs, short stories, creative nonfiction… whatever your students choose to write.

Development of ideas

To progress through these performance descriptors, students need to be able to identify, then present, and then build an idea. Once they have established their idea, high range students will then incorporate multiple ideas into their final piece.

Students develop from simply identifying that there  is  an audience, to clarifying the purpose of their writing, and then contextualising it. At the highest levels, the students use appropriate voice, tone, register and metalanguage to tie together the audience, purpose, place, and time of their writing.

Even at the lowest level students recognise the importance of choosing an appropriate structure as the vehicle for their ideas. As they progress, they begin to connect vocabulary, language techniques and structure, and become creative in their choices.

“Voice” is possibly the most intangible of the criteria, speaking to the unique style of the writing. In the lower levels, the writing is generic, versus the individual and sustained voice of the higher ranges.

Vocabulary again, this time in the more familiar application of “standard and non standard” language. At the higher levels, the language and register is tailored to support the other criteria.

The reflective commentary is the third piece of assessment material students will produce, and is where they will comment on their own authorial choices, exploration of the idea, and use of the mentor texts.

We’ve been provided with a list of mentor texts for the Frameworks of Ideas in Unit 3 and 4, and schools will select their own for Unit 1. Mentor texts are front and centre in the Study Design, in the Key Knowledge and Key Skills in both Units 1 and 3. Students are required to “read and explore mentor texts to understand the mechanics of effective and cohesive writing”

In Unit 3 OC 1, the commentary is worth 20 marks, making it comparable with each of the two written pieces. The criteria for the outcome are as follows:

• Reflect on and share the implications of authorial choices in their own writing and the writings of others.
• Explain and comment on the vocabulary, text structures and language features, conventions and ideas used in their own writing.
• Experiment with and extend vocabulary for effective and cohesive writing.

The term “mentor texts” is still not explicit in these criteria. I think there is a deliberate move from the VCAA to make sure that these tasks are not viewed as an updated “Context” unit – the old tasks from the pre-2016 study design which required students to explicitly use set texts.

In the written explanation task, however, students are required to reflect on “the writings of others” and “other writing processes”: these are the mentor texts. It’s worth noting that the performance descriptors have only the top-range responses referencing these writings.

Developing the assessment tasks

Practical Strategies for Assessing Crafting Texts

Here are three activities which can be used before, during, and after the Crafting Texts unit to support these assessment practices. Breaking it up this way follows the writing cycle we’ve suggested in Practical Writing Strategies , which is coming soon from Amba Press.

Before the Unit: Talking about academic integrity

• Begin by asking the students if they know what academic integrity is, and if they have ever heard of plagiarism. Record their responses on the whiteboard.
• Hand out materials on academic integrity, plagiarism, and ChatGPT and give the students some time to read through them. Feel free to adapt the resources here or check out a University academic integrity page: Monash and Deakin’s are both very clear.
• Ask the students to share their thoughts on academic integrity and plagiarism. What did they learn from the materials? Did anything surprise them? Record their responses on the whiteboard.
• Engage the students in a discussion on the importance of academic integrity in the context of Crafting Texts. Discuss how students can ensure they are using academic integrity in their writing.
• Divide the class into small groups and give each group a case study related to plagiarism. Ask the students to discuss the case study and come up with a resolution that is fair and just. Allow each group to present their resolution to the class.
• Conclude the activity by emphasising the importance of academic integrity in academic writing and in Crafting Texts. Remind the students that plagiarism is a serious offence that can result in serious consequences, and encourage them to always practice academic integrity in their writing.

During the Unit: Peer review

• Have students bring in their drafts for peer review.
• Divide students into small groups, with each group member taking turns sharing their work.
• Have group members provide feedback on each other’s writing, focusing on the criteria outlined in the unit outcome.
• Encourage constructive criticism and provide students with sentence starters to guide their feedback.
• After the workshop, ask students to revise their drafts based on the feedback received.
• Repeat the workshop process with revised drafts.

After the Unit: Reflection and self-assessment

• Have students complete reflections on their writing process throughout the unit: they could annotate draft work, use sticky notes, or write brief descriptions of their choices.
• Ask students to identify which strategies and techniques were successful for them and which were not. They could put this into a two-column table or just take notes.
• Have students complete a self-assessment of their final piece, focusing on the criteria outlined in the unit outcome. For example, they could annotate a copy of the criteria sheet.
• Ask students to make a list of the mentor texts used and identify if and how they used them in their final piece(s).
• Take points 1-4 and write them up i two paragraphs as the written reflection outcome.

Further resources

Here are a few other resources to help with assessing this outcome:

• Here is the ‘Futures’ mentor text collection I put together last year
• The VCAA Advice for Teachers page (scroll to the bottom and look for the 2024 implementation dropdown) is a great resource for assessment and lesson ideas
• The VCAA On Demand videos cover all aspects of the Study Design
• Insight Publications Year 11 English has lots of examples and activities for this area of study

I hope you find this post helpful, whether you’re using the ideas for VCE English or any other writing unit with mentor texts.

If you have any questions, feedback, or there’s something you’d like to see in this series of posts, then please let me know via the form below:

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Accreditation period Units 1 and 2: 2023-2027; Units 3 and 4: 2024-2027

General assessment advice

Advice on matters related to the administration of Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) assessment is published annually in the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook . The Handbook contains both school-based assessment advice (including information on authentication and scheduling) and external assessment advice (including information on special provisions and breaches).

Updates to matters related to the administration of VCE assessment are published in the VCAA Bulletin . Subscribe to the VCAA Bulletin.

Teachers must refer to these publications for current advice.

The VCE assessment principles underpinning all VCE assessment practices and should guide teachers in their design and implementation of School-assessed Coursework (SACs). The VCAA assessment principles determine that assessment at VCE should be:

• Valid and reasonable

Essentially, these principles invite schools and teachers to create assessment practices, including tasks and instruments, that enable students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the outcome statements, and the key knowledge and key skills through a range of opportunities and in different contexts (balanced), that do not advantage or disadvantage certain groups of students on the basis of circumstances and contexts (equitable), that are not overly onerous in terms of workload and time (efficient) and that only assess that which is explicitly described in the study design.

The glossary of command terms provides a list of terms commonly used across the Victorian Curriculum F–10, VCE study designs and VCE examinations and to help students better understand the requirements of command terms in the context of their discipline.

Graded Distributions for Graded Assessment can be accessed from the VCAA Senior Secondary Certificate Statistical Information webpage .

The VCAA offers professional learning sessions exploring this data. More information can be found at Analysing Your Schools VCE Results.

Excepting third-party elements, schools may use this resource in accordance with the VCAA’s Educational Allowance (VCAA Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy).

Units 1 and 2

All assessments for Units 1 and 2 are school based. Procedures for assessment of levels of achievement in Units 1 and 2 are a matter for school decision. The determination of satisfactory (S) or not satisfactory (N) for each of Units 1 and 2 is a separate consideration from the assessment of levels of achievement. This distinction means that a student can receive a very low numerical score in a formal assessment task but still achieve an S for the outcome.

The decision about satisfactory completion of outcomes is based on the teacher’s judgment of the student’s overall performance on a combination of set work and assessment tasks related to the outcomes. Students should be provided with multiple opportunities across the learning program to develop and demonstrate the key knowledge and key skills required for the outcomes for the unit. If a student, in the judgement of the teacher, did not meet the required standard for satisfactory completion of the outcome through the completion of the set work and assessment task(s) then they should be afforded additional opportunities to demonstrate the outcome through submitting further evidence; for example, a teacher may consider work previously submitted (class work, homework), additional tasks or discussions with the student that demonstrate their achievement of the outcome (i.e. a student can demonstrate their understanding in a different language mode, such as through speaking rather than writing) as further evidence provided it meets the requirements and is consistent with the established school processes.

This table provides suitable assessment tasks for English and EAL Units 1 and 2

EAL students

In Units 1 and 2, the determination of the status of an EAL learner is a school-based decision. If the school deems that a student with an EAL background would benefit from the differentiation of tasks at this level, the teacher can implement the most appropriate adjustments. The VCAA EAL eligibility criteria do not apply to Units 1 and 2.

Teachers should note the cognitive demand of the command terms in the outcome statements to determine the type of teaching and learning activities and evidence of student understanding that will be needed for students to demonstrate satisfactory completion of each outcome. Teachers should also be guided by the key knowledge and the key skills in each area of study.

Procedures for assessment of levels of achievement in Units 1 and 2 are a matter for schools to decide. Schools have flexibility in deciding how many and which assessment tasks they use for each outcome, provided that these decisions are in accordance with VCE English and EAL Study Design and VCE Assessment Principles (see above).

Samples of assessment tasks

Consider the scope of the area of study and the ways that it best fits the cohort. Determine which key knowledge and key skills will be formally assessed through the task, and how they map to the outcome statement. (Key knowledge and key skills that are not included in the formal assessment are usually explored in teaching and learning activities and achievement is determined through observation and discussion.)

Unit 1, Outcome 1: Reading and exploring texts

This area of study requires that students respond personally to a text.

1. Scaffolded task

Write a personal response to the set text.

Use one or more of the following statements to guide your response.

• Identify two key ideas from the text, explore how they are represented in the text and then connect those ideas and representations to your own lived experience.
• Identify two key characters from the text, explore their story arc and consider the ways the text resolves their story then connect those arcs and resolutions to your own understanding of the way individuals experience the society around them.

Throughout the area of study, students keep writing journals about the text. As the text is read or viewed, and discussed, explored and challenged in class, students record their impressions and make connections with contemporary or personal experiences or events. At the end of the area of study, students write a reflection in their journal, outlining the ways they have connected with the text throughout the study.

Unit 1, Outcome 2: Crafting texts

This area of study requires that students produce two texts and one reflection on the processes of writing.

There are many opportunities for assessment for this area of study. The following are two possible examples.

1. Workshop task

Students develop a text and document the writing processes. They produce a:

• plan for their text
• draft of their text
• sample of feedback from a peer
• final version of their text.

2. Responding to stimulus task

Students, under timed and supervised conditions, craft a text (drawn from work completed in class) in response to a stimulus and within set parameters. ‘Conflict’ is the idea that has shaped their exploration of writing.

Stimulus:

• ‘Conflict cannot survive without your participation’ (Wayne Dyer).

Audience: Peers

Craft a text, written for your peers, that incorporates the idea of conflict. You must include one of the pieces of stimulus in your response (and you can include both).

The text should be shaped around a purpose (express, entertain, argue, inform) and must consider the concerns and the language of the indicated audience.

Unit 2, Outcome 1: Reading and exploring texts

This area of study requires students to produce an analytical response to text.

Students choose between two essay topics on their set text list and write an analytical response to demonstrate their understanding and knowledge of the text. For example: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

• ‘The chaos in Frankenstein does not come from acts of creation but from acts of neglect.’ How is this idea explored in the novel?
• How does Shelley both condone and condemn the 'acquirement of knowledge' in  Frankenstein  .

Unit 2, Outcome 2: Exploring argument

This area of study requires students to produce an analytical response to persuasive text and to create a persuasive oral text.

Analytical response

Students are provided with persuasive texts and, under timed and supervised conditions, write an analysis of the ways contention, argument, language and persuasive techniques work together to create a persuasive effect on the reader / audience.

Oral presentation

Students work in groups and decide on an issue they would like to explore. They choose a form for their presentation (debate, discussion or dialogue) and develop individual scripts or speeches to explore the issue through different points of view, for persuasive effect.

Units 3 and 4 (from 2024)

Differences between english and eal.

School-assessed Coursework

In VCE English and EAL, students demonstrate their understanding of outcome statements, key knowledge and key skills through School-assessed Coursework (SACs). Each area of study is linked to assessment tasks and an allocation of marks (see Unit 3, p. 28, Unit 4, p. 34). These assessment tasks and their allocated marks are deliberately distinct from the assessment tasks students will face in the external examination. While these tasks will have commonalities, it is important for teachers and schools to distinguish their internal assessment tasks from the external assessment tasks set by the VCAA in the examination. School-assessed Coursework should offer breadth in opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of their learning. Teachers should therefore consider designing assessment tasks with diverse conditions and through different language modes.

While it is acknowledged that students require preparation for external examination tasks, they should have opportunities to extend themselves in their learning and their assessment. School-assessed Coursework should be seen as both formative and summative assessment and students should be given feedback on their understanding of the content, on their skills in writing or speaking, and on possible avenues for improvement. Internal assessment should provide scope for ongoing dialogue with students about their learning.

School-assessed Coursework must be part of the regular curriculum and assessment program and must not unduly add to the workload associated with that program. Assessment tasks must be completed mainly in class.

Teachers must consider the condition in which School-assessed Coursework is completed and the authentication strategies relevant for each assessment task.

Students should be provided with clear, written instructions about the conditions for each assessment task. These instructions should include the key knowledge and key skills that will be assessed in the task, how the task will be structured, and any materials or resources that will be allowed when completing the task.

The requirement for an oral presentation is mandated in Unit 4, Outcome 2. The language mode of speaking and listening represents critical skills for young people emerging from the secondary school environment. In this study, the oral presentation invites diverse ways in which students can engage with these skills. They are able to present an individual, formal speech to a class or others on an issue. They can also present by engaging in a debate with other members of the class on an agreed issue, or through a dialogue, where the issue is explored through a number of points of view. In this area of study, students can develop podcasts or some other digital form.

Teachers are reminded that the assessment task must be clear to all students and that all students must have access to the same conditions and supports. Teachers should also carefully consider the assessment tool they employ to assess the oral presentation. If, for example, students are presenting though a digital form, elements such as eye contact and gesture will be more difficult to formally assess.

Assessment tools

Assessment tools (performance descriptors or rubrics) are important for moderation between teachers, to communicate the levels of achievement to students and to provide feedback to students. All teachers should be using some kind of assessment tool for each assessment task.

The VCAA publishes performance descriptors for each assessment task in Units 3 and 4. These performance descriptors provide advice only and teachers are welcome to modify them or develop their own.

Teachers should note that, in modifying or developing unique performance descriptors, they should work from the study design and the key areas of outcome statements, key knowledge and key skills. Clearly, not all key knowledge and key skills will or can be formally assessed in an assessment task – some key knowledge and key skills are observable in classroom engagement and learning – but all criteria in any assessment tool must be drawn directly from the study design.

Units 3 and 4 Sample approaches to developing an assessment task

Unit 3, outcome 2.

Demonstrate effective writing skills by producing their own texts, designed to respond to a specific context and audience to achieve a stated purpose; and to explain their decisions made through writing processes.

This sample approach focuses on the first part of the outcome.

Step 1: Define the parameters of the outcome and the related assessment task options

Read the outcome and key knowledge and skills for Unit 3 Area of Study 2: Creating texts carefully and consider what evidence could be gathered to demonstrate student learning. It should be noted that each key knowledge and skill does not need to be individually identifiable in the task nor should the task focus on too narrow a range of key knowledge and skills.

Step 2: Examine the assessment advice in this handbook

Unpack the performance descriptors as they provide a clear indication of qualities and characteristics that you are looking for in a student response.

For example, a written text for this outcome would need to demonstrate the ability to generate and use ideas, employ voices appropriate to purpose, context and audience, experiment with and extend vocabulary and draft, refine and complete individual writing.

Step 3: Design the assessment task

The requirements of the task will be determined by the selected idea from the Framework of Ideas and the selected mentor texts. The following is an example of an assessment task based on the idea ‘Writing about play’.

Writing about play

Drawing on the writing you have drafted, explored and completed over this unit of work, create a written text that explicitly incorporates one of the items of stimulus (below), for an audience of your peers in a public context. The purpose of the written text is to be determined by you.

“Play is, by definition, a safety space. If a designer or artist can make safe spaces that allow the negotiation of real-world concepts, issues, and ideas, then a game can be successful in facilitating the exploration of innovative solutions for apparently intractable problems.”  – Mary Flanagan, Critical Play: Radical Game Design

“According to the pianist and essayist Stephen Nachmanovitch, play is sometimes conceived as a threat to normativity precisely because it wastes time. A game of amateur soccer or netball is measurably productive: it is good for our physical health, it develops teamwork skills. Similarly positive outcomes can be matched to more intellectual games like chess or cryptic crosswords. But if we devote too much time to this kind of play at the expense of family or work duties, we open ourselves up to criticism. I wonder about this, and about the double-edged nature of my radically altered state since play became such a large part of my everyday life. 'Play is not the way to maintain a tightly controlled society,' writes Nachmanovitch, 'or a clear definition of what is good, true or beautiful.' No, it isn't. And that's what makes it so delightful. That's what makes me want to defend it.” Julienne van Loon, ‘ The play of days’ ,

“I went to great lengths in that environment to hide my sexuality while I was playing footy, I didn't want any of them to figure it out. And what that looks like to give you an idea was I would second guess everything that I said or did — I wouldn't get involved in conversations about relationships or what I was doing on the weekend out of fear that they might figure it out. And I even went to the extent of creating a separate Facebook list, so that just my teammates wouldn't see photos I was tagged in, places I was checked into or what my relationship status was. And it probably limited the kinds of friendships and bonds that I could have developed with my teammates growing up. Cause I was always hiding a big part of my life.”   Jason Ball, ‘ I Played Better ,

Step 4: Determining teaching and learning activities

For Unit 3 Outcome 2, the teacher plans a sequence of teaching and learning activities that will enable students to develop knowledge and skills. This will include opportunities to plan, explore, draft, revise and complete written texts

See Teaching and learning for additional activities that could support students to prepare for this assessment.

Other considerations

When to assess the students

The teacher must decide the most appropriate time to set this task. This decision is the result of several considerations including:

• the estimated time it will take to cover the key knowledge and skills for the outcome
• when tasks are being conducted in other subjects and the workload implications for students
• where there are multiple classes in English/EAL, a common School-assessed Coursework scheduling is advisable.

Marking the task

The marking scheme used to assess a student's level of performance should reflect the relevant aspects of the Performance descriptors and be explained to students before starting the task.

Sample assessment : English Unit 3, Outcome 1 and Unit 4, Outcome 1: Reading and responding to texts

Outcome statement –

analyse ideas, concerns and values presented in a text, informed by the vocabulary, text structures and language features and how they make meaning (Unit 3, Outcome 1) analyse explicit and implicit ideas, concerns and values presented in a text, informed by vocabulary, text structures and language features and how they make meaning (Unit 4, Outcome 1)

Assessment mandated in the Study Design - An analytical response to text in written form

Sample approaches

Offer students two or more essay questions from which they choose.

Examples of questions

Propositional

‘There are no heroes or heroines in In Cold Blood ; only victims.’ How far do you agree?

Quotation based

Al Dewey is determined to learn “the why and the who” of the Clutter murders. He succeeds with ‘the who’ but not ‘the why’. Discuss.

What role does family play in In Cold Blood ?’

VCE English examination papers (Section A) can also provide inspiration for teachers when writing essay questions. It is important to always modify the examination questions for internal assessment tasks to maintain the integrity of the assessment task and to provide fair and equitable conditions for students.

Sample assessment: EAL Unit 3, Outcome 1 and Unit 4, Outcome 1: Reading and responding to texts

listen to and discuss ideas, concerns and values presented in a text, informed by selected vocabulary, text structures and language features and how they make meaning (Unit 3, Outcome 1) discuss ideas, concerns and values presented in a text, informed by selected vocabulary, text structures and language features and how they make meaning (Unit 4, Outcome 1)

Assessment mandated in the Study Design – An analytical response to text in written form

Comprehension of an audio / audio visual text focused on historical, cultural and/or social values in the set text, through:

• short-answer responses
• note form summaries (Unit 3, Outcome 1)

An analytical response to text in written form (Unit 4, Outcome 1)

An analytical response to text in written form

‘No one really wins in In Cold Blood ; there is only loss.’ How far do you agree?

Dick Hickock always maintained that “Perry Smith killed the Clutters”. Does In Cold Blood support Hickock’s view?

• short-answer responses 
• note form summaries

Locate a short audio or audio / visual text with a clear focus on the set text. Examples could include an interview with an author, a discussion about or review of about the text in a podcast episode or on radio.

Example:

Sunday Feature – Literary Pursuits Truman Capote: In Cold Blood (the discussion begins at minute 3.00)

This podcast episode runs for 48 minutes so an extract would be appropriate. Students can listen to the extract of this podcast and either answer a series of short answer questions or can produce a summary of the extract in note form.

Sample assessment: English and EAL Unit 3, Outcome 2: Creating texts

Outcome statement -

demonstrate effective writing skills by producing their own texts, designed to respond to a specific context and audience to achieve a stated purpose; and to explain their decisions made through writing processes.

Assessment mandated in the Study Design – Two written texts constructed in consideration of audience, purpose and context

Written texts constructed in consideration of audience, purpose and context

Students maintain a writing journal for three or more mentor texts during the teaching and learning program for this outcome in which they develop their ideas, explore text structures, language features, vocabulary and conventions and draft their written texts.

Teacher provides a set of seen/unseen stimulus materials based on the idea selected from the Framework of Ideas. Students determine the context, the audience and the purpose of their written piece and construct it over two supervised lessons.

Teacher provides a set of unseen stimulus materials based on the idea selected from the Framework of Ideas and determines the audience and context for which the written text is constructed. Students develop a written text within those parameters but determine their own purpose.

As a class, students develop set of stimulus materials based on the idea selected from the Framework of Ideas. These stimulus materials are shared with all members of the class. Students select from the stimulus materials and produce a written text incorporating their chosen stimulus, in consideration of an audience, a context and a purpose. Teachers determine an appropriate process of authentication for the submitted text. (See the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook , pages 77 and 78 for support.)

Sample assessment: English Unit 3 Outcome 2 

A commentary reflecting on writing processes

Students write a commentary on the writing processes they used to develop their written text(s) in a supervised classroom environment.

Students maintain a writing journal over the teaching and learning sequence, adding to it after each class and in consideration of the mentor texts under examination. Students submit a set of these written entries. Teachers determine an appropriate process of authentication. (See the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook , pages 77 and 78 for support.)

Sample assessment: EAL Unit 3 Outcome 2

A set of annotations reflecting on writing processes

Students annotate one of their written texts, identifying structural elements, language features, vocabulary and convention employed and indicating the processes they used in creating the text.

Students develop a series of mind maps. They select key passages or sentences from their text and then map them to:

• mentor texts
• structural elements
• language features
• early drafts of the passage/sentence

Sample assessment: English and EAL Unit 4, Outcome 2: Analysing argument

analyse the use of argument and language in persuasive texts, including one written text (print or digital) and one text in another mode (audio and/or audio visual); and develop and present a point of view text.

Assessment mandated in the Study Design – An analytical response to argument in written form

A point of view oral presentation

Analytical response to argument in written form

Teachers provide students with at least two persuasive texts (one written, in another mode). The text in a mode other than written is supported with a transcript. Students watch and/or listen to the text in a mode other than written (twice). Students write an analytical response to the texts considering argument, language, persuasive strategies and effects.

Point of view oral presentation

Students write and individually present a point of view speech to an audience. The audience can be peers or parents. The presentation can take place in person or online.

Students write and present, in groups, point of view speeches. These speeches can be presented in a debate format or can take the form of a discussion / dialogue.

Students write and record a point of view speech. There are options for students to present this point of view speech as part of an ‘imaginary’ podcast or similar.

For all examples, teachers determine an appropriate process of authentication. (See the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook , pages 77 and 78 for support.)

Units 3 and 4 Performance descriptors

English and eal general advice.

Performance descriptors can assist teachers in moderating student work, in making consistent assessment, in helping determine student point of readiness (zone of proximal development) and in providing more detailed information for reporting purposes. Using performance descriptors can assist students by providing them with informed, detailed feedback and by showing them what improvement looks like.

Teachers should note that, in modifying or developing unique performance descriptors, they should work from the study design and the key areas of outcome statements, key knowledge and key skills. Not all key knowledge and key skills will or can be formally assessed in an assessment task – some key knowledge and key skills are observable in classroom engagement and learning – but all criteria in any assessment tool must be drawn directly from the study design.

Performance descriptors are developed for each outcome statement and reflect the key skills that underpin that outcome statement. Key skills are allocated a row and each row describes five progressively higher levels of performance for that key skill. Teachers can infer an increase in progressively higher difficulty by reading the performance descriptors left to right, but not a similarity of difficulty reading the performance descriptors top to bottom.

Performance descriptors and outcome statements

In general, there is one set of performance descriptors for each outcome statement. Each set of performance descriptors includes the key skills underpinning the outcome statement that relate directly to the task mandated in the study design. However, Unit 3, Outcome 2 and Unit 4, Outcome 2 have outcome statements that require students to demonstrate two distinct sets of skills.

Unit 3, Outcome 2 requires students to produce individual written texts and to reflect on their writing processes. To support these separate skill sets, there are two sets of performance descriptors, one to assess the requirement that a student ‘ … demonstrate effective writing skills by producing their own texts, designed to respond to a specific context and audience to achieve a stated purpose’ and another to assess the requirement that a student ‘ … explain their decisions made through writing processes’.  

Unit 4, Outcome 2 requires that students analyse the use of argument and language in persuasive text and develop and present a point of view text. To support these separate skills sets, there are two sets of performance descriptors, one to assess the requirement that a student ‘ … analyse the use of argument and language in persuasive texts, including one written text (print or digital) and one text in another mode (audio and/or audio visual)’ and another to assess the requirement that a student ‘ … develop and present a point of view text’.

English as an Additional Language (EAL) students

The VCE English and EAL Study Design outcome statements have been differentiated to provide for a more scaffolded approach to teaching and learning for EAL students. The EAL performance descriptors have been developed to include the key skills relevant and specific to the tasks to be completed by EAL students.

Advice for using performance descriptors

In designing School-assessed Coursework assessment tasks, teachers can adapt performance descriptors. Performance descriptors should be able to capture the skill level of every student being assessed and will help provide the allocation of a range of marks. Thus, the lowest quality performance should be something most or all students can do, and the highest quality performance should be something that extends the most able students within the parameters of the outcome statement. These descriptors can also serve as a guide for how to describe student performance.

Teachers can also explore the performance descriptors with their students, unpacking the levels of expected performance so students have a clear understanding of what can be possible in terms of development and achievement.

English as an Additional Language (EAL)