English (Version 8.4)

Please select at least one year level to view the content
Please select at least one Strand to view the content

Rationale

The study of English is central to the learning and development of all young Australians. It helps create confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens. It is through the study of English that individuals learn to analyse, understand, communicate and build relationships with others and with the world around them.

Read More >>

Aims

The Australian Curriculum: English aims to ensure that students:

learn to listen to, read, view, speak, write, create and reflect on increasingly complex and sophisticated spoken, written and multimodal texts across a growing range of contexts with accuracy, fluency and purpose.

Read More >>

Key ideas

Texts

Texts provide the means for communication. They can be written, spoken, visual, multimodal, and in print or digital/online forms. Multimodal texts combine language with other means of communication such as visual images, soundtrack or spoken words, as in film or computer presentation media.

Read More >>

Structure

Strands, sub-strands and threads
The Australian Curriculum: English Foundation to Year 10 is organised into three interrelated strands that support students' growing understanding and use of Standard Australian English (English). Each strand interacts with and enriches the other strands in creative and flexible ways, the fabric of the curriculum being strengthened by the threads within each sub-strand.

Read More >>

PDF documents

Resources and support materials for the Australian Curriculum: English are available as PDF documents. 
English: Sequence of content
English: Sequence of achievement 

Read More >>

Glossary

Read More >>

Year 5

Year 5 Level Description

The English curriculum is built around the three interrelated strands of language, literature and literacy. Teaching and learning programs should balance and integrate all three strands. Together, the strands focus on developing students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating. Learning in English builds on concepts, skills and processes developed in earlier years, and teachers will revisit and strengthen these as needed.

In Years 5 and 6, students communicate with peers and teachers from other classes and schools, community members, and individuals and groups, in a range of face-to-face and online/virtual environments.

Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment. They listen to, read, view, interpret and evaluate spoken, written and multimodal texts in which the primary purpose is aesthetic, as well as texts designed to inform and persuade. These include various types of media texts including newspapers, film and digital texts, junior and early adolescent novels, poetry, non-fiction and dramatic performances.

The range of literary texts for Foundation to Year 10 comprises Australian literature, including the oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as well as the contemporary literature of these two cultural groups, and classic and contemporary world literature, including texts from and about Asia.

Literary texts that support and extend students in Years 5 and 6 as independent readers describe complex sequences, a range of non-stereotypical characters and elaborated events including flashbacks and shifts in time. These texts explore themes of interpersonal relationships and ethical dilemmas within real-world and fantasy settings. Informative texts supply technical and content information about a wide range of topics of interest as well as topics being studied in other areas of the curriculum. Text structures include chapters, headings and subheadings, tables of contents, indexes and glossaries. Language features include complex sentences, unfamiliar technical vocabulary, figurative language, and information presented in various types of graphics.

Students create a range of imaginative, informative and persuasive types of texts including narratives, procedures, performances, reports, reviews, explanations and discussions.


Year 5 Content Descriptions

Language variation and change

Understand that the pronunciation, spelling and meanings of words have histories and change over time (ACELA1500 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary
  • Use spelling knowledge

Intercultural Understanding

Recognising culture and developing respect
  • Investigate culture and cultural identity

  • recognising that a knowledge of word origins is not only interesting in its own right, but that it extends students’ knowledge of vocabulary and spelling
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary
    • Use spelling knowledge

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Intercultural Understanding

    Recognising culture and developing respect
    • Investigate culture and cultural identity

    Interacting and empathising with others
    • Communicate across cultures

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

  • exploring examples of words in which pronunciation, writing and meaning has changed over time, including words from a range of cultures
    Literacy

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Navigate, read and view learning area texts

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Word Knowledge
    • Use spelling knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

    Intercultural Understanding

    Recognising culture and developing respect
    • Investigate culture and cultural identity

Language for interaction

Understand that patterns of language interaction vary across social contexts and types of texts and that they help to signal social roles and relationships (ACELA1501 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Comprehend texts
  • Listen and respond to learning area texts
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of sentence structures

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Text knowledge
  • Use knowledge of text structures

Personal and Social Capability

Self-awareness
  • Understand themselves as learners

Social awareness
  • Appreciate diverse perspectives

Social management
  • Communicate effectively

  • identifying ways in which cultures differ in making and responding to common requests, for example periods of silence, degrees of formality
    Literacy

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Generating ideas, possibilities and actions
    • Consider alternatives

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Organise and process information

    Reflecting on thinking and processes
    • Reflect on processes

    Intercultural Understanding

    Interacting and empathising with others
    • Communicate across cultures

    Recognising culture and developing respect
    • Explore and compare cultural knowledge, beliefs and practices

Understand how to move beyond making bare assertions and take account of differing perspectives and points of view (ACELA1502 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Comprehend texts
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Grammar knowledge
  • Express opinion and point of view

Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
  • Use language to interact with others

Personal and Social Capability

Social awareness
  • Appreciate diverse perspectives

Ethical Understanding

Exploring values, rights and responsibilities
  • Examine values

  • recognising that a bare assertion (for example 'It's the best film this year') often needs to be tempered by: using the 'impersonal it' to distance oneself (for example 'It could be that it is the best film this year'); recruiting anonymous support (for example 'It is generally agreed that it is the best film this year.'); indicating a general source of the opinion (for example 'Most critics agree that it is the best film this year.'); specifying the source of the opinion (for example 'David and Margaret both agree that it is the best film this year') and reflecting on the effect of these different choices
    Literacy

    Grammar knowledge
    • Express opinion and point of view

    Text knowledge
    • Use knowledge of text structures
    • Use knowledge of text cohesion

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Text structure and organisation

Understand how texts vary in purpose, structure and topic as well as the degree of formality (ACELA1504 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of words and word groups

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Comprehend texts
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Text knowledge
  • Use knowledge of text cohesion
  • Use knowledge of text structures

  • becoming familiar with the typical stages and language features of such text types as: narrative, procedure, exposition, explanation, discussion and informative text and how they can be composed and presented in written, digital and multimedia forms
    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

    Literacy

    Visual Knowledge
    • Understand how visual elements create meaning

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Text knowledge
    • Use knowledge of text cohesion
    • Use knowledge of text structures

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability

    Creating with ICT
    • Generate solutions to challenges and learning area tasks

Understand that the starting point of a sentence gives prominence to the message in the text and allows for prediction of how the text will unfold (ACELA1505 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of sentence structures

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

Text knowledge
  • Use knowledge of text cohesion

  • observing how writers use the beginning of a sentence to signal to the reader how the text is developing (for example 'Snakes are reptiles. They have scales and no legs. Many snakes are poisonous. However, in Australia they are protected')
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts
    • Navigate, read and view learning area texts

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups
    • Use knowledge of sentence structures

    Text knowledge
    • Use knowledge of text cohesion

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Understand how the grammatical category of possessives is signalled through apostrophes and how to use apostrophes with common and proper nouns (ACELA1506 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Reading
Literacy

Word Knowledge
  • Use spelling knowledge

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Comprehend texts
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of words and word groups
  • Use knowledge of sentence structures

  • learning that in Standard Australian English regular plural nouns ending in ‘s’ form the possessive by adding just the apostrophe, for example ‘my parents' car’
    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

    Reflecting on thinking and processes
    • Reflect on processes

    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Use spelling knowledge

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

  • learning that in Standard Australian English for proper nouns the regular possessive form is always possible but a variant form without the second ‘s’ is sometimes found, for example ‘James’s house’ or ‘James’ house’
    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Organise and process information

    Reflecting on thinking and processes
    • Reflect on processes

    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Use spelling knowledge

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Investigate how the organisation of texts into chapters, headings, subheadings, home pages and sub pages for online texts and according to chronology or topic can be used to predict content and assist navigation (ACELA1797 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Reading
Literacy

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Comprehend texts
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Visual Knowledge
  • Understand how visual elements create meaning

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Text knowledge
  • Use knowledge of text structures

Critical and Creative Thinking

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
  • Organise and process information
  • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Generating ideas, possibilities and actions
  • Consider alternatives

Analysing, synthesising and evaluating reasoning and procedures
  • Apply logic and reasoning

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability

Managing and operating ICT
  • Select and use hardware and software

Investigating with ICT
  • Locate, generate and access data and information
  • Select and evaluate data and information

Creating with ICT
  • Generate solutions to challenges and learning area tasks

Expressing and developing ideas

Understand the difference between main and subordinate clauses and that a complex sentence involves at least one subordinate clause (ACELA1507 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of sentence structures

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

  • knowing that complex sentences make connections between ideas, such as: to provide a reason, for example 'He jumped up because the bell rang.'; to state a purpose, for example 'She raced home to confront her brother.'; to express a condition, for example 'It will break if you push it.'; to make a concession, for example 'She went to work even though she was not feeling well.'; to link two ideas in terms of various time relations, for example 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned.'
    Literacy

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of sentence structures

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

  • knowing that a complex sentence typically consists of a main clause and a subordinate clause
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of sentence structures

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Understand how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea (ACELA1508 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Comprehend texts
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of words and word groups

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

  • learning how to expand a description by combining a related set of nouns and adjectives – ‘Two old brown cattle dogs sat on the ruined front veranda of the deserted house’
    Literacy

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

    Reflecting on thinking and processes
    • Reflect on processes

  • observing how descriptive details can be built up around a noun or an adjective, forming a group/phrase (for example, ‘this very smelly cleaning cloth in the sink’ is a noun group/phrase and ‘as pretty as the flowers in May’ is an adjective group/phrase)
    Literacy

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Explain sequences of images in print texts and compare these to the ways hyperlinked digital texts are organised, explaining their effect on viewers’ interpretations (ACELA1511 - Scootle )
  • Writing
Literacy

Visual Knowledge
  • Understand how visual elements create meaning

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Comprehend texts
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
  • Use language to interact with others

Text knowledge
  • Use knowledge of text structures

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Critical and Creative Thinking

Reflecting on thinking and processes
  • Reflect on processes
  • Transfer knowledge into new contexts

Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
  • Identify and clarify information and ideas
  • Organise and process information

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability

Communicating with ICT
  • Understand computer mediated communications

Investigating with ICT
  • Locate, generate and access data and information

  • interpreting narrative texts told as wordless picture books
    Literacy

    Visual Knowledge
    • Understand how visual elements create meaning

    Text knowledge
    • Use knowledge of text structures

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Organise and process information

    Reflecting on thinking and processes
    • Reflect on processes

  • identifying and comparing sequences of images revealed through different hyperlink choices
    Literacy

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Visual Knowledge
    • Understand how visual elements create meaning

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Generating ideas, possibilities and actions
    • Consider alternatives

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Organise and process information
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

    Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability

    Investigating with ICT
    • Locate, generate and access data and information

    Communicating with ICT
    • Understand computer mediated communications

Understand the use of vocabulary to express greater precision of meaning, and know that words can have different meanings in different contexts (ACELA1512 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading
Literacy

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Interpret and analyse learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

  • moving from general, ‘all-purpose’ words, for example ‘cut’, to more specific words, for example ‘slice’, ‘dice’, ‘fillet’, ‘segment’
    Literacy

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas

Phonics and word knowledge

Understand how to use knowledge of known words, base words, prefixes and suffixes, word origins, letter patterns and spelling generalisations to spell new words (ACELA1513 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Reading
Literacy

Word Knowledge
  • Use spelling knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of words and word groups

  • talking about how suffixes change over time and new forms are invented to reflect changing attitudes to gender, for example 'policewoman' or 'salesperson'
    Literacy

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
    • Use language to interact with others

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Organise and process information

  • using knowledge of known words and base words to spell new words, for example the spelling and meaning connections between ‘vision’, ‘television’ and ‘revision’
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Use spelling knowledge

  • learning that many complex words were originally hyphenated but are now written without a hyphen, for example ‘uncommon, ‘renew’, ‘email’ and ‘refine’
    Literacy

    Grammar knowledge
    • Use knowledge of words and word groups

    Word Knowledge
    • Use spelling knowledge

  • applying knowledge of spelling generalisations to spell new words, for example ‘suitable’, ‘likeable’ and ‘collapsible’
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Use spelling knowledge

Explore less common plurals, and understand how a suffix changes the meaning or grammatical form of a word (ACELA1514 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Reading
Literacy

Word Knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary
  • Use spelling knowledge

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Navigate, read and view learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

  • Using knowledge of word origins and roots and related words to interpret and spell unfamiliar words, and learning about how these roots impact on plurals, for example ‘cactus’ and ‘cacti’, ‘louse’ and ‘lice’
    Critical and Creative Thinking

    Inquiring – identifying, exploring and organising information and ideas
    • Identify and clarify information and ideas
    • Organise and process information

    Reflecting on thinking and processes
    • Reflect on processes

    Literacy

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Interpret and analyse learning area texts

    Word Knowledge
    • Use spelling knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary

  • understanding how some suffixes change the grammatical form of words, for example ‘tion’ and ‘ment’ can change verbs into nouns, ‘protect’ to ‘protection’, ‘develop’ to ‘development’
Understand how to use phonic knowledge to read and write less familiar words that share common letter patterns but have different pronunciations  (ACELA1829 - Scootle )
  • Writing
  • Reading
Literacy

Grammar knowledge
  • Use knowledge of words and word groups

Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
  • Navigate, read and view learning area texts
  • Comprehend texts

Word Knowledge
  • Use spelling knowledge
  • Understand learning area vocabulary

Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
  • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts
  • Compose texts

  • recognising and writing less familiar words that share common letter patterns but have different pronunciations, for example ‘journey’, ‘your’, ‘tour’ and ‘sour’
    Literacy

    Word Knowledge
    • Understand learning area vocabulary
    • Use spelling knowledge

    Comprehending texts through listening, reading and viewing
    • Navigate, read and view learning area texts

    Composing texts through speaking, writing and creating
    • Compose spoken, written, visual and multimodal learning area texts


Year 5 Achievement Standards

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)

By the end of Year 5, students explain how text structures assist in understanding the text. They understand how language features, images and vocabulary influence interpretations of characters, settings and events.

When reading, they encounter and decode unfamiliar words using phonic, grammatical, semantic and contextual knowledge. They analyse and explain literal and implied information from a variety of texts. They describe how events, characters and settings in texts are depicted and explain their own responses to them. They listen and ask questions to clarify content.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)

Students use language features to show how ideas can be extended. They develop and explain a point of view about a text, selecting information, ideas and images from a range of resources.

Students create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts for different purposes and audiences. They make presentations which include multimodal elements for defined purposes. They contribute actively to class and group discussions, taking into account other perspectives. When writing, they demonstrate understanding of grammar using a variety of sentence types. They select specific vocabulary and use accurate spelling and punctuation. They edit their work for cohesive structure and meaning.


Year 5 Work Sample Portfolios