Assessment 2

The Focus of the Curriculum Unit

The literature curriculum unit is based on the mentor text and intertext and aims to increase
the verbal functioning and extend the vocabulary of the children. The unit focuses on
developing children's understanding, knowledge, and skills in reading, listening, writing,
viewing, creating, and speaking. The students will be helped to develop a strong ability to
use text and images to gain a deeper meaning of the literary texts available to them. This
unit will equip the students with skills to interact in class and outside the class with peers
and teachers in a range of face-to-face and virtual environments (Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2022).
The students will be able to engage with various literary texts for enjoyment. They will be
able to listen, view, read, and interpret written, spoken, and multi-modal texts with an
elemental focus on the aesthetic and literary texts meant to inform and persuade them. The
students will develop to become independent readers through a framework of experiences.
This objective is achieved in this curriculum unit by using oral texts, such as picture books, a
variety of print and digital texts, rhyming verse, simple chapter books, non-fiction, poetry,
multi-modal texts, film, dramatic performances, and texts used for construction of models
by the students (ACARA, 2022). The texts the students use are epitomised by the use of
analysable language features, including several unfamiliar vocabularies, various sentence
structures, high-frequency sight words, various punctuation conventions, phonically
decoded words, and diagrams and illustrations, in order to extend and support the texts.
The curriculum unit will enrich students' reading, listening, and viewing abilities. The unit
will enable the students to better understand contention organization by using various text
structures relying on the text's purpose. Also, they will understand how the use of
vocabulary, images, and language features leads to various effects (ACARA, 2022). They are
able to listen and respond effectively by applying appropriate interaction skills. In addition,
the students will achieve effective writing, speaking, and creating by gaining a better
understanding of using language features to connect and sequence ideas. Also, they will
develop the ability to use language to express their opinions and feelings. The unit will
enable the students to use images and writing to develop and express events, experiences,
ideas, information, and characters.
Based on the Teaching & Learning Cycle, the unit will have a framework that will help in
developing the identified abilities of the students that need to be developed and achieved
by the end of this curriculum unit. The unit will use four phases; building the context,
modelling the text, guided practice, and independent construction (de Oliveira et al., 2020).
The first phase is building the context and using different texts to develop shared
understanding. Modelling the text will focus on the used genre. Guided practice will focus
on compiling the new learning; independent construction will occur when students can
work independently.
Description Of One Phase Of The Curriculum Unit
The modelling of the text phase on the developed Teaching-Learning Cycle (TLC) focuses on
the genre being explored within the curriculum unit. This stage involves clear teaching of
the text stages concerning the language features of the texts being examined. From the
previous stage, the students will have developed their abilities to generate ideas that can be
used in writing. In this phase, the focus will be on crafting and composing the written texts
of the students (Muscat and Millicone, 2012).
De Oliveira et al. (2020) argue a teacher in this phase can decide to use an extract(s) and use
a linguistic lens for close examination or reading to teach concerning certain structural
features and language features of the selected text, as well as the meaning created by the
language choices. The selected extract(s) for close reading will include significant
information concerning the context through discipline-specific and academic terms. The
teacher will be careful of the extract(s) selected to facilitate explicit teaching of the language
choices. In this phase, students will learn about the technical metalanguage, a language
used to identify, interpret, and describe how language features work within a text.
In particular, teachers in this phase on teaching speaking, listening, writing, reading, and
grammar (Basthomi, 2020). These are the activities considered in the phase to enable the
students to familiarise themselves with the genre characteristics, for example, comparing
genres, sequencing, and sorting. Most of the activities have been engulfed by general
activities, and these activities include a discussion of the text's different stages and their
function; annotation of text to establish significant features relevant to students and genre
needs; identifying key words, sentences, and phrases for an in-depth understanding of the
text; rearranging parts of the selected text in order to reconstruct it and facilitate the
explanation of how the parts work together; and reflect on the connections between
structure and meaning (Nagao, 2020). The focus of this phase will be on listening, speaking,
and grammar.
Listening
To guide the students to achieve significant verbal functioning, the typical activities that the
teacher will carry out in listening will be reading the selected extract from "Your Birthday
Was The Best!" by Hutchings (2020) and “An ode to a Cockroach” by Dreby. Students will be
required to listen to be able to comprehend. The students will listen to the extracts as the
teacher reads it to them and will be able to identify expressions, context, new words, and
characters. From the extracts, the students will be able to know the characters as a
cockroach (the protagonist), who is sharing his encounter with the antagonist (humans). As
well as the role of the cockroach in the poem (intertext).
The antagonist and roles will be identified through the same method. By listening to the
readings, the students can establish the context of the text, such that it is set in the real-
world revealing socio-cultural surroundings concerning a child’s birthday and a family home
in the poem. Additionally, the students will be able to identify unfamiliar vocabulary, such as
marvellous and fabulous. These are words that will enable the curriculum unit to lead the
children toward achieving the set standards and objective – the extension of vocabulary.

Speaking
Under this activity, teachers will introduce a virtual learning environment in the classroom:
including a smart board and laptop to show the students the learning materials that will be
used in learning about speaking to achieve the goal of effective verbal functioning. The
whiteboard will be used to hang the pictures along the selected text to develop a deeper
meaning. Then, the teachers will explain or ask the students about the text in terms of
generic structure, communicative purpose, and language features from the text. The
students will be expected to respond to the text and answer the questions asked. Also, after
identifying the complex vocabulary, they will have to repeatedly pronounce the words for
improved pronunciation.
Additionally, the ability of the students will be tested concerning how they can relate the
images shown to them to the text. The students will be graded or given feedback based on
their performance in pronouncing the difficult words identified in the text.
The teacher will provide the students with reading materials from the text based on their
best judgment on how to distribute the materials to the students. The students will, in turn,
be asked to read the materials to assess the student's pronunciation and model how to
correctly pronounce the identified words (e.g., marvellous, and fabulous). The students will
be required to comprehend the text in order to organize information from the text to
answer the question related to the text's setting, characters, and context and provide the
unfamiliar words. Thus, this activity will rely on the first activity (listening); rather, this
activity will allow the student to comprehend the text and communicate verbally with the
teacher.
Grammar
Under this curriculum unit, one of the achievement standards is productive modes, which
involve speaking, creating, and writing. All these three abilities can be effective in students
when they have developed grammar. Thus, the students are expected under this phase to
create a variety of texts for familiar and unfamiliar audiences. They must be active in group
discussions and class discussions, ask questions, make presentations, and provide useful
feedback (ACARA, 2022). The teachers will use a number of grammatical models based on
the selected text and intertext and ask the students to identify if they are grammatically
correct or incorrect. Also, the students will be provided with examples of grammatical
sentences.
This activity will allow the students to show their understanding of grammar and their ability
to choose appropriate vocabulary and punctuation for their writing's purpose and context.
This activity will enable the students to appropriately use an understanding of letter-sound
relationships, such as high-frequency words and consonants and vowels, to pronounce and
spell words appropriately. Teachers will ask the students to highlight the features of the
tenses used in the extract. This will involve explaining the forms and their uses, as well as
giving examples. Thus, variations are expected based on the type of text and the topic of
grammar. For instance, the teacher would explain concerning simple past if the text is
referring to past experience. The students will write sentences using the appropriate tenses.
Then, the teacher will provide their feedback and comments.

Description Of Assessment
The outcomes of the modelling of the text will be indicated through assessment to know
how the objectives of the performed activities under this phase have achieved the set
learning goals. The assessment will be conducted on their listening, speaking, and
grammatical skills.
To effectively assess the listening comprehension of my students, I will make the listening to
be active rather than passive. After listening to a reading, song, or dialogue, I will have
multiple-choice questions for the students. Based on tier answers, I will be able to know
everyone's level of listening skills. Also, I will ask them to write sentences they heard and
write their opinions on the specific material we will use.
I will create a rubric to grade my students based on their potential skill level. I will prepare a
rubric with five columns with criteria and definitions of the different levels of student
abilities that are required to show in each level. While interacting with students, I will focus
on their speech sounds, including articulation, and intonation, for better pronunciation
(Woods et al., 2015). Also, this will allow me to gauge their vocabulary comprehension and
production, therefore, I will be able to comment on their speaking skills following the set
learning goals of this phase.
On grammar skills, I will utilize formal assessments to gauge the abilities of my students by
identifying the challenges they are facing. This will help to determine the kind of help they
require. Also, I will gather important data to help my students grow through grammar
quizzes.

Materials And Resources

The teaching and learning resources that will be used in this phase will be challenging and
engaging programs that will allow students to develop their listening, speaking, and
grammar skills. I will utilize audio, written, and visual texts to achieve the goals of this phase.
We will use books, novels, songs, and digital learning resources in class, including audio,
text, images, and animations. These materials will develop the student's listening, speaking,
and grammar skills, which will generally improve their verbal functioning and extend their
vocabulary. The combination of these resources will make the teaching and learning process
interesting and effective.

References
 Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, viewed on 12th
November, 2022: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/?
year=11574&year=11575&year=11576&year=11577&year=11578&year=11579&year=11580
&year=11581&year=11582&year=11583&year=11584&strand=Language&strand=Literature
&strand=Literacy&capability=ignore&capability=Literacy&capability=Numeracy&capability=I
nformation+and+Communication+Technology+(ICT)
+Capability&capability=Critical+and+Creative+Thinking&capability=Personal+and+Social+Cap
ability&capability=Ethical+Understanding&capability=Intercultural+Understanding&priority=
ignore&priority=Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+Histories+and+Cultures&priority=As
ia+and+Australia
%u2019s+Engagement+with+Asia&priority=Sustainability&elaborations=true&elaborations=
false&scotterms=false&isFirstPageLoad=false&page=2
 Basthomi, Y. (2020). Patterns of the Teaching and Learning Cycle of GBA by EFL
Teachers in Indonesia. Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 7(1), 34-41.
 de Oliveira, L.C., Jones, L. and Smith, S.L., 2020. Interactional scaffolding in a first-
grade classroom through the teaching-learning cycle. International Journal of
Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, pp.1-19.
 Hutchings, M 2020, YOUR BIRTHDAY WAS THE BEST, Affirm press, South Melbourne,
Vic.
 Muscat, M. and Mollicone, P., 2012. Using Kolb's learning cycle to enhance the
teaching and learning of mechanics of materials.
 Nagao, A., 2020. Adopting an SFL Approach to Teaching L2 Writing through the
Teaching Learning Cycle. English Language Teaching, 13(6), pp.144-161.
 Woods, A., Comber, B. and Iyer, R., 2015. Literacy learning: Designing and enacting
inclusive pedagogical practices in classrooms. In Inclusive Pedagogy Across the
Curriculum (Vol. 7, pp. 45-71). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.