Clarification details
Updated December 2023. This document has been updated to address issues that arose from moderation.
The focus of the standard
To develop the coherent reading, critique and interpretation that is required at level 8 of the curriculum, students engage with critical texts to develop their informed understanding of the primary text.
The process specified in Explanatory Note 5 guides students through the steps required to identify and evaluate critical texts appropriate for this standard. Initially looking at a range of secondary texts may enable students to then identify at least two suitable critical texts that will help them develop an informed understanding.
Teachers can guide students to identify and select suitable critical texts. This could include providing lists of suggested texts, prompts, questions, or engaging in discussion with the student about the suitability of the critical text.
Area of inquiry
The students’ selected area of inquiry should reflect level 8 curriculum achievement objectives and be of sufficient breadth and depth to allow for relevant conclusions to be drawn. This investigation area should arise from literature text/s or a language topic (primary source/s) that students already understand from a subject English context.
Critical texts
An increasing level of sophistication is needed in the critical texts that are selected. At level 8, students are required to “integrate sources of information, processes, and strategies purposefully, confidently, and precisely… [to] form and express increasingly sophisticated ideas.” Students are required to engage with at least two critical texts that provide a depth of ideas appropriate to level 8 of the curriculum.
It is important that both critical texts reflect the appropriate level of sophistication and are the thinking/analysis of ‘experts’. Summary texts such as Sparknotes or the OWL Purdue guide to literary theory can be useful teaching tools, but would not qualify as a critical text, as they do not allow students to synthesise information as specified in Explanatory Note 5.
The process of using critical texts
Students need to frame their investigation by developing a hypothesis, selecting relevant critical texts and processing those texts in terms of their inquiry needs. They should then synthesise this information from experts with information from the primary source/s, in order to reach evaluative conclusions and judgements. Evidence of this process is required, including the evaluation of the reliability and usefulness of clearly acknowledged sources.
Students will generally need guidance on where to access and how to use critical texts, what constitutes plagiarism and how to process information so that it becomes their own. Journal databases, such as those available through EPIC or Google Scholar, are generally useful and appropriate sources of critical texts.