Level C3 Reading and Viewing

The student work samples on this page are also available to download:

C3 Reading and Viewing proficiency levels and Achievement Standard

The students' performance in these tasks suggest that they are working within the range of Level C3 in Reading and Viewing. The assessing teacher will need to consider a range of student samples in order to determine whether each student is at the beginning of C3, consolidating C3 or at the C3 standard in Reading and Viewing.          

At beginning Level C3 students:         

  • have an awareness of textual meaning beyond the literal reading of the text, although they will still be developing ways of forming their own responses to the higher order meaning of texts
  • have confidence in attempting a range of different texts across the curriculum, but will require considerable scaffolding and teacher guidance for unfamiliar academic texts
  • have begun to use a range of reading strategies such as scanning and skimming rather than reliance upon prediction to infer the general meaning from text but may still be inefficient at using these techniques as readers.
At consolidating Level C3 students:
  • have begun to develop a sound understanding of the distinction between different text types for different purposes, as well as developing a metalanguage to talk about those differences
  • have also begun to develop skills not just to talk about the content of a text, but also to discuss how it is written in terms of the writer, for example, stance, style and audience
  • can also recognise and discuss cultural features of texts, such as humour, voice and imagery, with the teacher's assistance.
At Level C3 Achievement Standard students:
  • demonstrate a basic understanding of the main ideas, issues or plot developments in a range of accessible texts from across the curriculum. These texts may be print or digital texts, including handwritten, visual, multimodal and interactive texts.
  • demonstrate a basic understanding of the different purposes and structures of a range of text types and can make predictions about the likely content of texts
  • identify the stages of imaginative texts they read, and the role of headings, diagrams and captions in factual texts
  • follow meaning across sentences and paragraphs by tracking basic cohesive and reference items and clearly expressed cues in sentence structure and vocabulary
  • use appropriate metalanguage to talk about the structure and features of a text
  • adjust their rate of reading to the task, reading closely for analysis, scanning for specific information, and skimming for the main idea
  • use cues from the surrounding text and their sound–symbol knowledge to assist in reading new words.

Persuasive text - Identifying persuasive techniques (1)

Student information

The student was born in Afghanistan and is 16 years and seven months old. The main language spoken at home is Dari, but she also speaks Urdu. She has no history of primary school education. Prior to coming to Australia, she attended a language school for one year in Pakistan. She has been in Australia for three years where she spent some time in an English language school before transitioning to a mainstream secondary school where she is currently in Year 10.        

Task

In this task, the student is presented with an opinion article and given 10 to 15 minutes to read silently. She is asked to identify three persuasive techniques used in the piece and highlight the key words that helped her to identify those techniques. The student then responds to oral comprehension questions. Students in the class have previously studied persuasive techniques and how to identify the techniques. They have also learned to analyse the writer’s intended effect and the reader’s possible reaction.        

The teacher was assessing:

    • the student’s ability to identify different types of persuasive writing techniques used in an opinion text, for example, emotive words, expert opinion, statistics
    • the student’s ability to explain their reading processes to identify persuasive writing techniques
    • the student’s ability to understand an opinion text type and its purpose

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by the teacher and other students are in normal font.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

    • Skim a text for general meaning and scan to find detailed information (VCEALC698)
    • Interpret and respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum (VCEALC696)
    • Read with understanding texts on familiar topics, with some visual support (VCEALC699)
    • Outline the role of specific features of a text (VCEALL707)
    • Identify thematic groupings of words in a text (VCEALL712)
    • Read texts with a range of sentence types (VCEALL709)
    • Read and understand sentences containing a broad range of descriptive language (VCEALL711)
    • Understand the relationship between text structures and social purposes of text types studied in class (VCEALA702)
    • Respond to different cultural attitudes that are exemplified in stories (VCEALA704)

Possible next steps for this student's learning

    • Asking the student to choose a topic they are interested in and using the same techniques discussed here in their own work  (VCEALL726)
    • Looking at advertisements to analyse how people are persuaded by marketing techniques that appeal to feelings and/or logic (VCEALA718)
    • Watch and analyse a famous speech as a class, for example, Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generation (VCEALA718)
    • Analyse political cartoons about current events (VCEALA718)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 10 student who is working within the range of Level C3 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway C of the EAL curriculum. 

Persuasive text - Identifying persuasive techniques (2)

Student information

The student was born in Cambodia and mainly speaks Khmer at home. She also speaks Chinese. She previously completed Years 7, 8 and 9 in Singapore where she also undertook studies in English. The student has been in Australia for six months. She is 16 years old and attends Year 10 in a mainstream school.         

Task

In this task, the student is presented with an opinion article and given 10 to 15 minutes to read silently. She is asked to identify three persuasive techniques used in the piece and highlight the key words that helped her to identify those techniques. The student then responds to oral comprehension questions. Students in the class have previously studied persuasive techniques and how to identify the techniques. They have also learned to analyse the writer’s intended effect and the reader’s possible reaction.        

The teacher was assessing:        

  • the student’s ability to identify different types of persuasive writing techniques used in an opinion text, for example, emotive words, expert opinion, statistics
  • the student’s ability to explain their reading processes to identify persuasive writing techniques
  • the student’s ability to understand an opinion text type and its purpose.

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by the teacher and other students are in normal font.        

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Skim a text for general meaning and scan to find detailed information (VCEALC698)
  • Read texts with a range of sentence types (VCEALL709)
  • Read and understand sentences containing a broad range of descriptive language (VCEALL711)
  • Identify thematic groupings of words in a text (VCEALL712)
  • Respond to imaginative texts, showing an understanding of key events, characters and issues (VCEALC700)
  • Understand the relationship between text structures and social purposes of text types studied in class (VCEALA702)
  • Interpret and respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum (VCEALC696)
  • Read with understanding texts on familiar topics, with some visual support (VCEALC699)

Possible next steps for this student's learning

  • Analysing and evaluating the effectiveness of language choices in persuasive texts (VCEALA718)
  • Asking the student to choose a topic they are interested in and using the same techniques discussed here in their own work (VCEALL726)
  • Looking at advertisements to analyse how people are persuaded by marketing techniques that appeal to feelings and/or logic (VCEALA718)
  • Watching and analysing a famous speech as a class, for example, Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generation (VCEALA718)
  • Analysing political cartoons about current events (VCEALA718)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 10 student who is working within the range of Level C3 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway C of the EAL curriculum.        

Persuasive text – Halloween: Impact of language choices

Student information

The first student is 16 years old. They were born in Greece and have been in Australia for 9 years. On arrival in Victoria, they attended an English language centre for 6 months before enrolling in a mainstream primary school. They are in Year 10 at a Victorian government secondary college. Their home language is Greek. They had age-equivalent schooling in Greece.

The second student is 16 years and 7 months old. They were born in Thailand and have been in Australia for almost 7 years. They had age-equivalent schooling in Thailand, and on arrival to Australia enrolled in Year 4 at a Victorian government primary school. They are in Year 10 at a Victorian government secondary college. Their home language is Thai.

Task

The students have been studying literary devices used to make an argument in persuasive texts. In this task, they read and discuss a model text about Halloween and its appropriacy as a celebration for Australian children. The teacher guides them to identify some literary devices used by the author and talk about the impact they have on the target audience.

The words spoken by the student/s being assessed are in bold.      

Transcript

00:05 – 04:14       

What we are going to be doing this morning is looking at an article, an opinion piece, as part of our learning on persuasive language and analysing language. Let's have a look at the headline here. Would you like to read that out, Patrick?       

Of course. I love that my neighbours celebrate Halloween.       

Okay, so is it clear what the author's contention might be here or what, what is she indicating by saying that?       

She's indicating that she's for Halloween through, I love, that shows that she loves…       

Yeah, okay       

Halloween.       

OK, terrific. In the first paragraph she also expresses her attitude to non-Halloween supporters. What kind of attitude does she express? And maybe how do you know this?       

We could see that she's using alliteration she from Halloween haters and she talks about how they're in a seething state of resentment. How they're annoyed and angry and disapproving of Halloween.       

Okay. What kind of tone do you think that conveys?       

I think it is like this ridicule tone to like mock them.       

Mm hm. Mm. How do you think the target audience would react to that?       

Well, if they are Halloween supporter, they'll be laughing but if they're not a Halloween supporter they'll probably be offended.       

She uses the words my kids       

Mm hm.       

What's the, why does she say that? Why doesn't she say children?       

Because my kids is like a colloquial language and that is basically like try to make her look friendly like a friend to her audience and something like that.       

Mm hm, yeah. In this paragraph there are some interesting words here. She uses the word throng. Why, what is she trying to convey by using that word?       

She's basically trying to convey that Halloween is a very popular celebration because a throng is like almost like a group of people.       

In that same paragraph “There is something ethereal and poignant about the sea of glowing orbs illuminating the dark night”. Ah, they're very interesting words here. What is she trying to do with those words?       

So basically, she's trying to get like the reader to imagine like this perfect scenery of like the out of this world, which is ethereal and the touching sea of glowing orbs, illuminating the dark nights.       

Yeah. What are glowing, what are the glowing orbs?       

The candles that are lit and, yeah. Which everybody holds up Halloween, so…       

Okay. What do you think the, the readers are actually thinking about when they read that?       

They think about how it could, how, like how touching it would be and how emotional it is and important.       

In the last part of the article, the opinion piece, she con… what does she continue to do here?       

I think it is critiquing adults, parents and even children themselves or teenagers who are reading this article.       

Okay. How is she doing that?       

She's doing that by like asking them rhetorical questions, well, abundance of rhetorical questions that really make them think, wow maybe like I am high hyper-individualistic.       

How do you think she positions readers by using those rhetorical questions?       

She positions them to constantly think about her arguments and this is used to like change their mind. So if they're against Halloween, they'll go for, yeah and it interests the readers more to keep reading.       

I think it will also get them to like agree with, like agree with her point of view and like by asking this many rhetorical questions, they're like pushing the anti-Halloween people like up the wall because there's just so much here.       

Okay.

So then they'll just be like, “Oh, I have to agree,” because it's just pressure.       

It's hard to disagree.       

Yeah.       

       

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Interpret and respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum, understanding the purpose and structure (VCEALC696)
  • Draw basic inferences from a text, such as suggesting the opinion of the author (VCEALC700)
  • Understand the relationship between text structures and social purposes of text types studied in class - discussing the purpose of individual features of a text, for example headings (VCEALA702)
  • Outline the role of specific features of a text (VCEALL707)
  • Experiment with reading long, complex texts with support from the teacher (VCEALA703)
  • Read texts with compound and complex sentences containing multiple clauses and some sophisticated features, such as noun groups (VCEALL709)
  • Read and understand sentences containing a broad range of descriptive language (VCEALL711)
  • Identify thematic groupings of words in a text - classifying words with the same function  (in this text, to create emotional impact) (VCEALL712)
  • Understand the relationship between text structures and social purposes of text types studied in class - using modelled metalanguage to name and describe features of texts (VCEALA702)
  • Respond to different cultural attitudes that are exemplified in stories - identifying explicit and implicit representations of culture in texts, for example moral judgments based on implied cultural values (VCEALA704)
  • Outline the role of specific features of a text, for example rhetorical questions (VCEALL707)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Continue to read and respond to a wide range of accessible texts from across the curriculum (VCEALC696)
  • Continue to read texts of increasing complexity, discussing the relationship between text structures and social purposes of a variety text types (VCEALA702)
  • Experiment with reading increasingly long, complex texts with decreasing support from the teacher (VCEALA703)
  • Compare and contrast cultural aspects of texts in English with similar texts in their home language (VCEALA704)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 7 – 9 who has achieved the C3 standard will continue on Pathway C to Level C4 of the EAL curriculum.

Students who are working within the range of C3 or who have achieved the C3 standard at the end of Year 10 will transition to either English or EAL if they undertake the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). 

Student eligibility for VCE EAL Units 3 and 4 in Year 12 should be considered when planning pathways for these students. Students who are eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 EAL should continue in EAL in Year 11. 

Students who are not eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 may be enrolled in a mainstream English class in Year 11 in order to become familiar with the curriculum content of the VCE English, English Language or Literature Study Design, or they may continue in an EAL class in Year 11.

Regardless of eligibility, students working within the range of or at C3 at the end of Year 10 will need ongoing language and EAL-informed teaching to help them with the academic demands of VCE. 

Schools should contact the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to determine students’ VCE EAL eligibility.      

Persuasive text: Halloween: Structure of an opinion piece

Student information

The first student is 16 years old. They were born in Greece and have been in Australia for 9 years. On arrival in Victoria, they attended an English language centre for 6 months before enrolling in a mainstream primary school. They are in Year 10 at a Victoria government secondary college. Their home language is Greek. They had age-equivalent schooling in Greece.

The second student is 16 years and 7 months old. They were born in Thailand and have been in Australia for almost 7 years. They had age-equivalent schooling in Thailand, and on arrival to Australia enrolled in Year 4 at a Victorian government primary school. They are in Year 10 at a Victoria government secondary college. Their home language is Thai.

Task

The students have been studying literary devices used to make an argument in persuasive texts. In this task, they read and discuss a model text about Halloween and its appropriacy as a celebration for Australian children. The teacher guides them to talk about how the author has structured the text, and to elaborate on the arguments presented.

The words spoken by the student/s being assessed are in bold.     

Transcript

00:06 – 03:36      

What we're going to be doing this morning is looking at an article, an opinion piece, as part of our learning on persuasive language and analysing language. Can you tell me about the type of text that you have been reading?      

So the type of text that we have been reading is an opinion piece and it is about Halloween.      

Okay. So how do you know that it's an opinion piece?      

It's from the SBS website, which is known for people giving their opinion on topics.      

How would you describe how she begins her article?      

I think she's beginning with, like, this personal anecdote, like, her personal experience about how Halloween is impacting her daily life.      

Why do you think that is? Why do you think she's done that?      

Because she's, like, from what I can pick up here, she's a parent, and since this article is targeted to parents and adults, other parents and adults will also be, like, interested in what's happened to other parents during Halloween.      

How does she continue in the next paragraph? What is she trying to build on?      

On this paragraph she talks about multicultural, how multicultural, like, everyone is and how they all come together as a community and, yeah, she talks about how different type of religions and, like, cultures, come together on Halloween.      

What are the arguments that she puts forward in this paragraph?      

That it unites us, all the kids, like, all the kids come together, and she also states that they're feeling safe, so, and belonging. So, safety.      

Yes. Then what does she do after that?      

She rebuts. She uses a rebuttal to, like, talk about how those other arguments, other arguments people make about Halloween.      

Mm hmm. Okay. And what arguments do you think she makes in the next section about Halloween?      

She's trying to make the argument that Halloween is, like, it's a celebration about celebrating children and families and not about the nation. She's trying to, like, break down this sense of national pride and patriotism that stop people from celebrating Halloween.      

What do we finally hear from her in the last paragraph there?      

We hear her contention and what she thinks about Halloween, truly.      

Yeah. Okay. So which sentence is that?      

It's the last sentence. So it's time for a challenge to let go of Halloween grudges and embrace the joy, ritual, spontaneity, generosity, and community bonding.      

Okay, good. So why do you think she's put the contention at the end, the very end of the article, instead of the beginning of the article?      

I think it is to, like, it is a good end to the article, to, like, wrap up the article and then, basically, she's, like, because this is, like, it just makes this more persuasive because here, like, the first one, she introduces her argument. The second one is her rebuttal. The third one is her rebuttal and this one is, like, it's just a nice way to end it.      

      

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Interpret and respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum - understanding background information associated with the content and text type, including the purpose and structure (VCEALC696)
  • Discuss the purpose of individual features of a text (VCEALA702)
  • Read with understanding texts on familiar topics (VCEALC699)
  • Use modelled metalanguage to name and describe features of texts (VCEALA702)
  • Discuss the purpose of individual features of a text (VCEALA702)
  • Identify explicit and implicit representations of culture in texts, for example, moral judgments based on implied cultural values (VCEALA704)
  • Skim a text for general meaning and scan to find detailed information - scanning a text to extract answers to questions (VCEALC698)
  • Understand the relationship between text structures and social purposes of text types studied in class (VCEALA702)
  • Outline the role of specific features of a text (VCEALL707)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Read a variety of texts from a broad range of sources including multimodal texts, such as news reports, that combine audio, subtitles and video (VCEALC699)
  • Compare and contrast own cultural knowledge with aspects represented in text (VCEALA704)
  • Compare the structures of different texts, for example, a report and a review, or an English text with a  home language text (VCEALL706)
  • Continue to read texts of increasing complexity, including compound and complex sentences and sophisticated features such as noun groups and modality, with decreasing teacher support (VCEALL709)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 7 – 9 who has achieved the C3 standard will continue on Pathway C to Level C4 of the EAL curriculum.

Students who are working within the range of C3 or who have achieved the C3 standard at the end of Year 10 will transition to either English or EAL if they undertake the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). 

Student eligibility for VCE EAL Units 3 and 4 in Year 12 should be considered when planning pathways for these students. Students who are eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 EAL should continue in EAL in Year 11. 

Students who are not eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 may be enrolled in a mainstream English class in Year 11 in order to become familiar with the curriculum content of the VCE English, English Language or Literature Study Design, or they may continue in an EAL class in Year 11.

Regardless of eligibility, students working within the range of or at C3 at the end of Year 10 will need ongoing language and EAL-informed teaching to help them with the academic demands of VCE. 

Schools should contact the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to determine students’ VCE EAL eligibility.     

Imaginative text: Giving opinions about Frankenstein

Student information

This student is 14 years and 2 months old. They were born in Vietnam and have been in Australia for 3 years. They had age-equivalent school in Vietnam and studied English at a private school for 6 months before enrolling into a Victorian government secondary college where they are now in Year 8. Their home language is Vietnamese.

Task

The students have been reading an abridged version of the text Frankenstein in class. They have read part of the text. In this task, the students discuss the circumstances that may have influenced the author and the motivations of the characters within the story. They make personal connections with the text and discuss the impact of the story so far on them as the reader.

The words spoken by the student/s being assessed are in bold.    

Transcript

00.04 – 04:14     

So you've been reading the text Frankenstein, it's an abridged version and we haven't quite finished reading it yet. What's it like so far reading Frankenstein?     

I think it's really interesting reading Frankenstein because the more I read, like every sentence I read, it just lead me on and like, I want to read more of those because it's like a horror story. And it's like, the, the author it make the... It make Victor Frankenstein did a lot of bad things and like, I want to find out what happen next for him to pays the bad thing back.     

Can you tell us a little bit about the author, Mary Shelly, and her situation and how, maybe her experience helped her shape that narrative?     

So Mary Shelly had a baby and the baby died in her mother's womb. And I think it might affect Mary Shelly's thoughts and how like, like how the baby dies because of her. And during 200 years ago, a lot of people die and it was really common in Switzerland, so it was a normal thing for people. And it might have affects like Mary Shelly's thought about like how it was going on and it might give her an idea for her story.     

Why would Mary Shelly create a character that's had experiences of, like that?     

I think Mary Shelly wrote that Victor mother died because she has the same experience which is her mother dies when she was really young as well. So she might have put her thoughts into the story when she wrote that part.     

Yeah. Do you think readers would identify or understand that part of Victor Frankenstein?     

Maybe some would and some won't because they think that Victor Frankenstein is mad and he's a psychopath because he... Yeah, because he dig up people grave and just do it for his own purpose.     

Yeah.

But some of them will understand because like, he have like a purpose for himself and a goal, like a goal that for him to achieve and maybe he really wants to, you know, like achieve that goal that's set for him.     

Or do you identify with what he's done, that he's created a creature that he's spent many, couple of years working on and then suddenly, he's got it but he doesn't like it?     

Yeah. Like a lot of people just really wants one thing and then after they get it, like they just don't want it anymore. Like after a while, they get bored of it and they just don't want it as much. And it's like, it's just Victor Frankenstein, how he's spent nearly two years on it and when it's turned out, he completely hates it even though it still have some, like good features, like his black hair and his white teeth. But it still make the creature looks ugly because how he is really huge and he has wrinkle on his face.      

Do you think there's any way like Victor Frankenstein having done something like, what readers would think was wrong in the beginning, ever a way to make things better? Like all right or morally right?     

So if Victor does create another monster, readers gonna think it's a bad thing because he has to dig up people graves again. And even though Victor has a good purpose for it, it's still a bad thing and the process is just gonna repeat again and again. And when Victor, when he get older, he might have like nightmares when he thinks about it. He might feel guilty because what he did, he knew that he did it wrong or he knew like what he did was wrong but he was obsessed so he couldn't just get out of it and he just keep doing it. So he might feel guilty after a while.     

     

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum (VCEALC696)
  • Interpret accessible texts from across the curriculum - understanding background information associated with the content (VCEALC696)
  • Respond to imaginative texts, showing an understanding of key events, characters and issues, drawing basic inferences from a text, such as describing the feelings of a character (VCEALC700)
  • Expressing a point of view and connecting aspects of the text to personal experience (VCEALC700)
  • Respond to different cultural attitudes that are exemplified in stories - identifying explicit and implicit representations of culture in texts, for example moral judgments based on implied cultural values (VCEALA704)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Continue to read and respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum (VCEALC696)
  • Experiment with reading longer, more complex texts with support from the teacher (VCEALA703)
  • Compare and contrast own cultural knowledge with aspects represented in texts (VCEALA704)
  • Continue to read texts with a range of sentence types, including compound and complex sentences containing multiple clauses and some sophisticated features, such as noun groups and modality (VCEALL709)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 7 – 9 who has achieved the C3 standard will continue on Pathway C to Level C4 of the EAL curriculum.

Students who are working within the range of C3 or who have achieved the C3 standard at the end of Year 10 will transition to either English or EAL if they undertake the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). 

Student eligibility for VCE EAL Units 3 and 4 in Year 12 should be considered when planning pathways for these students. Students who are eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 EAL should continue in EAL in Year 11. 

Students who are not eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 may be enrolled in a mainstream English class in Year 11 in order to become familiar with the curriculum content of the VCE English, English Language or Literature Study Design, or they may continue in an EAL class in Year 11.

Regardless of eligibility, students working within the range of or at C3 at the end of Year 10 will need ongoing language and EAL-informed teaching to help them with the academic demands of VCE. 

Schools should contact the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to determine students’ VCE EAL eligibility.    

Imaginative text: Retell of Frankenstein

Student information

This student is 14 years and 2 months old. They were born in Vietnam and have been in Australia for 3 years. They had age-equivalent school in Vietnam and studied English at a private school for 6 months before enrolling in a Victorian government secondary college where they are now in Year 8. Their home language is Vietnamese.

Task

The students have been reading an abridged version of the text Frankenstein in class. They have read part of the text. In this task, the teacher guides the student to retell the events in the story so far.

The words spoken by the student/s being assessed are in bold.   

Transcript

00:04 – 04:36

How does Mary Shelley begin the narrative?

Mary Shelley begins the narrative by a really interesting way by, like, there was two people, which is the captain and a sailor, and there was on, like, an ocean, and they saw the creature and someone was chasing the creature. And then a while after, they both just disappeared and they saw Victor Frankenstein and decided to help him. And Victor Frankenstein decided to write his story down for the captain to read. And he thinks that the captain will believe him more because he saw the creature.   

Yeah. And the story also started by Victor Frankenstein. He has an adopted sister, and his mother died. His mother died.   

Yeah, when he was 17.   

Yeah.    

What happens? What are the events that happen in the narrative to build tension?

So, Victor Frankenstein, when he was 15, he went on a vacation with his family and there was a really big thunderstorm happened. And so the electricity, so the lightning is break down a tree, like, a really huge tree. And he was fascinated by it. He was like, he wondered how electricity works and he really wants to, like... Like, he wants to put-   

He wants to learn more about electricity.   

Yeah.    

And he went to university without his friend Henry. And that's when he started to get to know more about electricity and started to do unimaginable things.   

Okay. Is that how the tension builds in the text?

Yeah.   

What unimaginable things does he do?

Oh, so he had an idea that he wants to put life into death thing and he starts to experience it by, in his experiment, he stay in his laboratory for a year without letting anyone in. And he decided to dig up people grave to find pieces of their bodies and he decided to put them together. And he didn't let anyone in his laboratory because he knew that he did a horrible thing.   

So, can you explain how does Victor Frankenstein actually create his creature?

So, yeah, he digs up people graves to find the body's pieces and…   

He sews them together.   

Yeah.    

What happens when the electricity goes down the pole and into his lab?

A second after nothing happened, but then a few minutes after the creature start to move and he stands up. So, that's when Victor knew that his creation works. But then, he was terrified by the creature, so he starts to run away.   

Okay. So he's created his creature, but he's... why does he run away?

Because he was scared and he felt this feeling where he just hates his creature because of the way it looks.   

Okay. So we haven't finished reading the text. We've come up to a certain point. What have we read up to?

We read up to the part that Victor Frankenstein found the monster on the mountain and he chased the monster, then they decided to have a conversation. The monster wants to have a conversation with Victor Frankenstein and tell his side of the story.   

Yep. So after he creates the creature and he runs away from him, what happens? What does the creature do?

The creature went to find his family and kill his brother to take revenge. He feels, like, really sad and lonely and unfair because you know how, like, when the owner meets the creature but they don't give them enough love. Just like parents and children. Yeah. How they're supposed to love their children no matter what, and Victor Frankenstein did not love his creature.   

   

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Interpret and respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum (VCEALC696)
  • Respond to a range of creative texts, such as poems, short stories, novels, films, songs (VCEALC700)
  • Understand the relationship between text structures and social purposes of text types studied in class - using modelled metalanguage to name and describe features of texts (VCEALA702)
  • Respond to imaginative texts, showing understanding of key events, characters and issues by retelling (VCEALC700)
  • Draw basic inferences from a text, such as describing the feelings of a character or suggesting the opinion of the author (VCEALC700)
  • Respond to different cultural attitudes that are exemplified in stories - identifying explicit and implicit representations of culture in texts, for example moral judgments based on implied cultural values (VCEALA704)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Experiment with reading long, complex texts with support from the teacher, for example, original text rather than abridged version (VCEALA703)
  • Read texts with an increasing range of sentence types, including compound and complex sentences containing multiple clauses or sentences with sophisticated features, such as noun groups and modality (VCEALL709)
  • Continue to read sentences containing a broad range of descriptive language, building understanding of features such as complex noun groups and adverbial phrases (VCEALL711)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 7 – 9 who has achieved the C3 standard will continue on Pathway C to Level C4 of the EAL curriculum.

Students who are working within the range of C3 or who have achieved the C3 standard at the end of Year 10 will transition to either English or EAL if they undertake the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). 

Student eligibility for VCE EAL Units 3 and 4 in Year 12 should be considered when planning pathways for these students. Students who are eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 EAL should continue in EAL in Year 11. 

Students who are not eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 may be enrolled in a mainstream English class in Year 11 in order to become familiar with the curriculum content of the VCE English, English Language or Literature Study Design, or they may continue in an EAL class in Year 11.

Regardless of eligibility, students working within the range of or at C3 at the end of Year 10 will need ongoing language and EAL-informed teaching to help them with the academic demands of VCE. 

Schools should contact the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to determine students’ VCE EAL eligibility.  

Imaginative text: Interpreting text: Frankenstein

Student information

The first student is 13 years and 10 months old. They were born in Burma and have been in Australia for 8 years. They had age-equivalent schooling in Thailand. On arrival in Victoria, they attended an English language centre before enrolling in Year 1 at a Victorian government primary school. They are now in Year 8 in a Victorian government secondary college. Their home language is Burmese and they have a refugee background.

The second student is 14 years and 2 months old. They were born in Vietnam and have been in Australia for 3 years. They had age-equivalent schooling in Vietnam and studied English at a private school for 6 months before enrolling into a Victorian government secondary college where they are now in Year 8. Their home language is Vietnamese.

Task

The students have been reading an abridged version of the text Frankenstein in class. They have read part of the text. In this task, the students read excerpts from the original text and the teacher guides them to talk about the language used to describe characters and to convey feelings. They then discuss the author’s message, and to whom that message is directed.

The words spoken by the students being assessed are in bold. 

Transcript

00:04 – 04:17  

We've looked at an excerpt from the original text. It was quite challenging for you just to see how it was written 200 years ago. So let's read, have a go at reading that text, and we'll talk a little bit about it.  

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful, beautiful, great God. His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath. His hair was of a lustrous black and flowing, his teeth of pearly whiteness. But these luxuriance formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes that seemed almost of the same colour as the dull-white sockets in which they were set. His shrivelled complexion and straight black lips."  

Tell me, what feelings does Victor Frankenstein have about his creature here in this original passage?  

He feels like he likes the creature but then he also doesn't.  

How do you know he likes the creature?  

Um, he...  

What tells you in that passage?  

He said his hair is lustrous black and flowing. But then he also said, "but these luxuriance formed a more horrid contrast." So he loves the creature but then he also hates it at the same time.  

What parts about the creature here in the passage do you see that he really hates? Is it hate or is it…  

It's love hate.  

It's like he finds him ugly too.  

Yeah. Which parts?  

Like his shrivelled complexion.  

Yep.  

And straight black lips. Also his yellow skin.  

Let's have a read of the second paragraph.  

"I had worked hard for nearly two years for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I have deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation but now I have finished the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless, horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out the room and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber unable to compose my mind to sleep."  

Okay, what do you think of Victor Frankenstein's reaction here?  

So Victor, like he was happy that the creature works and like it starts to move that he put life into it but also at the same time he was terrified by it because how it looks and how it's actually really huge. And like he didn't believe that he actually create that thing. And he was feeling really stressed out after he made it and he didn't know what to do after he rushed out his room and every time he closed his eyes, everything he thinks of was the creature and he couldn't sleep.  

Yeah. What do you think Ma Bee?  

I feel like the creature would give him nightmares in the middle of the night, just out of nowhere, because it looks really scary.  

Do you think Mary Shelley might be saying something about ambition?  

I think scientists these days they can work with electricity however they want and they can create like, anything. Because compared to the back then, it's more advanced these days and anything can be made.  

Yeah and she's trying to warn scientists these days as well because scientists, like they have like, they can do a lot these days because we have really good electricity and like how things work so they can do a lot of things. And Mary Shelley, she wants to warn them that like, don't go beyond what you're supposed to do, yeah.  

  

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Experiment with reading long, complex texts with support from the teacher (VCEALA703)
  • Read and understand sentences containing a broad range of descriptive language with some support (VCEALL711)
  • Skim a text for general meaning and scan to find detailed information such as specific words or answers to questions (VCEALC698)
  • Respond to imaginative texts, showing an understanding of key events, characters and issues by drawing basic inferences from a text, such as describing the feelings of a character or expressing a point of view (VCEALC700)
  • Read texts with a range of sentence types (VCEALL709)
  • Interpret and respond to accessible texts from across the curriculum - understanding background information associated with the content (VCEALC696)
  • Respond to different cultural attitudes that are exemplified in stories, for example identifying moral judgments based on implied cultural values (VCEALA704)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Continue to read and respond to imaginative texts, discussing key events, characters and issues to build independence in comprehension (VCEALC700)
  • Continue to experiment with reading long, complex texts with decreasing support from the teacher (VCEALA703)
  • Understand the relationship between text structures and social purposes of text types studied in class, and using modelled metalanguage to name and describe features of texts (VCEALA702)
  • Read a range of texts, including fiction and non-fiction, on diverse topics and with a range of perspectives (VCEALA703)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 7 – 9 who has achieved the C3 standard will continue on Pathway C to Level C4 of the EAL curriculum.

Students who are working within the range of C3 or who have achieved the C3 standard at the end of Year 10 will transition to either English or EAL if they undertake the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). 

Student eligibility for VCE EAL Units 3 and 4 in Year 12 should be considered when planning pathways for these students. Students who are eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 EAL should continue in EAL in Year 11. 

Students who are not eligible to undertake Units 3 and 4 may be enrolled in a mainstream English class in Year 11 in order to become familiar with the curriculum content of the VCE English, English Language or Literature Study Design, or they may continue in an EAL class in Year 11.

Regardless of eligibility, students working within the range of or at C3 at the end of Year 10 will need ongoing language and EAL-informed teaching to help them with the academic demands of VCE. 

Schools should contact the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to determine students’ VCE EAL eligibility. 

Related pages

Student work samples: Level C3 Speaking and Listening
Student work samples: Level C3 Writing
Student work samples: Level C2 Reading and Viewing
Student work samples: Level C4 Reading and Viewing