English as an Additional Language or Dialect: General - a summary of syllabus changes
This table summarises the main changes that have occurred in the process of adapting Stage 1 and Stage 2
of this course into Year 11 and Year 12 syllabuses for implementation in 2015 (Year 11) and 2016 (Year 12).
Content changes
Overall
Content changes
Year 11 specific
Content changes
Year 12 specific
2014/10147
 The Rationale has been shortened to adopt the Australian Curriculum rationale, with
some adaptation for the Western Australian context. The General rationale clarifies
that this course prepares students for a range-of post-secondary destinations.
Pedagogy has been removed.
 Aims have been adopted from the Australian Curriculum. These essentially reword
current course aims and emphasise Standard Australian English (SAE) as the goal for
EAL/D students.
 Content organisers have changed. These are:
o Communication skills and strategies
o Comprehension skills and strategies
o Language and textual analysis
o Creating texts
 A Language table common to all EAL/D syllabi has been introduced. This lists aspects of
competency in the phonological system, orthography, lexis, grammar, semantics, and
sociolinguistic and sociocultural skills and understandings.
 The Australian Curriculum list of text types, with the addition of texts to support
language acquisition, and a sample text list, have been included
 A link to a list of suggested texts on the Authority website is included
 A Glossary of terms used in the syllabus appears in an Appendix
 Unit descriptions build on the Australian EAL/D Curriculum Bridging units 3 and 4
descriptions, incorporating the current Stage 1CD thematic foci and indicating the pitch
of the units.
 Minor amendments to the current Stage 1CD Suggested contexts
 Minor changes to the current Stage 1CD unit content, now distributed under the skills
focussed course organisers. Emphasis is placed on communicative, expressive and early
stages of analytical SAE skills development and language knowledge. Introductory
verbs balanced against the conceptual difficulty of specific items of unit content
indicate the pitch of skills to be taught and learned. For example, under Unit 1
Communication skills and strategies:
o “interacting and using forms of address appropriately in familiar and classroom
contexts”
o Also in Unit 1, under Language and textual analysis: “outlining the purposes of a
growing range of text types, including academic texts.”
 More specific items of SAE language knowledge from the current Stage 1CD content
such as “orthography” are now to be found in the EAL/D Language table. Explicit
scoping of language production skills appears in Unit 1, Creating texts, for example:
 “using a growing range of strategies for planning and refining work, including editing
and incorporating feedback for correct simple tenses, common punctuation, spelling,
and a variety of simple and compound sentences.”
 Unit descriptions build on the Australian EAL/D Curriculum Units 1 and 2 descriptions
to incorporate the current Stage 2 thematic foci and to indicate the pitch of the units.
 Minor amendments to the current Stage 2 Suggested contexts.
 Minor changes to the current Stage 2 content, now distributed under the skills
focussed course organisers. Emphasis is placed on a growing range of communicative,
expressive, analytical and evaluative SAE skills development and language knowledge.
Introductory verbs balanced against the conceptual difficulty of specific items of unit
content indicate the pitch of skills to be taught and learned. For example, under Unit 3
Communication skills and strategies:
English as an Additional Language or Dialect | General | a summary of syllabus changes
o Identifying assumptions and beliefs underlying certain practices, including
variations in greetings and displays of respect in different cultures”
o In Unit 3, Language and textual analysis: “identifying how different purposes and
contexts influence language choices and meaning”
o In Unit 4, Creating texts: “using language appropriate to the context, including
imaginative, persuasive and rhetorical forms and features”
Changes to the
assessment table
Year 11
Changes to the
assessment table
Year 12
Changes to
assessment type
weightings
Year 11
Changes to
assessment type
weightings
Year 12
2014/10147
 Based on the previous WACE EAL/D course assessment table
The task types remain the same. Task types no longer list specific topics for
Investigation. Text types are listed in more general terms to reduce repetition.
 Based on the previous WACE EAL/D course assessment table
The task types remain the same. Task types no longer list suggested topics for
Investigation. Text types are listed in more general terms to reduce repetition.
 An Externally set task (written) included
 Weightings of four assessment types show a range, as in the current course:
o Investigation – 20% - 30%
o Response – 20% - 30%
o Production (written) – 20% - 30%
o Production (oral) – 20% - 30%
 There are five assessment types
 Weightings of each assessment type are fixed
 Written component
o Investigation – 20%
o Response – 20%
o Production (written) – 25%
o Production (oral) – 20 %
o Externally set task – 15%
English as an Additional Language or Dialect | General | a summary of syllabus changes