Language & Literacy: Years 3 to 6 (ECP) (EDUC91071)

This subject will lead Teacher Candidates to increase their understanding of the advanced forms of language and literacy developed in Years 3 to 6 of schooling. Teacher Candidates will engage with key research about the challenges facing teachers and students in this phase of learning and the classroom practice that best support all student’s language and literacy development. This subject references the Australian/Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Frameworks and Curricula. Engagement with theoretical perspectives, current research and the Victorian Curriculum will assist Teacher Candidates to plan for, implement and evaluate teaching strategies suited to the language and literacy development of diverse students in Years 3 to 6.

Pedagogical content knowledge of language and literacy will be enhanced through an address of topics, which include the multiple forms of literacy required for the comprehension, composition and production of complex texts central to English and other areas of the curriculum; the strategies that assist all school students to engage in comprehension; higher-order thinking; critical analysis and inquiry around various written, visual, multimodal and technological texts; the development of academic language proficiency in reading, writing, listening and speaking and the use of the Clinical Teaching Cycle to support literacy learning and teaching.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, Teacher Candidates should be able to:

• Integrate strong subject and pedagogical content knowledge of the multiple forms of language and literacy required in the Victorian Curriculum: English, to plan for the teaching of literacy in the middle and final years of primary school.
• Analyse relevant educational theory and research concerning teaching advanced forms of literacy and the related challenges for all middle and upper primary school students.
• Design relevant curriculum and pedagogy that is both challenging and differentiated to cater for the diverse needs of middle and upper primary school students to comprehend, compose and produce more complex texts.
• Organise, manage and critique differentiated literacy classroom activities that support all learners' literacy learning.
• Critically plan, select, use, integrate, sequence and evaluate a range of teaching strategies and resources, including ICT to support the teaching of literacy to engage diverse learners.
• Engage in a range of literacy assessment practices that provide opportunities to analyse and interpret a range of assessment and diagnostic data to make sound and informed judgements about students' learning needs and related teaching interventions.

Generic skills