Rationale

The Western Australian Curriculum: Languages enables all students to communicate proficiently in a language other than English by providing students with essential communication skills in that language, an intercultural capability, and an understanding of the role of language and culture in human communication.

In the Western Australian Curriculum, the Languages learning area comprises six subjects: Chinese: Second Language, French: Second Language, German: Second Language, Indonesian: Second Language, Italian: Second Language and Japanese: Second Language.

Language learning broadens students’ horizons to include the personal, social, and employment opportunities that an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world presents. The interdependence of countries means that people in all spheres of life have to be able to negotiate experiences and meanings across languages and cultures. It has also brought the realisation that, despite its status as a world language, a capability only in English is not sufficient, and a bilingual or plurilingual capability is the norm in most parts of the world.

The Western Australian Curriculum: Languages operates from the fundamental principle that for all students, learning to communicate in two or more languages is a rich, challenging experience of engaging with and participating in the linguistic and cultural diversity of our interconnected world. The curriculum builds upon students’ intercultural understanding and sense of identity as they are encouraged to explore and recognise their own linguistic, social, and cultural practices and identities as well as those associated with speakers of the language being learnt.

Aims

The Western Australian Curriculum: Languages aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that students:

• communicate in the target language
• extend their literacy repertoires
• understand language, culture, learning and their relationship, and thereby develop an intercultural capability in communication
• develop understanding of and respect for diversity and difference, and an openness to different experiences and perspectives
• develop an understanding of how culture shapes worldviews and extend their understanding of themselves, their own heritage, values, culture and identity
• strengthen their intellectual, analytical and reflective capabilities, and enhance their creative and critical thinking skills
• understand themselves as communicators.

Organisation

Content Structure

The Languages learning area comprises six subjects: Chinese: Second Language, French: Second Language, German: Second Language, Indonesian: Second Language, Italian: Second Language and Japanese: Second Language.

The Languages curriculum is written on the basis that schools provide a Languages program, in at least one language, from Pre-primary to Year 10. However, where schools do not have a Languages program in place, the Authority requires schools to teach a minimum of one language, commencing with Year 3 in 2018 (Year 4 in 2019, Year 5 in 2020, Year 6 in 2021, Year 7 in 2022, Year 8 in 2023).

In Years 9 and 10 the study of Languages is optional.

Each of the six Languages subjects is organised into two interrelated strands: Communicating and Understanding. Together, these strands reflect three important aspects of language learning: performance of communication, analysing various aspects of language and culture involved in communication and understanding oneself as a communicator.

Within each strand, a set of sub-strands has been identified, which reflects dimensions of language use and the related content to be taught and learned. The strands and sub-strands do not operate in isolation but are integrated in relation to language use for different purposes in different contexts. The relative contribution of each strand will differ for different languages and for different stages of learning.

Communicating

The Communicating strand focuses on students learning to use the target language to interpret, create and exchange meaning and to use the language to communicate in different contexts. It involves learning to use the target language for a variety of purposes.

• Socialising

The content focuses on interacting orally and in writing to exchange, ideas, opinions, experiences, thoughts and feelings; and participating in planning, negotiating, deciding and taking action.

• Informing

The content develops skills to obtain, process, interpret and convey information through a range of oral, written and multimodal texts; developing and applying knowledge.

• Creating

The content focuses on students engaging with imaginative experience by participating in, responding to and creating a range of texts such as stories, songs, drama and music.

• Translating

The content focuses on developing the skills to move between languages and cultures orally and in writing, recognising different interpretations and explaining these to others.

• Reflecting

The content focuses on providing opportunities for students to participate in intercultural exchange, questioning reactions and assumptions; and considering how interaction shapes communication and identity.

The Communicating strand involves various combinations of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills:

• interacting and interpreting meaning (spoken and written reception)
• interacting and creating meaning (spoken and written production)

and incorporates diverse text types and task types.

Understanding

The Understanding strand focuses on students analysing and understanding language and culture as resources for interpreting and shaping meaning in intercultural exchange.

• Systems of language

The content focuses on students developing the understanding of language as a system, including sound, writing, grammatical and textual conventions.

• Language variation and change

The content focuses on students developing the understanding of how languages vary in use (register, style, standard and non-standard varieties) and change over time and place.

• The role of language and culture

The content focuses on students analysing and understanding the role of language and culture in the exchange of meaning.

Year level descriptions

Year level descriptions provide an overview of the key concepts addressed, along with core content being studied at that year level. They also emphasise the interrelated nature of the two strands and the expectation that planning will involve integration of content from across the strands.

Content descriptions

Content descriptions set out the knowledge, understanding and skills that teachers are expected to teach and students are expected to learn. They do not prescribe approaches to teaching. The core content has been written to ensure that learning is appropriately ordered and that unnecessary repetition is avoided. However, a concept or skill introduced at one year level may be revisited, strengthened and extended at later year levels as needed.

Additional content descriptions are available for teachers to incorporate in their teaching programs. Schools will determine the inclusion of additional content, taking into account learning area time allocation and school priorities.

The additional content will not be reflected in the Achievement Standard.

Achievement standards

From Pre-primary to Year 10, achievement standards indicate the quality of learning that students should typically demonstrate by a particular point in their schooling. An achievement standard describes the quality of learning (e.g. the depth of conceptual understanding and the sophistication of skills) that would indicate the student is well-placed to commence the learning required at the next level of achievement.

Glossary

A glossary is provided to support a common understanding of the key terms and concepts included in the core content.

Student Diversity

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority is committed to the development of a high-quality curriculum that promotes excellence and equity in education for all Western Australian students.

All students are entitled to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning programs drawn from the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages. Teachers take account of the range of their students' current levels of learning, strengths, goals and interests and make adjustments where necessary. The three-dimensional design of the Western Australian Curriculum, comprising learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities, provides teachers with flexibility to cater for the diverse needs of students across Western Australia and to personalise their learning.

Students with disability

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 require education and training service providers to support the rights of students with disability to access the curriculum on the same basis as students without disability.

Many students with disability are able to achieve educational standards commensurate with their peers, as long as the necessary adjustments are made to the way in which they are taught and to the means through which they demonstrate their learning.

In some cases, curriculum adjustments are necessary to provide equitable opportunities for students to access age-equivalent content in the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages. Teachers can draw from content at different levels along the Pre-primary – Year 10 sequence. Teachers can also use the general capabilities learning continua in Literacy, Numeracy and Personal and social capability to adjust the focus of learning according to individual student need.

Teachers may also need to consider adjustments to assessment of students with disability to ensure student achievement and demonstration of learning is appropriately measured.

English as an additional language or dialect

Students for whom English is an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) enter Western Australian schools at different ages and at different stages of English language learning and have various educational backgrounds in their first languages. While many EAL/D students bring already highly developed literacy (and numeracy) skills in their own language to their learning of Standard Australian English, there are a significant number of students who are not literate in their first language, and have had little or no formal schooling.

The Western Australian Curriculum: Languages is founded on contemporary understandings of language acquisition, where development and learning all the languages students experience in their socialisation and education form part of students’ distinctive linguistic and cultural repertoires. These are variously developed by both the experience of schooling and broader social community experience. These repertoires are an integral part of students’ identities and what they bring to the learning of additional languages as part of the languages learning area within the school curriculum.

While the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages primarily addresses the learning of languages, this learning cannot be separated from the development of students’ more general communicative repertoires. It is through such a relational and holistic approach to languages education that students develop their capabilities in knowing and using multiple languages. Students extend their communicative and conceptual development, learning and identity formation.

In various kinds of bilingual programs, students are afforded an opportunity to learn through the medium of English and another language (students’ first or additional language). These programs are of particular value in ensuring students continue to develop at least two languages that are of value to them. They are of value to both their conceptual development and learning and to their identity formation.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities recognise the importance of literacy to their children. They support literacy education programs that are founded on establishing literacy in their children’s first language. These are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages their communities use. Literacy in English is regarded as concomitant on first establishing students’ literacy in their first language. Although most bilingual programs in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are designed to help students’ transition into learning in English, their fundamental value is in the development of bilingual literacy. Strengthening the bilingual literacy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students can significantly contribute to improving their overall academic achievement and success.

While the aims of the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages are the same for all students, EAL/D students must achieve these aims while simultaneously learning a new language and learning content and skills through that new language. These students may require additional time and support, along with teaching that explicitly addresses their language needs. Students who have had no formal schooling will need additional time and support in order to acquire skills for effective learning in formal settings.

Gifted and talented students

Teachers can use the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages flexibly to meet the individual learning needs of gifted and talented students.

Teachers can enrich students' learning by providing them with opportunities to work with learning area content in more depth or breadth (e.g. using the additional content descriptions); emphasising specific aspects of the general capabilities learning continua (e.g. the higher order cognitive skills of the critical and creative thinking capability); and/or focusing on cross-curriculum priorities. Teachers can also accelerate student learning by drawing on content from later year levels in the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages and/or from local, state and territory teaching and learning materials.

Ways of Teaching

The ‘ways of teaching’ aim to support teachers with planning for curriculum delivery across the years of school, with the teaching in each year extending learning in previous years.

The ‘ways of teaching’ complement the principles of teaching and learning in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/). The principles focus on the provision of a school and class environment that is intellectually, socially and physically supportive of learning. The principles assist whole-school planning and individual classroom practice.

The Languages learning area is made up of six distinct subjects: Chinese: Second Language, French: Second Language, German: Second Language, Indonesian: Second Language, Italian: Second Language and Japanese: Second Language. The content is presented through two interrelated strands Communicating and Understanding. The Communicating strand focuses on students learning to use the target language to interpret, create and exchange meaning and to use the language to communicate in different contexts while the Understanding strand focuses on students analysing and understanding language and culture as resources for interpreting and shaping meaning in intercultural exchange.

Through learning a language students learn to effectively communicate in the second language they are learning, develop an intercultural capability and understanding of the role of language and culture in communication and reflect on their language use and language learning.

Languages

In Languages students learn to communicate across the five sub strands of Socialising, Informing, Creating, Translating and Reflecting. Students analyse and develop their understanding of language and culture through the three sub strands of Systems of language, Language variation and change and the Role of language and culture. The sub strands are designed to be taught in an integrated way with the aim that they enrich the capability of the students to become successful intercultural communicators. The strands and sub strands do not operate in isolation but are integrated in relation to language use for different purposes in different contexts. The relative contribution of each strand will differ for different languages and for different stages of learning.

To support students' learning, teachers should develop teaching and learning programs in Languages to ensure that:

• the prior knowledge of students is identified to establish a starting point for learning
• in the early years, planning includes child-initiated, self-directed and play based activities
• the sub strands within the Communicating and Understanding strands are incorporated and integrated to ensure rich learning experiences
• opportunities are provided for students to communicate in the target language and to reflect on their communication and language learning experiences
• the target language is used as a means of instruction to build the students’ skills in comprehending spoken language.

To engage students in Languages, teachers typically create learning experiences which:

• draw on students’ personal interests, real-life experiences, or use stimulus materials to create meaningful linkages to the places where the target language is spoken
• use a wide range of authentic texts that are in the target language such as websites, tickets, films, advertisements and children’s picture books
• involve students in the performance, analysis and creation of a range of creative and imaginative texts such as poems, plays, songs and stories
• involve students in learning outside the classroom through exposure to authentic experiences and the facilitation of connection points with the local and wider community
• provide opportunities for students to communicate with first language speakers of the language they are learning through written, digital or spoken communication
• use new and emerging technologies to engage students in their language learning and to facilitate communication between first language speakers of the target language
• include current and/or recent events, issues or ‘hot topics’ that are relevant to young people in the country/countries where the target language is spoken.

Figure 1 is a visual representation of ways of teaching Languages.

For information on how to collect evidence to inform planning for ongoing learning experiences in Languages, refer to ‘Ways of Assessing’.

Ways of Teaching Video

Transcript

Ways of Assessing

The 'ways of assessing' complement 'ways of teaching' and aim to support teachers in developing effective assessment practices in the Languages.

The 'ways of assessing' also complement the principles of assessment contained in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline. The assessment principles, reflective questions and assessment snapshots support teachers in reflecting on their own assessment practice in relation to each of the assessment principles. Here teachers will find:

• background information for each principle
• reflective questions
• guidance for addressing the principle within their own assessment practice.

Refer to the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au) for further guidance on assessment principles, practices and phases of schooling.

The key to selecting the most appropriate assessment is in the answers to several reflective questions. For example:

• How do you use assessment as the starting point of your lesson planning?
• Do your assessments have a clear purpose?
• Do you design assessment tasks in a way that meets the dual purposes of formative and summative assessment?
• How do you use your observations of students (during the course of classroom activities, in assignments and in tests) to determine how learning can be improved?
• How do you identify students' misconceptions or gaps in their learning?
• How do you identify the next skill or understanding a student, or group of students, needs to learn?
• What information do you collect to evaluate your own teaching?
• How do you work with colleagues to evaluate student achievement data and how does this work inform your teaching?
• What range of evidence do you draw on when you report student performance and evaluate your teaching?

In the Languages, the two strands Communicating and Understanding are interrelated and inform and support each other. When developing assessment tasks, teachers provide students with opportunities to communicate in the language that they are learning and to demonstrate their understanding of the language needed for effective and interculturally appropriate communication. Assessment tasks typically address the syllabus content in interconnected ways within relevant, meaningful contexts to students. As students demonstrate their learning in different ways, teachers use ongoing assessment processes that include a diverse array of assessment strategies.

Refer to the Judging Standards tool in the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline (http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/judging-standards) when reporting against the Achievement Standards; giving assessment feedback; or explaining the differences between one student's achievement and another's.

The following table provides examples of assessment strategies which can enable teachers to understand where students are in their learning. Assessments should also be based on the integration of a range of types and sources of evidence.

General Capabilities

The general capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that will assist students to live and work in the 21st century. Teachers may find opportunities to incorporate the capabilities into the teaching and learning program for the Languages. The general capabilities are not assessed unless they are identified within the content.

Literacy

Students become literate as they develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to interpret and use language confidently for learning and communicating in and out of school and for participating effectively in society. Literacy involves students in listening to, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating oral, print, visual and digital texts, and using and modifying language for different purposes in a range of contexts.

In the Languages, learners of all languages are afforded opportunities for overall literacy development; strengthening literacy-related capabilities that are transferable across the language being learnt, their first language and English. For language learners, literacy involves skills and knowledge that need guidance, time and support to develop. These skills include:

• developing an ability to decode and encode from sound to written systems
• mastering of grammatical, orthographic and textual conventions
• developing semantic, pragmatic and critical literacy skills.

Numeracy

Students become numerate as they develop the knowledge and skills to use mathematics confidently across all learning areas at school and in their lives more broadly. Numeracy involves students recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world and having the dispositions and capacities to use mathematical knowledge and skills purposefully.

In the Languages, learners of all languages are afforded opportunities to develop, use and understand patterns, order and relationships, to reinforce concepts, such as number, time and space, in their own and in others’ cultural and linguistic systems.

Information and communication technology (ICT) capability

Students develop ICT capability as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and ideas; solve problems; and work collaboratively in all learning areas at school and in their lives beyond school. ICT capability involves students in learning to make the most of the technologies available to them; adapting to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment.

Each Languages subject is enhanced through the use of information and communication technology; accessing live language environments and texts via digital media contributes to the development of information technology capabilities as well as linguistic and cultural knowledge.

Critical and creative thinking

Students develop capability in critical and creative thinking as they learn to generate and evaluate knowledge, clarify concepts and ideas, seek possibilities, consider alternatives and solve problems. Critical and creative thinking are integral to activities that require students to reflect broadly and deeply using skills, behaviours and dispositions such as reason, logic, resourcefulness, imagination and innovation in all learning areas at school and in their lives beyond school.

In the Languages, as students learn to interact with people from diverse backgrounds and as they explore and reflect critically, they learn to notice, connect, compare, and analyse aspects of the language and culture. As a result, they develop critical thinking skills as well as analytical and problem-solving skills.

Personal and social capability

Students develop personal and social capability as they learn to understand themselves and others, manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively. The personal and social capability involves students in a range of practices including recognising and regulating emotions; developing empathy for, and understanding of others; establishing positive relationships; making responsible decisions; working effectively in teams; and handling challenging situations constructively.

This involves understanding and empathising, which are important elements of social and intercultural competence. Being open-minded and recognising that people view and experience the world in different ways and learning to interact in a collaborative and respectful manner are key elements of personal and social competence.

In the Languages, learning to interact in a collaborative and respectful manner, being open-minded and recognising that people view and experience the world in different ways are key elements of personal and social competence. Interacting effectively in an additional language and with people of diverse language backgrounds involves negotiating and interpreting meaning in a range of social and cultural situations; essential aspects of learning another language.

Ethical understanding

Across the Western Australian Curriculum, students develop ethical understanding as they identify and investigate ethical concepts, values, character traits and principles and understand how reasoning can assist ethical judgement. Ethical understanding involves students in building a strong personal and socially oriented ethical outlook that helps them to manage context, conflict and uncertainty, and to develop an awareness of the influence that their values and behaviour have on others.

In the Languages, students learn to acknowledge and value difference in their interactions with others and to develop respect for diverse ways of perceiving and acting in the world. Opportunities are provided to monitor and to adjust their own ethical points of view.

Intercultural understanding

Students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect.

In the Languages, development of intercultural understanding is a central aim, as it is integral to communicating in the context of diversity, the development of global citizenship and lifelong learning. Students bring to their learning various preconceptions, assumptions and orientations shaped by their existing language(s) culture(s) to their learning that can be challenged by the new language experience. Learning to move between the existing and new languages and cultures is integral to language learning and is the key to the development of students’ intercultural capability. By learning a new language students are able to notice, compare and reflect on things previously taken for granted; to explore their own linguistic, social and cultural practices as well as those associated with the new language. They begin to see the complexity, variability and sometimes the contradictions involved in using language.

Learning a new language does not require forsaking the first language. It is an enriching and cumulative process, which broadens the students’ communicative repertoire, providing additional resources for interpreting and making meaning. Students come to realise that interactions between different people through the use of different languages also involves interactions between the different kinds of knowledge, understanding and values that are articulated through language(s) and culture(s). They realise that successful intercultural communication is not only determined by what they do or say, but also by what members of the other language and culture understand from what they say or do.

Cross-Curriculum Priorities

The cross-curriculum priorities address the contemporary issues which students face in a globalised world. Teachers may find opportunities to incorporate the priorities into the teaching and learning program for the Languages. The cross-curriculum priorities are not assessed unless they are identified within the specified unit content.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

Across the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures priority provides opportunities for students to deepen their knowledge of Australia by engaging with the world's oldest continuous living cultures. Students will understand that contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are strong, resilient, rich and diverse. The knowledge and understanding gained through this priority will enhance the ability of young people to participate positively in the ongoing development of Australia.

In the curriculum students are provided with opportunities to develop an understanding of concepts related to the linguistic landscape of Australia and to the concepts of language and culture in general and make intercultural comparisons across languages, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia

Across the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages, students are able to learn the languages of the Asian region, learning to communicate and interact in interculturally appropriate ways, exploring concepts, experiences and perspectives from within and across Asian cultures.

In all the languages, the priority of Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia provides opportunities for students to develop an appreciation for the place of Australia within the Asian region. They learn how Australia is situated within the Asian region, how our national linguistic and cultural identity is continuously evolving both locally, regionally and within an international context. The curriculum also provides students with opportunities to engage with a range of texts and concepts related to:

• Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
• the languages and cultures of Asia
• people of Asian heritage who reside in Australia.

Sustainability

Across the Western Australian Curriculum: Languages, the sustainability priority allows students to develop knowledge, skills and understanding about sustainability within particular cultural contexts. This is crucial in the context of national and international concerns about, for example, climate change, food shortages, and alternative ways of caring for land and agriculture, social and political change, conservation and how language and culture evolve. Through developing a capability to interact with others, negotiating meaning and mutual understanding respectfully and reflecting on communication, students learn to live and work in ways that are both productive and sustainable.

Glossary