Year 3 English Syllabus
Year 3
Year level description
In the middle to late childhood phase of schooling, students develop a sense of self, their world expands, and they begin to see themselves as members of larger communities. Learning experiences emphasise and lead to an appreciation of both the commonality and diversity of human experience and concerns.
English provides opportunities for students to develop a sound grasp of spoken, written and visual language and use this in a range of different learning situations in purposeful ways to achieve outcomes across all learning areas.
In Year 3, students use spoken, written and visual communication to interact with familiar audiences for a purpose. The ability of students to work collaboratively and to develop their interaction skills should be fostered by activities that require group planning and decision‑making, and interaction with people inside and outside their classroom. Students should be given opportunities to reflect on their learning and work practices and consider ways in which these might be improved, modified or adapted for different situations.
Critical literacy is integral to the English curriculum. It is developed when students actively question, analyse and evaluate the texts they engage with. In Year 3, students learn about literary devices and techniques used by authors and/or illustrators to shape audience reaction, and about the language features and structures that are relevant to the purpose of cross‑curricula texts.
Students engage with a range of texts for enjoyment and learning. They listen to, read and view spoken, written and multimodal texts whose purpose may be imaginative, informative and persuasive. The range of texts includes imaginative and informative picture books; various types of print, oral and digital stories; chapter books; rhyming verse and poetry; film and animation; dramatic performance; conversations and discussions; websites and other digital media; non-fiction texts; and texts used by students as models for creating their own texts. Texts that support and extend students as independent readers include:
- texts that reflect a range of contexts, text structures and language features that enable students to actively build literal and inferred meaning, and begin to evaluate texts
- literary texts that may describe events that extend over several pages, unusual happenings within a framework of familiar experiences, and may include images that extend meaning
- texts that use language features, including varied sentence structures, some unfamiliar vocabulary, a significant number of high‑frequency words that can be decoded using phonic, semantic and grammatical knowledge, a variety of punctuation conventions, and illustrations and diagrams that support and extend the text
- informative texts that include content of increasing complexity and technicality about topics of interest and topics being studied in other areas of the curriculum.
Students create spoken, written, visual and multimodal texts whose purpose may be imaginative, informative and persuasive. These texts may include narratives, procedures, dramatic performances, reports, responses (such as reviews or personal reflections), poetry and persuasive arguments/expositions for particular purposes and audiences. Students make choices about texts according to their interests.
Year 3
Achievement standard
By the end of the year:
Speaking and Listening
Students interact with others, and listen to and create spoken and/or multimodal texts, including stories. They contribute actively to class and group discussions, asking questions, providing useful feedback and making presentations. They relate ideas; express opinions, preferences and appreciation of texts; and include relevant details from learnt topics, topics of interest or texts. They group, logically sequence and link ideas. They use language features, including topic-specific vocabulary, and/or visual features and features of voice.
Reading and Viewing
Students listen to, read, view and comprehend texts, recognising their purpose and audience. They read texts that contain varied sentence structures, a range of punctuation conventions, and images that provide extra information. They use phonic, morphemic and grammatical knowledge to read multisyllabic words with more complex letter patterns. They read with fluency and phrasing, and use comprehension strategies to build literal and implied meaning, connecting ideas in different parts of a text. They describe how stories are developed through characters, settings and/or events. They identify how texts are structured and presented. They describe the language features of texts, topic‑specific vocabulary and literary devices, and how visual features extend meaning.
Writing and Creating
Students understand how language can be used to express feelings and opinions on topics. They create written and/or multimodal texts, including texts to tell stories, inform, express opinions, explain and present arguments for audiences, relating ideas, including relevant details from learnt topics, topics of interest or texts. They use text structures, including simple paragraphs, and language features, compound sentences, topic-specific vocabulary and literary devices, and/or visual features. They spell high‑frequency words and multisyllabic words with less common letter patterns using phonic and morphemic knowledge.
Year 3
Content descriptions
Language for interacting with others
Understand that cooperation with others depends on shared understanding of social conventions, including turn‑taking language, which vary according to the degree of formality
WA3ELAI1
For example:
- contributing ideas on how to achieve cooperation when participating in group work
- exploring the social conventions of other cultures through literature or in other learning areas, such as Humanities and Social Sciences or Languages
Understand how the language of evaluation and emotion, such as modal verbs, can be varied to be more or less forceful
WA3ELAI2
For example:
- ordering modal verbs on a continuum, such as could, should, will, must
Text structure, organisation and features
Describe how texts across learning areas are organised into stages and use language features relevant to their purpose
WA3ELAT1
For example:
- identifying typical stages in reports across different learning areas
- identifying the language features of a typical persuasive text, such as modal verbs, conjunctions signalling cause and effect, and text connectives
- identifying visual features used in procedures, such as diagrams or close-up photographs that help the viewer carry out instructions
Understand that paragraphs are a key organisational feature of the stages of written texts, grouping related information together
WA3ELAT2
For example:
- classifying facts about a topic, such as when planning an informative report
- identifying and discussing the use of paragraphs in a narrative
Identify the purpose of layout features in print and digital texts, and the words and symbols used for navigation
WA3ELAT3
Language for expressing and developing ideas
Understand that sentences are usually made up of clauses, and the subject and verb within the clauses need to agree
WA3ELALA1
For example:
- creating sentences in which the verb and the subject agree, such as The boy was running fast because the dogs were chasing him.
- experimenting with sentence construction using clauses that contain singular and plural subjects
Understand how verbs represent different processes for doing, feeling, thinking, saying and relating
WA3ELALA2
For example:
- categorising verbs according to their process, such as doing: walk; feeling: love; thinking: wonder; saying: whisper; relating: are
- using alternative verbs for overused examples, such as did or said
Understand that verbs are anchored in time through tense
WA3ELALA3
For example:
- sorting words and phrases into groups, such as arrived, is arriving and will arrive, into past, present and future
Identify the effect on audiences of techniques, such as shot size, vertical camera angle and layout in picture books, advertisements and film segments
WA3ELALA4
For example:
- discussing how visual techniques affect the viewer, such as how close-ups create a familiarity between the character and the viewer
- selecting an image in a visual text that is portrayed from a high angle and discussing the effect
- describing how the layout of a multimodal text, such as an infographic or webpage, creates a reading pathway or an order of viewing
Extend topic-specific and technical vocabulary and know that words can have different meanings in different contexts
WA3ELALA5
Understand that apostrophes signal missing letters in contractions, and apostrophes are used to show singular and plural possession
WA3ELALA6
For example:
- exploring high-frequency homophones that feature pronoun possession and apostrophes, such as your/you’re, its/it’s, theirs/there’s, whose/who’s
- identifying words with apostrophes that indicate singular possession, as in the girl’s hat (one girl) and plural possession as in the girls’ hats (more than one girl)
Phonic and word knowledge
Understand how to apply knowledge of phoneme–grapheme (sound–letter) relationships, syllables, and blending and segmenting to fluently read and write multisyllabic words with more complex letter patterns
WA3ELAP1
For example:
- blending, segmenting and syllabifying when reading and writing words with
- more complex consonant patterns, such as <ch> machine, <squ> squash, <dge> edge, <shr> shrink, <t> making a [sh] sound as in lotion or a [ch] sound as in adventure
- vowel patterns, such as <oo> moon, fool, <ui> fruit, <ough> through, tough, <eigh> neigh, eight, <eo> people, <oe> canoe, <ou> could, shoulder, touch
- r‑controlled vowels, such as <air> stair, <are> bare, <ear> beard, <ear> learn, <ore> sore, <our> hour, four, <aw> hawk, <augh> as in taught
Use phoneme–grapheme (sound–letter) relationships and less common letter patterns to spell words
WA3ELAP2
For example:
- spelling words with less common letter patterns, such as
- words where the <y> represents short [i] as in gym, or a long [i] as in cycle
- words that spell the [sh] sound with <s> or <ss>, such as sugar or tissue
- words that end in <le>, such as table
- representing the [r] sound at the end of words, such as author and dollar
Recognise and know how to write most high-frequency words, including some homophones
WA3ELAP3
For example:
- spelling homophones, such as there, their, they’re; to, too, two; here, hear; our, hour; knight, night; mail, male; made, maid; sale, sail
Understand how to apply knowledge of common base words, prefixes, suffixes and generalisations for adding a suffix to a base word to read and comprehend new multimorphemic words
WA3ELAP4
For example:
- recognising that words, prefixes and suffixes are morphemes, and that morphemes are units of meaning
- applying knowledge of morphemes to decode words, such as uneventful = the prefix <un> meaning not + the base word <event> + the suffix <ful> indicating full of or characterised by
- changing the meaning of a word with a prefix, such as happy/unhappy
- using spelling generalisations when adding suffixes, such as adding <es> to make plurals for words ending in <ss>, <sh>, <ch>, and doubling the final consonant when adding the suffix <ing> to words with short vowels, such as hop, knit, sit
Literature and contexts
Discuss characters, events and settings in different contexts in literature by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, wide‑ranging Australian and world authors and illustrators
WA3ELICO1
For example:
- identifying how familiar characters, such as mothers and fathers may be portrayed by different authors or illustrators
- describing various representations of settings in literature, such as how settings are described in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional oral narratives
Engaging with and responding to literature
Discuss connections between personal experiences and character experiences in literary texts and share personal preferences
WA3ELIEN1
For example:
- identifying a personal connection to a character and discussing how this helps understand the character’s actions or reactions to an event
Examining literature
Discuss how an author uses language and illustrations to portray characters and settings in texts, and explore how the settings and events influence the mood of the narrative
WA3ELIEX1
For example:
- identifying examples of setting and events which indicate mood
- changing details in a familiar text, such as setting, and reflecting on how this changes the events and mood of the story
Discuss the effects of some literary devices used to enhance meaning and shape the reader’s reaction, such as rhythm and onomatopoeia in literary texts, including poetry and prose
WA3ELIEX2
Creating literature
Create and edit imaginative texts, using or adapting language features, characters, settings, plot structures and ideas encountered in literary texts
WA3ELICR1
For example:
- adapting elements from a range of stories to create a script that contains familiar characters, settings and plot ideas from a range of stories
- rewriting a text in a different form, such as rewriting a poem as a story
Texts in context
Recognise how texts can be created for similar purposes but different audiences
WA3ELYT1
For example:
- identifying how texts, such as advertisements or infographics, can be created differently for adults and children
Interacting with others
Use interaction skills to contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas, recognising the value of others’ contributions and responding through comments, recounts and summaries of information
WA3ELYI1
Analysing, interpreting and evaluating
Identify the purpose and audience of some language features and/or images in imaginative, informative and persuasive texts
WA3ELYA1
For example:
- explaining why a text includes a table or diagram
- considering authors’ choices in relation to the target audience, such as why the creator of an advertisement used bright colours and a catchy jingle
Read a range of texts combining phonic, semantic and grammatical knowledge to read accurately and fluently, re‑reading and self‑correcting when required
WA3ELYA2
For example:
- combining phonic and grammatical knowledge to know when a word doesn’t make sense and to self‑correct, such as The man rode on a house (horse).
- combining phonic and topic knowledge to decode and monitor meaning in informative texts
- applying morphemic knowledge to find base words and affixes to decode and understand words
- using syllabification as a strategy to decode multisyllabic words
- using grammatical knowledge, such as tense, to monitor meaning and self-correct as needed
Use comprehension strategies, such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising, monitoring and questioning when listening, reading and viewing to build literal and inferred meaning, and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features
WA3ELYA3
For example:
- making connections to other texts to help make inferences or support literal understanding
- making predictions about text structures and information in informative texts and evaluating if they suit a purpose, such as answering questions about a topic
- asking questions to clarify information when reading a text
- drawing on key words to help summarise the text
- creating a mental image of a character or setting from explicit and implied information
- choosing books for independent reading based on prior knowledge of genres
Creating texts
Plan, create, edit and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive written and multimodal texts, using visual features, appropriate form and layout, with ideas grouped in simple paragraphs, mostly correct tense, topic‑specific vocabulary and correct spelling of most high‑frequency and phonetically regular words
WA3ELYC1
Plan, create, rehearse and deliver short oral and/or multimodal presentations to inform, express opinions or tell stories, using a clear structure, details to elaborate ideas, topic‑specific and precise vocabulary, visual features, and appropriate tone, pace, pitch and volume
WA3ELYC2
Use features of digital tools to create or add to texts for a purpose
WA3ELYC4
For example:
- using a text processing application to create texts, such as a simple flowchart to add to an informative text
- selecting and adding music to a multimodal text to build mood