Unit rationale, description and aim
In the upper primary years, students transition from learning to read to reading to learn across all curriculum areas. This unit focuses on research-based strategies that scaffold children's literacy development and enable effective teacher assessment of both receptive modes (reading, listening, viewing) and productive modes (writing, creating, speaking).
Pre-service teachers will explore how to teach, plan, monitor, and assess children's composition and comprehension skills using increasingly complex imaginative, informative, and persuasive texts across various media formats, including written, oral and multimodal. The unit emphasises integrating literacy instruction across curriculum areas in Years 3-6 while addressing diverse learning needs. Learning experiences will involve critical evaluation of literacy teaching approaches and assessment strategies grounded in sociocultural theories of children's literacy development.
This unit aims to advance pre-service teachers' knowledge and pedagogical expertise in English language, literacy, and literature for upper primary and middle years classrooms. Pre-service teachers will develop competencies to scaffold children’s learning of more complex reading and writing processes, accommodate learner diversity, and support students in becoming effective, analytical, and critical readers and writers.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Critically evaluate teaching strategies, approache...
Learning Outcome 01
Design effective teaching and assessment of Englis...
Learning Outcome 02
Implement evidence-based teaching strategies that ...
Learning Outcome 03
Justify the selection and use of teaching, learnin...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Literacy and Learning in Years 3-6; including English curriculum, and General Capabilities for other teaching areas
- Curriculum knowledge for English, including language and multimodal features of imaginative and response genres for building rich story worlds and nuanced responses
- Curriculum knowledge for literacy in Science, including language and multimodal features of informative genres for explaining and reporting
- Curriculum knowledge for literacy in Humanities and Social Science, including language and multimodal features of persuasive genres for expressing justified positions and persuading others to take action
- Teaching strategies and practices, including scaffolding, modelling and guided practice
- Teaching comprehension of multimodal texts
- Strategies for using mentor texts to building knowledge about how texts work
- Oral language and scaffolding for developing reading comprehension
- Teaching writing, including social purposes, language features and message of genres
- Teaching visual literacy to support receptive and productive modes
- Differentiating and scaffolding writing, including culturally responsive practices for linguistically and socio-culturally diverse learners
- The teaching and learning cycle for literacy, including deconstruction, modelling and joint construction for planning effective units and lessons
- Programming effective literacy units integrating formative and summative assessment
Assessment strategy and rationale
A range of assessment procedures are used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes and professional standards. The assessment sequence reflects authentic teaching practice, moving from foundational text analysis to comprehensive instructional design. Both tasks mirror real-world teaching responsibilities in analysing educational resources and creating units of work. This supports pre-service teachers to develop immediately applicable classroom skills through the integration of theory with practice in the context of assessment.
Task 1 focuses on critical analysis of multimodal texts and designing a scaffolded comprehension lesson. This consolidates foundational skills in text evaluation, lesson planning, and differentiation strategies, preparing students for the advanced unit design.
Task 2 requires pre-service teachers to design a unit of work incorporating mentor texts, evidence-based teaching and differentiation strategies, and aligned assessment methods. The task synthesises learning from across English and literacy units to demonstrate advanced pedagogical design capabilities including integrated curriculum planning and differentiated instruction.
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome. To pass this unit, students are required to submit all assessment and achieve an overall passing grade of 50% across the two tasks.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Multimodal Texts Analysis...
Assessment Task 1: Multimodal Texts Analysis and Lesson Plan
Analyse three multimodal texts suitable for use as mentor texts with students in Years 3-6 in English and one other teaching area. Outline how each text will support student learning to comprehend complex texts and extend their learning across teaching areas. Select one text and comprehensively annotate its whole text features, key language features and visual features. Then, plan a lesson using your selected text to scaffold learners’ comprehension and critique of the text, including supporting understanding of written and visual resources (e.g. images or diagrams). Compile your texts, analyses and plan into a single portfolio.
50%
Assessment Task 2: Learning Sequence with Demonst...
Assessment Task 2: Learning Sequence with Demonstration Lesson
In pairs, develop a learning sequence comprising six lessons focused on how to write one text type for students in Years 3-6. The text type may be selected from those used in English and/or another curriculum area. The learning sequence should incorporate: (1) a range of teaching strategies, including ‘text deconstruction’ and ‘joint construction’, (2) differentiation for supporting diverse learners, and (3) formative assessment to monitoring and responding to students’ learning. Then, plan for and record a video demonstration showing how to teach joint construction of a specific language feature typical of your selected text type and as included in your learning sequence.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit employs explicit pedagogical practices grounded in sociocultural learning theory, recognising that literacy development occurs through meaningful social interaction and deep engagement with complex texts. The genre-based pedagogical approach elaborated in this unit makes visible the relationship between language choices and communicative purposes. Learning experiences are carefully scaffolded, combining explicit instruction with collaborative activities that enable students to learn from one another as active co-constructors of meaning, skills and understanding. These learning experiences enable students to connect theoretical content with practical educational experiences.
The pedagogical approach reflects research-based practices proven effective in upper primary and middle years literacy education. Recognising diverse learning needs, the unit incorporates multimodal engagement strategies for students to engage with current research through diverse formats including readings, discussions, webinars, podcasts, and multimedia resources. Digital literacy is authentically integrated through online learning activities that extend classroom experiences and facilitate ongoing dialogue between peers and instructors. Formative assessment strategies including peer feedback are employed to monitor student progress and inform teaching.
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Graduate Level
In connection to the learning outcomes, on successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following industry specific knowledge based on the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Graduate Level standards:
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO3
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO3
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2
Relating toOrganise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2
Relating toUse curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO3
Relating toKnow and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO3
Relating toImplement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3
Relating toSet learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO3
Relating toPlan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO2, LO3
Relating toInclude a range of teaching strategies.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3
Relating toIdentify strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in classroom activities.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3
Relating toDemonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO4
Relating toDemonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO4
Relating toDemonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO4
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) Core Content
On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following industry specific knowledge based on the AITSL Core Content:
Relating toThe most effective teaching practices to reduce cognitive overload, including explicit instruction, scaffolding, and clearly structured content that connects new information to prior learning.
Relevant learningLO1, LO2, LO3
Relating toWhy teaching practices must adapt as a student’s familiarity with the knowledge of a subject increases, including when to move from scaffolded practice to independent practice, and why this is important.
Relevant learningLO2, LO3
Relating toHow to develop and use worked examples for students who are unfamiliar with a subject, followed by more challenging problem-solving activities as students become more familiar with the knowledge of a subject.
Relevant learningLO1, LO3
Relating toHow to plan a sequence of lessons that incorporate spacing and retrieval practice, build upon each other, meet students where they are in their learning and help students retrieve past learning and consolidate it in long-term memory.
Relevant learningLO2, LO3
Relating toHow to explicitly model new skills and content through ‘worked examples’ that clearly demonstrate how to complete the task, followed by a progressive removal of scaffolding as students become more proficient.
Relevant learningLO1, LO2, LO3
Relating toHow to design summative assessment to assess students against a standard or benchmark to gain an understanding of the level of mastery attained.
Relevant learningLO4
Relating toThe research that shows explicit reading, and writing comprehension instruction tailored to discipline-specific content improves students’ academic understanding and engagement with material, as well as their overall academic performance.
Relevant learningLO1, LO2, LO3
Relating toHow to explicitly deliver reading and writing instruction through discipline and discipline-specific curriculum and pedagogical studies as outlined in standard 4.2.
Relevant learningLO1, LO2, LO3
Relating toAbout the cultural diversity within classrooms and communities in Australia, and in the local context, to understand and value the perspectives of diverse groups including EAL/D and First Nations students.
Relevant learningLO3
Representative texts and references
Recommended Texts and Documents
Relevant state and territory English curriculum document
Derewianka, B., & Jones, P. (2023). Teaching language in context (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Humphrey, S. & Vale, E. (2020). Investigating model texts for learning. Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).
Recommended References
Derewianka, B. (2022). A new grammar companion for teachers (3rd ed.). Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).
Hayes, J. and Parkin, B. (2021) Teaching the Language of Climate Change Science. Primary English Teaching Association of Australia.
Humphreys, S. (2017). Academic literacies in the middle years: A framework for enhancing teacher knowledge and student achievement. Routledge.
McDonald, L. (2023). A literature companion for teachers (3rd ed.). Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).
Myhill, D. and Newman, R. (2016) Metatalk: Enabling metalinguistic discussion about writing. International Journal of Education Research. 80. 177-187.
Rose, D. (2016). Engaging and supporting all our students to read and learn from reading. PETAA paper 202.
Rossbridge, J., & Rushton, K. (2014). The critical conversation about text: Joint construction. PETAA PAPER 196 (p-1-12).
Spycher, P. (2021). Scaffolding writing with the" Teaching and Learning Cycle" for students in grades 6-12. WestEd.
Tan, L., & Zammit, K. (2018). Teaching writing and representing in the primary school years. Pearson Education Australia.
Thomas, D., & Thomas, A. (2021). Teaching and learning primary English. Oxford University Press