Assessment Type 1: Responding to Texts

For a 10-credit subject, students complete at least one response to text. For a 20-credit subject, students complete at least two responses to texts.

The responses may be written, oral, and/or multimodal. The texts may be functional, informational, analytical, imaginative, interpretive, and/or persuasive in purpose.

A written response should be a maximum of 800 words; an oral response should be a maximum of 5 minutes; a response in multimodal form should be of equivalent length.

In responding to texts, students consider ways in which the authors, readers, and viewers of texts use language and stylistic features to make meaning and influence opinions.

Students also develop an understanding of ways in which texts are composed for a range of purposes and audiences.

In responding to texts, students develop skills in supporting conclusions with direct reference to evidence taken from their reading, viewing, or listening to the text(s).

Responses to texts could include, but are not limited to:

• an oral presentation with visual images
• an analytical essay examining how a film-maker communicates a sense of place
• a commentary on a collection of poems
• a discussion of different interpretations or critical perspectives of a text
• a website explaining the meaning of a novel in its historical context
• a role play (e.g. an interview with a director)
• an online blog
• a short film.

For this assessment type, students provide evidence of their learning in relation to the following assessment design criteria:

• knowledge and understanding
• analysis
• application.