Preliminary English Stage 1

This course is organised into four sequential stages. Each stage includes a learning focus statement and examples of student learning. Each stage is designed to accommodate a student's level of readiness and reflects their stage of development. It may be likely that a learner will engage in only one stage of learning in their study of this course.

The learning program focuses on ideas, skills, techniques and processes. It includes engagement in concepts that emerge from a range of starting points and stimuli. Learners explore experiences, ideas, feelings and understandings through making and responding.

This course has been accredited under Section 55ZI of the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification Act 2003 - Other education. ‘Other education’ is defined by the Act as including ‘education specifically designed for a person with a disability’.

Section 55ZM of the Act requires that providers of this course issue qualifications to learners who achieve a Preliminary Achievement (PA) award or higher at any stage or size value. For further information and examples, see the Supporting Documents section of this course.

In addition to provider-issued qualifications, course providers may report learner results to the Office of TASC in late November each year using prescribed methods. Reported results will be used by TASC for inclusion on students’ Qualification Certificates (QCs) and may form part of the evidence base for a Tasmanian Certificate of Educational Achievement (TCEA) for eligible learners.

Achievement in courses Preliminary to Level 1 does not contribute to the Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE). This allows for greater flexibility in regard to learner movement between stages and their learning time (reflected in variable size values for this course) than are available in Level 1 and higher senior secondary courses.

The Preliminary to Level 1 suite of courses are designed for learners whose circumstances significantly impact their learning in an ongoing manner or for extended periods of time.

These learners include:

• learners with disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1992, whose disability requires educational adjustments to support access and participation in learning
• learners whose circumstances have significantly impacted their ability to attend school for extended periods of time or engage in courses with higher levels of complexity
• learners who require significant support for learning English as an additional language or dialect.

This course aligns with Australian Curriculum English and as such is organised by the three interrelated strands that support learners’ growing understanding and use of Standard Australian English.

The three strands are:

• Language: knowing about the English language
• Literature: understanding, appreciating, responding to, analysing and creating texts
• Literacy: expanding the repertoire of English usage.

Each strand interacts with and enriches the other strands in creative and flexible ways.

Together the three strands for an integrating framework of disciplinary knowledge and focus on developing learner’s knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking and writing.

The study of English involves learners in reading, viewing, listening to, writing, creating, comparing, researching and talking about a range of text types from the simple to the complex, from texts dealing with concrete and straightforward information to those dealing with increasingly complex and abstract issues and ideas. Learners learn to appreciate, enjoy and use language and develop a sense of its richness and its power to evoke feelings, to form and convey ideas, to inform, to discuss, to persuade, to entertain and to argue.

Preliminary English is one of a suite of courses designed to provide basic skills to learners with high needs, many of whom have a learning difficulty or disability. Some learners may need the full suite of Preliminary to Level 1 courses for study in both years 11 and 12, some may need to study at Preliminary Level for only part of their course load

Preliminary English caters for learners who require flexible and individualised programs. Learners will experience a range of learning activities in a familiar context that will assist them to attend to and explore the world around them with as much independence as possible. Learning experiences in this course are designed to move learners from an emergent level of responding to a level where the response indicates intention. Preliminary English aims to offer improved learning outcomes in all aspects of learners’ lives, and assist learners’ access to achievable pathways to further training and/or employment outcomes.

With coactive support Preliminary English aims to develop learners’:

• skills in listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing
• capacity to create texts for differing purposes, audiences and contexts
• understanding and appreciation of different uses of language.

With coactive support Preliminary English aims to develop learner's ability to:

• express themselves through language using oral, gestural, written, visual and digital mediums and modes of communication with as much independence as possible
• engage with and respond to a range of highly familiar multimodal texts and events
• engage with familiar people and routine activities.

On successful completion of this course, learners will be able to:

1. use language in differing forms and situations to express and develop ideas, depending on individual needs and capabilities
2. use receptive skills to examine and respond to literature/texts which can include reading, comprehending, listening and viewing
3. interpret, and use language to communicate which can include writing, speaking, acting, use of Alternative Augmented Communication (AAC), signing, gesturing, and/or creating multimodal texts.

This course focuses on progressing learners from an emergent to early conventional level. It encourages learners to develop their independence as they explore, participate and engage in the world around them. Expectations for learner achievement are set at four stages which are not associated with age or year level that links chronological age to developmental progress. As learners progress through these stages the level of coactive support required decreases moving towards independence.

This document is Stage 1 in four Stages of the course Preliminary English.

Stage 1
Within Stage 1 learners experience a range of learning activities that will assist them to attend to and explore the world around them with as much independence as possible. Experiences are designed for learners at an emergent level. Learners require high levels of coactive support and focused attention from the teacher to assist them to engage, react and participate. Learners demonstrate some awareness and recognition of familiar people and routine activities.

Stage 2
Within Stage 2 learners are reliant on verbal and physical prompts to facilitate their learning. They begin to explore their world independently and engage in cause-and-effect learning activities. Learners are able to focus on structured learning activities for short periods of time. They respond to familiar people and events in a familiar environment and begin to use ‘yes/no’ responses.

Stage 3
Within Stage 3 Learners display the first signs of independence, are less reliant on partial physical prompts and respond more consistently to verbal and visual prompts and clear directions from the teacher. Learners begin to interact with their peers in social opportunities. They participate in structured activities alongside their peers and use pictures, photos and objects to communicate personal interests and experiences. They begin to use and link some familiar words and images to form a meaningful communication.

Stage 4
Within Stage 4 learners participate cooperatively in group learning activities with indirect supervision and gestural prompts. They express their feelings, needs and choices in increasingly conventional ways and combine and sequence key words and images to communicate personal interests and to recount significant experiences. They indicate beginning understanding of social rules and expectations and are beginning to reflect on their own behaviour.

Learners can enter the course at any of the four stages depending upon their level of readiness or ability. Providers will determine the entry point for learners based on each learner’s level of readiness.

All learners have a right to an education that meets their needs through full participation and engagement with learning. Providers enhance the quality of all students’ learning through responsive and planned learning programs that optimise achievement using inclusive practices.

Learners will have access to appropriate resources such as professional support staff; or adult assistance, and equipment such as assistive technology or modified facilities, as required. The Disability Standards for Education Act 2005 outline the obligations that educational providers must meet in supporting the needs of learners with disability through reasonable adjustments.

Adjustments include a range of supports and accommodations including but not limited to:

• supportive learning environments
• tailored delivery models
• visual and organisational supports
• multimodal learning and assessment opportunities
• access to appropriate technology
• varying levels of prompting and adult assistance.

‘Adjustment’ does not mean the lowering or removal of standards but rather it means allowing learners appropriate means to demonstrate their learning and achievement against standards.

In the instance of online, distance or flexible delivery, adjustments may be made in the delivery of the courses by providers to suit the individual student’s learning environment. This may involve differentiation to reflect the resources readily available to the learner within their home or community.

This course has a complexity Preliminary to Level 1.

Each stage of the course has a size value of 5 or 10 or 15 depending upon learners’ needs. A learner will undertake a minimum of 50 hours study in this course, through to a maximum of 150 hours dependent on learner needs.

There are many possible ways of combining the Stages of learning and the size value of 5 or 10 or 15 depending upon learners needs. For example:

• A learner might study Preliminary to Level 1, Stage 3 of the course and complete it in 50 hours. This learner might then study Preliminary to Level 1, Stage 4 of the course and require 100 hours to achieve this. After successful completion, this learner might then undertake Practical English Level 1 in the following year.
• In one year a learner might study Preliminary to Level 1, Stage 2 of the course and complete it in 50 hours. This learner might then also study Preliminary to Level 1, Stage 3 of the course and require 100 hours to achieve this.
• A learner may study Preliminary to Level 1 Stage 1 in 150 hours.

This course is organised into four sequential stages. Learners can enter the course at any of the four stages depending upon their level of readiness or ability. Providers will determine the entry point for learners.

This document is Stage 1 of the four stages in this course.

The sequence of delivery of the Stages is at the discretion of the provider. A personalised learning program will be developed for each learner, dependent on their needs. Not all learners will achieve all stages of the course content.

All content in each Stage is compulsory and must be completed.

Both the strands and the process of listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing, also known as language modes are interrelated, and the learning of one often supports and extends learning of the others. The personalised learning program will acknowledge the incorporation of the strands and language modes in both an integrated and interdependent way.

STAGE 1: (50, 100 AND 150 HOURS)

This course has a size value of 5, 10 or 15.

In Stage 1, learners begin to engage, participate and receive communication with known adults, teachers and peers. Opportunities are provided for learners to explore English knowledge, understanding, skills and processes through everyday experiences, personal interests and significant events. Learners are exposed to various alternative and augmentative communication systems because adults model and reinforce communication. Picture symbols are utilised for making choices and to represent real objects and activities. Learners become aware of their physical state and are moving from reflex responses to intentional responses. Learners are initially encouraged to develop control over their actions and mannerisms and to communicate within the social environment by reacting and responding to their immediate environment with as much independence as possible.

In Stage 1, learners begin to show interest in the world around them, awareness of others and of social interactions. Learners’ actions and mannerisms are treated as communication and interpreted and reacted to by adults. Learners are provided with experiences that engage, support and extend their learning, including the use of verbal and non-verbal communication and making choices.

Learners experience a variety of texts for enjoyment and to extend their experiences of the world around them. They listen to, experience and view spoken, written, visual and multimodal texts, with the primary purpose of engaging, entertaining and informing. These include at least two of the following suggested text types:

• traditional oral texts;
• picture books;
• various types of stories;
• rhyming verse;
• poetry;
• nonfiction;
• film;
• multimodal texts and;
• dramatic performances.

They experience shared reading, viewing and storytelling using a range of literary texts, and respond to the entertaining nature of literature.

Literary texts that support and enable Stage 1 learners to become readers include:

• predictable texts;
• stories;
• visual displays and information;
• social interactions;
• and everyday experiences.

These texts involve straightforward sequences of events and everyday happenings with recognisable, realistic or imaginary characters. Informative texts present a small amount of new content about familiar topics of interest.

Learners create a range of texts coactively. They begin to develop their functional motor skills (e.g. inclusive of switching, eye gaze, AAC) required for written communication. They coactively use different materials for drawing and develop their gripping skills.

STRAND 1: LANGUAGE

Learners at Stage 1:

• use sounds and/or facial expressions to affect familiar others
• respond to a familiar person and engage with them
• explore how sound and/or, facial expression and/or actions can cause a change
• encounter various forms of communication and respond to sounds, text, symbols, images or objects in their environment
• respond to images, objects and the spoken word
• react to different sounds, and words; and respond to visual text
• encounter books, print and digital texts and respond to images in the text
• are exposed to sentences being used to express ideas and information, and respond to different words, sounds and noise
• respond to words and groups of words and objects in texts and in the environment
• respond to images and words in texts
• respond to vocabulary used in everyday experiences
• encounter people speaking and communicating and respond to speaking, including to people reading
• react to familiar voices and preferred sounds
• respond to different sounds and words used in everyday experiences
• encounter words, letters and writing within the environment and respond to spoken words in familiar environments.

STRAND 2: LITERATURE

Learners at Stage 1:

• react to texts, related to personal experience and familiar events
• respond to images, sounds or actions within a multimodal text
• respond to texts listened to, viewed or read
• encounter texts with different features, events and characters, and respond to different literary texts
• encounter and respond to different types of literary texts in various modes
• respond to the use of rhythms and sound patterns in stories, rhymes, songs and poems from a range of cultures
• encounter literature being created for various reasons and purposes, and react to the retelling of a literary text.

STRAND 3: LITERACY

Learners at Stage 1:

• respond to texts within the everyday environment
• respond to various types of communication
• respond to interaction and reactions of others
• react to others sharing and delivering a presentation on a personally or culturally relevant event
• react to a variety of imaginative and informative texts
• react to a range of texts including visual, audio and print text
• encounter and respond to different forms of communication and texts being read or viewed
• react to text being constructed, which reflects everyday events and activities
• respond to group text and personalised text being edited
• react to software being used to construct texts which reflect everyday events and activities.

Criterion-based assessment is a form of outcomes assessment that identifies the extent of learner achievement at an appropriate end-point of study. Although assessment – as part of the learning program – is continuous, much of it is formative, and is done to help learners identify what they need to do to attain the maximum benefit from their study of the course.

The standard of achievement each learner attains on each criterion is recorded as a rating of ‘C’ (satisfactory standard) according to the outcomes specified in the standards section of the course document.

A ‘t’ notation must be used where a learner demonstrates any achievement against a criterion less than the standard specified for the ‘C’ rating. The ‘t’ notation is not described in course standards.

A ‘z’ notation is to be used where a learner provides no evidence of achievement at all.

Internal assessment of all criteria will be made by the provider. Assessment processes must gather evidence that clearly shows the match between individual learner performance, the standards of the course and the learner’s award.

NOTATION ON EVIDENCE OF LEARNING

Some of the criteria standard elements use the terms reacting, responding and recognising.

In the context of this preliminary level course reacting/responding might be defined as:

• an intentional repeatable and observable behaviour that can be interpreted simply, objectively and conclusively.

In the context of this preliminary level course recognising might be defined as:

• intentionally signalling identification of (someone or something) through gesture, facial expression or sound from having encountered them before.

Each provider is responsible for ensuring the integrity and validity of their assessment results against the requirements of the course, including standards, and for maintaining records and documentation that will demonstrate the integrity, accuracy and validity of the award decisions they make each year.

Under Section 55ZN of the Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification Act 2003, TASC may give a provider written direction regarding the provision and assessment of an accredited other education course.

The assessment of Preliminary English Stage 1 will be based on whether the learner can:

• 1. Use language to express and develop ideas
• 2. Respond to texts
• 3. Interpret and use language to communicate

Preliminary English Preliminary to Level 1: Stage 1, 2, 3 or 4 (with the award of):

SATISFACTORY ACHIEVEMENT

PRELIMINARY ACHIEVEMENT.

The final award for Preliminary English Stage 1 will be determined by the provider from three (3) ratings.

The minimum requirements for an award in this course are as follows:

Satisfactory Achievement (SA)

3 ‘C’ ratings

Preliminary Achievement (PA)
1 ‘C’ rating

The Department of Education’s Curriculum Services will develop and regularly revise the curriculum. This evaluation will be informed by the experience of the course’s implementation, delivery and assessment.

In addition, stakeholders may request Curriculum Services to review a particular aspect of an accredited course.

Requests for amendments to an accredited course will be forward by Curriculum Services to the Office of TASC for formal consideration.

Such requests for amendment will be considered in terms of the likely improvements to the outcomes for learners, possible consequences for delivery and assessment of the course, and alignment with Australian Curriculum materials.

A course is formally analysed prior to the expiry of its accreditation as part of the process to develop specifications to guide the development of any replacement course.

The accreditation period for this course is from 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2025.

During the accreditation period required amendments can be considered via established processes. Should outcomes of the Years 9-12 Review process find this course unsuitable for inclusion in the Tasmanian curriculum, its accreditation may be cancelled. Any such cancellation would not occur during an academic year.

Version 1.0 - This course was accredited on 14 December 2018 for use from 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2023.

This course replaces Basic Communication PRE015115 that expired on 31 December 2018.

Version 2.0 - Amendments to criteria standard elements (1 January 2020).

Accreditation renewed on 22 June 2023 for the period 1 January 2024 until 31 December 2025 without amendment.

GLOSSARY OF VERBS

GLOSSARY