Breaking Down: Unit 3/4 Creating Texts

Are you about to write your ‘text’ and are confused about what VCAA want from you?

Well… we are about to fix that.

“A Lady Writing,” (c. 1665) - Johannes Vermeer

This is the second episode of our series ‘Breaking Down’ where we go through the nitty-gritty details of VCAA’s VCE English Study Design. In the first episode, we covered ‘Reading and Responding to Texts’ also known as Text Response in Year 12 (check out our summary post here, or the video here). In this episode, we are covering ‘Creating Texts,’ commonly referred to as the ‘creative’ (although it is not quite the correct name for it).

Check out the full video below but if you want a little summary of what we cover, scroll down!

(psst, if you only want to check out a certain section just click on the sub-heading you want and it will take you straight to that part of the video)

• What is the difference between Year 11 and Year 12?

  Year 11 typically includes more of a structured approach by your teachers and school. Often, this structure results in less room to explore what you like compared to Year 12. In Year 12, the unit tends to be more personal, explorative, reflective and there is often more room for individual interpretation

• What exactly is the ‘creating texts’ task?

  According to VCAA (2024), you must write your ‘own text’ that responds to a ‘specific context and audience to achieve a state purpose,’ whilst demonstrating 'effective writing skills.’ In addition to this, you are also tasked with writing ‘a commentary reflecting on [your] writing processes.’ 

  Due to feedback received by VCAA after the 2024 implementation of the new study design, they restructured the Creating Text SAC requirements. There are now 2 options for your school (or potentially you) to pick from: 

• Option 1:

  • You write 2x shorter (400 -450 words) texts and one written commentary (400 words).

  • In this case, your two shorter texts are worth 20 marks each (40 marks in total) and your written commentary is worth 20 marks.

• Option 2:

  • You write 1x longer (700 - 900 words) text and one written commentary (400 words).

  • In this case, your longer text is worth 40 marks and your written commentary is worth 20 marks.

  Unit 3 has a total of 100 marks, therefore the Creating Text task (regardless of the option) is worth 60/100 Unit 3. Since Unit 3 is worth 25% of your Study Score then your Creating Text’s SACs (in total) are worth 15% (10% for your written text/s and 5% for your commentary). 

• What is a ‘framework of ideas?’ What are the options?

  There are four options for the ‘Framework of Ideas’ that your school will pick to study and assess.

  • Protest

  • Personal Journeys

  • Play

  • Country

  These FOIs function as your anchor and inspiration for ideas. Your text must have a connection to whichever option you are writing on.

  Each FOI has elaborations that VCAA have provided to help you generate some ideas and gain inspiration for your own pieces (check out our video for our discussion of them or the 2024 - 2027 study design document)
  

• What are Mentor Texts and what I am supposed to do with them?

  Each Framework of Ideas has a list of 4 Mentor Texts that VCAA have selected. Your school is required to select a minimum of 3 of them and they are also able to add more to that list!

  The role of the Mentor Texts is to help ‘model … effective writing,’ ‘inspire … creative processes’ and to ‘generate ideas for [your] own writing.’ (VCAA, 2024).

  NOTE: There is no requirement for the Mentor Texts to be explicitly included in your exam text, they are to be used as inspiration but there is nothing in the rubric that outlines any connection to the Mentor Texts.

  See list below:

  •  Country

    • Chekhov, Anton, ‘Gooseberries’ (1)

    • Clarke, Maxine Beneba, Chapter 2, The Hate Race (A) (1)

    • Kassab, Yumna, ‘The Conquest of Land and Dream’ (A) (1)

    • Lynch, Cassie, ‘Split’ (A) (1)

  • Protest

    • Gillespie, Mark, ‘Friday Essay: On the Sydney Mardi Gras March of 1978’ (A) (1)

    • Pankhurst, Emmeline, ‘Freedom or Death’ (1)

    • Vonnegut, Kurt, ‘Harrison Bergeron’ (1)

    • Wyatt, Meyne, Monologue from City of Gold (A) (1)

  • Personal Journeys

    • Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ (1)

    • Duong, Amy, ‘The Red Plastic Chair is a Vietnamese Cultural Institution, and My Anchor’ (A) (1)

    • Hodge, Maya, ‘bidngen’ (A) (1)

    • López, Matthew, Walter’s speech (end of Part 1) from The Inheritance (1)

  • Play

    • Gay, Virginia, Monologue from Cyrano (A) (1)

    • Roffey, Chelsea, ‘An Open Letter to Doubting Thomas’ (A) (1)

    • Russon, Penni, ‘All That We Know of Dreaming’ (A) (1)

    • Winton, Tim, ‘About the Boys’ (A) (1)

• What is the role of the audience, context, form and purpose in my writing?

  Audience and Context

  Audience and context are important considerations to be made when creating your text and VCAA has helped make this easier by outlining specific questions to consider in your process:

• Social connections – how well do I know this audience, and how well do they know me?

• Cultural understanding – does the writer share the same cultural understanding as the audience?

• Power – who holds power, the writer and/or the audience? To what degree?

• Formality/Register – what level of formality would be most appropriate for this audience?

• Mode – how will the audience receive this writing – will they read it or will they listen to it?

• Site – where will this writing appear and where will the audience receive it (including public, private)?
  

  HINT: Many schools also use these questions by VCAA to frame what they are looking for in the commentary!

  Purpose

  Another, arguably more important, aspect of the Creating Text process is the purpose! VCAA have outlined 4 explicit purposes with a description that can help you decide which one/s you’d like to include in your writing.

• Express

  A student writer seeking to express would explore recounts, storytelling and/or narratives of imagination to engage with actions, events, experiences and/or ideas.

• Explain

  A student writer seeking to explain would explore cause and effect, and possible consequences of actions, events, experiences and/or ideas.

• Reflect

  A student writer seeking to reflect would explore experiences of personal discovery that shape their understanding of actions, events, experiences and/or ideas.

• Argue

  A student writer seeking to argue would explore a point of view, would take a stand and propose solutions to convince others of actions, events, experiences and/or ideas.

  HINT: Make sure your purpose is super clear to someone who does not know you or your writing! More than one purpose is not always a good thing, clarity is most important!

  Form

  Form is the type of writing that you create. VCAA have outlined a list of forms that are optional BUT schools can alter this list for SACs, they may be stricter or more lenient - always check with your school’s requirements!

  VCAA’s options ‘include but are not limited to:’

  • short stories

  • speeches or monologues (with transcripts)

  • essays (comment, opinion, reflective, personal)

  • podcasts (with transcripts)

  • poetry/songs (Not allowed in the exam)

  • feature articles (including a series of blog or social media postings)

  • memoirs and biography.

  You can also explore ‘hybrid’ options which are combinations of forms such as a short story and speech, letter and short story, inner monologue and speech etc. Just make sure that you are adhering to the writing conventions of each type.

  Check out our video for recommendations and past student choices regarding forms.

• What do ‘titles and stimuli’ have to do with my text?

  In the exam, you will be expected to write in connection with a provided title and at least one of the 3 stimuli provided.

  Connection to both the title and stimuli is extremely vital - it must feel like your piece was created in response to both of these in a way that seems that you hand-picked them for your piece rather than the other way around.

  As for the SACs, most schools do include the title and stimuli component as additional practice and preparation for the exam.

  Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help interpret the title more clearly:

• What is the most obvious response?

  • Can I adapt that in any way that makes it more unique and nuanced?

• Can I imagine someone saying/ thinking this?

  • Who are they?

  • How would that make me feel?

  • How would they say it/ think it?

• What implications are there for this title?

  • Are there any double meanings?

  • Could this mean something different to someone else?

  See our video for an example of interpreting the title cleverly!

• What do VCAA expect from me?

  For the roughly 40,000 students sitting the VCE English exam, you will all be marked with the same rubric. For the SACs however, your school can use VCAA’s sample rubric, can make their own rubric or can adapt other rubrics to your cohort, therefore this section is specifically about the exam’s rubric NOT your SAC rubric.
  

  There are 3 areas of interest to VCAA in their rubric, your:

  • Connection to Framework of Ideas, Title and Stimuli

    • Ideas raised by the title + stimuli

    • Framework of ideas

  • Organised text with a purpose and voice

    • Organisation of text

    • Connection to purpose

    • Use of voice
      

  • Language, vocabulary text structures

    • Control of writing

    • Effective use of writing

Want more detail or to hear someone explain each of these components?

Check out our episode of ‘Breaking Down:  Creating Texts’ on our YouTube channel!