English as an Additional Language – Writing
Working with this format
The draft Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL is presented in a scope and sequence format. This format highlights the strands, the content descriptions
and achievement standards. Using this table layout you can see progression across the levels in both the content descriptions and achievement
standards and can check for the developmental continuum. This format is different to the current AusVELS EAL curriculum. These differences are
highlighted in the annotated diagrams below.
Current EAL Curriculum Structure
Outline the learning for students
and suggests appropriate
experiences
Separated for each mode
© VCAA
5 December 2016
English as an Additional Language – Writing
New EAL Curriculum Structure
STAGE – the curriculum is
written in 5 stages.
Mode – the curriculum is
written in 3 modes
Strands – the same 4
strands are used in
each mode
Mode specific
Achievement Standard for
each stage
If you are familiar with the
Victorian Curriculum structure
you will appreciate that in
addition to the content
descriptions and achievement
standards in the scope and
sequence charts there is;








Introductory materials
Rationale and aims
Structure
Learning in EAL
Glossary
Curriculum Materials
Band descriptions
Elaborations linked to
content descriptions
This content is not included in
this consultation process but
will be included when the
curriculum is published onto
the Victorian Curriculum F-10
website.
PROGRESSION
© VCAA
You will notice that each of the
content descriptions in the
scope and sequence chart is
numbered. If you want to
make a comment in relation to
a specific content description
you will be to use this number
as the reference point.
Page 2
English as an Additional Language – Writing
Primary Pre-Literacy (PP)
STAGE
Strand
Students rely heavily on teacher support and
modelling
Primary 1 (P1)
Students complete tasks with explicit teacher
support, modelling and scaffolding
Primary 4 (P4)
Students rely less heavily on teacher support and
modelling
Texts
Texts
Texts
Texts
1. With support, communicate ideas through
drawings, symbols and role-play
8. With support, write and type simple phrases and
sentences
33. With some support, plan and create texts
following class discussion and teacher conferencing
2. Practise the formation of some letters
9. Use modelled classroom texts to copy letters,
words, phrases and sentences
20. With support, communicate familiar ideas,
experiences and events, providing additional
information through illustrations and diagrams
21. Write simple factual or personal texts based on
classroom models 34. Write simple factual texts for a variety of
classroom purposes
3. Actively observe group or class story activities
10. Contribute to a group or class story
22. Contribute to shared simple brainstorming of
ideas and identify appropriate vocabulary to be
incorporated into the written work
23. Write short texts with simple sequencing of ideas
35. Initiate own writing for particular purposes that
demonstrates an understanding of common text
types and their structure and features 36. Create texts showing some organisation
46. Write narrative texts maintaining a cohesive
storyline and characterisation and a range of other
creative texts
47. Create a range of texts drawing from different
curriculum areas and incorporate information from
different sources and in a variety of ways
48. Demonstrate an understanding of how effective
writing is tailored to purpose, the requirements of the
topic and the needs of the reader
99. Create texts that demonstrate ordered
paragraphs, topic sentences and the use of
conjunctions to link ideas
Linguistic features and structures
Linguistic features and structures
Linguistic features and structures
Linguistic features and structures
Linguistic features and structures
4. Differentiate between letters, numbers, pictures
and words
12. Demonstrate understanding of some letter-sound
relationships and spell some familiar everyday words
24. Demonstrate an increasing understanding of
letter-sound relationships and spell high frequency
and classroom-specific words with some consistency
37. Demonstrate understanding of letter-sound
relationships and spell subject-specific words with
increasing accuracy; experiment with a range of
vocabulary
50. Demonstrate understanding of complex
consonant and vowel clusters, spell most words
accurately drawing on a range of strategies and
experiment with synonyms and antonyms
5. Use images and symbols
13. Identify and begin to understand the position and
purpose of verbs
25. Identify and apply a mixture of common verb
tenses in the present and past tense with some
consistency
26. Use simple nouns, adjectives and adverbs and
some conjunctions
38. Identify and apply a mixture of verb tenses,
including verbs that help to define and describe with
some consistency
39. Use simple extended noun groups, time
sequence markers and common conjunctions to link
ideas between sentences, and simple phrases to
express basic comparisons
51. Use present and past tense with reasonable
consistency and maintain appropriate tense
throughout a text
52. Create sentences that experiment with a range of
linguistic features to provide description and
complexity to sentences through the use of
vocabulary, conjunctions, extended noun groups and
relative pronouns
15. Write and dictate common spoken phrases and
sentences
27. Write texts that reflect everyday spoken English
and basic subject-verb-object patterns
40. Use pronoun references with some appropriate
noun/pronoun and noun/verb agreement
53. Create texts that demonstrate general cohesion
and coherence through the accurate use of
pronouns, noun/verb agreement and synonyms
16. Copy basic punctuation as part of ‘writing’
28. Identify and apply basic punctuation
41. Experiment with more complex punctuation
54. Apply a range of punctuation consistently and
correctly
Cultural conventions of language use
Cultural conventions of language use
Cultural conventions of language use
Cultural conventions of language use
Cultural conventions of language use
6. Understand that print conveys meaning
17. Apply the direction of English text
18. Use the terms writing and drawing appropriately
and understand where to write on the page
42. Write texts which include key features of
common text types relevant to school learning and
identify some of the differences between the various
text types
43. When writing, use language that is more
reflective of written language than spoken language
55. Understand and apply the appropriate format in a
text for a variety of audiences and purposes
7. Awareness that speech can be written down
29. Use a range of formats to record basic
information, e.g. graphs, lists, tables and use
appropriate basic text types based on models when
writing, e.g. recounts, descriptions
30. Show an awareness of the difference between
spoken and written language
31. Form letters and sentences and place text
appropriately on the page
56. Use a range of appropriate academic vocabulary
according to the demands of the task and edit their
work to improve meaning
44. Write using letters that are accurately formed and 57. Write using some joined letters that are
consistent in size
accurately formed and consistent in size
32. Express and relate personal experiences and
language and cultural background when creating
texts with some guidance and support
45. Express and relate personal experiences and
language and cultural background to convey a point
of view
58. Use own experience and perspectives to
elaborate and support a viewpoint
14. Use some common adjectives and nouns
Strand
Primary 3 (P3)
Students complete tasks with some teacher support,
modelling and scaffolding
Texts
11. Draw or create visuals to illustrate, support or
sequence a simple text
Strand
Primary 2 (P2)
Students complete tasks with teacher support,
modelling and scaffolding
19. Show awareness that English writing consists of
words formed by letters and sentences made up of
words
© VCAA
5 December 2016
English as an Additional Language – Writing
Primary Pre-Literacy (PP)
STAGE
Strand
Students rely heavily on teacher support and
modelling
Primary 1 (P1)
Students complete tasks with explicit teacher
support, modelling and scaffolding
Primary 2 (P2)
Students complete tasks with teacher support,
modelling and scaffolding
Primary 3 (P3)
Students complete tasks with some teacher support,
modelling and scaffolding
Primary 4 (P4)
Students rely less heavily on teacher support and
modelling
Language strategies
Language strategies
Language strategies
Language strategies
Language strategies
8. Understand how to use a conventional pencil grip
26. Incorporate visuals and illustrations to assist in
communicating message
47. Spell new words based on known base words
and known sound/letter relationships
89. Use knowledge of sentence structure to
experiment with and create original sentences
9. Experiment with use of visuals and illustrations
27. Identify and use words from various sources
28. Copy and practise writing words, phrases and
sentences
48. Use a variety of resources to find words or
phrases for own writing, such as a class glossary or
vocabulary list
49. Use formulaic structures and repetitive patterns
to generate and structure writing
68. Use knowledge of sentence structure to form
new sentences or base a new story on repetitive
formulas from a known story
69. Write a first draft focusing on meaning and revise
after rereading or teacher conferencing, using simple
metalanguage to discuss texts
70. Use a framework to complete a writing task and
plan before writing
Achievement Standard
Achievement Standard
Achievement Standard
Achievement Standard
Achievement Standard
By the end of the Primary Pre- Literacy Stage
students are able to communicate their ideas
through drawings, symbols and role-play. They
differentiate between numbers and letters and can
form some numbers and letters with support. They
have an awareness that print transfers meaning and
that speech can be written down. They observe
classroom writing behaviours and class writing
activities.
By the end of the Primary 1 Stage students are able
to demonstrate knowledge of some letter-sound
relationships and can identify some letters in words.
They communicate their ideas and experiences
simply through writing phrases and simple
sentences, drawing, and copying classroom models
of simple texts such as recounts, narratives and
reports.
Students demonstrate an awareness of the purpose
and use of verbs and nouns, the need for basic
punctuation, and placing text appropriately with
spacing, size and letter formation. They model their
writing on shared writing activities and classroom
texts, and use some basic strategies, such as
copying words or phrases from lists and using
illustrations. They are beginning to contribute to
whole-class or small-group shared writing activities.
By the end of the Primary 2 Stage students are able
to write and present simple texts for a variety of
basic classroom and personal purposes. They
communicate familiar ideas, events and experiences,
writing simple narratives, recounts, descriptions,
reports and rhymes with some support.
They apply basic linguistic structures using subjectverb-object, descriptive language, pronouns and
conjunctions appropriate for the texts they are writing
in class. They write simple and compound sentences
with some accuracy. They spell some common
words correctly and their attempts at spelling show a
beginning understanding of the patterns of English
sound-symbol relationships. They demonstrate
awareness that purpose influences the way texts are
written and presented.
By the end of the Primary 3 Stage students are able
to write and plan for a range of purposes on subjectspecific topics based on known sentence structures
and with a growing understanding of the appropriate
language and tone used for a particular text. They
demonstrate an understanding of purposes of
common text types and their structure and features.
Students include a number of common conjunctions
to link ideas, using pronoun references with some
noun/pronoun agreement, simple phrases to express
basic comparisons, and punctuation. They write
simple, compound and some complex sentences.
Students spell new words based on known lettersound relationships and by implementing a range of
support strategies. They draw on a developing
knowledge of the writing process to plan and write
simple texts, and with support, redraft them.
By the end of the Primary 4 Stage students are able
to communicate for a range of purposes on a variety
of subject-specific topics, using a basic repertoire of
text types. They write logical texts that consist of
ordered paragraphs, topic sentences and support for
main ideas. They write sentences that incorporate
increasingly complex structures to provide
description and complexity in sentences through the
use of conjunctions, vocabulary, extended noun
groups and relative pronouns.
They demonstrate an awareness of how effective
writing is tailored to purpose, the requirements of the
topic and the needs of the reader. They discuss,
reflect on and edit their own writing, incorporating
feedback when planning, reviewing or presenting
their texts.
© VCAA
Page 4
90.Reflect on writing criteria set by teacher and
demonstrate knowledge of metalanguage to discuss
texts
91. Plan, draft and edit writing independently to
improve own texts