EDX2170 English Curriculum and Pedagogy: Student Writing Analysis

This assignment involves a detailed analysis of a student's writing sample at both macro and micro levels, focusing on genre, cohesion, sentence structure, word groups, and spelling. It identifies learning priorities based on challenges in punctuation, function words, and vocabulary. A lesson plan is then developed to address these priorities, incorporating Australian Curriculum standards and focusing on text structure, language use, and effective communication. The reflection section connects theory to practice, discussing how analyzing writing helps in teaching larger groups, the literacy frameworks used, and the teaching approach employed, referencing course literature to justify the strategies.

EDX2170 English Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Middle Primary Years
Assignment One – Student Writing Analysis
Weighting: 40% Due Date: 23 August 2018
Word count: 1000 word
Name:
Student Number:
Due date:
Tutor:
Part 1
Student writing analysis
Analyse the macro/micro features of the student-writing sample. This type of
analysis can be conducted on student’s writing samples as a formative
assessment task to identify the student’s writing strengths and areas in which
the student needs to develop his/her writing. (15 marks)
Macro Level
Genre
(Identify the Orientation, Complication and Resolution stages of the narrative.)
Orientation The story is about a young girl and her family of three
(mum Abbey, 9 year old small sister Sarah and 13 year
old brother Josh). The story is set in a home setting of a
rusty house featuring a rusty house garden house
Complication A soccer ball falls into a hole as siblings are playing in the
garden. It seems like they are out playing at night so they
run off to bed and resolve to pick it up the next day.
Resolution Entitled, the hole in the garden, the children Sarah and
Josh fall into a deep hole that drops them to a ground
Micro Level
Cohesion
(Identify the referencing words, collocation, repetition, synonyms, antonyms,
whole-part and class-member words.)
Referencing
words
They, mum, dad, it, we, both, the, I am
Collocation Warm and sunny, old rusty, game of, fall through,
Repetition Josh and Sarah, then, and, had, they, hair, hole, hit
Synonyms Warm and sunny, old rusty, ran inside and went to
Antonyms dad, outside, out of
Whole-Part Afternoon, into, inside
Class-Member Rusty house, beautiful sandy hair, sunny day, average
family, too deep,

Sentence Level
(Identify two simple sentences, two compound sentences and two complex
sentences.)
Simple sentences 1. The hole in the garden
2. Two kids named Josh and Sarah
Compound
sentences
1. Ahhhh! Then they finally hit the ground
2. That afternoon Josh and I went out to play a
game of soccer and it fell in a hole
Complex sentences
1. The next morning, they went outside to try and
get the soccer ball out of the hole but it was too
deep.
2. One warm and sunny day there was an old rusty
house, and in that house was an average family
Word Group Level
(Identify 5 noun groups, 5 verb groups and 5 adverbials.)
Noun Groups
Nouns
Verb Groups
Verbs
Adverbials
Adverbs
Thin hair, sunny day,
rusty house, average
family, orange hair,,
sandy hair, game of
fell in, ran inside, went
to, out of, to play, it fell,
get it, went outside, to
get, reached into, fell
in, fell through, finally
hit,
Black thin, beautiful
sandy, old rusty, too
deep, warm and sunny
Spelling
(Identify Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary words.)
Tier 1 House, day, that, kids, hair, play, game, hole, bed, dead,
floor, mum, dad, black, thin, ball, garden, the,
Tier 2 Warm, rusty, family, orange, thin, morning, soccer, crack,
ground, screaming, finally, afternoon, tomorrow,
Tier 3 average, soccer,
Learning Priority Justification
After analyzing the student’s writing sample justify a learning priority for the
student. (150-200 words)
Notable challenges include challenges with the use of punctuation and
function words (Jones & Chen, 2012).Deficiency in effective use of function
words such as prepositions, pronouns, determiners and auxiliary words. The
student has running sentences, which require effective use of commas, semi

colons and full stops. Repetition of words shows gaps in vocabulary
development. The learner is ready for tier 3 vocabulary words. Determiners
such as more, neither and that are helpful at this stage. There is also inability
to use helping verbs such as am, have, do and got. This is important because
the learner is doing well with content words such as adverbs, nouns and
verbs. Successful sentence construction requires effective use of function
words. This will give birth to the ability to manipulate articles and prepositions
for suffixes. The use of unnecessary words like ‘no dad’ is lack of vocabulary
words like ‘single mother’. Proper punctuation makes the sentences clear and
understandable. It also prevents creation of misconceptions.
Part 2
Lesson plan
Plan a lesson to address the writing learning priority identified in part 1 of the
assignment. In the lesson use appropriate pedagogies to plan for effectively
the students differentiated learning need. (10 marks)
The lesson plan needs to include the following stages:
Australian Curriculum: English Content Description
Strand and Sub-
strand Content Description Elaborations
Standard Australian
English. Language
variation change ( in
context),
Text structure and
expressing ideas
( examining literature,
interpretation, creation
of texts)
-F-10 (Australian, 2014)
-Evaluate and explore
student ability to
respond to and create
literature
-Examining literature
content
Learning Intention
(WALT, WILF, TIB)
We are learning to respond to written texts from
different contexts
Warm up We explore Language in its variations of present and
past tense presentation
Introduction We start by examining and responding to written text
from every day conversation through expressing,
relating and sequencing.
Body At this stage, each student needs to learn about text
structure, using language in writing and
communication (Lambert & Van Gorp, 2014). The
student requires polished cohesion and improved
formation of complex sentences.
Conclusion We have learnt to analyze text structures, express
ideas effectively and create starts with proper
structural formation.

Assessment &
Feedback
We have the ability to use language in the right
contexts through functional approach (RIC, 2015)
Part 3
Reflection (800 words)
Use the following questions to write a reflection which makes links between
the theory of the course and the teaching practice require to plan you lesson
in part 2. This section will need to be referenced (APA style) using the course
literature. You may include other references if required. Remember to justify
your reflections and back them up with examples and academic sources. (10
marks)
Reflection Questions
 How can analyzing the macro and micro levels of students’ writing help
you plan for the teaching of writing with larger groups of learners?
Different situations, functions and tasks shape the development of grammar
competencies in English language. Analyzing macro and micro level elements
in writing is important because it identifies the learner’s strengths and
weaknesses in language. Each student has specific needs but there are
common mistakes that could arise among students in a group. At F-10,
students who have a good grasp on writing simple and compound sentences
shows a good foundation in the previous level. For example, good students
know how to use noun group, verb group and adverbial words. By middle
level, the student needs to demonstrate the ability to create sentences using
words and phrases. For example the words “sunny day”, “old rusty” and
“beautiful sandy” hair” must make sense.
Genre specific aspects of a language addresses the language dimension. In
this case, it could feature the social context in which a student engages with
written texts from the cultural, social and historical contexts. Effective
communication in language adheres to grammar rules but will also need to
make sense in whichever context. The functional theory of language brings
out the importance of interactive learning in language development (Lambert
& Van Gorp, 2014). Language in theory and practice features the personal
aspects of communication. This explains the use of text creation as a sub
strand in lesson planning. The response obtained from learners in language
determines the influence obtained from learning experiences. The effective
use of language is evident in the word formation, observance of sentence
structure and grammar rules. Evidence of the development of tier 1, 2 and 3
vocabulary is necessary in middle level.
 What literacy frameworks did you draw on in your lesson plan?

Focusing on writing skills, the lesson plan in this case checks for student
errors exhibited by the student. Although there are no major spelling error
challenges, sentences in the assessed case reveal a personal reflection text
shows gaps in the creation of multimodal texts. Comparing language
acquisition with shared communication the plan attempts to address
proficiency in self-expression, relating stories and sequencing in writing
(Shrum & Glisan, 2015). Cohesion in the sentence construction depends on
proper use of referencing words. For example, instead of saying “… a mum
and no dad…” it is appropriate to say “a single mum”.
The ability to make correct spellings of basic, high frequency and content
vocabulary shows competencies. Collocation, repetition, synonyms and
antonyms enrich the texts. A learner who has the ability to combine texts will
have an edge in using words in clusters such as class member words, noun
and verb words. For example, when using three words like “beautiful sandy
hair” it is important to ask, which one comes first between the adjectives
“beautiful and sandy”. Doing so effectively means that the sentence has a
clear meaning.
The plan also addresses common errors, which a student at this level must
avoid. Depending on each student, the sentence level errors vary from simple
sentence formation compound to complex ones. Most students at this level
encounter challenges with content and language function words, as well as
punctuation, which affect the sentence meaning (Liddicoat, 2014). Formative
assessment tasks should include activities with word formation, sentence
construction, punctuation, vocabulary and creation of texts. An integrated
approach includes information from word group levels and spelling
proficiency. The sentence “One warm and sunny day there was an old rusty
house, and in that house was average family”, shows poor sentence
construction. The complex sentence could read, “One warm and sunny day in
an old rusty house, was an average family”
 What literacy teaching approach did you use in your lesson plan?
Teaching strategies in this plan features lesson designs based on content
elaboration, and achievement standards (Australian, 2014). In this case, the
student needs proficiency in writing a narrative. Meaningful personal stories
make sense if the context is clear. A genre specific story needs to portray the
essence of the story effectively. Content elaborations such as
Identification of connected concepts, and language dimensions is necessary.
Achievement standards also guide assessment at this level. By year 10, the
learner has recognizable achievements in language. In this case, the ability to
use headings and write meaningful sentences guides the reader.
The curriculum expects that the learner is able to write simple and compound
sentences without major challenges (RIC, 2015). Mid-level is a literacy
development stage that captures the pre-literacy stages. A focus on the self

and interaction with others are major teaching strategies used. In order to
address the sentence level writing challenges, there is need to focus on long
sentence construction. Placing an emphasis on this supports the learner for
advanced learner needs like engaging in arguments and discussions.
Complex compound sentences are common in story telling or narratives.

References
Australian. (2014). Austra Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority .
Retrieved from Australian Curriculum: Langauges:
http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Australian_Curriculum_Languages_
_F_-_10_curriculum_design__10_Dec.pdf
Jones, P. T., & Chen, H. (2012). Teachers' knowledge about language: Issues
of pedagogy and expertise. Australian Journal of Language and
Literacy, 35(2), 147-168. Retrieved from
http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/1224/
Lambert, J., & Van Gorp, H. (2014). On describing translations. The
manipulation of literature, 42-53.
Liddicoat, A. J. (2014). The interface between macro and micro-lvel language
policy and the place of language pedagogies. International Journal of
Pedagogies and Learning, 118-129.
RIC. (2015). Literature. Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from
https://www.ricgroup.com.au/bookshtml2/6609RH/index.htm#1
Shrum, J. L., & Glisan, E. W. (2015). Teacher's handbook, contextualized
language instruction. Cengage.