VCE English Question Thread

[jsgraha]

Hi guys, I will have my text response SAC on Monday and it is stressing me out. I gave few essays to different people and they gave me different feedback. One said my introductory has so many sentences and wants me to use simple words and the other even wants me to put more sentences (and super vocabulary) to show that I understand greatly the topic. could you share your thought on how to tackle this.

thanks

JS

[MissSmiley]

Hi guys, I will have my text response SAC on Monday and it is stressing me out. I gave few essays to different people and they gave me different feedback. One said my introductory has so many sentences and wants me to use simple words and the other even wants me to put more sentences (and super vocabulary) to show that I understand greatly the topic. could you share your thought on how to tackle this.

thanks

JS

Hi jsgraha!
Firstly, don't stress out so much! It always happens with English that you stress out so much before the SAC (and I mean soooo much!!) but during the actual SAC and even coming out of it, you're like what? Why did I even stress out so much?!! You are so prepared and you unnecessarily stress out, so I'm sure you'll be fine! Because it's great to see you're writing practice essays. Just with what you said,

1. You should definitely keep your introduction short! It should only be 4-5 sentences long. 1 1/2 sentences maybe to provide context but at the same time to relate it to the prompt, the next line your one line contention and then straight to brief signposting and done!

2. Considering the SAC's on Monday, just pick a handful of good or 'advanced vocab' that you could use to describe characters, their actions or just any words to do with the world of the text. Only a handful though!! Or if you're feeling confident that you've memorised quotes and are ready to write any paragraphs, then consider memorising some sentences from all the essays that you've written and the sentences or ideas your teacher liked. But don't worry at all if you keep your language simple and don't use complicated vocab. Assessors (and probably teachers) don't have time to get a dictionary beside them and search up every word that they don't know! So aim for clarity and throughout the year, just read widely and the complexity will automatically come! So having a handful of good words (consider those that would suit any theme or question you get) is enough for Monday.

All the very best!! I'm sure you'll get what I mean when you come out of the SAC and go wow! I didn't need to stress so much! Because they have to put in there at least 1 topic that'll grab your attention to most than the other topic you get

[jsgraha]

Thank you MissSmiley - my teacher did not give any valuable feedback, just number and after writing several essays I am still stuck at 8. Thank you for your advice anyway

Cheers
JS

[Guideme]

Hi everyone,

So in class we are studying a text 'Extinction' and my teacher has been pointing out parts of the play that include some irony, however i am not so sure how it will be useful or how to use it in our text response essays. i would like maybe a sampple sentence involving any sought of irony or any tips on when to embed them into our essays.

Thank you

[MissSmiley]

Hi everyone,

So in class we are studying a text 'Extinction' and my teacher has been pointing out parts of the play that include some irony, however i am not so sure how it will be useful or how to use it in our text response essays. i would like maybe a sampple sentence involving any sought of irony or any tips on when to embed them into our essays.

Thank you

Irony's a great way to tell your teacher and the assessor that you understand the linguistics side of your text. So yes it's the ideas, themes, etc, but every linguistic feature/ figurative language has a purpose! Often the purpose is to connect it to these central ideas.

You can use some sentence starters:
1. The use of irony in...
2. (the character's name)'s ironical declaration that...(quote from text) exemplifies...
3. The author's use of irony serves the purpose of...

For example, (this is from Medea by Euripides, but):
The tutor's ironical belief that "[Medea's] little ones are under no threat" highlights his innocence in not being able to recognise Medea's savagery in her plots to commit filicide and kill her own children.
or something like that. (Also, it highlights Medea's ability to cover her villanous character and show that's she's not actually a criminal. In this way, she fools other people around her, hence the irony when they are fooled.)

I know this isn't from Extinction, but hopefully you get the idea how to put irony in a sentence.

And yes! Use it! It's another way to stand out if you weave it in seamlessly and if it relates to the essay prompt

Good luck!

[clarke54321]

Hi everyone,

So in class we are studying a text 'Extinction' and my teacher has been pointing out parts of the play that include some irony, however i am not so sure how it will be useful or how to use it in our text response essays. i would like maybe a sampple sentence involving any sought of irony or any tips on when to embed them into our essays.

Thank you

On top of MissSmiley's excellent advice, I'd encourage you to think of irony as an illuminating tool. I also have a 'Medea' snippet, which might illustrate the point more clearly.

.......Quite literally, Jason seeks to mute and thereby subjugate the self-autonomy of all women, who are palpably defined and restrained by their biological physicality. Hence, Jason’s socially ironic assessment that Medea has ‘known justice’ in Hellas, impels audiences to question the truth of this assertion.......

Within the confines of 'Medea,' Jason is clearly a misogynist. And so the fact that he tells Medea that she has known justice, which defies all of his comments/actions, is absurd and more to the point, ironic. This irony thus assists the playwright in foregrounding Jason's immoral character.

All the best 

[pha0015]

What's the difference between language analysis and analysing arguments? I get what it means as words, but how does it holistically affect how we write our language analysis... ahem... argument analysis? Is it still mostly similar to language analysis but with a focus on how language aids in conveying individual arguments?

[MissSmiley]

What's the difference between language analysis and analysing arguments? I get what it means as words, but how does it holistically affect how we write our language analysis... ahem... argument analysis? Is it still mostly similar to language analysis but with a focus on how language aids in conveying individual arguments?

Exactly the way you've interpreted it!!
Yeah, like you said, more focus on arguments rather than just a shopping list of linguistic techniques used in the texts. I think until last year people used to fall under the trap of basing their whole paragraph on language devices (you know like similes, personification, etc) and then talk about what argument or value they serve.
But now the wording's changed, it's gonna force us to analyse arguments and the progression of the author's ideas/ views and then use linguistic devices as a support only. - to back up the argument and contextualise the evidence according to the argument.
So this means forcing us to make each topic sentence of every para ideas based
Which is excellent!! It allows for more critical thinking

[emmawatsonlover990]

Suggestion for current issues in the Australian media? (From September 1 2017 until present)

[MissSmiley]

Hi guys!

Just wanted to ask what is the best way to structure your statement of intention for your Creative SAC?
Do you have to write about the author's choice of certain features that they used in the original text or is the statement of intention all based on what techniques you used?
So I've read some sentences like "Similar to how the author conveyed (something) through symbolism, I have used a symbol..."
This does acknowledge the author's techniques, but only briefly. So is that all you need to do to make sure you're linking it back to the original text as well in your SOI ?
Because it wouldn't be advisable to dedicate one whole para of your SOI to analyse the original author's devices, etc right? So should we limit this?

Thank you!

[clarke54321]

Hi guys!

Just wanted to ask what is the best way to structure your statement of intention for your Creative SAC?
Do you have to write about the author's choice of certain features that they used in the original text or is the statement of intention all based on what techniques you used?
So I've read some sentences like "Similar to how the author conveyed (something) through symbolism, I have used a symbol..."
This does acknowledge the author's techniques, but only briefly. So is that all you need to do to make sure you're linking it back to the original text as well in your SOI ?
Because it wouldn't be advisable to dedicate one whole para of your SOI to analyse the original author's devices, etc right? So should we limit this?

Thank you!

Hello!

Like sdfg has already outlined, the creative response is highly individual to each school. In turn, I'd strongly recommend that you closely follow the preferences of your teacher.

As concerns the crux of your questions, you should absolutely be making reference to the original author. However, this should not merely be a name drop. That is, if you are using a sentence to the effect of, In line with author X, I too have made use of ......, and fail to elaborate on why you have mimicked this particular style, you may lose some easy marks. Always consider, what effect does this technique achieve? How does this technique allow me to better engage with the concerns/world of the text? Just note that you should always be using tentative language here.

Check with your teacher, but in terms of structuring the author's devices, I would avoid keeping it to the one paragraph. While this isn't the worst thing, it certainly seems more natural if you can stagger these across paragraphs. What I felt was more effective was dedicating each paragraph to a 'big idea' of my piece, and then analysing the effect of my techniques (and by extension, the author's) in relation to that main idea.

Hopefully this helps you in some way 

[MissSmiley]

Hello!

Like sdfg has already outlined, the creative response is highly individual to each school. In turn, I'd strongly recommend that you closely follow the preferences of your teacher.

As concerns the crux of your questions, you should absolutely be making reference to the original author. However, this should not merely be a name drop. That is, if you are using a sentence to the effect of, In line with author X, I too have made use of ......, and fail to elaborate on why you have mimicked this particular style, you may lose some easy marks. Always consider, what effect does this technique achieve? How does this technique allow me to better engage with the concerns/world of the text? Just note that you should always be using tentative language here.

Check with your teacher, but in terms of structuring the author's devices, I would avoid keeping it to the one paragraph. While this isn't the worst thing, it certainly seems more natural if you can stagger these across paragraphs. What I felt was more effective was dedicating each paragraph to a 'big idea' of my piece, and then analysing the effect of my techniques (and by extension, the author's) in relation to that main idea.

Hopefully this helps you in some way 

To be honest, your teacher is the only person who can answer this question for you. Every school runs the creative SAC differently so any answer here can steer you in the completely wrong way.

But from my perspective, no, the point of the statement of intention is to explain your intention, not somebody else's, which you in the first place can never know and explain with absolute certainty.

Thanks a lot clarke54321 and sdfg for giving me your thoughts!

Yes I agree, sdfg, it does vary from school to school so I'll follow the structure that our school will give us.
And you're 100% right Clarke!  I really like the 'big ideas' approach for every para and then supporting it with examples! Yes just like a text response, it'll be better to include the original author's values as we go rather than a separate para!

Thanks so much guys!

[MissSmiley]

Hi guys,
Could I just ask how long your statement of intention needs to be?
If you had to write your creative piece and SOI in 65-70 mins, then taking this into consideration, should your creative piece be around double the length or more of your SOI?
Obviously more marks are awarded for the creative piece, so it's wise to write more for this, but what's the proportion?

Thank you!

[Lear]

Mine was roughly 600 words  (creative was 1600) however we had 100 minutes to write so maybe not a fair example

[Sine]

Hi guys,
Could I just ask how long your statement of intention needs to be?
If you had to write your creative piece and SOI in 65-70 mins, then taking this into consideration, should your creative piece be around double the length or more of your SOI?
Obviously more marks are awarded for the creative piece, so it's wise to write more for this, but what's the proportion?

Thank you!

depends on what your teacher wants so it's best to ask them
Lear has gone 600 but my teacher's were perfectly fine with anything  around 200-300