English Study Material

[nerd]

Just an idea I had:

I just got my new English textbook for next year (Insight English for Year 12) and was looking through the CD when I realized there were 20 page study guides for each text in Area of Study 1 and summaries and analyses (spelling?) of all the contexts and each text in each context. And my mind got thinking...what if other textbooks have these too? They look quite thorough and to the point - an excellent resource by the looks of it.

So I was wondering if other people could check their textbook CDs and find out whether a similar resource is available with your textbook. If so, I'd be glad to post/send the study guides on my CD and we could all swap and be flooded with free (given, you've already bought the textbook...) study/summary material for English next year. Thats my idea of fun!

I dunno, maybe its a shit idea... but think about it?

So my texts are:
Area of Study 1 - In the Lake of the Woods and Maestro
Context - The Imaginative Landscape: Fly Away Peter and Jindabyne

[cobby]

Thats a good idea, we're using the same book as you, but im going to buy the oxford vce english textbook instead
If there is any study guides on that cd ill be sure to let you know

[lacoste]

Who uses the Macmillian textbook?

Is it a good idea to buy multiple ENGLISH textbooks or not?
Will the content vary greatly from diff textbooks?

[Survivor]

Who uses the Macmillian textbook?

Is it a good idea to buy multiple ENGLISH textbooks or not?
Will the content vary greatly from diff textbooks?

Before purchasing them, try and find out if your English teacher (or any other yr 12 English teacher from your school) owns any other textbooks first. I'm sure they will be more than happy to let you borrow them and photocopy pages from them. That way, it'll save you some money.

I found that the content did not vary enormously between different textbooks, it's just a matter of some textbooks being able to explain certain aspects better than others. For example, one of the textbooks that I borrowed off my teacher had an awesome section on language analyses with each language device explained, while the one that I owned (Cambridge, I think?) helped me a lot with my text response. I advise you to read up on as many sources as you can so you can get a good understanding of each of Text Response, the Context and Language Analysis.

[Hielly]

Insight publications seems to be the most wanted. Is there context better?

[ice_blockie]

Year 12 English Textbooks - A story of English teachers...

Insight Publications: This textbook would be used by the majority of schools as a set textbook because the consultant author is Ross Huggard (VCE Chief Examiner for English 2008). Main author is relatively unknown to me...but a contributing author to the textbook 'Insight 12' (predecessor of 'Insight English for year 12').

Pros: Explains in great detail and depth what the whole new course is about and gives an exhaustive explanation into metalanguage, views and values, alternate interpretations, etc which are new to the course. Also gives separate sections to context stuff and text articles.

Cons: May appear overwhelming to the average student. Verbose/Overcomplicated in some areas. Not a balanced discussion of different contexts in examples; where identity and belonging and imaginative landscape contexts are more often referred to.

Cambridge: Authors Mark Stracey and Kellie Heinz were formerly co-authors of 'Insight 11' and contributing authors to 'Insight 12'. Decided to write their own textbook.

Pros: Several example essays of a fairly good standard, delves into texts and contexts quite well, discussing key points and issues.

Cons: Slightly weak in the context section, not a very clear indication of how to write a context essay.

A+ Publishing: This textbook has been quite popular in the past, with language analysis its forte.

Pros: Extremely resourceful for language analysis; contains vocabulary lists and techniques exercises, and good analysis examples.

Cons: Also slightly weak in the context section. Not very complex dicusssion of context and sample prompts provided in the textbook are incongruous amongst other sample topics?

Oxford English: NEW textbook. Author team of VCAA VCE English Convenor/Coordinator and several heads of faculties from various top schools.

Pros: Context section forte. Context discussion easily can be translated or used as evidence in context responses. Discusses each novel in the context with hints to focus on particular sections.

Cons: Language analysis section could be more thorough, perhaps since Oxford has another textbook for language analysis by Ryan Johnstone (I think).

[osmoister]

ok, here is what was on the senior english workbook 3&4 cd

http://rapidshare.com/files/179237311/sew_3_4_cd.zip

[Hielly]

nice explanation. No wonder why insight is so popular

[lacoste]

Are there any other resources for context--Encountering Conflict?

[polky]

Apparently Oxford is the shizz (from my teacher at Macrob), too bad I didn't get to use it

[Toothpaste]

Are there any other resources for context--Encountering Conflict?

There are the NEAP study guides that cost almost $20.

I likey Oxford though, photocopied the whole context section because I'm cheap.

[shinny]

There's also a set of guides for context published just as 'Encountering Conflict', 'Whose Reality?' etc which are quite good. Not too sure who the publisher is, but I'm pretty certain SSRC stocked these, and possibly A&G too.

[lacoste]

Are there any other resources for context--Encountering Conflict?

There are the NEAP study guides that cost almost $20.

I've got that one, but apparently they don't go into sufficient info. They have lots of info for the other texts but not the ones im doing.
Any other suggestions?

[lacoste]

There's also a set of guides for context published just as 'Encountering Conflict', 'Whose Reality?' etc which are quite good. Not too sure who the publisher is, but I'm pretty certain SSRC stocked these, and possibly A&G too.

okay. i'll try these.

[shinny]

Overall I'd say don't rely on any of these guides. NONE of them will have enough supplementary material to keep you going, and the onus is on you to spam wikipedia, past/current events etc to find enough. Also, whilst a guide which relates your text to your context may help, often, it's pretty damn obvious. That's not the hard part about context; I'm pretty sure you'll easily see the reason why VCAA prescribed these texts for your contexts, and the examples from them they intended you to use. They should stand out easily. The hard part is yeh, going beyond your texts and actually getting deeper into the context itself.