QCAA English as an Additional Language study guide
QCAA English as an Additional Language · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
English as an Additional Language (EAL) is a Queensland senior subject for students whose first language is not English and who have had limited exposure to English-medium schooling. It is studied across Years 11 and 12, contributes to a Queensland Certificate of Education, and can contribute to an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, so it sits alongside mainstream English subjects in the senior pathway rather than below them. The QCAA English as an Additional Language study guide has 6 sections and about 2,254 words.
01Listening and Speaking: Comprehending and Responding in Social and Academic English
Listening in this subject is not passive hearing. You must reconstruct meaning from connected speech: identify the main idea , distinguish it from supporting detail , track speaker purpose and stance , and notice signposting (however, that said, to sum up, the point I'm making is).
401 words, about 2 min02Reading and Viewing: Meaning, Purpose and Audience in Written and Multimodal Texts
Reading here means analysing how a text works, not only what it says. You need to identify purpose (to persuade, inform, entertain, instruct, satirise), audience (age, expertise, values) and register (formal, informal, technical, conversational).
368 words, about 2 min03Writing: Producing Coherent Texts for Purpose and Audience
Effective writing begins with purpose and audience , which determine register, structure and vocabulary. You must control paragraphing (one controlling idea per paragraph, clear topic sentences), cohesion (linking words, pronoun reference, repetition of key terms) and coherence (logical progression of ideas).
380 words, about 2 min04Language Features and Grammar: Accuracy and Appropriateness
Accuracy means correct form; appropriateness means fit to context. You must control tense and aspect (simple, continuous, perfect, and their combination in narrative and argument), subject–verb agreement , articles and countability , prepositions , modal verbs (degrees of obligation, possibility and certainty), conditionals , passive voice , relative clauses , reported speech and nominalisation for academic style.
360 words, about 2 min05Textual Analysis and Interpretation: How Meaning Is Shaped
Analysis explains how a text produces meaning and effect. You need to identify genre and form (poem, short story, speech, opinion piece, film scene), narrative perspective and voice , characterisation , setting , structure and pacing , and imagery, symbolism and motif .
366 words, about 2 min06Cultural and Intercultural Understanding: Perspectives and Contexts
Texts carry cultural assumptions - values, beliefs, social norms and histories - that may be unfamiliar to you. You need to recognise context of production (time, place, author's position) and context of reception (how different audiences might respond).
379 words, about 2 min