Question 1
General feedback
Students should:
- engage with all the key terms in the question and provide relevant textual evidence, including quotes and an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning, to support their ideas.
In better responses, students were able to:
- demonstrate their understanding of the term ‘explain’ as defined in the NESA glossary of terms
- develop and maintain a clear line of argument
- organise and express ideas appropriately
- identify and explore how experiences impacting identity for the individual or collective have been represented within the prescribed text
- link the ‘sense of identity’ to the individual’s wider ‘community’
- articulate how the student’s own understanding has been changed through personal engagement with the text and its concepts
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the module by exploring how the text’s language, form and features create a sense of identity for individuals within a community and/or cultural groups
- demonstrate an awareness of the impact of the text, in relation to identity, in the formation of perceptions for the audience or responder.
Prose Fiction
Henry Lawson, The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Lawson’s stories in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in late 19th Century Australia
- explore how Lawson uses language to consider stereotypical roles and/or class structures of Australian colonial society
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Andrea Levy, Small Island
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Levy’s text in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in society in post-colonial Britain
- explore how Levy uses language to consider racial, class and/or gender stereotypes in contemporary society
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Poetry
Adam Aitken, Boey Kim Cheng and Michelle Cahill (eds), Contemporary Asian Australian Poets
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in the anthology of poetry in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups
- explore how the poets use language to consider the migrant experience, including racial prejudice, language barriers and cultural conflict in society
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Ali Cobby Eckermann, Inside my Mother
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Eckermann’s poems in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in a post-colonial setting
- explore how Eckermann uses language to consider Indigenous culture, including intergenerational trauma, prejudicial stereotypes, the impact of Australian historical events on individuals and communities, and misconceptions about culture and relationships
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Drama
Ray Lawler, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Lawler’s play in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in 1950’s Australia
- explore how Lawler uses language to consider stereotypical roles and/or class structures of Australian society
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Shaw’s play in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in Edwardian England
- explore how Shaw uses language to consider stereotypical roles and/or class structures of English society
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Alana Valentine, Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Valentine’s play in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in post 9/11 Australian society
- explore how Valentine uses language to consider differing perspectives on ideas including race, gender, religion and cultural practices in contemporary society
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Nonfiction
Alice Pung, Unpolished Gem
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Pung’s text in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in contemporary Australian society
- explore how Pung uses language to consider racial stereotypes, familial expectations and socio-economic status in contemporary Australian society
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Film
Rachel Perkins, One Night the Moon
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Perkins’ film in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in post-colonial Australia
- explore how Perkins uses language to consider cultural assumptions, including racial prejudice, gender stereotypes, the impact of Australian historical events on individuals and communities, and misconceptions about culture and relationships
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Rob Sitch, The Castle
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Sitch’s film in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in Australian society
- explore how Sitch uses language to consider cultural assumptions of Australian society to expose class, gender, racial and socio-economic tensions faced by characters in the text
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
Media
Janet Merewether, Reindeer in my Saami Heart
In better responses, students were able to:
- identify and articulate individual identities conveyed in Merewether’s documentary in relation to their broader communities and/or cultural groups in a post-colonial society
- explore how Merewether uses language to consider cultural assumptions of the Saami people including, social class, ethnicity, gender and religious oppression to expose the impact of historical events on individuals and communities, and misconceptions about culture and relationships
- explain how the prescribed text has informed the student’s own changing perceptions about identity.
Areas for students to improve include:
- responding to the whole question
- demonstrating an understanding of the student’s own perceptions of identity
- selecting a wide range of textual examples from the prescribed text and including an explanation of how language is used to shape meaning.
