View KLA Structure for all Levels

Communication

In stage S1, the focus of the Communication substrand is on developing ESL students' ability to produce and respond to spoken and written texts for social and school-based purposes in order to prepare for participation in the mainstream curriculum. For intensive language study, students require modified texts and tasks from the mainstream secondary curriculum. Teachers provide interesting and challenging activities focused on carefully selected texts appropriate to the language level and educational needs of the students. These texts are introduced with strong visual support, generally describe immediate situations and involve tasks that do not require students to make use of complex tenses or time markers. Students develop language skills at both general and specific levels, using texts at a whole-text level as well as at sentence level.

Aspects of language

Contexual understanding

In stage S1, the focus of the Contextual understanding substrand is on developing students' understanding of the context in which texts are produced or used. They become aware of how sociocultural values, attitudes and beliefs are represented in English and may differ from their own cultural experience. The situational aspects of language use are generally pointed out in an incidental way during classroom activities that focus primarily on the linguistic characteristics of texts.

Linguistic structures and features

In stage S1, the focus of the Linguistic structures and features substrand is on students' developing control of linguistic structures and features of spoken and written English that has a personal or school-based focus. Discourse level texts allow students to see how different texts draw on particular linguistic features to order ideas, sequence new information and satisfy the language function of the text type. Students use vocabulary, language structures and letter-sound correspondences of texts to communicate. They are not presented with a predetermined sequence of grammatical items but are introduced to features of the language system, such as word order, negation, question formation, tense/aspect, and logical connectors through a variety of speaking, listening, reading and writing activities.

Strategies

In stage S1, the focus of the Strategies substrand is on students' developing strategies to utilise their emerging English language skills for speaking and listening, reading and writing, while providing the basis for further development. Students are supported to develop strategies to retain, consolidate and extend their communicative abilities.