Step 1: Explicit Teaching & Modelling
Define the outcome-specific metalanguage (language, visual, multimodal) and model how to identify the feature, select evidence and explain or use it.
Learning goals
1. Outcome Overview & Core Concepts
Students learn to recognise language used to evaluate texts including visual and multimodal texts, and how evaluations of a text can be substantiated by reference to the text and other sources. They identify precise evidence and explain or evaluate how a language, structural, literary or multimodal choice shapes meaning, representation, audience response or purpose. Key concepts include language, visual, multimodal, character, evidence.
Learning target: recognise language used to evaluate texts including visual and multimodal texts, and how evaluations of a text can be substantiated by reference to the text and other sources
4-Step Instructional Sequence
4. 4-Step Instructional Sequence
Step 2: Guided Analysis
Work through a second example together: What is the choice or feature? Where is the evidence? What does it do here?
Step 3: Collaborative / Independent Practice
Students annotate, compare, read, edit, speak or compose with a fresh example, then apply the concept independently.
Step 4: Formative Assessment
Use an unseen micro-text, oral task or creation task. Require precise evidence plus a justified explanation or deliberate crafting choice.
Subject-Specific Content & Key Examples
2. Subject-Specific Content & Key Examples
Opinion plus reason
Move from “I liked the story” to “I found the ending effective because the repeated warning built suspense.” The second response gives a judgement and evidence.
Strength of judgement
Compare “might help”, “should help” and “will help”. The modal choice changes how certain or forceful the claim sounds.
Subjective and objective wording
“The brilliant new playground is exciting” evaluates; “the playground opened on Monday” reports a checkable fact. Discuss why a writer may choose either.
Transfer
Students underline one evaluative word in a fresh sentence, replace it with a weaker or stronger choice and explain the changed effect.
Curriculum Coverage & Elaborations
Curriculum Coverage & Elaborations
The content description is the required target. The elaborations below are taught as examples and contexts, not as disconnected checklist wording.
- E1: building knowledge about words of evaluation, including words to express emotional responses to texts, judgement of characters and their actions, and appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of text
- E2: analysing how evaluative language can be used to assess the qualities of a narrative or persuasive text; for example, its impact on the reader or the author’s skill in the use of language
- E3: recognising how evaluative language is used to critically assess the validity of evidence and the reliability of sources
Common Student Misconceptions
3. Common Student Misconceptions
- Feature spotting: Naming a camera angle, colour or sound is not analysis; explain its effect.
- One fixed effect: Interpret the feature in context and alongside other modes.
- Separate-mode lists: Explain how image, words and sound reinforce, contradict or qualify one another.
- Retelling: Analyse how the representation was constructed, not only what it shows.
Practice Thought & Formative Assessment
Practice Thought & Formative Assessment
Use a fresh example that has not been modelled. Ask the student to show the exact clue, feature or language choice and explain or use it independently.
🎥 Optional Video Lesson
The SkillrHub lesson remains the primary learning resource. This optional video reinforces the explanation; you can complete the lesson and practice without watching.
Before you watch:
- Pause after each worked example.
- Try the examples yourself.
- Return to the SkillrHub lesson before continuing.
Recommended: Citing Evidence in Literary Texts
Khan Academy — Support an evaluation with relevant evidence from a text; use the written lesson for visual and multimodal examples.
As you watch: What makes a quotation useful evidence rather than a decorative extra?
Load video player Loads YouTube in this lesson. See the video notice below.
Try it: Write a judgement about a text you are reading, add brief evidence and explain how it supports your judgement.
Video unavailable, inaccurate or unsuitable for this year? Report a video problem to SkillrHub by email. You can continue with the written lesson and practice resources.
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Curriculum equivalents: Victoria, NSW and international
Curriculum equivalents for Language used to evaluate texts including visual and multimodal texts...
Mapped skill: recognise language used to evaluate texts including visual and multimodal texts, and how evaluations of a text can be substantiated by reference to the text and other sources
These references identify matching or closely related learning. Curriculum sequence, terminology and depth vary, so teachers should use the mapped skill and lesson difficulty to confirm suitability.
| Region | Curriculum framework | Closest level or code |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Australian Curriculum v9.0 | AC9E7LA02 · Year 7 |
| Victoria | Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0 — English | VC2E7LA02 · Level 7 |
| New South Wales | NSW English K–10 Syllabus (2022) | EN4-URA-01 · Stage 4 |
| United States (USA) | Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts | Grade 7 |
| Canada (Ontario) | Ontario Curriculum — English | Grade 7 |
| United Kingdom (England) | National Curriculum in England — English | Year 8, Key Stage 3 |
| India | NCERT / CBSE — English | Class 7 |
Australian Curriculum v9.0 is the canonical source for this SkillrHub lesson. Victoria and NSW entries name the closest published state codes or outcomes; international entries are planning references rather than claims of identical curricula.
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Topic reference: AC9E7LA02 — AC9E7LA02: Recognise language used to evaluate texts including visual and multimodal texts, and how evaluations of a text can be substantiated by reference to the text and other sources
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Official curriculum references
Related Year 7 English topics
Worked example and reasoning checks
Support an evaluation with precise textual evidence
Explain a judgement about a text using a relevant feature and its effect.
Worked example
Evaluate the sentence ‘The gate rattled. No one answered. Then a key scraped inside the lock.’ Does it build suspense?
- Make a specific evaluation: the sentence sequence builds suspense.
- Select evidence: brief statements delay the reveal of who is inside, and ‘scraped’ supplies an unsettling sound.
- Connect the evidence to the judgement: the reader waits for an answer while noticing a sound that suggests someone is approaching.
Watch for this mistake: Retelling the events or saying ‘it is good’ does not substantiate an evaluation. Explain how an identified feature creates an effect.
Try it, then explain
Which supports an evaluation of suspense more directly: ‘I like mysteries’ or ‘The writer delays revealing who holds the key’? Explain.
Hint
Look for evidence about the text itself.
Answer and explanation
The second identifies a structural choice that delays information. The first states a personal preference.
The same scene is illustrated with the gate in deep shadow. How could this support an evaluation of the mood?
Hint
Connect the visual choice to its likely effect.
Answer and explanation
The shadow conceals detail and can make the scene feel uncertain or threatening; an alternative justified reading is acceptable.