3 Challenges in VCE English & How to Tackle Them

01 Differing interpretations of the text

Often times teachers may have a different interpretation of the text to you, or an interpretation that they heavily favour.

For example, when Euripides’ Medea first came on the text list in 2015, many teachers across the state decided to interpret the play from a distinctly feminist stance.

While some schools are comfortable with students exploring their own perspectives, I have no doubt that in a lot of classrooms, teachers are expecting to see their own views echoed back to them within essays. Or at least, not a wholly contradictory perspective.

If there is an alternative interpretation that you are invested in exploring, I do recommend that you speak to your teacher early on about this.

I recommend having clear examples of textual evidence which support your own interpretation, and working with your teacher to clarify the extent to which your interpretation can be supported by the text itself.

This type of situation is best handled through consistent communication with your English teacher.

This ensures that when you are looking to present your ideas within a marked essay/SAC there is a reasonable measure of understanding regarding your interpretation and its textual legitimacy.

There is always the chance that your teacher does not believe your interpretation can be textually supported.

If this is the case, finding out before you are completing your SAC is vital, as it means you can pivot to a different set of ideas, and prioritise your mark for assessments.

02 Conflicting criticism

Often times you can hear different pieces of criticism from different teachers. Sometimes these pieces of conflicting information can come from different teachers in the same school, but they definitely exist when looking at the ideas of multiple teachers across the state.

I remember when I was in Year 12, I personally struggled with the ambiguity created by conflicting advice.

There was some advice which conflicted in small ways. For example, the L in TEEL is referred to as a ‘link.’ Some teachers preferred that you would link to the next body paragraph. However, other teachers preferred that you would link back to your contention.

Other pieces of advice conflicted in more major ways.

Some teachers liked four body paragraphs, some teachers liked three. Some teachers wanted you to prioritise sophistication in language, other teachers wanted you to prioritise thematic complexity. One teacher might say “ten quotes is the best number to have per paragraph,” and then later show you a sample with eighteen quotes!

It is difficult to navigate landscapes of inconsistency. What I would advise students to remember at these times, is that there is more than one way to score a 10/10.

Not every 10/10 essay looks the same.

The examination reports show us this - year after year we see structural divergence and varied approaches between high scoring responses.

Yet, they are all high scoring responses. They all effectively target the criteria, albeit with different methods.

Have patience with your teachers when working through advice that may conflict with your current understanding of a best practice approach to an essay.

There may be an essay where one style of ‘linking’ is a more effective method to address aspects of criteria - for example, if your interpretation is more complex, it may work in your best interest to choose to ‘link’ to your contention for clarity. There may be an essay where your interpretation is best stretched out across four body paragraphs, as opposed to three.

It is possible for both pieces of conflicting advice to be correct, just under different circumstances.

The difficult task ahead of you as a student is to navigate these different approaches and take agency in your decision making, to realise which systems you want to follow in your best practice.

Some students don’t get to this place of recognition and personal autonomy when it comes to English. Other students find this space too difficult to navigate - so much so that they may choose to personally ignore these existing inconsistencies rather than strategically working through them.

I have found, however, that facing the conflict of inconsistency is a personally enriching experience when it comes to improving my relationship with English as a subject and a skill.

03 Different structural approaches

Another tough one to navigate! You may see from examination reports, or friends at different schools, that different approaches are often taken to directly hit VCAA’s criteria.

This is especially relevant for Section B: Comparative, and Section C: Language Analysis.

Section B, as a relatively newer section on the exam, has a quite a variety of approaches, and some approaches are stronger than others.

Section B’s criteria for a 10/10 essays asks for “thorough comparison.”

If you are writing one body paragraph focused only on one text, it is going to be harder for you to hit this criteria. This is because the structure you have chosen leaves you less opportunity for insightful comparison.

This puts you in a difficult position if this is the approach your teacher has recommended, but again communication is key. If you believe, from reading the examination reports and the curriculum that you have a stronger system to address criteria that you personally want to implement - absolutely let your teacher know, and work with them to better enable your success.

I do encourage students to read the examination reports and look through different structural approaches.

While you may find that you are not interested in fully changing the structure of your approach, you may wish to adjust aspects of your approach in light of what you find.