requirements of pupils with special educational needs are further developed in Section 4, Catering for the Needs of Individual Pupils.

These guidelines advise that in secondary schools all departments have a part to play in developing pupils' language, and that English departments have a specialist responsibility for this aspect of the curriculum. In practice it is likely that the duty of assessing and recording progress in the attainment targets for language will rest with the English department. Clearly, however, the validity of this assessment will be enhanced if means can be found for other departments to contribute evidence of pupils achieving targets in language within the context of their own courses.


Attainment outcomes


The successful attainment of these targets will result in the following outcomes:

Listening

Pupils will listen individually and in groups, in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes, so as to gain information, understand what they have heard and respond to speakers and texts*; in so doing, they will achieve an awareness of genre and knowledge about language.

Talking

Pupils, both individually and in groups, will talk to convey information in a variety of contexts, and will talk appropriately about experiences, opinions, feelings and texts, showing an awareness of audience and purpose; in so doing, they will acquire knowledge about language.

Reading

Pupils will read to find and handle information for a range of purposes, and will read, on occasion aloud, to enjoy and respond to a variety of texts; in so doing, they will achieve an awareness of genre and knowledge about language.

Writing

Pupils will write functionally, personally and imaginatively, to convey meaning in language appropriate to audience and purpose; in so doing, they will pay careful attention to punctuation and structure, spelling, handwriting and presentation, and acquire knowledge about language.

 


*Throughout this account of the targets and the subsequent programmes of study, the word "text" denotes the unit of language that is being studied, no matter its length or complexity or the outcome in which it appears. This unit of language may contain non-linguistic features of communication such as body language and visual images. For example, the text may be a poem, an illustrated page from a children's book, a spoken message, a novel, a television programme, or a scene from a dramatic performance.



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© The Scottish Office Education Department, June 1991