English is the study, understanding, application, and enjoyment of the English language and its literature, communicated orally, visually, and in writing, for a range of purposes and audiences in a variety of text forms. Learning English encompasses learning about the language through using it, how it works, and its power to affect us all.
Understanding, using, and creating oral, written, and visual texts of increasing complexity is at the heart of English teaching and learning. By engaging in text-based activities, students are taught and inspired to become critical and inferential thinkers, and also to become increasingly skilled, purposeful, insightful, and sophisticated listeners and speakers, readers and writers, viewers and presenters.
Learning in this subject gives students access to the understanding, knowledge, skills and strategies they need in order to participate fully in the social, cultural, political, and economic life of New Zealand and the wider world. To be active and successful participants in their futures, students need to be effective oral, written, and visual communicators across a range of contexts; communicators who can think effectively, critically, and in depth.