English in Junior Cycle aims to develop students’ knowledge of language and literature, to consolidate and deepen their literacy skills and make them more self-aware as learners.
The specification for Junior Cycle English focuses on the development of language and literacy in and through the three strands:
- Oral Language
- Reading
- Writing
The elements of each of these strands place a focus on communicating, on active engagement with and exploration of a range of texts, and on acquiring and developing an implicit and explicit knowledge of the shape and structures of language.
There is a strong focus on the oral dimension of language, including the vital importance of learning through oral language.
This makes the English classroom an active space, a place of ‘classroom talk’ where learners explore language and ideas as much through thinking and talking as through listening and writing.
Learning Outcomes
To give further emphasis to the integrated nature of language learning the outcomes for each strand are grouped by reference to three elements:
- Communicating as a listener, speaker, reader, writer
- Exploring and using language
- Understanding the content and structure of language
Assessment for the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA)
The assessment of English for the purposes of the Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA) will comprise two Classroom-Based Assessments and a Final Assessment.
In addition, the second classroom-based assessment will have a written Assessment Task that will be marked, along with the final assessment, by the State Examinations Commission.
English Classroom-Based Assessment (CBA) Format
Classroom Based Assessment One
Oral communication linked to an issue or topic identified by the student Individual or group presentation or communication.
Classroom Based Assessment Two
A Collection of the Student’s Texts emerging through engagement with a broad range of texts, literary and non-literary. It is recognised that in this context the student’s created texts may be presented in a wide range of formats – hand-written, digital, multi-modal, and so on.
Two texts are chosen by the student from his/her collection of texts.
The Assessment Task (AT)
Students complete a specified written task based on Classroom Based Assessment Two which is sent to the SEC for marking.
Junior Cycle English is offered at two levels, Higher and Ordinary and the Final Assessment will reflect this. The examples of student work linked to learning outcomes will offer commentary and insights that support differentiation.
Information on Junior Cycle English
English in Pres Tralee
"I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.”
Roald Dahl
