Standard and Advanced

HSC Belonging

Text version

HSC English

Standard and Advanced

Area of Study: Belonging

Instructions

Listen to a reading of the concept statement for the Area of Study: Belonging.

After you have listened to the concept statement roll over the highlighted text to hear ideas about belonging.

Concept statement

This Area of Study requires students to explore the ways in which the concept of belonging is represented in and through texts.

Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary. These perceptions are shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts. A sense of belonging can emerge from the connections made with people, places, groups, communities and the larger world. Within this Area of Study, students may consider aspects of belonging in terms of experiences and notions of identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding.

Texts explore many aspects of belonging, including the potential of the individual to enrich or challenge a community or group. They may reflect the way attitudes to belonging are modified over time. Texts may also represent choices not to belong, or barriers which prevent belonging.

Perceptions and ideas of belonging in texts can be constructed through a variety of language modes, forms, features and structures. In engaging with the text, a responder may experience and understand the possibilities presented by a sense of belonging to, or exclusion from the text and the world it represents. This engagement may be influenced by the different ways perspectives are given voice in or are absent from a text.

From: English Stage 6 Prescriptions: Area of Study

Higher School Certificate 2009 - 2012 p 10 - 11

You can access the text list at the Board of Studies:

Highlighted text

modified over time

My idea of belonging has changed. I used to think it was all about having things, like cars and TVs, but now it’s much more, it’s about who you are and your community.

sense of belonging

My house, and I suppose everyone’s, most people’s homes, give you a sense of belonging, which you don’t have if you are homeless, do you?

relationships:connections by blood, marriage or emotions

I came over here about ten years ago for a holiday but I haven’t left. It’s just the friendly neighbours that keep me here.

connections:links between people or things

Belonging has nothing to do with ownership, it’s about a spiritual connection to place. It’s the place that we long for when we are not there. It’s a belonging place.

acceptance:receiving approval

We decided to leave the city and move to the coast. People here are friendly, ask about our day, the pace is slow and now in our fourth year, we are settled. There’s a spirit of community here. We feel we belong.

identity:distinguishing features of a person or thing

When I think about belonging, I think about identity and how important land is to the way people define themselves. We like to talk about where we come from. Indigenous people in Australia and around the world have a special relationship with their land.

historical: relating to a period or time in the past

cultural: related to underlying beliefs and attitudes of people

By going back to your homeland, you meet your people, find out about your past. It really gives you a different meaning to living, makes you feel you belong.

personal: relating to one's self

Well, belonging is all about family. I can walk down the street feelin’ safe and say hello to all my cousins.

HSC Belonging: Text version1