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Year 4 English in the Australian Curriculum

28 content descriptions from Version 9.0. Choose "Plan this" to open a lesson plan set up for that content description.

Content descriptions

Language

Language for interacting with others

  • AC9E4LA01

    explore language used to develop relationships in formal and informal situations

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  • AC9E4LA02

    identify the subjective language of opinion and feeling, and the objective language of factual reporting

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Text structure and organisation

  • AC9E4LA03

    identify how texts across the curriculum have different language features and are typically organised into characteristic stages depending on purposes

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  • AC9E4LA04

    identify how text connectives including temporal and conditional words, and topic word associations are used to sequence and connect ideas

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  • AC9E4LA05

    identify text navigation features of online texts that enhance readability including headlines, drop-down menus, links, graphics and layout

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Language for expressing and developing ideas

  • AC9E4LA06

    understand that complex sentences contain one independent clause and at least one dependent clause typically joined by a subordinating conjunction to create relationships, such as time and causality

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  • AC9E4LA07

    investigate how quoted (direct) and reported (indirect) speech are used

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  • AC9E4LA08

    understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity

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  • AC9E4LA09

    understand past, present and future tenses and their impact on meaning in a sentence

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  • AC9E4LA10

    explore the effect of choices when framing an image, placement of elements in the image and salience on composition of still and moving images in texts

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  • AC9E4LA11

    expand vocabulary by exploring a range of synonyms and antonyms, and using words encountered in a range of sources

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  • AC9E4LA12

    understand that punctuation signals dialogue through quotation marks and that dialogue follows conventions for the use of capital letters, commas and boundary punctuation

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Literature

Literature and contexts

  • AC9E4LE01

    recognise similar storylines, ideas and relationships in different contexts in literary texts by First Nations Australian, and wide-ranging Australian and world authors

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Engaging with and responding to literature

  • AC9E4LE02

    describe the effects of text structures and language features in literary texts when responding to and sharing opinions

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Examining literature

  • AC9E4LE03

    discuss how authors and illustrators make stories engaging by the way they develop character, setting and plot tensions

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  • AC9E4LE04

    examine the use of literary devices and deliberate word play in literary texts, including poetry, to shape meaning

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Creating literature

  • AC9E4LE05

    create and edit literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings

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Literacy

Texts in context

  • AC9E4LY01

    compare texts from different times with similar purposes and audiences to identify similarities and differences in their depictions of events

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Interacting with others

  • AC9E4LY02

    listen for key points and information to carry out tasks and contribute to discussions, acknowledging another opinion, linking a response to the topic, and sharing and extending ideas and information

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Analysing, interpreting and evaluating

  • AC9E4LY03

    identify the characteristic features used in imaginative, informative and persuasive texts to meet the purpose of the text

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  • AC9E4LY04

    read different types of texts, integrating phonic, semantic and grammatical knowledge to read accurately and fluently, re-reading and self-correcting when needed

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  • AC9E4LY05

    use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising, monitoring and questioning to build literal and inferred meaning, to expand topic knowledge and ideas, and evaluate texts

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Creating texts

  • AC9E4LY06

    plan, create, edit and publish written and multimodal imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, using visual features, relevant linked ideas, complex sentences, appropriate tense, synonyms and antonyms, correct spelling of multisyllabic words and simple punctuation

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  • AC9E4LY07

    plan, create, rehearse and deliver structured oral and/or multimodal presentations to report on a topic, tell a story, recount events or present an argument using subjective and objective language, complex sentences, visual features, tone, pace, pitch and volume

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  • AC9E4LY08

    write words using clearly formed joined letters, with developing fluency and automaticity

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Phonic and word knowledge

  • AC9E4LY09

    understand how to use and apply phonological and morphological knowledge to read and write multisyllabic words with more complex letter combinations, including a variety of vowel sounds and known prefixes and suffixes

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  • AC9E4LY10

    understand how to use knowledge of letter patterns, including double letters, spelling generalisations, morphological word families, common prefixes and suffixes, and word origins, to spell more complex words

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  • AC9E4LY11

    read and write high-frequency words including homophones and know how to use context to identify correct spelling

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Other Year 4 learning areas

Questions teachers ask

What do students learn in Year 4 English?
The Australian Curriculum v9 has 28 English content descriptions for Year 4. They are listed on this page with their codes.
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© Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2010 to present, unless otherwise indicated. This material was downloaded from the Australian Curriculum website (accessed 18 October 2026) and was not modified. The material is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

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