How can you tell they’ve got it: Adapting Speech to Context?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Present the same information formally to a panel and informally to peers; Adjust vocabulary and sentence structure when speaking to different audiences; Identify contexts that require formal English and those where informal speech is appropriate. Or just try it together: Does your child naturally speak differently depending on who they're talking to — for example, more formally with a teacher than with a friend at the playground?

English Speaking & Listening Ages 10–11

Adapting Speech to Context

Your child can change how they speak to suit who is listening. They use formal English for a panel and a relaxed style with friends.

In curriculum terms

Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation while adjusting tone, vocabulary, and style for different audiences

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Present the same information formally to a panel and informally to peers
Adjust vocabulary and sentence structure when speaking to different audiences
Identify contexts that require formal English and those where informal speech is appropriate

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Try this together

Does your child naturally speak differently depending on who they're talking to — for example, more formally with a teacher than with a friend at the playground?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Formal and Informal Englishages 7–10Adapting speech builds on formal/informal register

Choosing Formal Vocabularyages 10–11Adapting speech builds on formal vocabulary

Adapting Speech to Contextthis skill · ages 10–11

Unlocks

Nothing on the map depends on this yet.

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E6LA03low confidenceYear 6 · Language

explain how texts across the curriculum are typically organised into characteristic stages and phases depending on purposes, recognising how authors often adapt text structures and language features

AC9E4LA07low confidenceYear 4 · Language

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

AC9E5LA03low confidenceYear 5 · Language

describe how spoken, written and multimodal texts use language features and are typically organised into characteristic stages and phases, depending on purposes in texts

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

EN2-OLC-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 2

EN2-REFLU-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 2

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E5LY10low confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Literacy strand

VC2E6LY02low confidenceEnglish · Level 6 · Literacy strand

VC2E5LY06low confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Literacy strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Building on Others in Discussionsages 10–11 Drawing Conclusions from Discussionages 10–11 Evaluating a Speaker's Argumentages 10–11 Multimedia Presentationsages 10–11

All Speaking & Listening skills →