32405 Assessment 2026

Purpose

Learners credited with this unit standard are able to write meaningful texts for different purposes and audiences, and use written language conventions to support communication.

Outcomes and Performance Criteria

Outcome 1

Write meaningful texts for different purposes and audiences.

Range a minimum of two pieces of writing of different text types, and for different purposes and audiences; text types may include but are not limited to – instructions, information reports, descriptions, narratives, argument, or persuasion.  text forms may include but are not limited to – magazine articles, editorials, pānui, letters, emails, social media posts. one text must be in a formal register; one text must be a continuous text of at least 250 words.

Performance Criteria

1.1 Select and use content that is appropriate to purpose and audience.

Range may include but is not limited to – ideas, information, examples, details.

1.2 Use text structures in ways that are appropriate to purpose and audience.

1.3 Make language choices that are appropriate to purpose and audience.

Range may include but is not limited to – vocabulary, register, the way phrases and sentences are composed, tense.

1.4 Write text that demonstrates sufficient technical accuracy to communicate meaning, without intrusive errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar.

Outcome 2

Use written language conventions to support communication.

Performance criteria

2.1 Construct a variety of complete sentences.

Range must include – simple, compound, complex sentences.

2.2 Punctuate correctly to support meaning.

Range must include but is not limited to – capital letters, full stops, question marks.

2.3 Use grammatical conventions within sentences and paragraphs with sufficient technical accuracy to communicate meaning.

Range must include but is not limited to – tense, subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, word form.

2.4 Use and spell everyday high frequency vocabulary with technical accuracy.

2.5 Make simple changes to improve text coherence and the organisation of the content.

Guidance Information

1. This unit standard belongs to a package of standards that forms the literacy and numeracy co-requisite to the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) in English language. Together with unit standard 32403 Demonstrate understanding of ideas and information in written texts and unit standard 32406 Apply mathematics and statistics in a range of everyday situations, this package of standards assesses the foundational literacy and numeracy skills that enable learners to engage in further learning, life, and work.

2. For the purposes of this unit standard, foundational literacy refers to the knowledge and capabilities in reading and writing that enable learners to access further learning, develop important life skills, and engage in employment and in their communities. This includes an understanding of how to participate in Aotearoa New Zealand as a diverse, bicultural nation and across the wider Pacific region.

3. This unit standard corresponds to the literacy outcomes found in the knowledge and practices of the English Learning Area of the New Zealand Curriculum. It should be read together with at least one of the relevant frameworks below:

• The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) – Phase 3 (Year 8) and Phase 4 (Year 9) of the English Learning Area (equivalent to upper Level 4, lower Level 5 of the New Zealand Curriculum (2007))
• Curriculum Progress Tools, which comprise the Learning Progressions Framework (LPF) and Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) Writing: The scale descriptors in the range 800 to 900
• The Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy (LPAL) – Step 4 The English Language Learning Progressions (ELLP) – upper Stage 3, lower Stage 4
• The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) – upper Level 2, lower Level 3.

4. Learners will be assessed against this unit standard through an external Common Assessment Activity that is set and marked by NZQA. Use of appropriate technology is expected.

5. Definitions
Continuous text consists of sentences organised into paragraphs and often into larger units (for example, essays, chapters, or books), whereas non-continuous text consists of information without such continuous organisation (for example, lists, tables, charts, pānui, graphs, and images supported by a significant element of written information).

Everyday high frequency vocabulary refers to words found on the Essential Spelling List 1-7 and/or the first 2000 words of the New General Service List as well as any other words as defined in the assessment task.

Formal (register) is used in letters of application, CVs, workplace reports, essays etc. Informal (register) is used in personal communication. It is also used to establish a connection with the reader or portray a character (for example, in fiction).

Intrusive errors are those that impact on meaning and/or interrupt the flow of the text. Register refers to the scale of formality.

Technical accuracy refers to mastery of text conventions such as grammar, spelling and punctuation, and selecting the correct vocabulary to communicate intended meaning.

Text coherence refers to the presentation of ideas in a comprehensible manner and logical order, where the connection between ideas is clear.

Text structures include:

• Text type, which refers to the way a text is organised or structured and the kinds of language features it uses to achieve a particular purpose (for example, a process text type describes how a process occurs and therefore it includes verbs such as “increases”, “grows”; an information report presents information about a class of things and therefore it features nouns in plural form such as “birds” and verbs tend to be in the present tense).
• Text form, which refers to the form that the text is presented in (for example, an information report can be in the form of a magazine article, an argument text can be in the form of an editorial, or a recount can be in the form of a letter or social media post).