1. This Unit Standard belongs to a package of standards that forms the literacy and numeracy co-requisite to the National Certificate of Achievement (NCEA) in English language. Together with Unit <US32403> Read written texts to understand ideas and information and Unit <US32406> Use mathematics and statistics to meet the numeracy demands of a range of 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. In Aotearoa New Zealand, this includes an understanding of how to participate in a society with bicultural foundations.
3. This Unit Standard corresponds to the Big Ideas and Significant Learning in the Literacy Learning Matrix for reading. It should be read in conjunction with Unpacking Literacy and at least one of the relevant frameworks below:
   1. The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) – upper Level 4, lower Level 5
   2. 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
   3. The Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy (LPAL) – Step 4
   4. The English Language Learning Progressions (ELLP) – upper Stage 3, lower Stage 4.
   5. 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 delivered by NZQA.
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).