Choosing between English, English Language and Literature on your Year 10 subject selection form can be confusing when the names don't show what you'd study, or whether picking one over another costs you anything later.
Each one studies English from a different angle, and all three count the same way towards your VCE and your ATAR. That leaves the choice to what you'd most like to read, write and think about in Years 11 and 12.
What you'd study in each one
Each VCE subject has a study design: the official outline from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), which runs the VCE, setting out what the subject covers and how it's assessed. The current English, English Language and Literature study designs are compared below, and your school can confirm the requirements for your Year 12 in 2028. TMJ tutors all three.
One term in it may be new. Linguistics is the study of how language works: how words are built, how sentences are put together and how people change the way they speak for different listeners. English Language gives you the technical words for describing this, which the study design calls metalanguage.
English
Analysing stories and non-fiction, and writing your own pieces. Two set texts from VCAA's list, three pieces chosen as models for your own writing, and recent media debating a current issue. Essays on your set texts, your own pieces with an explanation of your choices, an analysis of how arguments persuade, and a spoken point of view.
English Language
How language works, using the tools of linguistics. Spoken and written English in Australia today, informal and formal, plus academic writing about language. Analysis of informal and formal language, and of how the way people speak and write shows who they are.
Literature
How stories, poems and plays create meaning. At least six texts, including an adaptation, a novel, a poetry collection and a play. At least one is Australian. Close analysis, a comparison of a text with its adaptation, your interpretation of a text, and a creative response with a commentary.
English, English Language and Literature side by side
English
Analysis · own writing
Exam3 hours
English Language
Linguistics
Exam2 hours
Literature
Literary meaning
Exam2 hours
The assessment weighting is the same in all three. In Year 12, your school-assessed coursework (SACs: the essays, analyses and other tasks you complete at school) counts for half your study score, and the exam for the other half. A study score is your result for a whole subject, out of 50.
How each one counts towards your VCE and ATAR
A unit is half a year's study. To get your VCE, you need to pass three English-group units, including the Year 12 pair, Units 3 and 4, in one subject. English, English Language and Literature all belong to that group.
The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), which calculates the ATAR, has published its rules for students finishing Year 12 in 2028. To get an ATAR, you need study scores in at least four subjects, “including one from the English group”, and your highest English-group score after VTAC's scaling adjustment always counts towards your ATAR. VTAC's minimum requirements (PDF) for university courses accept Units 3 and 4 of any of the three as well.
Some courses also set their own English prerequisite, which can include a minimum study score. VTAC's prerequisites for 2029 courses, the year you'd start, show what each asks for, and you can check them again in Year 12 as they can change.
Working out which one fits you
A good place to start is the parts of English you've enjoyed in Years 9 and 10. The same novel can lead each subject to a different question, so it can help to notice which question you'd most like to spend an essay on.
Ranked by the work you'd most enjoy, English comes first for writing your own pieces and arguing about current issues, English Language for how people talk and write, and Literature for reading novels, poems and plays closely.
One novel, three questions
- EnglishWhat does it show about its characters' values, and how do its words and structure build that?
- English LanguageWhat makes the characters' dialogue informal, and what does it say about who they are?
- LiteratureHow does the way it's written shape its meaning, and how would that change as a film?
Our guide to choosing VCE subjects has seven things to weigh up across your whole set of subjects, from what you enjoy to prerequisites and workload.
Getting a second opinion before the form is due
Your English teacher knows your reading and writing, so they're a good person to talk the choice through with. You can ask how English Language and Literature run at your school and what a Year 11 class does in its first term. Your school's careers adviser can help you check what the courses you're curious about ask for, and both are free to talk to.
Once you've chosen, our guide to reading the VCE English study design shows how to use it to plan your study.
If you'd like extra help once Year 11 starts, our tutors work one-to-one in VCE English, English Language and Literature, in person across Melbourne or online, around the texts and tasks your school sets.
Whichever one you pick, you'll spend the next two years on the kind of reading and writing you chose for yourself.
Other questions about the English subjects
Can I take more than one English subject?
Yes. Under VTAC's 2028 rules, up to two subjects from the English group can count among the four main subjects in your ATAR. A third can count as a fifth or sixth subject, which adds 10 per cent of its scaled score.
Can I change English subjects after Year 11?
Yes. VCAA doesn't require Units 1 and 2 before Unit 3, but Units 3 and 4 are taken as a pair. Your school can confirm whether a change fits its timetable.
What is English as an Additional Language (EAL)?
It's a version of VCE English, under the same study design, for students who meet VCAA's eligibility rules. Your English teacher or VCE coordinator can tell you whether you qualify. English and EAL count as the same subject, so only one of them counts at each unit level.
Does one of them scale better?
Scaling adjusts study scores when your ATAR is calculated, and VTAC works it out again each year from that year's results, so it can't tell you how your own score will scale in 2028. VTAC's guide for Year 10 students says: “Don't choose a subject just because you think it will help your ATAR.” Our guide to study scores and scaling explains how it works.
Where to check the details
We checked these official sources on 6 November 2026.
Official sources
- VCAA: VCE English and EAL study design
- VCAA: English and EAL planning
- VCAA: VCE English Language study design
- VCAA: English Language planning
- VCAA: VCE Literature study design
- VCAA: Literature planning
- VCAA handbook: the VCE and the English requirement
- VCAA: English past exams and reports
- VCAA: English Language past exams and reports
- VCAA: Literature past exams and reports
- VTAC: ATAR and scaling guide for Year 12 in 2028
- VTAC: Year 10 guide
- VTAC: eligibility and course requirements (PDF)
- VTAC: VCE prerequisites for 2029 courses
