'As if …' : textuality and the question of the centre of English

My thoughts on the question of ‘Textuality as the Centre of English’ were presented at a Roundtable session at the 2020 International Federation for the Teaching of English (IFTE) Conference. Through critical discourse analysis of media and curriculum texts, I highlight how the ‘being’ of the English subjects is always and already textual in nature. From here, I make a necessary gesture to attendant questions of syllabus requirements and specifications. With a review of the NSW curriculum underway, I suggest that the question of the place of poetry brings onto-ethical considerations to dialogue about HSC English text requirements. Understanding HSC English as being in ‘an immunocompromised state’ (in the Derridean sense), I propose that poetry is the ‘first idea’ in considerations of English as textuality. I conclude with a wish that poetry be given restored emphasis in the NSW curriculum.