Introduction

Aim and Goals

Language is the defining characteristic of human beings and it is the base for learning, thinking, and communicating. Language promotes cognitive and social growth. At the same time, it acts as the vehicle for cognitive and social development. Therefore, language use is the focus for the English language arts program.

The aim of the English language arts program, K-12, is to graduate a literate person who is competent and confident in using language for both functional and aesthetic purposes. A program that promotes language growth gives learners opportunities to:

• learn language through experiences with language

• learn about language (i.e., its elements, conventions, and processes) as they speak, listen, write, and read

• learn through language by using it to learn about life, literature, and language itself (Halliday, 1981).

The general goals of the English language arts program from kindergarten to grade twelve are to:

• develop students’ English language abilities as a function of their thinking abilities

• promote personal and social development by extending students’ knowledge and use of the English language

• develop enjoyment as well as proficiency in speaking, listening, writing, and reading

• develop appreciation of, as well as response to, literature.

These general goals are developed through the foundational and specific learning objectives. They are also supported by the Common Essential Learnings.

Curriculum Principles

The following principles underlie the English language arts curriculum.

1. Students refine their language by using it in purposeful and meaningful situations. They learn to talk by talking, to understand oral language by listening, to write by writing, and to read by reading. Language learning thrives when students are engaged in the meaningful use of language in a variety of oral and written communication tasks.

2. All forms of communication are important. Experience in all language arts strands--speaking, listening, writing, reading, representing, and viewing--is essential for competence in using the English language. One is not competent in the language until one can demonstrate that competence in all six areas.

3. The language arts strands are interrelated and interdependent. Growth in one strand reinforces and promotes growth in the other strands. The processes of speaking, listening, writing, reading, representing, and viewing each support and extend the others.

4. Competence in all the language strands is best achieved through an integrated program that recognizes the interrelatedness of the language processes and the interrelatedness of language and content.

5. An integrated program provides a balance of experiences with all the language processes--speaking, listening, writing, reading, representing, and viewing. Their integration is neither left to chance nor so restrictive as to preclude the teacher from treating a particular language strand or issue at a particular time.

6. Language functions throughout the entire school program. The goal of each subject area is to create meaningful situations in which students use language to communicate and to learn.

Language Experiences

In the English language arts program, students use language to develop their language abilities as they learn about the nature of the English language and its literature. Directly and indirectly, through speaking and writing, students in the senior grades learn that language varies according to audience, purpose, and situation; that language has a variety of logical and structural patterns; and that language develops and changes over time.

In English language arts, students also learn about oral, print, and other media texts that stimulate their ideas, imaginations, and feelings and extend their view of the world. Through listening, viewing, reading, reflecting upon, and responding to a wide range of literary genres and selections, students extend their English language repertoires and increase their understanding of themselves and others.

Teachers in all disciplines offer students a range of language tasks which will help them develop the communication skills required in life, work, and post-secondary education. In all areas of study, students use language to learn the concepts, processes, and values that are central to those areas of study. They also apply their listening, speaking, writing, and reading, representing, and viewing abilities in the various areas. The language and literacy requirements of particular subject areas are best acquired in the specific context of those areas. Some of the language experiences that are addressed across curricula are:

Speaking and Listening

Group discussions
Reports
Introductions
Interviews
Press conferences
Panel discussions
Business meetings
Speeches
Debates
Giving directions
Explaining a process

Writing and Reading

Learning logs
Journals
Essays
Abstracts
Business letters
Contracts
Proposals
Correspondence
Minutes
Applications
Invitations
Résumés
Order forms
Manuals, pamphlets, brochures
Directions
Explanations
Factual narratives
Rules and regulations
Newspapers, magazines, editorials, letters to the editor, press releases, want ads
Surveys
Reference materials
Field notes
Travel writing
Biographical information
Texts
Charts, maps, graphs

Representing and Viewing

Video
Television
Radio
Microphone skills
Tapes, records, discs
Music
Film
Photographs
Posters
Advertising
Stage presentations
Art
Dance
Computer
Electronic mail
On-line bulletin boards

Representing and Viewing

Representing and viewing are included as language processes, along with the traditional language processes of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Representing and viewing broaden the ways in which students can understand and communicate their learning.

While the emphasis in language arts is on representing thoughts, ideas, and feelings in written or spoken forms, students also might use visual, dramatic, and multimedia formats to support their written and spoken messages. When appropriate, students should be given opportunities to communicate and respond through a variety of formats including print (e.g., charts, graphs, tables), visual (e.g., diagrams, photos, advertisements), drama (e.g., tableaux, improvisations, role playing, storytelling, readers theatre), and multimedia (e.g., recordings, films, videos, television).

Students also comprehend thoughts, ideas, and feelings by viewing. When appropriate, students should be given opportunities to view a variety of formats including visual (e.g., photos, graphs, cartoons), drama (e.g., tableaux, improvisations, live theatre), and multimedia (e.g., videos, television, CD-ROM). As students read and listen, they encounter visual messages which require response, interpretation, and critical assessment. The interaction between the viewer and the text varies because of students’ prior knowledge and cultural perspectives.

By accommodating a variety of learning styles, representing and viewing help students achieve the English language arts objectives. Incorporating representing and viewing into language experiences encourages students to explore and expand the depth of their understandings. Representing and viewing also expand the ways in which students can communicate their ideas.

Representing enhances speaking when students support their spoken presentations with materials such as visuals in presentations to small groups, various media in multimedia presentations to the class, and props in improvisations.

Representing enhances writing when students participate in activities and assignments that involve the following: exploring and organizing ideas (e.g., webbing, outlining); dramatizing scripts and dialogues; illustrating settings, plots, and characters (e.g., story maps, diagrams, blueprints); producing scripts (e.g., video, film, television); and preparing advertisements (e.g., print, radio, television).

Viewing enhances listening when students attend to nonverbal communication and visual elements of performance, video, television, film, and multimedia productions.

Viewing enhances reading when students attend to the following: visuals accompanying print (e.g., charts, diagrams, pictures); specific textual techniques (e.g., layout, colour, symbols); critical assessment of the assumptions, perspectives, and quality of a variety of media (e.g., photos, plays, video).

Technology and Media

Technology and media can play an important role in the language arts. Students live in an information age filled with a variety of technology and multimedia learning tools. In addition to books, newspapers, radio, and television, they have access to a range of media and "new" communication and personal technologies (e.g., voice mail, electronic mail, fax, Internet, CD-ROM, laptops, camcorders). These texts and tools are useful to achieve the English language arts objectives, and offer opportunities for critical viewing and representing.

Whether students use a book or a CD-ROM, the traditional letter or e-mail, the telephone or the computer, the newspaper or the Internet, they must focus upon their purposes by determining what they need, where to find it, and how to access it. As with other tools, the value of any technology depends on how students use it. Students need to determine not only what they want to locate and communicate, but how they can do so most effectively.

With appropriate teacher support and guidance, students in English language arts can take more responsibility for their learning and for accessing and using the information they need. In addition to the traditional print resources, students can use:

• computer networking and telecommunications for data access and participation in learning communities
• technological resources such as the World Wide Web, CD-ROM, videotape, videodisc, computer software, and simulation and modelling tools
• multimedia technologies
• mass media including television, radio, film, newspapers, and magazines
• local community resources including social service agencies, libraries and resource centres, businesses, and individuals with expertise in particular areas.

Students also need an informed and critical understanding of the nature of the mass media, the techniques used by them, and the impact of these techniques. Students should have regular, planned opportunities to engage actively with media texts in order to:

• understand the basic nature of media communication
• understand the uses and effects of media communication
• understand the impact of media communication in constructing notions of culture and reality
• understand the changing nature of media communication to reflect the attitudes, values, and interests of their users
• evaluate the reliability of information communicated through the media.

In English Language Arts 20, students should have the opportunity to:

• present thoughts, ideas, and feelings using an appropriate combination of charts, diagrams, pictures, audiotapes, slides, models, drama, and printed and oral materials
• identify the audiences, purposes, and messages of a radio documentary or dramatization
• identify the specific language techniques and media conventions in a radio presentation
• identify the specific persuasive techniques in print and audio advertising
• respond critically to a radio documentary or dramatization
• respond critically to a print or audio advertisement
• evaluate critically information obtained from listening to an audio presentation
• produce an audiovisual presentation for a specific audience and purpose (e.g., to inform, influence, or entertain)
• communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings through a radio script, an advertisement, or a photo essay.

Western Canadian Framework

The Common Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts (1998) was developed by the Ministries of Education in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, and Yukon Territory in co-operation with teachers and other educators from these provinces and territories. This collaborative effort resulted in the identification of common educational goals and student learning outcomes designed to prepare students for present and future language requirements. The common goals allow for continuity should students transfer from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and for the use of common educational resources.

The Common Curriculum Framework articulates a shared vision for the respective provinces and territories and provides a basis for curriculum development in English language arts in Saskatchewan. Five general student learning outcomes serve as the foundation for the Common Curriculum Framework. These general outcomes (GOs) identify the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students are expected to learn in English language arts. They are interrelated and interdependent; each can be achieved through a variety of integrated speaking, listening, writing, reading, representing, and viewing experiences. The five GOs for kindergarten through grade twelve English language arts are listed below.

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to:

• explore thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences
• comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print, and other media texts
• manage ideas and information
• enhance the clarity and artistry of communication
• celebrate and build community.

Specific learning outcomes identify the component knowledge, skills, and attitudes that contribute to these general learning outcomes. These outcomes are identified in the Appendix and are reflected in the foundational and specific learning objectives of this curriculum.

The Teacher as Reflective Practitioner

A curriculum guide outlines a rationale, intended learning objectives, teaching and learning strategies, and resource suggestions for a particular grade level. The "real" program, however, comprises the dynamic experiences that occur in the classrooms as teachers work with students.

It is a teacher, not a curriculum guide, who makes learning happen. A teacher must continually search for the effective teaching strategies that will help students learn. If learning experiences are to be successful in developing the language skills and understandings of students, a teacher must act as a reflective, instructional decision maker. Implementing a curriculum in the classroom requires thoughtful decision making and reflection in three key areas.

Reflections on the Curriculum Guide

• What assumptions underlie this guide?
• What objectives are required for this grade level?
• What strategies and materials are recommended?
• How do the assessment techniques relate to the objectives, strategies, and materials?

Reflections on the Students

• What do my students bring to this course? What language and culture? Knowledge? Skills? Experiences? Interests? Attitudes? Expectations? Learning styles? Motivations?
• What are my students’ strengths and needs?
• Where are my students going? How will this course help them in life?

Reflections on Self and Practice

• What language, experiences, beliefs, and culture do I bring to this course? What knowledge and assumptions do I have about English language arts?
• Do my daily practices reflect my beliefs?
• What teaching and assessment strategies are part of my repertoire?
• What is my teaching style?
• What are my strengths and needs?
• Where can I learn more?

Boomer (1985) describes effective teachers as being both scientists and artists. As scientists, teachers are continually examining, questioning, and ultimately integrating theory, practice, and experience. Such teachers examine previously held assumptions and test them against research and reality. Farrell (1965) discusses the X-factor, that hard-to-define quality that makes certain teachers, artists. Farrell writes that, besides that X-factor, all teachers can cultivate six factors:

• a wide general knowledge, in addition to a sound specific knowledge of the subject taught
• certain skills connected with the physical manipulation of classroom conditions
• creativity
• enthusiasm
• a sense of humour
• an ability to communicate effectively (Farrell, 1965, p.5).

The teacher is a professional, a reflective practitioner, who remembers that the most important question is always "why". Why am I doing this? Why am I assuming this? Why am I using this? Why am I assigning this? Why am I evaluating in this manner? Why am I using this resource? Why is this worth learning? The teacher is self-conscious in the very best sense of the word.