| The curriculum goals are reflected in the foundational and specific learning objectives found on the following pages. The Foundational Objectives comprise the important knowledge and skills for Secondary Level language arts courses. These objectives guide course planning and evaluation. By the completion of grade twelve, most students should have attained these objectives. Learning Objectives describe the specific knowledge and skills that students should develop at each grade level in order to achieve the foundational objectives. These objectives guide the unit planning, instructional processes, resource selection, and assessment techniques. Individual student needs and abilities may require an adaptation to instruction, resources, or environment to help students achieve these objectives. |
| Clearly stated objectives that mesh with current research and understanding of teaching are not so easily produced, because one is constantly thrust back to the real question, "Is this objective a worthy one?" (Tchudi & Mitchell, 1989, p. 63). |
Speaking is the oral communication of thoughts and feelings. Speech activities in the English language arts program encourage students’ social competence as well as their understanding and facility with language.
| Foundational Objectives | Learning Objectives |
| Students will: |
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| 1. Recognize that talk is an important tool for communicating, thinking, and learning. |
20 Speak to clarify and extend thinking. Speak to express understanding. Speak to share thoughts, opinions, and feelings. Speak to build relationships and a sense of community.
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| 2. Practise the behaviours of effective speakers. |
20 Recognize and adjust verbal and nonverbal presentation elements (i.e., articulation, pronunciation, volume, tempo, pitch, stress, gestures, eye contact, facial expression, and poise) effectively and in keeping with purpose, audience needs, and individual cultural and linguistic background. Review oral activities carefully for content, organization, presentation, and style.
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| 3. Speak fluently and confidently in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes and audiences. |
20 Practise the roles of group members including: Speak to inform and persuade. Present and defend a position in public. Prepare a dramatic reading of a prose or poetry selection. Introduce and thank a speaker. Practise interviewing skills, informal and career-oriented. Participate in a panel discussion. Deliver formal speeches on familiar topics.
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Listening is an active process dependent upon attending to and understanding what is heard. Effective listening leads to understanding.
| Foundational Objectives | Learning Objectives |
| Students will: |
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| 1. Recognize listening as an active, constructive process. |
20 Recognize listening as an active process which requires listeners to:
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| 2. Practise the behaviours of effective listeners. |
20 Recognize factors that interfere with effective listening, including personal biases. Be sensitive to ideas and purpose when listening. Recognize speaker’s attitude, tone, and bias. Recognize nonverbal indicators of speaker’s intent. Recognize organization of an argument. Identify persuasive techniques (e.g., propaganda) used by a speaker. Provide appropriate feedback (e.g., supportive stance, eye contact, gesture, comment). Respond personally, critically, creatively, and empathetically. |
| 3. Listen effectively in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes. |
20 Listen for personal pleasure and aesthetic satisfaction. Listen to:
Assess own ability to listen effectively. Assess the overall effectiveness of group discussions, dramatic readings, interviews, panel discussions, and speeches. Evaluate a speaker’s qualifications to speak about a given subject. Write a paraphrase and précis of an oral presentation. |
Writing is communicating thoughts and feelings through the print medium. Writing is a powerful instrument of communication that allows the writer to grow personally and effect a change in the world.
| Foundational Objectives | Learning Objectives |
| Students will: |
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| 1. Recognize writing as a constructive and recursive process. |
20 Recognize writing as a process of constructing meaning for self and others. Recognize and use what is known as the writing process. Use appropriate pre-writing and planning strategies. Develop ideas previously explored into draft forms. Revise and polish compositions. Share/present compositions. |
| 2. Practise the behaviours of effective writers. |
20 Write introductions which engage interest and focus readers’ attention. Achieve unity of thought and purpose. Choose a method of development and organization suitable for a particular purpose and audience. Write effective conclusions appropriate to the overall intent. Analyze and evaluate own and others’ writing for ideas, organization, sentence clarity, word choice, and mechanics (i.e., capitalization, punctuation, and spelling). Prepare final copy using appropriate conventions of publication (e.g., title page, parenthetical references, works cited or bibliography). Evaluate compositions for unity, coherence, and emphasis (e.g., proportion). Confer with peers and teachers. |
| 3. Write fluently and confidently for a variety of purposes and audiences. | 20 Write for a variety of purposes including to: Present point of view in a personal or reflective essay. Outline a multi-paragraph composition. Write a paraphrase and précis of a passage read. Write an analysis of a literary text. Write a short research essay on a topic of own choosing. Write a letter of application and a résumé. Experiment with a variety of forms of writing such as poem, play, anecdote, or short story. |
Reading is making personal connections with text to construct meaning. Reading and responding to literature are integral parts of language learning. Through reading, students extend their language repertoires and increase their understanding of themselves and others.
| Foundational Objectives | Learning Objectives |
| Students will: |
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| 1. Recognize reading as an active, constructive process. |
20 Recognize reading as an active process which requires readers to: |
| 2. Practise the behaviours of effective, strategic readers. |
20 Respond personally, critically, and creatively. Recognize author’s purpose, form, and techniques. State and evaluate author’s theme, tone, and viewpoint. Recognize the major literary forms, elements, and techniques. Relate the structure of the work to the author’s purpose and theme. Recognize the tone and organization of the formal and informal essay. Recognize and explain allusions, symbols, figurative language, and stylistic devices in a literary text. Recognize prominent symbols in a literary work. Skim, scan, and read closely for required information. Paraphrase a prose and poetry passage. Summarize information. Locate, assess, and summarize information from a variety of sources. |
3. Read a variety of texts for a variety of purposes. |
20 Relate literary experience to personal experience. Read an increasingly wide range of material for personal enjoyment and extension of experiences. Explore human experiences and values. Test ideas and values against ideas in text. Read to stimulate the imagination. Make and defend an informed critical response. Recognize major literary forms and techniques. Assess an author’s ideas and techniques. Assess a selection’s merit as a literary work. Compare, contrast, and evaluate texts. Write a paraphrase and précis of a prose and poetry passage. |
In addition to developing the knowledge, skills, and processes needed to communicate effectively through speaking, listening, writing, and reading, students need to develop an understanding and appreciation of the English language and how it is used.
The English language arts curriculum is designed to widen students’ knowledge and appreciation of the English language. Students need opportunities to:
As secondary school students gain control of their language processes, they increase their understanding of three broad concepts of language--language varies, language has structural patterns and conventions, and language changes over time.
The "nature of language" is best learned contextually, growing out of students’ language production rather than through isolated drills and exercises. Directly or indirectly, the following concepts are best learned when students are actively engaged in using real language processes for their communication purposes. It is expected that students will learn about the elements of language--texts, sentences, words, and sounds--and their corresponding concepts.
Language Study Concepts
Students in grade eleven should understand the following language concepts.
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Language Elements/ |
Variety of Language: Language Varies According to Audience, Purpose, and Situation |
Patterns of Language: Language has Structural Patterns and Conventions |
Dynamics of Language: Language Develops and Changes Over Time |
| Textual Awareness |
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Students will understand that: |
Effective communication places emphasis on the purpose and audience for a speech or a composition. Different purposes and audiences require different modes of discourse (i.e., descriptive, narrative, expository, or persuasive). Effective communication uses the language appropriate to the subject, audience, purpose, and situation. With the exception of personal writing and dialogue, written communication usually requires the use of conventional or "standard" English. |
Speakers and writers use a variety of patterns to organize their thoughts (e.g., a paragraph, an essay). There are conventions of the paragraph and longer compositions. These organizational conventions are reflected in a variety of literary forms (e.g., articles, letters, essays, and poems). The main ideas of a longer composition can be outlined. An effective composition is unified, coherent, and emphatic. Journalistic style (contrary to standard form) is often characterized by short sentences and paragraphs. Prose, poetry, and drama each has distinctive organizational patterns. |
The status of dialects varies according to context or situation.
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Sentence Awareness
| Students will understand that: | Effective written sentences are devoid of unnecessary words and expressions. Effective written sentences avoid clichés and over-used words (e.g., verb "to be", "which", "who", "whom", "that", "it", "this", "there"). Effective written sentences use precise words. Phrases add variety. The active voice is generally preferable. | Word order is central to English sentence structure. Basic English sentence patterns can be expanded, compounded, and transformed. Parallel ideas should be expressed in parallel form. Balanced ideas are best expressed in balanced sentences. Formal written language avoids sentence fragments, run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers, excessive co-ordination, and faulty subordination. Punctuation marks clarify the message in the written sentence.
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Word and Phrase | Students will understand that: | An appropriate word suits the audience, purpose, and situation. A good word is clear, fresh, and alive rather than overworked (e.g., no clichés). Word use should be economical. Words have emotional appeal. Words can be loaded with meanings and significance (e.g., connotation, symbolism, imagery, allusion). Words (and their pronunciation) can act as dialect and idiolect markers. Words can act as parts of a special code (e.g., jargon). Large vocabularies help express ideas more accurately and efficiently. Language users have different oral and written vocabularies. | Larger vocabularies make it easier to communicate. Speakers and listeners recognize the role word forms play in effective communication (e.g., strong, active verbs; precise and concrete nouns; balance of nouns and verbs; limited use of "be" verbs). | English words spoken by different people from different walks of life in different times have made the language rich and varied. Age and geography are factors in vocabulary development. |
Sound Awareness
| Students will understand that: | Several production factors are important in oral communication (e.g., articulation, pronunciation, tempo, tone, volume, emphasis, pitch). The pronunciation of words is an indication of regional dialect and first language influences. | Language has sound patterns including rhyme, rhythm, meter, alliteration, consonance, assonance, and repetition. | |