English Language Arts

Overview

Language is the central means through which students formulate thoughts and communicate their ideas with others. The English language arts curriculum identifies the processes of thinking that support students’ ability to use language to make meaning of texts, whether they are producing texts of their own or interacting with texts created by others.

Experiences with texts are designed to enhance students’:

  • ability to be creative
  • capacity to respond personally and critically
  • celebration of diversity
  • understanding of metacognition and critical thinking
  • use of knowledge and language strategies

The English language arts curriculum supports literacy development through both integrated experiences and the teaching of discrete skills in speaking and listening, reading and viewing, and writing and representing. The curriculum at all levels supports multiple literacies which enable students to interact with and create a variety of digital, live, and paper texts. As students use, interact with and create texts, they increase their knowledge, experience, and control of language. The curriculum also fosters students’ understanding of self and others as well as their ability to be clear and precise in their communication.

The English Language Arts curriculum creates opportunities for balance and integration among the following strand headings:

Speaking and Listening

  • Students will be expected to speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences.
  • Students will be expected to communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically.
  • Students will be expected to interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose.

Reading and Writing

  • Students will be expected to select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, and visual texts.
  • Students will be expected to interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies.
  • Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.Students will be expected to respond critically to a range of texts, applying their understanding of language, form, and genre.

Writing and Representing

  • Students will be expected to use writing and other forms of representation to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learnings; and to use their imagination.
  • Students will be expected to create texts collaboratively and independently, using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.Students will be expected to use a range of
  • Strategies to develop effective writing and representing and to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness.

While the strands are delineated separately for the purposes of explanation in curriculum guides, they are taught in an integrated manner. Constructing meaning from texts is therefore a continual and recursive process which connects all aspects of language.

Students use a variety of cognitive processes such as analyzing, determining importance, inferring, making connections, monitoring comprehension, predicting, synthesizing, and visualizing. Focusing on these processes while students speak, listen, read, view, write and represent supports the development of lifelong literacy learning.

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Foundation for the Atlantic Canada English Language Arts

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Primary

K-12 Curriculum Guides are found on the eNLightenED website

The Primary English Language Arts curriculum is designed to foster literacy development in young learners through authentic language experiences and a structured literacy approach. It emphasizes the foundational role of oral language, while systematically building proficient reading and writing skills. This includes explicit instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Students learn to critically engage with various texts by developing their viewing, thinking, and responding abilities. The curriculum promotes an integrated teaching style, acknowledging the interconnectedness of speaking, listening, reading, viewing, writing, and representing in achieving comprehensive literacy.

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Elementary

K-12 Curriculum Guides are found on the eNLightenED website

The Elementary English Language Arts program is designed to equip students with tools to help them engage with and create texts of increasing length and complexity. It encourages self-reflection, helping students pinpoint their strengths and areas for growth as both consumers and creators of information. The curriculum emphasizes fundamental skills such as developing endurance for independent listening, reading, and viewing, and learning to navigate texts fluently. Building on this foundation, students then develop more advanced abilities, including understanding text structures and applying language conventions to generate original and more complex writing in various forms. This program cultivates reflective, articulate, and critically literate individuals who can effectively use language for learning and communication in diverse settings, analyzing textual issues and messages concerning fairness, equity, and social justice, and employing cognitive strategies to derive meaning from challenging materials.

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Intermediate

K-12 Curriculum Guides are found on the eNLightenED website

Intermediate English Language Arts focuses on students’ interaction with and creation of texts. The curriculum emphasizes the personal, social and cultural contexts of language learning and the power that language has in those contexts. Through discussing and creating a variety of texts, students grow in their critical thinking and understanding of the impact language has on them and others.  This course helps you build the essential oral communication, reading, writing, and media literacy skills necessary for success in daily life as well as secondary and post-secondary studies.

This course is organized into six strands:

  • Speaking,
  • Listening,
  • Reading,
  • Viewing,
  • Writing and
  • Representing

and is integrated throughout the course.

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High School

K-12 Curriculum Guides are found on the eNLightenED website

High School English Language Arts continues the philosophy and methodologies of the Intermediate English Language Arts curriculum. It continues to focus on students’ interaction with and creation of texts through the six strands of language arts: speaking, listening, reading, viewing, writing and representing. The strands are taught in an integrated manner designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to become successful language learners who think and communicate personally, creatively and critically.

This program is designed to enhance students’ ability to:

  • assume responsibility for their own learning
  • interact with a wide variety of texts
  • respond creatively when using digital, live or paper texts
  • respond personally
  • think and respond critically to texts they read, view or hear
  • understand their own thinking about how they learn
  • use knowledge and strategies as they navigate and create texts

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World Literature 3207

World Literature 3207 is intended to:

  • offer students the opportunity to engage with a wide range of texts;
  • cultivate positive, meaningful reading experiences for students; and
  • foster global citizenship and cultural awareness.

World Literature 3207 integrates the six strands of English Language Arts, and is organized by Target:

  • Target 1: Communication
  • Target 2: Personal Reflection
  • Target 3: Critical Thinking
  • Target 4: Inquiry

World Literature 3207 is a two credit course which may be used to fulfill the Optional Language Arts credit requirements for high school graduation.

World Literature 3207: Resource List (2025)

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