English Language Arts_Goals and Rationale

English Language Arts


Rationale

English Language Arts is a foundational curriculum that equips students with the language and literacy skills they will need for success in school, community, career, and life. It provides students with the opportunity to become effective communicators, to develop and express their own ideas, and to think deeply and critically about the ideas of others.

Through their study of language and texts, students have opportunities to develop a lifelong love of reading, writing, and learning and an appreciation for the power, beauty, joy, and artistry of language and texts. As they explore and create written, oral, and visual texts, students expand and deepen their understanding of both real and imaginary worlds, gaining insight into their own lives and the lives of others.

The English Language Arts curriculum is designed to empower students to become thoughtful, ethical, and responsible citizens of a diverse society. As they explore texts, students come to understand the influences shaping Canadian society and the unique contribution of First Peoples to our country’s and province’s heritage. Through the study of First Peoples texts and worldviews, students gain awareness of the historical and contemporary contexts of First Peoples, leading to mutual understanding and respect.

Through the English Language Arts curriculum, students gain a repertoire of communication skills, including the ability to interact, on a local and global level, with information from a variety of sources and in multiple modes. Within this repertoire is the ability to critically evaluate digital media, a crucial skill for today’s students. As they become effective and literate users of language, students are able to use these and other skills in achieving their personal, educational, social, and career goals.

English Language Arts 10-12 build on the knowledge, skills, and understanding that learners have acquired through English Language Arts K-9. In English Grades 10 to 12, students deepen and extend their English Language Arts learning. In English First Peoples 10-12, opportunities are provided for all students to enter the worlds of First Peoples provincially, nationally, and globally.

The courses enable students to pursue their interests, aspirations, and passions while further developing as English Language Arts learners.

As the academic equivalent to English 10-12 courses, English First Peoples 10-12 courses provide a more in-depth and focused opportunity for all learners to encounter and study authentic First Peoples texts. This study is important, because it:

  • supports a rethinking of Canada’s foundational narratives and provides a unique, distinctive, and essential lens through which to understand this country’s past, present, and future
  • challenges historical and contemporary stereotypical portrayals of First Peoples
  • contributes to Reconciliation, one of the defining issues in Canada today
  • enables students to gain an understanding of the dynamic and diverse contributions of First Peoples to Canadian society.

 

Goals

The BC English Language Arts K-12 curriculum contributes to students’ development as educated citizens through the achievement of the following goals. Students are expected to:

  • become proficient and knowledgeable users of language, in all its forms, to achieve their personal, social, and career aspirations
  • appreciate language and learning as lifelong sources of joy, curiosity, and passion
  • think creatively, critically, and reflectively about language and texts as part of constructing and communicating personal meaning
  • become critical and ethical users of digital media, capable of adapting to new modes and tools of language use
  • strengthen their understanding of themselves, diverse cultures, and multiple perspectives through the exploration of First Peoples’ and other Canadian and international texts
  • contribute to Reconciliation by building greater understanding of the knowledge and perspectives of First Peoples
  • appreciate the power, beauty, and artistry of language and texts and their impact on personal, social, and cultural life
  • use language to design and share information interpersonally, interculturally, and globally