| Language Arts
The Standards for the English Language Arts center around three core beliefs:
* "First, we believe that standards are needed to prepare students for the literacy requirements of the future as well as the present. Changes in technology and society have altered and will continue to alter the ways in which we use language to communicate and to think. Students must be prepared to meet these demands."
* "Second, we believe that standards can articulate a shared vision of what the nation's teachers, literacy researchers, teacher educators, parents, and others expect students to attain in the English language arts, and what we can do to ensure that this vision is realized."
* "Third, we believe that standards are necessary to promote high educational expectations for all students and to bridge the documented disparities that exist in educational opportunities. Standards can help us ensure that all students become informed citizens and participate fully in society."
The Tennessee English Language Arts Curriculum Framework for Kindergarten through Grade 12 was adopted by the State Board of Education on December 5, 1996. "The framework includes the Content Strands and Learning Expectations necessary to insure K-12 Tennessee students develop the language skills needed to succeed in school, in the workplace, and in their lives."
As a response to the concerns of the business and college communities, the TCAP Writing Assessment was developed. The Assessment measures strengths and weaknesses in the area of writing and provides a basis for developing instructional strategies to improve writing.
The verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test contains three types of questions that assess how a student understands the written word:
* Analogies
* Sentence Completions
* Critical Reading
The English section of the ACT contains five reading passages and seventy-five multiple-choice questions:
* Ten questions dealing with punctuation
* Twelve questions dealing with grammar
* Eighteen questions dealing with sentence structure
* Eleven questions dealing with revising and strengthening a passage
* Twelve questions dealing with changing words for style and clarity
* Twelve questions dealing with explaining or supporting a point of view clearly and effectively
The Reading section of the ACT contains four reading passages dealing with the following topics:
* Natural Science
* Social Studies
* Humanities
* Literature
English II is the Tennessee End-of-course test that must be passed before graduation to earn a high school diploma.
The Terra Nova Complete Battery for Reading/Language Arts "reflects current instructional practices. The skills essential for effective communication - - reading comprehension, language, vocabulary, and study skills - - are integrated into one test to provide a coherent assessment experience.
To help student succeed, the directions, passages, and test questions are linked by themes that provide context and stimulate interest. The arrangement of test questions leads to a deepening engagement with the material, much like the process a thoughtful teacher uses in exploring text with students.
The test reflects the diverse cultures and ethnic backgrounds and experiences of contemporary students, with the goal of providing equity in assessing achievement. It involves the students in constructing meaning, monitoring their own comprehension strategies, and thinking critically and creatively in response to texts."
The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) document contains skills that can be obtained through a Language Arts program.
The Tennessee Reading Accomplishments are a more specific grade-by-grade fleshing out of the Tennessee Curriculum Frameworks.
The WorkKeys contains skills that can be mastered in a Language Arts program.
The Tennessee Language Arts Curriculum Standards provide standards, performance indicators, and accomplishments for students in language arts.
Grade 1 Literacy
The Terra Nova Complete Battery assesses students in first grade (Level 11).
The Tennessee Reading Accomplishments provide skills that students should master by the end of first grade.
The Tennessee Language Arts Curriculum Standards provide standards, performance indicators, and accomplishments for students in first grade.
Genres
The Genres Unit includes identifying and comparing key characteristics of literary genres, as designated by a work's subject, theme, style, and time period. Some examples of genres are science fiction, poetry, drama, British literature, and multicultural literature.
Information Processing
The Information Processing Unit includes competencies and objectives which focus on the processes of comparing, evaluating, interpreting, and organizing information and ideas in isolation from other language arts areas such as: reading, writing, listening and spelling.
Language Expressions
The Language Expressions Unit focuses on language conventions, structure, usage, and language study. It also addresses parts of speech, figures of speech, syntax, paragraph and sentence structure, word agreement, modifiers, and grammar.
Language Mechanics
The Language Mechanics Unit includes comprehending and applying the rules that govern punctuation and capitalization when writing and editing written works.
Listening
The Listening Unit includes identifying and distinguishing between sounds and patterns in sounds, constructing meaning from information delivered verbally, and understanding and responding to verbal information.
Media
The Media Unit includes the study of information and entertainment communications. Topics include: advertising, art, journalism, film, and media messages, forms and productions.
Reading Operations
The Reading Operations Unit includes constructing meaning from fiction and non-fiction selections at comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and judgment levels of understanding. It includes skills which address identifying, discussing, and comparing both concrete and abstract elements of selections (setting, plot, characterization, genre, historical period, theme, tone, moral message, and psychological and political implications).
Speaking
The Speaking Unit focuses on techniques and strategies (voice modulation, body language, ordering of ideas, visual aids, etc.) to convey meaning and to present information and opinions to groups. This unit includes formal and informal communication, debate skills, and verbal/nonverbal communication.
Spelling
The Spelling Unit includes studying language and word structure knowledge to discern the correct spelling of words. It includes skills related to editing passages for correct spelling by making connections between spelling, meaning, and structure.
Study and Research Skills
The Study and Research Skills Unit includes developing organization and research skills needed to find appropriate resources, to judge resources as relevant or not relevant to a given topic, to categorize and synthesize information, to take notes in class, and to study for exams.
Vocabulary
The Vocabulary Unit includes studying and applying knowledge of word structure (bases and affixes), concrete analogies, synonyms, antonyms, and syllables. It also includes applying knowledge of connotation, denotation and words with multiple levels of meaning.
Word Analysis
The Word Analysis Unit focuses on examining word structure and sound. It includes topics such as consonants, vowels, rhyming, and word building.
Writing
The Writing Unit focuses on each stage of the writing process: prewriting, writing, revising, and publishing. It includes skills covering a variety of organizational formats and purposes for writing (communicating ideas, opinions, and feelings, clarifying thoughts, and solving problems). Some example writing formats are expository, narrative, poetry, and drama.
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