Manitoba Curriculum Framework of Outcomes and Standards
Overview: Senior 4
Language and Language Learning
The Nature and Importance of Language
Language Acquisition and Development
Language Uses in ELA Learning
Language Learning in Senior 4 ELA
The Six English Language Arts
The Nature of Student Learning Outcomes
General Student Learning Outcomes
Specific Student Learning Outcomes
Integrating the Student Learning Outcomes and the Language Arts
An Organizational Framework
The Nature and Importance of Language
Learning is a complex process of discovery, collaboration, and inquiry facilitated by language. Composed of interrelated and rule-governed symbol systems, language is a social and human means of representing, exploring, and communicating meaning. Language is a defining feature of culture and an unmistakable mark of personal identity. It is essential to thought and personal expression, to forming interpersonal relationships, and to functioning and contributing within a democratic society. Language is the primary instrument of thought and the primary basis of all communication.
Language Acquisition and Development
Language learning is an active process that begins at birth and continues throughout life. An infant's first words are prompted by an enjoyment of sound and by an intrinsically human impulse to name objects or actions. This language, called "expressive language," is used not primarily to communicate, but to make meaning of experience and to construct a coherent and predictable view of the world. Expressive language is used throughout life, from the "running commentary" of toddlers to the interiorized soliloquy of older children and adults. It is the basis of most conversation, anecdotes, letters, and journals. Expressive language, which Vygotsky (1962) calls "the language of being and becoming," is the means by which people rehearse, shape, interpret, and recall what they perceive and feel.
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Language Uses in ELA Learning
English language arts instruction is concerned with all language uses: expressive, pragmatic, and aesthetic. These language uses are not entirely separate; all discourse can be placed on a continuum between purely pragmatic and purely aesthetic language, as shown in the chart that appears on the following page. In one direction, language becomes increasingly pragmatic and increasingly concerned with and shaped by the response of its audience. In the other direction, it becomes increasingly aesthetic, finding ways to evoke or recreate rather than simply to describe experience. Pragmatic use of language in its absolute form (for example, instructions for administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation) aims to be transparent to the broadest audience. Aesthetic use of language in its absolute form (for example, experimental poetry) exploits qualities of language such as sound and pattern, but may invite a variety of different interpretations and responses. Between these extremes, students encounter forms that use language with varying degrees of concern for clarity and for effect. These include texts such as business letters and magazine features produced for pragmatic purposes, and texts such as dramas and novels produced primarily for aesthetic purposes.
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Language Learning in Senior 4 ELA
Differentiating between pragmatic and aesthetic language uses in language arts learning is important for several reasons:
- Identifying the purpose of a text enables students to approach it with appropriate expectations as listeners, readers, or viewers (e.g., How does my knowledge of this form contribute to my understanding of the author's/producer's purpose? How may I use my understanding to comprehend this work? Is this narrative told to entertain me, to provide an analogy, or to persuade me of something?).
- Knowing various language uses enables students to focus their efforts appropriately to create the effects they intend as speakers, writers, and producers.
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The Six English Language Arts
The study of English language arts enables each student to understand and appreciate language and to use it competently and confidently in a variety of situations for communication, personal satisfaction, and learning. Students become competent and confident users of all six language arts through many opportunities to listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent in a variety of combinations and through a wide range of relevant texts.
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The Nature of Student Learning Outcomes
The general and specific student learning outcomes for Senior 4 English language arts curricula (Comprehensive Focus, Literary Focus, and Transactional Focus) are concise statements of the learning that students are expected to demonstrate by the end of Senior 4. This learning includes:
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General Student Learning Outcomes
Five general student learning outcomes serve as the foundation for each Senior 4 English language arts curriculum: Comprehensive Focus, Literary Focus, and Transactional Focus. General learning outcomes are broad statements describing student learning. The general student learning outcomes are interrelated and interdependent. Each learning outcome is to be achieved through a variety of listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing experiences.
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Specific Student Learning Outcomes
In each Senior 4 English language arts curriculum (Comprehensive Focus, Literary Focus, and Transactional Focus), each general student learning outcome is elaborated through clusters of specific learning outcomes, which are categorized under headings. The specific learning outcomes are relevant for students in a variety of learning environments and are cumulative across the grades.
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Integrating the Student Learning Outcomes and the Language Arts
Effective language arts classrooms frequently address several student learning outcomes simultaneously. Many of the specific student learning outcomes are intended to be addressed at different times through one or a combination of the six language arts.
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An Organizational Framework
The study of the English language arts enables each student to understand and appreciate language and to use it confidently and competently in a variety of situations for communication, personal satisfaction, and learning. The following figure represents an organizational framework for integrating the five general student learning outcomes and the six language arts.
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