VOCABULARY
Skilled English Language Arts teachers for grades 6-12 understand how the English language has evolved and been influenced by other languages. This includes being able to explain foreign language phrases commonly used in English, knowing the etymology of words, and understanding how the meanings of words change over time. They are familiar with Greek and Roman mythology, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and other works often alluded to in British and American literature so that they have vast vocabularies, know the meaning of many idioms and adages, and are able to explain the difference between the literal and figurative meanings of words. Furthermore, they identify the difference in the denotative and connotative meaning of words, and understand shades of meanings for closely related words. They know how to use general and specialized dictionaries, thesauri, and glossaries to find pronunciations, derivations, spellings, and contextually appropriate meanings of unfamiliar words, synonyms, and replacement words. They know the specific (and many) uses of the Oxford English Dictionary. They use common antonyms, synonyms, and homographs precisely. Additionally, they apply the tools of word study (Greek, Latin, and Anglo Saxon derived roots and affixes) and identify instructional techniques for increasing students’ vocabulary.
INTERPRETATION OF EXPOSITORY TEXT
Skilled English Language Arts teachers have a sure facility with expository text, including familiarity with different modes and methods of expository writing such as cause and effect, problem and solution, and comparison and contrast. They are able to read challenging passages and respond to clarifying questions concerning essential textual elements. They are able to describe how one part of a passage functions in relation to a whole passage and how paragraphs contribute to the development of an essay. They are familiar with the rhetorical features and historical significance of celebrated speeches, essays, and political documents in American history.
They know how to objectively summarize events and ideas of text. They know how to interpret the central ideas and details of text; interpret and use graphic sources of information from diagrams, charts, tables, and graphs; draw inferences, conclusions or generalizations about text; and synthesize content and ideas from several sources. These teachers not only know how to comprehend exposition, they also recognize key strategies for improving students’ reading comprehension, including identifying the essential background knowledge that students must have in order to understand a text. They are able to describe how an author’s point of view or assumptions about a subject affect the text. They are able to compare and contrast readings on the same topic and explain how authors reach the same or different conclusions based on differences in argument, style or evidence. They are able to identify elements of persuasion and logical reasoning, including the facility to distinguish between facts and opinions and between supported and unsupported opinions. In addition, they are able to assess the merits of arguments, evaluate the accuracy and adequacy of an author’s evidence to support claims and assertions, and identify logical fallacies in text. Additionally, they can identify ambiguities, subtleties, contradictions, paradoxes, ironies, incongruities, and overstatements and understatements present in text.
INTERPRETATION OF LITERARY TEXTS
Skilled English Language Arts teachers have a working knowledge of literature in all its forms and know how to bring text to life so students are engaged and develop good independent reading habits. This includes understanding the historical development of major literary genres and subgenres and the ability to identify characteristics of modes of writing, including satire, parody, allegory, pastoral, narrative, comedy, tragedy, farce, novel, and various poetic forms. They have a working familiarity with the major literary schools, movements, periods, and figures in the history of English and American literature, with emphases on high quality and demanding literature for middle and high school students. They understand the historical and philosophical contexts that shaped that literature, and have a basic awareness of major critical approaches to literature. They interpret literary elements of great literary texts, including the ability to determine the underlying themes in literary works—and compare themes across texts—by examining the motivations and reactions of characters. They have a working familiarity with universal mythic themes. They are able to analyze an author’s development of time and sequence and explain how the narrator’s stance impacts elements of the plot. They are able to define how mood or meaning is conveyed in prose and poetry. Specifically, they have knowledge of the poetic conventions of verse (sound, prosody, form, graphic elements), and are able to explain the function of dramatic conventions such as chorus, asides, dramatis personae, and character foils. They are able to paraphrase difficult passages of great works of poetry as well as recite (from memory) dramatic soliloquies with fluency, rhythm, appropriate intonation, and vocal patterns. They write essays about elements in a selection of literature that reflect all this knowledge and expertise.
SPEECH
Skilled English Language Arts teachers know how to identify a speaker’s point of view and summarize major ideas and supporting evidence presented in spoken messages.They are able to evaluate the credibility of the speaker; assess how word choice and delivery affect the message; and analyze oral arguments, identifying possible sources of logical fallacies present in oral addresses. They are able to formulate sound, rational arguments and deliver focused oral presentations that follow the rules of the English language. They know how to paraphrase information shared orally by others in classroom discussions, translating vague or incoherent statements from students into clearer, more coherent ones, and distinguishing relevant comments from digressions. They also know how to give precise directions and instructions to students and educate students in the traditional rules and formats of debate.
WRITING STRATEGIES & APPLICATIONS
In their own writing, skilled English Language Arts teachers use basic conventions of Standard English, including identifying parts of speech and their functions. They also know common grammar and usage errors that English language learners may make. They are able to avoid common problems such as run on sentences, sentence fragments, and comma splices, and they use appropriate punctuation (e.g., correct ending and internal punctuation, apostrophes, punctuation with quotations) and spell correctly. They have knowledge of the principles of composition, such as paragraphing, variety in sentence structure, effective coordination and subordination of ideas, smooth transitions, precise word choice, and effective use of rhetorical techniques when completing expressive, persuasive, or narrative writing and speech assignments. They understand the acquisition and development of writing skills, including the stages of the writing process—pre-writing through revision and editing—and its recursive nature. They know how to structure and delimit writing assignments to provide appropriate challenges for students and to construct sequences of assignments to provide different degrees of rhetorical or logical difficulty. They know how to evaluate student writing in a manner that explains clearly to the student the errors and shortcomings of the writing, and suggest improvements in ideas and content, organization, transitions, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, eloquence, and style.
RESEARCH STRATEGIES
Skilled English Language Arts teachers understand successful research strategies, including narrowing the focus of a research question, knowing the function of and appropriately using research sources, skimming materials to develop a general overview, summarizing and organizing information from multiple sources, and citing research sources using accepted conventions. They can conduct searches and use databases on the Internet, evaluating whether or not an Internet source was reliable.