compose argumentative texts using genre characteristics and craft; and

compose correspondence in a professional or friendly structure.

Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes. The student is expected to:

develop questions for formal and informal inquiry;

critique the research process at each step to implement changes as needs occur and are identified;

develop and revise a plan;

modify the major research question as necessary to refocus the research plan;

locate relevant sources;

synthesize information from a variety of sources;

examine sources for:

credibility and bias, including omission; and

faulty reasoning such as incorrect premise, hasty generalizations, and either-or;

display academic citations, including for paraphrased and quoted text, and use source materials ethically to avoid plagiarism; and

use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language. The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion. The student is expected to:

engage in meaningful and respectful discourse when evaluating the clarity and coherence of a speaker's message and critiquing the impact of a speaker's use of diction and syntax;

follow and give complex instructions, clarify meaning by asking pertinent questions, and respond appropriately;

give a formal presentation that exhibits a logical structure, smooth transitions, accurate evidence, well-chosen details, and rhetorical devices and that employs eye contact, speaking rate such as pauses for effect, volume, enunciation, purposeful gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively; and

participate collaboratively, offering ideas or judgments that are purposeful in moving the team toward goals, asking relevant and insightful questions, tolerating a range of positions and ambiguity in decision making, and evaluating the work of the group based on agreed-upon criteria.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary. The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively. The student is expected to:

use print or digital resources to clarify and validate understanding of multiple meanings of advanced vocabulary;

analyze context to draw conclusions about nuanced meanings such as in imagery; and

determine the meaning of foreign words or phrases used frequently in English such as ad hoc, faux pas, non sequitur, and modus operandi.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading. The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently. The student is expected to self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time.

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to:

establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts;

generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;

make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;

create mental images to deepen understanding;

make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;

make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;

evaluate details read to understand key ideas;

synthesize information from a variety of text types to create new understanding; and

monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, annotating, and using outside sources when understanding breaks down.

Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed. The student is expected to:

describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts;

write responses that demonstrate analysis of texts, including comparing texts within and across genres;

use text evidence and original commentary to support an analytic response;

paraphrase and summarize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order;

interact with sources in meaningful ways such as notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating;

respond using acquired content and academic vocabulary as appropriate;

discuss and write about the explicit and implicit meanings of text;

respond orally or in writing with appropriate register and effective vocabulary, tone, and voice;

reflect on and adjust responses when valid evidence warrants; and

defend or challenge the authors' claims using relevant text evidence.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements. The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts. The student is expected to:

analyze relationships among thematic development, characterization, point of view, significance of setting, and plot in a variety of literary texts;

analyze how characters' behaviors and underlying motivations contribute to moral dilemmas that influence the plot and theme;

evaluate how different literary elements shape the author's portrayal of the plot; and

analyze how the historical, social, and economic context of setting(s) influences the plot, characterization, and theme.