- English Language Arts and Reading
- Grade 8
- Response skills
Task students with sharing a response to a text in small groups using appropriate register, vocabulary, tone, and voice. Then, elicit a conversation in which students explain how they determined the vocabulary, tone, and voice they felt was most appropriate for the context and audience.
This SE requires students to demonstrate their understanding of effective communication. As students consider the recipient(s) of the ideas they are trying to convey, they should adjust how formal or informal the delivery should be, the words that will best resonate with the audience, the most effective way to express their attitudes toward the subject or topic, and how to capture their unique perspectives in the style of their responses. Ample opportunities should be provided for students to refine their oral and written response skills.
1. Kinsey, B., & Comerchero, V. A. (2012). Language in style: Formal language and tone. Communique, 41(1), 37. Retrieved from https://www.nasponline.org/publications/periodicals/communique/issues/volume-41-issue-1
Summary: This one-pager addresses how language and words imply assumptions, beliefs, and biases. The one-pager provides examples of how word choice and the sequence of words significantly change the meaning and the underlying questions posed by the use of language. The authors advocate that writing should be appropriate for its audience and the writing style generally should be formal.
2. VanDerHeide, J., & Juzwik, M. M. (2018). Argument as conversation: Students responding through writing to significant conversations across time and place. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(1), 67–77. doi:10.1002/jaal.754
Summary: In this article, the author presents an instructional model that reconnects to the why of writing. The model of information reasoning requires students to learn how to make claims, provide supporting evidence of that claim, and create additional examples of the claim through the use of analogies and stories. Students were asked to write a letter in response to an ongoing conversation that was important to them. Personal experience helps to develop the students' ability to advocate for a position through writing. The approach requires scaffolding on argumentative writing instruction. The study includes multiple templates to guide the writing of the responses. This approach fosters the opportunity for students to participate in conversations that have a historical background. In doing so, students engage in topics of debate that have continued over time and in various spaces. Students are invited to participate in these discussions through their writing positions as arguing for or against a position.