English Language Arts 6-9

The Newfoundland language arts curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The curriculum document English Language Arts Grade 9 Overview (2012) includes a section that demonstrates the complementary relationship between digital and media literacy and English language arts:

The six strands of language arts necessitate an integrated approach in developing learning activities for students. When focusing on a particular strand, it is important to recognize the interconnectedness of the strands and build on students’ strengths; emphasizing the cognitive strategies that students use to make meaning as they speak, listen, read, view, write and represent will support literacy learning.

Reading and viewing provide students with opportunities to interact with a variety of media and diverse texts. Students must know the organization, codes and conventions associated with different types of texts. They must decode, understand, evaluate and navigate all available forms of media. In the classroom, what it means to be an effective reader and viewer must be clearly communicated to all students.

Information literacy is a process in which the learner needs to find, understand, evaluate, and use information in various forms to create for personal, social and global purposes. It involves the ability to judge whether the information is meaningful and how best to communicate the knowledge.

The use of technology, media and other visual texts as pathways to learning is encouraged. This allows students to develop information literacy – more specifically, accessing, interpreting, evaluating, organizing, selecting, creating and communicating information in and through a variety of technologies and contexts. It provides opportunities for practicing information literacy skills and critical thinking skills.

Click on a grade level under English Language Arts for a list of media-related outcomes and links to supporting resources from the MediaSmarts site. (Note: as many of our lessons can be adapted to suit different grade levels, specific lessons may be listed for more than one grade. Teachers should also note that individual lessons often satisfy a number of learning outcomes.)