Both the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and CA ELD Standards
for grades six through eight reflect the importance of
students’ continuing development of academic language
and show how students’ language skills increase in breadth
and complexity as they progress through the middle grades.
Students demonstrate new understandings and increasing
sophistication in the use of language to make meaning when
reading, writing, speaking, and listening. New to this span in
terms of developing and using academic language in the CA
CCSS for ELA/Literacy across all disciplines are the following:- Varying sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener
interest, and style (L.6.3a), maintaining consistency in tone
and style (L.6.3b), expressing ideas precisely and concisely
while eliminating wordiness and redundancy (L.7.3a), and
using verbs of various types to achieve effects (L.8.3a) when
writing, speaking, reading, and listening - Tracing the etymology of words (L.7–8.4c) and verifying preliminary determinations of the
meaning of a word or phrase by consulting a dictionary (L.6–8.4d) - Interpreting figures of speech (L.6–8.5a), using word relationships to better understand
individual words (L.6–8.5b), and distinguishing among connotations of words with similar
denotations (L.6–8.5c) - Gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to
comprehension or expression (L.6–8.6) - Determining connotative, figurative, and technical meanings of words and phrases and
analyzing the impact of word choices on meaning and tone (RL/RI.6–8.4), including analogies
or allusions to other texts (RL/RI.8.4); determining meaning of subject-specific words, phrases,
and symbols in texts (RH/RST.6–8.4) - Using words, phrases, and clauses to clarify relationships (W.6.1c) and create cohesion
(W.7–8.1c); using appropriate transitions to clarify relationships and create cohesion (W/
WHST.6–8.2c) - Using appropriate transitions to clarify relationships and precise language and domain specific
vocabulary in informative/explanatory presentations (SL.6.4a); using words and phrases to
create cohesion in argument presentations (SL.7.4a)
By design, all of the CA ELD Standards center on building EL students’ proficiency in the
rigorous academic English necessary for participation in and achievement of grade-level content.
For example, in grades six through eight, the Interpretive and Productive strands now focus on ELs
using increasingly sophisticated knowledge of morphology, context, and other cues to determine the
figurative and connotative meanings of unknown and multiple-meaning words (ELD.PI.6–8.6c) and
using an expanded set of general academic words, domain-specific words, synonyms, antonyms, and
figurative language to create precision (ELD.PI.6–8.12a). Beyond vocabulary, the CA ELD Standards
emphasize building students’ abilities to analyze and evaluate the language that writers use in
arguments, informative/explanatory texts, and narratives (ELD.PI.6–8, Standards 7–8) and to adapt
their own language choices based on context (ELD.PI.6–8.4). The CA ELD Standards also focus on
ELs’ abilities to extend and apply their knowledge of text organization and structure, as well as how
ideas are expanded or condensed in a variety of academic texts across the disciplines (ELD.PII.6–8,
Standards 1–7).
Both the CA CCSS for
ELA/Literacy and CA ELD
Standards for grades six
through eight reflect the
importance of students’
continuing development of
academic language and
show how students’ language
skills increase in breadth and
complexity as they progress
through the middle grades.Grades 6 to 8 Chapter 6 | 519