Adolescent learners must become proficient in English Language Arts skills and processes to enable them to meet personal, social, academic, and societal needs. To reach proficiency for entrance into high school, these students must know the content of language and literature and be able to apply the complementary processes of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Thus instruction in the middle school language arts classrooms must address the unique needs of the adolescent learner and keep at its focus the importance of each student’s ability and desire to learn. 

     To become proficient readers, students must employ appropriate before-, during-, and after-reading strategies effectively. They must develop self-monitoring and self-correcting strategies to comprehend, evaluate, and respond to what they read. Middle school students need to know not only the ideas that are expressed in a piece of writing, but must also be able to analyze critically the way in which these ideas are expressed. They must be proficient at reading for a variety of purposes (for literary experience, for information, and to follow written directions to perform a task) and learn to apply reading strategies across all disciplines. Students must read and respond appropriately to both self-selected and assigned texts (traditional and electronic). Above all, these students must become discriminating users of text wherever it occurs. 

     Middle school students develop as writers by reflecting on the rhetorical dimensions of composition and using a variety of iterative strategies (i.e., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to improve their writing. As such, these students generate ideas, review, make adjustments, revise, and consider changes based on established and evolving criteria. When evaluating, students must apply appropriate criteria for judging the effectiveness of the communication involved. As writers, they must work toward mastery of standard English spelling, mechanics, grammar, and usage as well as use appropriate resources to improve their performance.  They must learn to make appropriate and frequent use of technology to enhance their learning. 

     Students in the middle school refine their understanding and application of the structure and conventions of the English language through integration of the communication skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the English Language Arts classroom. They must acquire new vocabulary and develop the necessary study skills for academic success in all subject areas.  In addition, students must learn to identify topics, ask and evaluate questions, and develop ideas leading to inquiry, investigation, and research. They must be able to retrieve information from both print and non-print sources and to express themselves, orally and in writing, in effective ways that can be understood by a variety of audiences. High school graduation may very well depend upon students’ acquisition of this wide array of critical skills and strategies taught in the language arts classroom. 

     For a complete delineation of what students should know and be able to do as a result of instruction in middle school English Language Arts, please refer to the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum  document  (Maryland State Department of Education, 2003).