All courses within the area of Language Arts contain writing and reading comprehension. The reading standards include skills in analyzing complex texts drawn from American and world literature to discern the universality of themes and the author's use of literary elements and styles. Students must also be able to use strategies to judge the reliability, accuracy, effectiveness, and persuasiveness of various reading materials. Writing skills include experimenting with language, form and genres; reflecting the subtleties of language and polished literary style in writings including imagery and precise word choice; using literary devices such as foreshadowing, flashbacks, metaphors, similes, symbolism and idioms; and analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, and applying principles of formal logic in expository writing tasks.
