State of Maine, Department of Education
English Language Arts
The fundamental need for an exchange of meaning and the sharing of human experience is a special province of the English language arts. All students share this need. They learn best when it is frequently addressed in their schooling and when they are invited to explore it effectively through literature.
The English language arts form the foundation for effective communication which depends upon a person's ability to construct meaning through reading, listening, and viewing and to present ideas through writing, speaking, and visual media. These skills, essential to the health of our democracy and the quality of our culture, have become ever more important since the modern explosion of communications media. Devices that allow us to communicate more quickly over distances can be used effectively only to the extent that we are skilled in basic language arts.
The study of language helps students to control their lives and become more effective thinkers--through communication, reflection, and understanding. To develop good thinking strategies, students must become engaged as active learners. To help them improve, students need to practice English language skills and receive frequent feedback across all areas of study. Parents, teachers, and other adults must encourage the interest in language that students bring with them when they first enter school. Students need to make the experience and enjoyment of English language arts a central part of their lives.
Collectively, the English language arts - writing, reading, speaking, and listening - constitute both a discipline in its own right, like mathematics or science, and a means of communicating about all other disciplines. Without a command of these arts it is impossible to think about, understand, or explain other disciplines.
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