Topic: Speaking and Listening, Grade 7.

Review:

.Engage in group discussion.

.Advance a discussion by asking questions.

.Be prepared for a range of positions on issues.

.Take the views of others into account and modify your views in light of evidence presented.

.Determine main ideas and supporting elements presented in oral, visual and multimodal formats.

.Evaluate a speaker’s or presenter’s reasoning.

.Present claims and findings with facts and examples, with eye contact, volume and clear pronunciation.

.Incorporate visual displays when helpful.

.Demonstrate a command of formal English.

Comment: How do I define “formal English?” Eliminating certain characteristics of conversation like needless repetition, especially with words like “it,” “there,” “get,” “thing”; making clear the antecedents of the demonstrative pronouns “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those”; eliminating sexist language by using the plural to avoid such constructions as “his and her,” “he and she”; carefully using parallel structure, preferring  the active voice to the passive voice and correcting dangling and misplaced modifiers. RayS.

Source:  “CCSSI (Common Core State Standards Initiative) for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science.” March 10, 2010. You will find the standards at http://www.corestandards.org/.