What does a student learn in StateGeorgia,GradeGrade 12,SubjectEnglish Language Arts?

Reading, writing, speaking, and listening show up in every part of 12th-grade English work. These four practices connect what students do with language, grammar, and texts throughout the year.

Students study how grammar and word choice work in real writing, then apply those patterns in their own sentences and paragraphs. The goal is to write with precision and read with a sharper eye for how language is built.

Reading, writing, and discussion all depend on working closely with texts. Students at this level choose and analyze challenging texts with a clear purpose in mind.

Students read and write with a clear purpose, building habits that make them stronger at both understanding what they read and saying what they mean on the page.

Students reflect on how they read and write, then build habits and go-to strategies they can use well beyond this class.

Students set their own reading and writing goals, track their progress, and adjust those goals when the work calls for it.

Students reflect on what kinds of reading and writing they actually enjoy, naming specific genres, topics, or techniques that click for them and explaining why.

Students choose what they read and write based on what genuinely interests them or connects to coursework. That mix of personal choice and academic purpose builds the reading and writing habits they'll use after high school.

Students build a personal toolkit of reading and writing moves, then choose the right ones for the task at hand. The goal is knowing not just how to read and write, but when to shift approach.

Students read and discuss texts together, share their own writing with the group, listen when others share theirs, and give and receive honest feedback. It's the kind of collaborative work that makes both reading and writing stronger.

Reading and writing with less guidance from the teacher, students take on longer and harder texts and assignments on their own, making decisions about how to approach, plan, and revise the work.

Students write and speak for real audiences, connecting ideas across texts and beyond them. They consider their own purpose as authors and what they take in as readers or listeners.

Students write or tell stories drawn from real life or invention, shaping them into a finished piece. The work might be a personal narrative, a fictional scene, or a longer text where storytelling carries part of the meaning.

Students read and write with a real purpose: to learn something new, get better at a skill, figure out a decision, or share what they know with others.

Reading and writing to actually learn something. Students use texts to work through new ideas, then put concepts into their own words or build something new with them.

Students read, take notes, and write their way to a clearer understanding of a text. The reading and writing work together: what students write helps them think more precisely about what they read.

Students read to gather what they need and write to make a case or push a decision forward. The focus is on using reading and writing as tools for real problems, not just school assignments.

Students read challenging texts with a clear purpose in mind, using strategies like previewing, rereading, and summarizing to build understanding before, during, and after reading.

Before reading, students decide what they're looking for and check in with themselves as they go to make sure the text is making sense.

Before reading closely, students quickly scan a text to spot its structure and find the sections worth their attention.

Students pull in what they already know, hold it up against what the text says, and work out any contradictions. Reading changes their thinking, not just adds to it.

Students pause while reading to put a section into their own words or picture what it describes, keeping the meaning clear as the text gets longer or more complex.

Before and while reading, students guess what comes next in the text, then check whether those guesses hold up as the story or argument unfolds.

Students read between the lines: they spot what a text implies, follow that meaning through the whole piece, and point to specific passages that back up what they found.

When students hit an unfamiliar word, they use the surrounding sentences and their knowledge of roots, prefixes, and suffixes to figure out what it means. This skill applies to dense academic reading like textbooks, essays, and primary sources.

Students plan, draft, revise, and edit different kinds of writing for different readers. The focus is on treating writing as a process, not a one-shot task.

Students choose a reason for writing before they begin, set a goal for what the piece should accomplish, and name who they are writing for.

Students decide how to structure their writing before they draft, choosing a format and organization that fits both the purpose of the piece and the readers it's meant for.

Students figure out what to write about by taking stock of what they already know, reading to fill in the gaps, and talking through ideas with others before drafting.

When drafting or revising a piece of writing, students review their notes and ideas and cut or reorder anything that doesn't serve the main point. What stays should directly support the plan for the piece.

Students write a first draft by pulling their ideas together, choosing words carefully, and using writing techniques that fit their purpose and speak to the reader they have in mind.

Students read back through their own writing and ask whether it actually does what it was supposed to do, using their own judgment or a reader's feedback to decide what still needs work.

Students revise their own writing after rereading it or hearing feedback from others, reworking how it's organized, what it says, and how it's worded until the piece does what they intended.

Students review their writing and fix grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure so the final draft follows the rules of standard written English.

Students read and write with the full picture in mind: who made this, who it's for, and why. That bigger picture shapes how they interpret what they read and how they build their own arguments.

Context shapes what a text means and why it was written. Students learn to read with context in mind, considering when and where a text was made, who made it, and what was happening in the world at the time.

Students figure out what background knowledge, research, or conversation with others matters most before reading or writing a text. They decide which pieces of context actually shape the meaning.

Students read a text and ask why the author wrote it when and where they did, then consider how those same circumstances shape what a reader takes away from it.

Students look at how the time, place, and circumstances around a piece of writing influenced what the author chose to say and how readers respond to it.

Students read and write texts by studying how authors shape their choices around who will read the work and what the work needs to do. Recognizing those choices helps students make stronger decisions in their own writing.

Students read a text closely to figure out why the author wrote it and who they wrote it for, then judge how well it actually delivers on that purpose. When writing their own texts, students make those same decisions before they start drafting.

Reading or writing, students use what they know about who wrote a text, who it's for, and why it was made to figure out a clear point of view. In their own writing, they apply that same thinking to shape a perspective that feels deliberate and distinct.

Students examine how an author shaped a piece of writing by asking why certain details got highlighted, why the layout looks the way it does, and why specific words were chosen. The answer usually comes back to who the author was writing for and why.

Reading like a writer, students analyze how word choice, structure, and point of view shape meaning in a text. They apply those same moves when writing their own.

Reading like a writer means students notice how an author's word choices, structure, and techniques shape their own reactions to a text. Students ask why the author made each decision and what effect it has on the reader.

Seniors read and write arguments closely enough to explain how word choice, structure, and appeals shape what an audience thinks or feels. They also evaluate whether those moves actually serve the text's purpose.

Students read closely enough to notice when a specific word does real work, then explain in writing why that choice lands the way it does for the intended reader.

Students examine how an author's sentence choices, like short punchy lines or long winding ones, shape how a reader feels and what a piece of writing is trying to do.

Students study how a text is built, from its structure down to its formatting choices, and explain why those decisions make the writing easier to follow or more convincing for a specific audience.

Students shape what they write around who will read it, choosing details, structure, and wording based on what that audience needs and what the piece is meant to do.

Students blend storytelling techniques, facts, and persuasive moves to shape how a piece lands with a specific audience. The goal is not just to say something clearly but to make readers think, feel, or act in a particular way.

Students choose specific words and phrases to shape how readers think or feel, with a clear purpose in mind. Every word choice is deliberate, aimed at moving the audience toward a particular response or decision.

Students choose how to build their sentences, including length and word order, to match what their audience needs and to make a piece of writing do what it's meant to do.

Students arrange a piece of writing using specific formats and structures, like section breaks, headings, or repeated patterns, so the writing is easy to follow and hits its intended effect on readers.

Students look at how layout, font, images, and spacing shape what a reader notices and feels. When writing, they make the same choices on purpose.

Students write in different genres and formats, studying how word choice, structure, and form shape what a piece means and how it lands with readers.

Students recognize that the form a piece of writing takes (a poem, a speech, a news article) shapes what ideas get included and what gets left out. They use that awareness when reading and writing.

Students recognize how the format of a text (a poem, a speech, an argument, a news article) shapes the way its ideas are organized. They use that awareness when reading and when writing in different formats.

Students read and create texts that mix writing, images, and other media, choosing genres and techniques that fit the audience and goal. Think a documentary, a podcast, or a digital essay built to persuade a specific reader.

Students discuss, debate, and present ideas with classmates and outside audiences. The goal is to build on what others say, not just wait for a turn to talk.

Students work with classmates to finish a shared project or reach a common goal, practicing the kind of back-and-forth that real group work requires.

Students come to group discussions having read, thought about, or gathered what they need beforehand, ready to contribute from the start rather than catch up once the conversation is already underway.

Working in a group, students agree on shared rules, set clear goals, and keep the work moving so the project actually gets done.

Students share ideas in group discussions or projects, listen carefully to classmates, and give useful feedback on what others contribute. This is the back-and-forth that turns a group into a working team.

Students discuss topics, ask questions together, and work through problems as a group. They also create written or spoken work alongside peers, not just on their own.

Students choose how to present an idea based on who's listening and why. A speech to classmates, a report for a panel, or a pitch to a committee each calls for different language, tone, and structure.

Students practice presenting ideas out loud or in writing with enough clarity that an audience can follow along without getting lost.

Students choose the right format and style for who they're talking to and why. A class debate, a research presentation, and a personal essay each call for a different approach, and students learn to match the form to the moment.

Speakers adjust how they sound and move depending on who's listening and why. In a formal presentation, that means slowing down and standing still. In a discussion, it might mean a nod or a quicker back-and-forth.

Asking and answering questions in real time, students practice reading a room, adjusting what they say based on who is listening and what they want to know.

Students memorize and recite poems or speeches aloud, building familiarity with language that has shaped culture and history.

Reading and writing in standard English requires knowing how grammar actually works. Students study sentences closely, notice patterns in professional texts, and apply those same conventions in their own writing.

Students apply their knowledge of grammar rules, word usage, and punctuation to read critically and write clearly. This means catching errors in their own work and in texts they analyze.

Seniors study how sentence structure shapes meaning, then use that knowledge to rewrite and craft sentences that land the way they intend. The goal is control: choosing structure on purpose, not by accident.

Parallel structure means matching sentence parts follow the same grammatical pattern. Students read complex texts and spot where a writer lines up ideas in a consistent form, then judge whether that choice strengthens or weakens the writing.

Students practice writing sentences in different structures and lengths to create rhythm and style, while keeping verb tenses consistent throughout a piece of writing.

Active voice puts the subject doing the action; passive voice puts the subject receiving it. Students choose one approach and stick with it across a piece of writing, based on who they are writing for and why.

Students choose descriptive details that make writing more precise and interesting, fitting the purpose of the piece. The goal is to give readers something specific to hold onto, not just a general idea.

Parallel structure means matching the grammatical form of related ideas, like starting each reason in an argument with the same type of phrase. Students use and revise this pattern across whole paragraphs so the writing feels balanced and ideas connect cleanly.

Reading, writing, and discussion push students to grow their vocabularies and figure out unfamiliar words. They study word parts like roots and prefixes to decode meanings on their own.

Students use a growing vocabulary to make sense of complex texts and to write clearly across subjects, from a history essay to a workplace memo.

Students build their working vocabulary by reading grade-level texts across subjects, picking up general and field-specific words they'll use in college and work.

Students choose precise, situation-specific words and adjust their language depending on the setting, whether writing a formal essay or speaking in a discussion.

Breaking down roots, prefixes, and suffixes helps students figure out words they have never seen before. Students apply that skill when reading complex texts and when choosing precise words in their own writing.

Students break apart unfamiliar words by tracing their roots, prefixes, and suffixes to figure out what they mean. A word like "contradict" splits into a Latin root meaning "against" and another meaning "to speak."

Reading a sentence, students figure out what an unfamiliar word means by looking at how it functions: is it doing the action, naming a thing, or describing something? The word's job in the sentence becomes a clue to its meaning.

Students take Greek and Latin roots and attach prefixes or suffixes to build new words, then use those words correctly in sentences.

Knowing whether a word is a noun, verb, or adjective helps students pick the most precise word for a sentence. Students practice choosing words that do exactly the work the sentence needs.

Students study how word choice shapes tone and meaning in complex texts, then apply that thinking to their own writing. They look beyond surface definitions to understand why a specific word lands differently than a near-synonym would.

This standard marks a transition point in the progression. Students move from earlier vocabulary work into the skills covered in 9-12.L.V.3.b, where they analyze word relationships and nuances in meaning.

Students study how a word's dictionary meaning differs from the emotional weight it carries. They look at how the same word can feel neutral in one sentence and loaded with meaning in another.

Words like "thin," "slender," and "scrawny" all mean roughly the same thing, but each one carries a different feeling or judgment. Students learn to notice those shades of meaning and choose words with the right tone for their writing.

Students look up unfamiliar words or phrases using dictionaries, style guides, or online tools, then confirm they have the right meaning for the context.

Students choose precise words for their writing or speech by looking up closely related words (like "persistent" vs. "stubborn") to find the one that fits exactly. A thesaurus or dictionary helps them pin down the difference.

Students examine why an author wrote a piece, who they wrote it for, and how the time, place, or circumstances shaped the choices on the page.

Students read a range of texts and explain how the writer's goal and intended reader shaped the choices made, from word selection to overall structure.

Reading a science article, a legal brief, and a personal essay each demands a different approach. Students use that awareness of why a text was written and for whom to read it more accurately.

Students read a text and judge how the author's word choices and attitude shape the way readers respond to the message.

Students create a project, video, or presentation that does two jobs at once, say informing and persuading, and make deliberate choices about images, words, and layout so the right audience clearly gets both messages.

Students look at who wrote or spoke a text and figure out how that person's background, beliefs, and situation shaped what they said and how they said it.

Students read multiple texts on the same topic, then explain how each author builds a point of view and what that framing asks readers to believe.

Students track down the original source of a claim or quote rather than accepting a secondhand version. This helps them judge whether the information is actually reliable.

Students examine how an author's era, field of expertise, or personal background shaped the way a text is written and what it focuses on. A historian, a poet, and a war veteran writing about the same event will make very different choices.

Students pull information from multiple trustworthy sources, combine what they find, and build a clear answer to a research question. The goal is a response that reflects the full picture, not just one source.

Students study how writers organize an argument or essay and choose specific words and sentences to shape meaning. Then students apply those same choices in their own writing.

Students read texts across genres (stories, essays, arguments) and study how writers arrange their ideas to create meaning. Then students use those same organizational moves in their own writing.

Students read a piece of writing and judge whether its structure, how ideas are ordered and grouped, actually works for the intended reader and purpose.

Skilled writers rarely use just one structure. Students learn to mix organizational approaches, such as problem-solution and comparison, so the arrangement of ideas reinforces what the piece is actually arguing or exploring.

Students choose transitions that move readers smoothly from one idea to the next in writing that may combine words, images, or other media. The transitions shift based on what the piece is trying to do and who will read it.

Students write a persuasive piece with an opening that sets up their argument, evidence placed where it will hit hardest, and a closing that leaves the reader convinced.

Students examine how word choice, sentence structure, and tone shape a reader's reaction, then apply those same techniques in their own writing.

Figurative and rhetorical language does more than decorate a sentence. Students examine how an author's word choices, comparisons, and persuasive moves build the tone of a piece and shape what readers feel and believe.

Students choose specific literary devices and figurative or rhetorical language to shape how a piece lands on its intended audience. The choices depend on what the writing is meant to do.

Students practice writing in a steady, confident tone that makes readers trust the author knows the subject. The writing sounds authoritative throughout, not casual in some places and formal in others.

Reading and writing at this level means students study how word choice, structure, and point of view shape meaning, then use those same moves in their own writing.

Students analyze how authors use pacing, point of view, and detail to pull readers in, then apply those same moves in their own writing to shape how readers feel and what they notice.

Authors have a toolkit of storytelling moves: archetypes, shifting perspectives, plot structure, symbolism. Students identify those moves across multiple works and use evidence from the texts to explain what each author gains by making those choices.

Students read two or more works side by side and judge how each author's story structure, conflict, and word choices pull readers in differently and serve a distinct purpose.

Students read two or more texts on the same theme and explain how each author builds that idea differently, pointing to specific passages as proof.

Students read novels, plays, or poems and explain how the author borrowed a theme, story pattern, or character type from an earlier era and shaped it into something new.

Students use tools like metaphor, symbolism, and setting to build characters who change over a story and to carry a single idea from the opening sentence to the last.

Students study how nonfiction writing is built to inform or persuade, then use those same moves in their own writing to reach a specific audience.

Students read nonfiction and judge whether the structure and word choices actually make the writing clear or whether they get in the way. They explain how those decisions shape what a reader understands.

Students read two or more texts that contradict each other, then pinpoint exactly where they disagree, whether on the facts themselves or on how to interpret those facts.

This standard was taught in earlier grades and is no longer assessed in Grade 12.

Writing to explain or inform, students organize ideas so the connections between them are clear, vary the types of information and structure they use, and shift tone to fit different readers and purposes.

Students read and write arguments, judging how well techniques like word choice, evidence, and emotional appeal actually persuade a real audience to think or act differently.

Students read and discuss how writers build an argument: the word choices, structure, and evidence used, and what those choices do to the meaning. This standard focuses on spotting those moves and deciding whether they work.

Students read speeches, essays, and other texts to judge how well the writer uses word choice, tone, and appeals to persuade an audience.

Students choose argumentative techniques, such as appeals to logic or emotion, and apply them on purpose to make a written argument stronger and hold a reader's attention.

Students read and write texts that use several persuasion techniques at once, such as emotional appeals, logical evidence, and credibility cues, choosing each one to fit the purpose and audience.

Students read and write poems with specific techniques in mind, such as rhythm, imagery, or word sound, then explain how those choices shape what a reader feels or understands.

Students read and discuss poems, then analyze how specific techniques like line breaks, imagery, or word choice shape what the poem means. The focus is on understanding why a poet made those choices.

Students write original poems using specific techniques like meter, imagery, or line breaks to fit a clear purpose, such as honoring someone or capturing a moment.

Students read, discuss, and analyze a range of texts to research topics and build a point of view. They select and organize sources that support their thinking across assignments and projects.

Students pick a complex topic, write research questions to guide their investigation, and find credible sources to back up their analysis.

Students form their own research questions to steer an investigation, narrow the focus as they go, and connect ideas across sources into a final piece of writing.

Students pull facts and ideas from several reliable sources, weave them together into one argument, and cite each source correctly.

Students weave outside sources into their own writing by paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting, then cite each source in MLA or APA format. The goal is to use those sources to make the argument stronger, not just to show they were read.

Students pull quotes and details from multiple sources to answer a question or dig into a topic, then look across those sources to find patterns and connections.

Students search academic databases and other credible sources to find information that supports or challenges a central argument. The focus is on choosing sources worth trusting, not just sources that are easy to find.

Students read sources on the same topic, spot where authors contradict each other or push a particular angle, and check whether the information holds up before using it in their own work.

Students follow MLA format to cite quotes and evidence from sources, including a works cited page entry for each one. This applies when answering questions that go beyond what the text states directly.

Students connect works of literature to the era that produced them, recognizing how history, culture, and dominant ideas shaped what writers wrote about and how they wrote it.

Students read works from the same era side by side and identify what those writers shared: the ideas they returned to, the forms they used, and the way the language sounds on the page.

Students pick two writers or artists from the same movement, such as the Romantics or the Harlem Renaissance, and explain what makes their work similar and where it pulls in different directions.

Students compare major authors and works across three literary periods, looking at how themes and writing style shifted from one era to the next.