Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade

Reading Policy

Although most Canadian jurisdictions do not have an official reading policy, literacy is emphasized across all subject areas. Overall, reading is presented as part of the English/French language arts curricula: some jurisdictions present reading as a separate strand or component of the language curriculum (e.g., Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba-French), and most fully integrate reading throughout the curriculum.^5,6,7 In addition to reading, language arts curricula usually include several interrelated language arts elements such as writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and representing. Students are expected to achieve the outcomes (i.e., the knowledge, skills, attitudes) outlined in the programs by the end of each school level.

As an important tool for communication and the development of thinking, reading is at the heart of Canadian education. It enables students to understand cultures within Canada and around the world and contributes to the construction of students’ identity and worldview. In some jurisdictions, there also is a special connection between reading and the cross-curricular competencies that focus on the use of both information and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as well as the exercise of critical thinking.⁸ To help students become better readers, education practices in Canada reflect the belief that reading must be practiced, purposeful, modeled, and supported.

Summary of Provincial/Territorial Curricula

Depending on the jurisdiction, new English/French language arts curricula were introduced between 1998 and 2013 (with subsequent revisions in half of the jurisdictions). These programs generally prescribe goals, objectives, and assessment standards and methods. The Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador) additionally specify instructional processes and prescribe educational materials.^9,10 In jurisdictions in which standards are not prescribed, teachers are supported through curriculum documents that include suggestions and recommendations on instruction, assessment, teaching units, supporting resources, textbooks, and established best practices.

Most provincial/territorial language arts programs place a strong emphasis on reading improvement, literary experience, information acquisition, and reading for enjoyment. Students are expected to achieve the following reading processes by the end of Grade 4:

Retrieving explicitly stated information from a sentence or phrase, and locating and reproducing details from a clearly defined section of text
Making straightforward inferences that are based on connecting two or more pieces of information or ideas, identifying main ideas, and recognizing plot sequences and character traits
Interpreting and integrating ideas and information (e.g., by describing the overall message or theme, comparing information within and across texts, making generalizations, and drawing inferences with text support)
Examining and evaluating context, language, and textual elements (e.g., by describing the style or structure of a text and determining the author’s perspective and intention)

Some curricula additionally incorporate the use of analytical, critical, and metacognitive thinking skills and the exploration of multiple perspectives (see Ontario’s curriculum) or the use of cueing systems (i.e., semantic, syntactic, graphophonic, and textual cues) to create meaning (see Manitoba’s curriculum).^11,12

Students are challenged across all language arts curricula to engage in meaningful involvement with contemporary and traditional texts in a variety of forms (e.g., oral, print, other media). They are expected to make sense of information and to gather information from everyday material, reflect, pose questions, discover connections, justify critical assessments, discover literature, construct cultural references, and communicate what they have learned. Overall, the common aim is to enable all students to understand and appreciate language and to use it confidently and competently in a variety of situations for learning, communication, and personal satisfaction.

As a means of developing reading competence, teachers are encouraged to employ several strategies to ensure that students are successful.^13,14,15 Examples of frequently used practices include:

Stressing the connection among different language arts components (i.e., reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and representing)
Providing scaffolded support to help students learn new literacy strategies and skills by modeling, guiding, thinking aloud, and supporting students as they practice reading and by monitoring independent student achievement
Differentiating instruction for individuals and small groups of students
Explicitly teaching and modeling the use of higher level thinking skills that enable students to understand, appreciate, and evaluate what they read
Encouraging students to reflect on and talk about strategies that help them construct meaning in reading (metacognition)
Using meaningful and interesting texts on topics that matter to students

Some jurisdictions—including New Brunswick-English, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador—prescribe the percentage of total instructional time to be devoted to language and reading instruction. This percentage varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, within a range of 25 percent to 40 percent. While Saskatchewan and Quebec do not specifically prescribe the percentage of instructional time to be devoted to language and reading instruction, the percentage of time per week to be devoted to the language arts curriculum is prescribed (about 37 percent in Saskatchewan and 28 percent in Quebec). Other jurisdictions—including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario—have chosen not to prescribe an exact percentage of instructional time, instead offering suggestions on the number of hours and/or the average percentage of time that one might use to address the learning outcomes within the language arts discipline.