Alberta · Grade 11
English Language Arts 20-1
- ELA2105
Alberta’s Grade 11 English course, from Exploring Ideas & Perspectives to Creating Oral, Print & Multimedia Texts.
- Units
- 4
- Lessons
- 9
- Skills
- 28
- Provincial exam
- None
- Official curriculum
- Alberta Education
Unit by unit
Every skill in the course, numbered by unit.
Unit 1 · 5 skills
Exploring Ideas & Perspectives
Discover Possibilities
Forming tentative understandings
I can deliberately generate and test strategies to form tentative interpretations, and justify why a strategy fits.
Skill 1.1
Experimenting with language, image and structure
I can experiment with language, image and structure to create precise effects for a purpose and audience.
Skill 1.2
Extend Awareness
Considering new perspectives
I can select strategies to extend my understanding of new perspectives, monitor their effectiveness, and modify them.
Skill 1.3
Expressing preferences and expanding interests
I can analyze what shaped my text preferences and choose strategies to expand my interest in texts and text creators.
Skill 1.4
Setting personal goals for language growth
I can appraise my strengths and weaknesses as a language user and select, monitor and adjust strategies to grow.
Skill 1.5
The official wording · 5 outcomes
- 1.1
- generate and experiment with strategies that contribute to forming tentative understandings, interpretations and positions
- 1.2
- experiment with language, image and structure to create different effects in particular situations and for particular purposes and audiences
- 1.3
- select appropriate strategies to extend awareness and understanding of new perspectives, monitor their effectiveness, and modify them as needed
- 1.4
- reflect on personal text preferences, identify influences that have contributed to the formation of these preferences
- 1.5
- appraise own strengths and weaknesses as a language user and language learner
Key ideas
At this level you don't just interpret — you choose HOW: which strategy (questioning, annotating, comparing) suits this text and why.
You can choose HOW to meet an unfamiliar view (learning log, dialogue, fishbowl) — and monitor whether it deepened understanding.
A tentative position is a claim you actively pressure-test against the whole text, not a first impression.
Modify what isn't working: strategy selection is a loop, not a one-shot.
Effect is engineered: diction, imagery and syntax are dials you turn toward a target response.
Watch out for
- Choosing a strategy by habit rather than fit to the text.
- Sticking with an ineffective strategy instead of modifying it.
- Treating a tentative position as final once written.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 2 · 9 skills
Comprehending Literature & Other Texts
Meaning from Text & Context
Discerning and analyzing context
I can describe a text creator's purpose and analyze the target audience, including how societal forces shape texts.
Skill 2.1
Understanding and interpreting content
I can use a range of comprehension strategies to interpret literature and other texts.
Skill 2.2
Engaging prior knowledge
I can activate what I already know to help me comprehend a new text.
Skill 2.3
Using reference strategies
I can use reference strategies and technologies to aid understanding.
Skill 2.4
Textual Forms & Techniques
Relating form to purpose and content
I can identify text forms and describe the relationships of form to purpose and content.
Skill 2.5
Devices, techniques and their effects
I can explain how rhetorical devices and stylistic techniques create clarity, coherence and emphasis.
Skill 2.6
Responding to Texts
Connecting self, text, culture and milieu
I can connect a text to my own and others' perspectives, respond both personally and analytically, and monitor how my perspective shifts.
Skill 2.7
Evaluating texts with criteria
I can develop, monitor and refine criteria to evaluate a text's effectiveness and significance.
Skill 2.8
Appreciating effectiveness and artistry
I can use precise terminology to appreciate the effectiveness and artistry of a variety of texts, including media texts.
Skill 2.9
The official wording · 9 outcomes
- 2.1
- describe the text creator's purpose, and analyze the target audience
- 2.2
- use a variety of strategies to comprehend literature and other texts
- 2.3
- reflect on and describe strategies used to engage prior knowledge as a means of assisting comprehension of new texts
- 2.4
- use a variety of appropriate reference strategies and reference technologies to aid understanding
- 2.5
- describe the relationships of form to purpose and co
- 2.6
- explain how rhetorical devices and stylistic techniques used in print and nonprint texts create clarity, coherence and emphasis
- 2.7
- identify and consider personal, moral, ethical and cultural perspectives when studying literature and other texts
- 2.8
- identify criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of texts, monitor the effectiveness of the criteria, and modify the criteria as needed
- 2.9
- use terminology appropriate to the forms studied for discussing and appreciating the effectiveness and artistry of a variety of text forms
Key ideas
Purpose + audience are inferred from evidence in the text, not guessed — diction, examples and appeals reveal both.
Form and content are in dialogue — describe how the form's features serve the purpose.
Meaning is made where the text meets the reader: your personal, moral, ethical and cultural lens shapes what you notice — naming that lens is part of the analysis.
Societal forces (issues, trends) shape what gets made and how; context is bigger than the page.
Across literary and communications forms, structure is a meaning-making choice.
Watch out for
- Stating purpose/audience without textual evidence.
- Treating form as a neutral container.
- Stopping at "I liked/disliked it" without the analytical half of the response.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 3 · 6 skills
Managing Ideas & Information (Inquiry & Research)
Planning Inquiry or Research
Focusing purpose and form
I can select and monitor strategies to scope an inquiry and identify its purpose, audience and form.
Skill 3.1
Planning and identifying sources
I can develop an inquiry plan and identify my information needs and sources.
Skill 3.2
Following the Plan of Inquiry
Selecting, recording and organizing information
I can select, record and organize information appropriate to my purpose.
Skill 3.3
Evaluating sources and detecting bias
I can evaluate sources for credibility, quality and bias, and assess whether information is appropriate to my purpose.
Skill 3.4
Forming generalizations and conclusions
I can form generalizations and draw conclusions consistent with findings, distinguishing supported from unsupported claims.
Skill 3.5
Reviewing the inquiry process and findings
I can review my inquiry process and findings and identify how to improve next time.
Skill 3.6
The official wording · 6 outcomes
- 3.1
- select and monitor the effectiveness of strategies to determine the depth and breadth of inquiry or research
- 3.2
- reflect on and describe strategies for developing an inquiry or research plan that will foster understanding
- 3.3
- reflect on and describe strategies that may be used to select, record and organize information
- 3.4
- reflect on and describe strategies to evaluate information sources for credibility and bias and for quality
- 3.5
- draw conclusions that are appropriate to findings, reflect own understandings and are consistent with the identified topic
- 3.6
- reflect on and assess the effectiveness of strategies used to guide inquiry or research
Key ideas
Scope is monitored, not set-and-forget — check whether the inquiry stays focused and adjust.
Select for fit to the question; organize so the argument can emerge.
Purpose, audience and form together set the depth and breadth.
Record enough to cite and retrace.
Authority, currency, purpose and evidence gauge credibility.
Watch out for
- Gathering before scoping.
- Collecting everything interesting.
- Never rechecking scope mid-inquiry.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 4 · 8 skills
Creating Oral, Print & Multimedia Texts
Developing & Presenting Texts
Assessing the text-creation context
I can identify my purpose and target audience and select strategies to reach them before I draft.
Skill 4.1
Choosing form, structure and medium
I can select a text form appropriate to my purpose and consistent with my content.
Skill 4.2
Developing content
I can develop meaningful content by crafting a personally engaging topic and weighing the variables that shape it.
Skill 4.3
Producing and presenting the text
I can meet the production, publication and presentation requirements that fit my purpose and audience.
Skill 4.4
Improving & Editing
Enhancing thought, support and detail
I can assess the effectiveness of a controlling idea and refine it to meet my purpose.
Skill 4.5
Enhancing organization
I can assess and revise the structure of a draft — beginning, components, closing and transitions — so the parts hold together.
Skill 4.6
Addressing matters of stylistic choice
I can assess and refine my diction and syntax on purpose, and describe the effects they create.
Skill 4.7
Editing for correctness
I can use tools and conventions to edit a text for correctness.
Skill 4.8
The official wording · 8 outcomes
- 4.1
- identify purpose and target audience for text creation, and select strategies to accomplish purpose and engage audience
- 4.2
- select a text form appropriate to the purpose for text creation and consistent with the content to be presented in the text
- 4.3
- take ownership of text creation, by selecting or crafting a topic, concept or idea that is personally meaningful and engaging
- 4.4
- meet particular production, publication and display requirements for print texts
- 4.5
- assess the effectiveness of the controlling idea or desired unifying effect of a text in progress, and refine the controlling idea or desired unifying effect as appropriate to meet the intended purpose
- 4.6
- assess the organizational components of a text in progress
- 4.7
- assess syntax for appropriateness and effectiveness, and revise sentence structures as needed to create intended effects
- 4.8
- use handbooks and other tools, including electronic tools, as resources to assist with text creation
Key ideas
Form is a content decision tuned to purpose and audience.
Assess, don't just check: does the controlling idea achieve the intended effect?
Consistency: form, content and purpose pull together.
Refine toward purpose — sharpen or refocus the spine.
Ownership fuels depth; assess personal and contextual variables (experience, resources).
Watch out for
- Defaulting to the five-paragraph essay.
- Confusing revision (meaning) with editing (correctness).
- Novelty over fit.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Plan the term
Pick your term and the days you study. Each unit gets its share of the weeks and comes back a week later for a review. The last two weeks go over the whole course.
Which course?
Alberta has 2 English courses for Grade 11. Here they are side by side.
- English Language Arts 20-1This courseELA21054 units · 28 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversExploring Ideas & Perspectives · Comprehending Literature & Other Texts · Managing Ideas & Information (Inquiry & Research) · Creating Oral, Print & Multimedia Texts
- English Language Arts 20-2ELA21044 units · 28 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversExploring Ideas & Perspectives · Comprehending Everyday & Workplace Texts · Managing Ideas & Information (Inquiry & Research) · Creating Texts
What a university, college or program asks for is theirs to say: check its admission page, and your school’s course guide.
The official curriculum
This page follows Alberta’s own curriculum for English Language Arts 20-1.
Study it in MapleMind
MapleMind teaches English Language Arts 20-1 one skill at a time. Each skill gets a short lesson, practice as you go and a check worth up to three stars. It remembers where you stopped.


Course Companion
Your year in one workbook
A fun way to keep English Language Arts 20-1 organized, get to know your child better and see early when they need a hand. Fill it in on a screen, or print it.
- Pages
- 29
- Fillable fields
- 1,381
- Price
- $4.99
Questions about English Language Arts 20-1
What is English Language Arts 20-1?
Alberta’s Grade 11 English course: 4 units and 28 skills, from Exploring Ideas & Perspectives to Creating Oral, Print & Multimedia Texts.
What units are in English Language Arts 20-1?
1. Exploring Ideas & Perspectives, 2. Comprehending Literature & Other Texts, 3. Managing Ideas & Information (Inquiry & Research) and 4. Creating Oral, Print & Multimedia Texts.
Is there a provincial exam for English Language Arts 20-1?
No. Alberta gives no provincial exam for English Language Arts 20-1.
What comes after English Language Arts 20-1?
English Language Arts 30-1 and English Language Arts 30-2.
Can MapleMind help with English Language Arts 20-1?
Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of English Language Arts 20-1, step by step, with practice and checks, and its tutor answers questions about any of them. It’s free with daily limits, on iPhone, Android and the web.