British Columbia · Grade 11
Literary Studies 11
- LTST 11
British Columbia’s Grade 11 English course, from Reading & Comprehension to Composing & Responding.
- Units
- 4
- Lessons
- 30
- Skills
- 30
- Provincial exam
- None
- Official curriculum
- Province of British Columbia
Unit by unit
Every skill in the course, numbered by unit.
Unit 1 · 8 skills
Reading & Comprehension
Narrative Structures in First Peoples Texts
Narrative structures found in First Peoples texts
I can recognize narrative structures distinct to First Peoples texts and explain how they differ from conventional Western story structures.
Skill 1.1
Protocols for the Ownership of First Peoples Oral Texts
Protocols related to the ownership of First Peoples oral texts
I can explain the protocols related to the ownership of First Peoples oral texts.
Skill 1.2
Story, Narrative, and Oral Tradition in First Peoples Texts
The role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in First Peoples texts
I can recognize and understand the role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in expressing First Peoples perspectives, values, beliefs, and points of view.
Skill 1.3
The Influence of Land and Place
The influence of land/place in First Peoples and other Canadian texts
I can understand the influence of land and place in First Peoples and other Canadian texts.
Skill 1.4
Reading Strategies
Reading strategies for making sense of a text
I can apply reading strategies suited to increasingly complex and challenging texts.
Skill 1.5
Metacognitive Strategies
Metacognitive strategies — thinking about your own thinking
I can use metacognitive strategies to think about my own thinking and reflect on my own reading and thinking processes.
Skill 1.6
Literal Meaning and Inferential Meaning
Literal meaning and inferential meaning
I can distinguish literal meaning from inferential meaning and construct well-supported inferences using textual evidence.
Skill 1.7
Comprehending Written, Oral, Visual, and Multimodal Texts
Comprehending written, oral, visual, and multimodal texts to extend thinking
I can apply appropriate strategies in a variety of contexts to comprehend written, oral, visual, and multimodal texts, to guide inquiry, and to extend thinking.
Skill 1.8
The official wording · 8 outcomes
- 1.1
- narrative structures found in First Peoples texts
- 1.2
- protocols related to the ownership of First Peoples oral texts
- 1.3
- Recognize and understand the role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in expressing First Peoples perspectives, values, beliefs, and points of view
- 1.4
- Understand the influence of land/place in First Peoples and other Canadian texts
- 1.5
- reading strategies
- 1.6
- metacognitive strategies
- 1.7
- literal meaning and inferential meaning
- 1.8
- Apply appropriate strategies in a variety of contexts to comprehend written, oral, visual, and multimodal texts, to guide inquiry, and to extend thinking
Key ideas
Many First Peoples narratives use structures such as circular, iterative, and cyclical organization — the story may circle back, layer repeated patterns, or resist a single climactic turning point — rather than the beginning-middle-end/rising-action shape common in Western storytelling.
Many First Peoples stories are owned by specific individuals, families, clans, or Nations — not held as generic public 'folklore' free for anyone to retell.
In First Peoples cultures, story and oral tradition are a primary way perspectives, values, beliefs, and points of view are passed down — the story itself IS the teaching, not decoration around a separate lesson.
Land and place refer to the physical environment people interact with to learn, create memory, reflect on history, connect with culture, and establish identity — in many First Peoples and Canadian texts, land is an active presence, not a passive backdrop.
Before-reading strategies (previewing titles, headings, and structure) and during-reading strategies (annotating, questioning the text, tracking unfamiliar vocabulary in context, visualizing, synthesizing) make comprehension active instead of passive.
Watch out for
- Assuming a non-linear or cyclical structure is 'less developed' or 'simpler' than a Western plot arc, rather than a different, equally deliberate structural choice.
- Assuming all oral stories are communal property simply because they were passed down orally rather than published in writing.
- Treating a First Peoples story as 'just entertainment' or 'just a myth' and missing that it is actively expressing real perspectives, values, and beliefs.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 2 · 3 skills
Critical Reading
Evaluating Relevance, Accuracy, and Reliability
Evaluating the relevance, accuracy, and reliability of a source
I can evaluate the relevance, accuracy, and reliability of a source.
Skill 2.1
Thinking Critically, Creatively, and Reflectively
Thinking critically and creatively about ideas within, between, and beyond texts
I can think critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas within, between, and beyond texts.
Skill 2.2
Recognizing Contexts, Values, and Perspectives
Recognizing contexts, values, and perspectives in a literary text
I can recognize and understand personal, social, and cultural contexts, values, and perspectives in a literary text.
Skill 2.3
The official wording · 3 outcomes
- 2.1
- Evaluate the relevance, accuracy, and reliability of texts
- 2.2
- Think critically, creatively, and reflectively to explore ideas within, between, and beyond texts
- 2.3
- Recognize and understand personal, social, and cultural contexts, values, and perspectives in texts, including culture, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic factors
Key ideas
Relevance considers whether material has credibility, currency (how recent/still-applicable it is), and significance for the purpose at hand — a source can be accurate but still not relevant to the question being asked.
Thinking within a text means questioning its internal logic, choices, and gaps; thinking between texts means connecting or contrasting it with other texts; thinking beyond a text means extending its ideas into the wider world, current events, or your own experience.
Texts are shaped by personal, social, and cultural contexts, values, and perspectives — including culture, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic factors — and authors write from a perspective influenced by family, community, spirituality, land/place, economic factors, and political or colonial history.
Reliability considers point of view, bias, propaganda techniques, and whose voices are left out, omitted, or misrepresented — a source can sound authoritative while still being one-sided or incomplete.
Critical, creative, and reflective thinking are three distinct moves: critical questions or challenges a claim, creative generates a new angle or possibility, reflective turns the thinking back on your own assumptions or reactions.
Watch out for
- Treating 'official-sounding' or professionally designed sources as automatically accurate and unbiased, without checking point of view or omitted voices.
- Treating 'critical thinking' as just criticizing or disliking a text, rather than questioning and evaluating its ideas and choices.
- Assuming a text is 'neutral' or context-free, missing that every author writes from a specific, influenced perspective.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 3 · 7 skills
Literary Analysis
Form, Function, and Genre of Texts
Form, function, and genre of literary texts
I can explain how a text's form, function, and genre work together to shape meaning and reader expectation.
Skill 3.1
Elements of Visual and Graphic Texts
Elements of visual and graphic texts
I can identify and interpret the elements of visual and graphic texts and explain how they construct meaning.
Skill 3.2
Elements of Style
Elements of style — diction, vocabulary, sentence structure, tone
I can recognize and apply elements of style — diction, vocabulary, sentence structure, and tone — that make a writer's voice distinguishable.
Skill 3.3
Literary Elements and Devices
Literary elements and devices, including figurative language
I can identify literary elements and devices, including figurative language, and explain how a text uses them according to purpose and audience.
Skill 3.4
How Text Structures Shape Meaning
How text structures and forms enhance and shape meaning
I can recognize and understand how different forms, formats, structures, and features of texts enhance and shape meaning and impact.
Skill 3.5
Evaluating How Literary Devices Shape Meaning
Evaluating how literary elements and devices shape meaning and impact
I can evaluate how text structures, literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning and impact in a text.
Skill 3.6
Discerning Nuance in Word Meanings
Discerning nuances in word meanings across contexts
I can discern nuances in the meanings of words, considering social, political, historical, and literary contexts.
Skill 3.7
The official wording · 7 outcomes
- 3.1
- form, function, and genre of texts
- 3.2
- elements of visual/graphic texts
- 3.3
- elements of style
- 3.4
- literary elements and devices
- 3.5
- Recognize and understand how different forms, formats, structures, and features of texts enhance and shape meaning and impact
- 3.6
- Evaluate how text structures, literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning and impact
- 3.7
- Discern nuances in the meanings of words, considering social, political, historical, and literary contexts
Key ideas
Form is the shape a text takes (stanza, paragraph, dialogue, list); function is the intended purpose the text is built to serve (persuade, inform, entertain, move, instruct); genre is the recognizable literary or thematic category with its own conventions (adventure, fable, satire, memoir, science fiction, graphic novel).
Visual/graphic texts build meaning through text features — typography (bold, italic, underlined), font style, titles, diagrams, captions, labels, maps, charts, illustrations, tables, photographs, and sidebars — none of which is 'the main body' but all of which shapes meaning.
Style is built from stylistic choices that make a specific writer distinguishable from others: diction (word choice), vocabulary (level and range of words used), sentence structure (short/punchy vs. long/flowing), and tone (the attitude conveyed toward subject or audience).
Literary elements (character, setting, plot, theme) are the building blocks of a text's content; literary devices (symbol, imagery, metaphor, irony, tone) are the crafted techniques a writer layers onto those elements, including figurative language, chosen according to purpose and audience.
Forms (narrative, journal, procedural, expository, news article, blog, poetry, letter) are chosen based on purpose; formats (layout, sequencing, spacing, typography, colour) and structures (how the author organizes the text) work alongside features (captions, sidebars, diagrams) to shape how meaning lands.
Watch out for
- Treating genre as a rigid checklist ('this isn't really science fiction because it doesn't have spaceships') instead of a flexible set of conventions writers can bend or blend.
- Treating images as mere illustration of the words rather than an independent meaning-making layer that can add, subtract, or contradict.
- Describing style only in vague terms ('it sounds nice' or 'it's descriptive') instead of naming the specific diction, sentence-structure, or tone choice responsible.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 4 · 12 skills
Composing & Responding
Oral Language Strategies
Oral language strategies for discussing literature
I can use oral language strategies for effective speaking and listening about literature.
Skill 4.1
Formal Speaking and Listening
Formal speaking and listening — delivery, presentation, debate — for a range of purposes
I can demonstrate formal speaking and listening skills — using deliberate delivery technique across formal contexts like debate, presentation, and speech — for a range of purposes.
Skill 4.2
Writing Processes
Writing processes — from gathering ideas to editing
I can apply writing processes — from gathering ideas to editing — as an iterative process to compose written work.
Skill 4.3
Design Processes
Design processes for shaping a text's layout and format
I can apply design processes when composing multimodal or visual texts.
Skill 4.4
Usage — Avoiding Common Errors
Usage — avoiding double negatives, mixed metaphors, malapropisms, and word misuse
I can apply the conventions of standard usage by avoiding common usage errors — double negatives, mixed metaphors, malapropisms, and word misuse.
Skill 4.5
Standard Conventions of Punctuation and Spelling
Conventions — standard punctuation, capitalization, quoting, Canadian spelling
I can apply the common practices of standard punctuation, capitalization, quoting, and Canadian spelling accurately and consistently.
Skill 4.6
Citation Techniques
Citation techniques for acknowledging sources
I can apply recognized citation techniques to credit sources accurately and consistently.
Skill 4.7
Acknowledgements and Intellectual Property Rights
Acknowledgements and citations — avoiding plagiarism, respecting IP rights
I can use acknowledgements and citations to recognize intellectual property rights, understanding both how to avoid plagiarism and the protocols that guide use of First Peoples oral texts and other knowledge.
Skill 4.8
Composing Meaningful Texts for Real Audiences
Composing meaningful texts for real purposes and audiences
I can use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.
Skill 4.9
Expressing and Supporting an Opinion with Evidence
Express and support an opinion with evidence — build an evidence-based argument
I can express and support an opinion with evidence — stating a defensible claim about a text and backing it with specific textual evidence and reasoning.
Skill 4.10
Revising and Refining Writing
Revising and refining writing for clarity, effectiveness, and impact
I can reflect on, assess, and refine texts to improve clarity, effectiveness, and impact.
Skill 4.11
Transforming Ideas Into Original Texts
Transforming ideas into original texts across genres and forms
I can transform ideas and information to create original texts, using various genres, forms, structures, and styles.
Skill 4.12
The official wording · 12 outcomes
- 4.1
- oral language strategies
- 4.2
- Demonstrate speaking and listening skills in a variety of formal and informal contexts for a range of purposes
- 4.3
- writing processes
- 4.4
- design processes
- 4.5
- usage and conventions
- 4.6
- usage and conventions
- 4.7
- citation techniques
- 4.8
- Use acknowledgements and citations to recognize intellectual property rights
- 4.9
- Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences
- 4.10
- Express and support an opinion with evidence
- 4.11
- Reflect on, assess, and refine texts to improve clarity, effectiveness, and impact
- 4.12
- Transform ideas and information to create original texts, using various genres, forms, structures, and styles
Key ideas
Effective speaking includes speaking with expression, connecting to listeners, and asking questions to clarify — organizing a main point in advance and adjusting delivery for the actual audience.
Formal delivery is a set of conscious, rehearsable choices — emotion, volume, pace, pause, inflection, and emphasis — layered onto prepared content: WHERE you pause, WHICH word you stress, and HOW your pace shifts all change what a listener takes away, independent of the words themselves.
Writing processes include determining audience and purpose, generating or gathering ideas, free-writing, making notes, drafting, revising, and editing — and different writers have personalized versions of this process.
Composing a visual or multimodal text follows its own process — planning the layout and visual hierarchy (what the eye should see first) before choosing specific images, colour, and typography.
A double negative ('I don't have no time') cancels or muddies the intended meaning; a mixed metaphor ('we'll cross that bridge when we burn it') combines two incompatible images and breaks the intended comparison.
Watch out for
- Treating a discussion as a series of unconnected turns — planning what to say next instead of actually listening to what's being said.
- Assuming that reading a prepared speech aloud IS presenting it — delivering polished content at the same flat, even pace as casual conversation, with no rehearsed pauses, emphasis, or pace changes.
- Treating 'revising' and 'editing' as the same step, so surface fixes (spelling, punctuation) get done while deeper issues (organization, clarity of argument) never get addressed.
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?
British Columbia has 3 English courses for Grade 11. Here they are side by side.
- Composition 11CMPS 115 units · 26 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversReading as a Writer · The Writing Process · Composition Forms · Style, Voice & Craft · Argument, Evidence & Citation
- Literary Studies 11This courseLTST 114 units · 30 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversReading & Comprehension · Critical Reading · Literary Analysis · Composing & Responding
- New Media 11NMD 115 units · 45 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversNew Media Forms & Genres · Reading & Comprehending Multimodal Texts · Digital Citizenship & Media Literacy · New Media Functions · Creating & Presenting Digital/Multimedia 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 British Columbia’s own curriculum for Literary Studies 11.
Textbooks
In British Columbia, each school district chooses its own textbooks: the ministry no longer recommends them. The ministry’s page
Study it in MapleMind
MapleMind teaches Literary Studies 11 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 Literary Studies 11 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
- 35
- Fillable fields
- 1,453
- Price
- $4.99
Questions about Literary Studies 11
What is Literary Studies 11?
British Columbia’s Grade 11 English course: 4 units and 30 skills, from Reading & Comprehension to Composing & Responding.
What units are in Literary Studies 11?
1. Reading & Comprehension, 2. Critical Reading, 3. Literary Analysis and 4. Composing & Responding.
Is there a provincial exam for Literary Studies 11?
No. British Columbia gives no provincial exam for Literary Studies 11.
What textbook does Literary Studies 11 use?
Each school district in British Columbia chooses its own textbooks, so ask your teacher which one your class uses.
What comes after Literary Studies 11?
Literary Studies 12, Creative Writing 12 and English Studies 12.
Can MapleMind help with Literary Studies 11?
Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of Literary Studies 11, 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.
Get ready for Literary Studies 11
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