Ontario · Grade 12
Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation
- ETS4U
Ontario’s Grade 12 English course, from Understanding Texts to The Role of Literature in Society.
- Units
- 5
- Lessons
- 7
- Skills
- 18
- Provincial exam
- None
- Official curriculum
- Ontario Ministry of Education
Unit by unit
Every skill in the course, numbered by unit.
Unit 1 · 4 skills
Understanding Texts
Reading Widely and With Purpose
Reading literary texts across cultures and periods
I can read a variety of literary texts from different backgrounds, cultures, and time periods.
Skill 1.1
Setting a purpose for reading a text
I can identify a clear purpose for reading a particular text.
Skill 1.2
Using reading comprehension strategies
I can select and use comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading.
Skill 1.3
Responding to texts to extend understanding
I can respond to a text in varied ways to extend my understanding of its ideas and themes.
Skill 1.4
The official wording · 4 outcomes
- 1.1
- read a variety of types of literary texts by authors from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and time periods
- 1.2
- identify a purpose (or purposes) for reading particular texts
- 1.3
- identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies, select those that are most appropri- ate for specific reading purposes and tasks, and use them before, during, and after reading to enhance their understanding of texts
- 1.4
- respond to texts in a variety of ways before, during, and after reading to extend their understanding of the ideas, themes, language,
Key ideas
Literary study draws on texts from many backgrounds, cultures, and time periods.
Reading a genre, author, period, or country deeply builds a scholar's range.
Different texts are read for different purposes — an essay for the author's beliefs, a reference text for information.
Naming a purpose focuses and deepens the reading.
Comprehension strategies — questioning, connecting, annotating — are chosen to fit the purpose and task.
Watch out for
- Reading only one culture, genre, or era.
- Thinking breadth of reading isn't part of literary study.
- Reading every text the same way regardless of purpose.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 2 · 4 skills
Analysing Texts
Context, Ideas, and Themes
Using secondary sources to understand context
I can use secondary sources to understand how context shapes a text's ideas and themes.
Skill 2.1
Analysing ideas, issues, and themes with evidence
I can analyse a text's ideas and themes using evidence from the text.
Skill 2.2
Form and Style
How text form communicates meaning
I can explain how a text's form helps communicate its meaning.
Skill 2.3
Analysing elements of style
I can analyse elements of style and explain how they enhance a text's effectiveness.
Skill 2.4
The official wording · 4 outcomes
- 2.1
- use information from secondary sources to understand how historical, political, and cul- tural contexts influence the presentation of ideas, issues, and themes in texts
- 2.2
- analyse texts in terms of the information, ideas, issues, and themes they explore, providing evidence from the texts to support their analy- sis
- 2.3
- explain how the characteristics of different text forms help communicate meaning in a variety of literary texts
- 2.4
- identify various elements of style used in texts and explain how they help communicate meaning and enhance the effectiveness of the text
Key ideas
Historical, political, and cultural contexts influence how ideas and themes are presented in a text.
Text forms — novel, poem, drama, graphic novel, film — have characteristics that shape meaning.
Secondary sources supply the background that reveals those influences.
Devices like flashbacks or a shift from metre to free verse carry meaning through form.
Analysis identifies the information, ideas, issues, and themes a text explores.
Watch out for
- Reading a text as if it exists outside any context.
- Thinking form is just packaging, separate from meaning.
- Trusting a single secondary source uncritically.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 3 · 3 skills
Critical Literacy
Author, Reader, and Perspective
How an author's background influences their writing
I can explain how an author's background and conditions influence their writing.
Skill 3.1
How readers' contexts shape interpretation
I can analyse how readers' contexts and perspectives shape their interpretations of a text.
Skill 3.2
Identifying whose perspective a text foregrounds
I can identify whose perspectives a text foregrounds and how it communicates them.
Skill 3.3
The official wording · 3 outcomes
- 3.1
- demonstrate an understanding of how an author’s writing has been influenced by factors such as gender, time period, cultural back- ground, and social and political conditions and events
- 3.2
- analyse texts in terms of how social, cultural, and political contexts and different readers’ personal perspectives may influence readers’ interpretations of the text
- 3.3
- analyse texts to identify particular perspectives presented in them and the stylistic and/or structural means used to communicate those perspectives
Key ideas
Factors like gender, time period, cultural background, and social and political conditions influence an author's writing.
Recognizing these factors deepens a critical reading of the text.
A reader's social, cultural, and political context shapes how they interpret a text.
Different readers, or the same text read across eras, produce different interpretations.
Texts foreground certain perspectives — mainstream or marginal — and silence others.
Watch out for
- Reading an author's views as neutral and context-free.
- Ignoring the conditions under which a text was written.
- Assuming there is only one correct interpretation.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 4 · 4 skills
Literary Criticism
The Language and Lenses of Criticism
Key concepts and terms of literary criticism
I can use the key concepts and specialized terms of literary criticism.
Skill 4.1
Applying critical approaches to interpret texts
I can apply a critical approach to analyse and interpret a text.
Skill 4.2
Working With Critical Interpretations
Assessing published critical interpretations
I can assess published critical interpretations and use the most convincing to extend my understanding.
Skill 4.3
Comparing critical responses with peers
I can compare peers' critical responses with my own to extend my understanding.
Skill 4.4
The official wording · 4 outcomes
- 4.1
- demonstrate an understanding of key concepts and specialized terms that are used in literary criticism
- 4.2
- use key concepts or approaches of literary crit- icism to help them analyse and interpret liter- ary texts
- 4.3
- assess critical interpretations found in print and electronic sources and use those that seem most appropriate, helpful, or convincing to extend their understanding of specific works in the course
- 4.4
- compare peers’ critical responses with their own to clarify and extend their understanding of literary texts
Key ideas
Literary criticism has key concepts and specialized terms — genre, movement, critical theory.
Critics publish interpretations in print and electronic sources that vary in quality and insight.
Understanding this vocabulary lets a reader think and talk precisely about texts.
Assessing them lets a reader adopt the most appropriate, helpful, or convincing to deepen understanding.
Critical approaches — archetypal, feminist, Marxist — offer distinct lenses for interpreting a text.
Watch out for
- Using critical terms loosely or incorrectly.
- Accepting a published critic's view uncritically.
- Thinking criticism has no specialized vocabulary to learn.
Every skill’s key ideas, worked examples and checks are in MapleMind.Practise this unit
Unit 5 · 3 skills
The Role of Literature in Society
Literature as a Social and Cultural Force
How literature raises awareness
I can explain how literary texts raise awareness about issues, cultures, and people.
Skill 5.1
How literature promotes intellectual and imaginative growth
I can identify how literary texts promote intellectual and imaginative growth.
Skill 5.2
How literature can promote social and personal change
I can identify how literary texts might promote social and personal change.
Skill 5.3
The official wording · 3 outcomes
- 5.1
- explain how literary texts raise awareness about a range of topics, issues, ideas, cultures, events, and people
- 5.2
- identify ways in which literary texts can pro- mote readers’ intellectual and imaginative growth
- 5.3
- identify ways in which literary texts might promote social and personal change
Key ideas
Literary texts raise awareness about topics, issues, cultures, events, and people.
They can challenge norms and bring marginalized voices to a mainstream audience.
Literary texts prompt readers to think in new ways and imagine other lives and possibilities.
This intellectual and imaginative growth is part of literature's value.
Literary texts can move readers to reconsider beliefs and can inspire social action.
Watch out for
- Thinking literature is only for entertainment.
- Overlooking texts that surface marginalized voices.
- Thinking a text's value is only its plot.
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?
Ontario has 4 English courses for Grade 12. Here they are side by side.
- English, Grade 12, College PreparationENG4C4 units · 61 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversOral Communication · Reading and Literature Studies · Writing · Media Studies
- English, Grade 12, University PreparationENG4U4 units · 62 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversOral Communication · Reading and Literature Studies · Writing · Media Studies
- Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University PreparationThis courseETS4U5 units · 18 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversUnderstanding Texts · Analysing Texts · Critical Literacy · Literary Criticism · The Role of Literature in Society
- The Writer's Craft, Grade 12, University PreparationEWC4U2 units · 16 skillsNo provincial examWhat it coversInvestigating Writing · Practising Writing
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 Ontario’s own curriculum for Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation.
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Questions about Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation
What is Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation?
Ontario’s Grade 12 English course: 5 units and 18 skills, from Understanding Texts to The Role of Literature in Society.
What units are in Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation?
1. Understanding Texts, 2. Analysing Texts, 3. Critical Literacy, 4. Literary Criticism and 5. The Role of Literature in Society.
Is there a provincial exam for Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation?
No. Ontario gives no provincial exam for Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation.
Can MapleMind help with Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation?
Yes. MapleMind teaches every skill of Studies in Literature, Grade 12, University Preparation, 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.
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