Page 225 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 9–12 | Classical Studies and International Languages

critical literacy. The capacity for a particular type of critical thinking that involves looking beyond the literal meaning of texts to observe what is present and what is missing, in order
to analyse and evaluate the text’s complete meaning and the author’s intent. Critical literacy goes beyond conventional critical thinking in focusing on issues related to fairness, equity, and social justice. Critically literate students adopt a critical stance, asking what view of the world the text advances and whether they find this view acceptable.
critical thinking. Some aspects of thinking critically are: questioning, hypothesizing, interpreting, inferring, analysing, comparing, contrasting, evaluating, predicting, reasoning, distinguishing between alternatives, making and supporting judgements, elaborating on ideas, identifying values and issues, detecting bias, detecting implied as well as explicit meanings.
cues, non-verbal and visual. Aspects of spoken and unspoken communication that convey meaning without the use of words, such as facial expressions, gestures, body language, illustrations, typefaces, and punctuation.
cues, verbal. Aspects of spoken language that convey meaning. Verbal cues include such as- pects of oral communication as tone of voice or intonation, inflection, volume, pauses, and rate of speech, as well as information related to the function of words (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions) and their parts (e.g., prefixes and suffixes indicating plurals, gender, or verb tenses; sound patterns produced by rhyme).
cultural resources. Sources of information about a culture. Examples include: artists
(e.g., musicians, visual artists, dancers, writers, poets), print and non-print materials (e.g., travel brochures, books, online and other electronic resources), oral traditions (e.g., stories, legends, songs), cultural organizations (e.g., museums, art galleries, theatres, concert halls, community centres, ethno-cultural associations, a local historical society, places of worship), arts events (e.g., musical performances, film festivals), cultural events (e.g., local fairs, craft shows).
culture. The customary beliefs, values, social forms, and material traits of an ethnic, religious, or social group. It includes the arts, literature, lifestyles, and traditions.
dialect. The form of a language peculiar to
a specific region or to characteristics such as social class or education level. A dialect features variations in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
diaspora community. A widely dispersed group of people with a common origin or homeland (e.g., the Jewish diaspora, the African diaspora).
diction. The choice of words or phrases in speech or writing; the particular words chosen to express an idea.
differentiated instruction. An approach to instruction that maximizes each student’s growth by considering the needs of each student at his or her current stage of development and then offering that student a learning experience that responds to his or her individual needs.
diversity. In reference to a society, the variety of groups of people who share a range of commonly recognized physical, cultural, or social character- istics. Categories of groups may be based on various factors or characteristics, such as gender, race, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability/ disability, appearance, age, religion, and socio- economic level.
drama. A form of fiction, in prose or verse, designed for performance in a theatre or other location. Collaboration is central to the production of drama, whether in the theatre or in a classroom.
dramatization. The recasting of a story or other material into the form of a play or drama.
editing. The making of changes to the content, structure, and wording of drafts to improve the organization of ideas, eliminate awkward phrasing, correct grammatical and spelling errors, and generally ensure that the writing
is clear, coherent, and correct. See also writing process.
GLOSSARY
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