The major purpose of this course is to analyze literature and expository text in greater depth and produce complex writing assignments. Students will continue to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier grades with more refinement, depth, and sophistication with grade-appropriate material. The California Reading/Language Arts Framework states that students in the ninth grade are expected to read one and one-half million words annually on their own, including a good representation of classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online articles. Students will apply and refine their command of the writing process and writing conventions to produce narrative, persuasive, expository, and descriptive texts of at least 1,500 words each.

English 9AB is organized into three standards-based instructional components that focus on persuasion, exposition, and literary analysis, integrating skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. During the persuasion instructional component, students will read persuasive texts, with a focus on the credibility of an author’s argument, the relationship between generalizations and evidence, the comprehensiveness of evidence, the way in which the author’s intent affects the structure and tone of the text, and extend ideas through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration. Students will also write persuasive essays and deliver persuasive presentations. In the exposition component, students will read expository texts, with a focus on synthesizing and extending ideas presented in primary and secondary sources, including works by a single author dealing with a single issue. In addition, students will write expository essays and deliver expository presentations. During the literary analysis component, students will read literary texts, with a focus on analyzing central themes in multiple works as well as analyzing themes in relation to issues of an historical period. Students will write responses to literature and deliver oral responses to literature.

English 9 AB meets the basic ninth-grade English requirement for graduation and fulfills the B requirement of the UC/CSU Subject Area Requirements.