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How to Teach
Engaging Language
Arts Lessons
Jaylene Reitsema
Engaging students in reading and writing is crucial for academic
success. This article provides strategies on engaging students in
the language arts.
eaching students to read

curriculum, and help students discover the

and write are fundamental

relevance of course material.

goals of education. All

Putting Language Arts into Context

subjects build upon

students ability to comprehend and create

The weeks spelling words all had something

text. Students who struggle to read and write

in common. Each word had the /f/ sound, but

experience difficulties throughout their school

with different spellings. The students spent

careers and adult life. As such, teaching

the week organizing the words into lists,

language arts to students is of utmost

unscrambling the words, and identifying the

importance. However, can this be done in an

misspelled words in a short paragraph.

engaging manner that teaches students to

However, at the end of the week, few

read and write while maintaining student

students knew what typhoid meant, nor had

interest in reading and writing? I believe that

they used it in a sentence other than the one

engaging language arts instruction must put

the information into a meaningful context,

Jaylene Reitsema is a student at the University of

Lethbridge, Alberta, CAN; e-mail
jaylene.reitsema@uleth.ca

incorporate language mini lessons across

Jaylene Reitsema

HOW TO TEACH ENGAGING LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS

may make a class list of the words and discuss

Figure 1: Words With the Sound of /f/

(Trocki, 2001, p. 14)

unique spelling or spelling generalizations that

appear in the students list of words. Students

1. frightened

11. physical

will incorporate the meaning of the words as

2. suffer

12. photography

they learn more about them in other subjects

3. paragraph

13. atmosphere

4. effort

14. flawless

(McLaughlin, 2012, p. 432).

5. autographs

15. geography

Incorporating Language Mini Lessons Across

6. telephone

16. triumph

Curricula

7. dolphins

17. typhoid

8. enough

18. hyphen

As a general rule, language arts is easily

9. laughter

19. typhoon

integrated into all other subject areas.

10. symphony

20. tough

However, General Outcome 4 of the Alberta

in their spelling workbooks. While it may be

Education English Language Arts Program of

important for students to know the different

Study states that students will attend to

ways to spell /f/, such a list has little meaning

conventions (Alberta learning, 2000, p. 4).

for students. The words were not ones they

Often this is taught by transmission (Jones,

were using on a regular basis, nor were the

Myhill, & Bailey, 2013, p. 1242) where

students developing full knowledge of the

students are told grammatical rules and

word (Tompkins, Bright, & Winsor, 2015, p.

expected to remember them. This method is

314). To create meaningful context for

rarely engaging and promotes a sit and get

students, language arts instruction must not

be isolated to one block of a school day, but
must cross curricula and be a day long activity
(Scott, 2014, p. 41). In order for this to

Figure 2: Alberta Education Program of

Studies General Learning Outcome 4
(Alberta Learning, 2000, p.4)

happen, instruction needs to move away from

following a workbook to engaging students in
their interests. A better way forward would
have students choose words from other
subjects as their vocabulary words. Teachers

Jaylene Reitsema

HOW TO TEACH ENGAGING LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS

attitude to learning. Rather than providing

their learning. Engaging students in real world

lists of grammatical rules for students to

reading and writing helps the students to

memorize, students may learn the concepts

make connections between their lives and the

by reading books related to science or social

subject material (Parsons, S. et al., 2015, p.

studies. For example, during a science or

224; Behizadeh & Fink, 2015, p. 46).

social studies lesson, the teacher may

Incorporating books about words, grammar,

introduce and discuss informational texts with

and punctuation into instruction is another

the students, teaching them the differences

way to help students recognize the relevance

between these texts and the narratives that

of course material. Books such as Miss

they may be accustomed to experiencing

Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster (2000) by

(Haymann, Hoppe & Deniz, 2012, p. 59).

Debra Frasier(Scott, 2014, p. 40) and The

Grouchy Grammarian (2002) by Thomas

The Relevance of Course Material

Parrish (Tompkins et al., 2015, p. 327)

Students often question, Why do I have to

demonstrate how proper language use

learn this? Students who wonder why they

protects the meaning of communication.

are expected to learn certain concepts are

rarely engaged in the learning process. In
order to engage students, they must recognize

Figure 3: Various Writing Forms

(Tompkins et al., 2015, p. 179)

the editor is framed in a social studies context

alphabet books
applications
awards
blogs
book jackets
brochures
cartoons
complaints
dialogues
directions
editorials
emails
fairytales
found poems
haiku poems
hink-pinks
I am poems

where students see a real world application to

interviews

the relevance of the subject matter in their

own lives (Parsons, S., Malloy, Parsons. A, &
Burrowbridge, 2015, p. 223). Rather than
having students write a paragraph just to
practice their writing skills, students may learn
the format of a letter to the editor, discuss
current events, and then write their own
letters to the editor regarding a recent news
article. In this way, learning to write a letter to

Jaylene Reitsema

jokes
letters
limericks
menus
myths
newspapers
obituaries
posters
quickwrites
recipes
riddles
scripts
signs
tall tales
telegrams
thank-you notes
valentines
wordless picture books

HOW TO TEACH ENGAGING LANGUAGE ARTS LESSONS

Conclusion

Jones, S., Myhill, D., & Bailey, T. (2013).

The goal of language arts instruction is to

Grammar for writing? An investigation

[teach] students to become active, strategic

of the effects of contextualised

readers who successfully comprehend text

grammar teaching on students' writing.

(McLaughlin, 2012, p. 432). In order to do this,

Reading and Writing, 26(8), 1241-1263.

it is important that students are engaged in

doi: 10.1007/s11145-012-9416-1

their learning. By ensuring that language arts

McLaughlin, M. (2012). Reading

instruction provides context, is cross

Comprehension: What Every Teacher

curricular, and relevant to student lives, the

Needs to Know. Reading Teacher,

language arts will be engaging to students. As

65(7), 432-440. doi:10.1002/trtr.01064

students utilize their new found skills they will

Parsons, S. A., Malloy, J. A., Parsons, A. W.,

be able to make meaning of the world around

Burrowbridge, S. C. (2015). Students

them.

engagement in literacy tasks. The

Reading Teacher. 69(2), 223-231.

REFERENCES

doi: 10.1002/trtr.1378

Alberta Learning. (2000). English Language

Scott, R. M. (2014). "Miss alaineus" thoughts

Arts[Program of Studies]. [Edmonton],

on vocabulary instruction in 21st-

Canada: Alberta Learning. Retrieved

century classrooms. Voices from the

from:

Middle, 21(4), 40-46.

https://education.alberta.ca/media/45

Tompkins, G. E., Bright, R. M., & Winsor, P. J.

T. (2015). Language arts: Content and

0519/elak-9.pdf)

teaching strategies (6th Canadian ed.).

Behizadeh, N., Fink, L. S. (2015). Engaging

Toronto: Pearson Canada.

students through authentic and

effective literacy instruction. Voices

Trocki, P. (Ed.) (2001). Spelling Workout.

Parsippany, NJ: Modern Curriculum

From the Middle, 23(1), 40-50.

Press.

Hayman, A., Hoppe, C., & Deniz, H. (2012).

Putting science literacy on display.

Note: Layout of research brief borrowed from

The Reading Teacher, 2015.

Science and Children, 50(3), 58-62.

Jaylene Reitsema