The K-12 aim of the Saskatchewan English language arts curricula is to help students understand and appreciate language and to use it confidently and competently in a variety of situations for learning, communication, work, life, and personal satisfaction.

The K-12 goals are broad statements identifying what students are expected to know and be able to do upon completion of study in a particular subject (e.g., English language arts) by the end of Grade 12. The three K-12 goals of the Saskatchewan English language arts curricula are:

• Comprehend and Respond (CR). Children will extend their abilities to view, listen to, read, comprehend, and respond to a range of contemporary and traditional grade-level texts in a variety of forms (oral, print, and other texts) from First Nations/ Métis, and other cultures for a variety of purposes including for learning, interest, and enjoyment.
• Compose and Create (CC). Children will extend their abilities to speak, write, and use other forms of representation to explore and present thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences.
• Assess and Reflect (AR). Children will assess their own language skills; discuss the skills of effective viewers, representers, listeners, speakers, readers, and writers; and set goals for future improvement.

The study of English language arts (viewing, listening, "reading", representing, speaking, and "writing") and the elements and conventions associated with each language cueing system (i.e., pragmatic, textual, syntactic, semantic/lexical/morphological, graphophonic, and other) enables children to understand and appreciate language and to use it in a variety of situations for communication, for learning, and for personal satisfaction.

An effective Kindergarten program that develops children's facility with language provides children with opportunities to:

• learn to use language in a variety of meaningful ways, considering and determining their audience, purpose, and situation
• learn about language as a necessary tool for thinking and communicating effectively, considering the cues and conventions of language
• learn through language by applying their knowledge of language in their viewing, listening, reading, representing, speaking, and writing experiences.

Language conventions are accepted practices or agreed-upon rules in representational, spoken, or written language. Cueing systems are sets of cues or clues built into the structure or patterns of texts. Using language cues and conventions, students construct, confirm, and communicate meaning. Pragmatic cues and conventions refer to the style of language that is used in a given context and take into consideration the purpose, situation, and audience. The pragmatic cueing system is often considered to be the social aspect of language. Textual cues and conventions refer to the type or kind of text and the features that are associated with its organization. Syntactical cues and conventions refer to the structure (word order) and parts of sentences, and the rules that govern the sentences (e.g., subject-verb agreement). Semantic and lexical cues and conventions refer to the meaning and structure of words. The lexicon of a language includes all the words or vocabulary of that language that are used or understood by a particular person or group. Graphophonic cues and conventions refer to the sounds of speech (phonology) and how these sounds are organized in patterns, pronounced, and graphically represented (spelled). Other cues and conventions associated with supporting understanding and effective communication include printing, font choices, graphics, illustrations, layout, and additional enhancements such as colour, sound, and movement.

Each of the three K-12 goals for English language arts has a set of outcomes for Kindergarten. The Kindergarten experience should provide many opportunities for children to develop their language skills and strategies in all six language arts strands. As children view and represent, listen and speak, and explore emerging reading and writing experiences, they will have many opportunities to use and learn about language in meaningful ways. The Kindergarten program provides meaningful contexts for children to use and learn about language as children question and inquire about themselves, others, and the constructed and natural environments.

In Kindergarten, children are building the foundations for learning to "read" and "write". They are developing basic concepts of print but are not expected to be proficient "readers" or "writers" of print texts. Kindergarten children are beginning to engage in and experiment with "reading" (e.g., listening to and discussing books and understanding that print carries a message) and "writing" (e.g., using known letters or approximations of letters to represent written language such as their name).