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Common Core ELA8th GradeLanguage

L.8.6: Academic and Content Vocabulary

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.6 · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use.

Get the Frayer ModelAll 41 8th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 8, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.8.6 Means in Plain English

Eighth graders use two kinds of words accurately: academic words that work in every class (evidence, indicates, consequently) and subject words like reactant, amendment or slope. When a word matters to understanding a text or explaining an idea, they track it down instead of skipping it.

The standard reads the same in seventh grade (L.7.6). What grows is the reading behind it: eighth-grade science, history and literature. In grades 9 and 10 (L.9-10.6), the target becomes vocabulary for college and career reading, and students gather new words on their own.

L.8.6 I Can Statements

  • I can use academic words like indicates and consequently correctly.
  • I can use the key terms of each subject in my answers.
  • I can look up a word that matters before I use it.

L.8.6 Worked Example

One lab result explained twice. The facts are the same; the vocabulary decides whether the answer shows understanding.

Prompt

Explain the lab result using precise science and academic words: vinegar and baking soda reacted inside a sealed bag, the bag puffed up, and the total mass stayed at 152 grams.

Not YetThe stuff mixed and made bubbles, and the bag got puffy. It weighed the same at the end, so nothing got lost. Science is cool.Stuff, mixed and puffy stand in for words the class has learned, and nothing connects the result to a scientific idea. A teacher can’t tell whether the student understands the reaction.
Meets the StandardThe vinegar and baking soda are the reactants, and the bubbles show that a gas, carbon dioxide, was one of the products. Because the bag was sealed, the gas could not escape, so the total mass stayed at 152 grams. This result supports the law of conservation of mass: in a chemical reaction, atoms are rearranged, not created or destroyed.Subject terms (reactants, products, conservation of mass) name exactly what happened, and academic words (show, result, supports) link the evidence to the idea. Each term is used correctly, not just dropped in.
Moves to Use
Swap everyday words for the subject’s terms: stuff becomes reactants.Use academic verbs to link evidence and idea: shows, supports, indicates.Check any term you’re unsure of in the glossary before you use it.Keep a running list of the unit’s key words and use each in writing.

Common Mistakes with L.8.6

Dropping in words without meaning them

“The reactants conserved the mass of the product,” a sentence full of terms that says nothing

Try this: Ask students to explain each term they used in everyday words, out loud, before the answer counts as finished.

Teaching only the subject words

Students know photosynthesis cold but stall on analyze, contrast and justify in the test question

Try this: Post the academic verbs that appear in your questions, like analyze, justify and contrast, and model what each one asks for.

Word lists with no reading

Twenty words copied from a glossary on Monday, quizzed Friday, gone by the next Monday

Try this: Pick five words students meet in this week’s reading, and require each one in a written answer before the unit ends.

Where L.8.6 Fits

Comes BeforeL.7.6Build and use 7th-grade academic and subject vocabulary, and look up key words.
AlongsideL.8.4Work out an unfamiliar word from context, roots or a dictionary, then verify it.W.8.2Write explanatory pieces with precise language and the subject’s own vocabulary.
Comes NextL.9-10.6Build vocabulary for college and career reading, and gather new words independently.

Practice L.8.6

Vocabulary Worksheet GeneratorFree ToolPaste the unit’s key terms and get word, definition, sentence and picture practice for the week.Science unitHistory unitGrade 8
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Quick Check

  1. Which words in the strong answer are subject-specific science terms?
  2. Which academic words link the evidence to the idea in the strong answer?
  3. Which everyday words in the weak answer stand in for science terms?

L.8.6: Other Names

L.8.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.6

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.