Common Core ELA8th GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.8.1: Connect Speakers and Qualify Your View

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1 · Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration.

Start the Decision Clock All 41 8th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

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

What SL.8.1 Means in Plain English

Eighth graders arrive with marked passages to probe ideas, help the group reach a decision by its deadline, and ask questions that tie two classmates’ points together. When new evidence comes up, they say whether it narrows their view or why they still hold it.

Seventh graders (SL.7.1) ask for elaboration, keep talk on topic and change their minds when warranted. Eighth grade adds group decisions, questions linking several speakers, and qualifying or justifying a view. Ninth and tenth graders (SL.9-10.1) write their own discussion rules and tie talk to larger themes.

SL.8.1 I Can Statements

I can bring marked evidence to a discussion and use it to probe.
I can ask a question that connects what two classmates said.
I can qualify or defend my view when new evidence comes up.

SL.8.1 Worked Example

Two students reply right after Ingrid and Kenji have spoken. Only the second reply shows the speaker heard both of them and kept an eye on the clock.

Prompt

Small-group discussion of two readings on replacing the school’s grass field with artificial turf. The group owes the principal a recommendation by the end of the period. Ingrid said, “Turf gets much hotter than grass on a sunny day.” Then Kenji said, “Turf never turns to mud, so we’d stop losing practices to rain.” Respond.

Not YetI agree with Kenji. Mud is the worst, and my cleats got wrecked last spring. Also, Ingrid, people can just drink more water. So we should do it.It sides with Kenji on a feeling, waves off Ingrid’s point without evidence and never connects the two. The group is no closer to a recommendation than it was a minute ago.

Meets the StandardIngrid and Kenji might both be right, so here’s a question for both of them: if turf saves our rainy days but gets too hot on sunny ones, do we come out ahead? The athletic director’s log on page 3 says we lost 14 practices to mud last spring, almost all of them in March and April, before the hot weather. So I still think we should recommend turf, but with a condition: a heat rule that moves practice indoors on the hottest afternoons. We have ten minutes left. Can we vote on that version?It names Ingrid and Kenji and asks a question that puts their points together, answers it with the athletic director’s log and its page number, narrows the speaker’s own view with a condition, and calls for a vote before the deadline.

Moves to Use

Bring the reading marked up, and cite the page when you use it.Name two speakers and ask a question that puts their points together.Say what new evidence does to your view: drop it, narrow it or defend it.Keep the group’s goal and the clock in view, and call for the decision.

Common Mistakes with SL.8.1

Answering only the last speaker

Every comment replies to whoever just spoke, so a point made five minutes ago is never answered

Try this: Require one question per round that names two classmates, using the stem “How does Kenji’s point fit with Ingrid’s?”

Treating a changed mind as losing

“I still think what I thought,” said right after the group has heard evidence that cuts against it

Try this: Teach two frames, “I’d narrow my view to…” and “I still hold it because…,” and ask for one after new evidence.

Discussions that never decide

Twenty minutes of good talk, the bell rings, and nobody knows what the group recommends

Try this: Post the decision the group owes and its deadline on the board, and give one student the job of calling the vote.

Where SL.8.1 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.7.1Ask questions that draw out elaboration, steer talk back on topic, and modify views when warranted.

AlongsideRI.8.8Judge whether an article’s reasoning holds and its evidence is enough, the homework behind a prepared reply.SL.8.3Break down a classmate’s argument and catch evidence that is beside the point.

Comes NextSL.9-10.1Set discussion rules with peers, tie questions to larger themes, and sum up where the group agrees and disagrees.

Practice SL.8.1

Classroom TimerFree ToolPut the group’s deadline on the board: a countdown for each discussion round, then a final five minutes for calling the vote.Discussion rounds5-minute decision

Start a Timer

Quick Check

Which two speakers does the strong reply connect, and with what question?
Ingrid and Kenji. It asks whether the school comes out ahead if turf saves rainy days but gets too hot on sunny ones.
How does the speaker qualify their view in the strong reply?
They still recommend turf, but now with a condition: a heat rule that moves practice indoors on the hottest afternoons.
What evidence does the strong reply bring from the readings, and how does it answer the question it asks?
The athletic director’s log on page 3: 14 practices lost to mud last spring, almost all before the hot weather. Turf would win back those cool-month days, so heat only has to be managed later.

SL.8.1: Other Names

SL.8.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1