Skip to main content
Oklahoma Standards

Oklahoma 7th Grade ELA Standards

All 54 Oklahoma English language arts standards for 7th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

54 standards

Listening and Speaking: Listening

2 standards
Students will develop and apply effective communication skills through active listening.
7.1.L.1
Listen during discussions by agreed rules, read cues like eye contact and tone, and respond thoughtfully to the mood of the group.
Official wording
Students will actively listen using agreed-upon discussion rules, recognizing verbal and nonverbal cues while maintaining social awareness and responding accordingly.
7.1.L.2
Interpret both the words and the body language of a speaker, asking questions to pin down why they are speaking, like during a guest talk.
Official wording
Students will actively listen and interpret a speaker’s verbal and nonverbal messages and ask questions to clarify the speaker’s purpose.

Listening and Speaking: Speaking

3 standards
Students will develop and apply effective communication skills to share ideas through speaking.
7.1.S.1
Contribute fairly to group work, give and take to reach a shared goal, and credit each member's part, like agreeing on one project topic.
Official wording
Students will work effectively and respectfully in diverse groups by showing willingness to make necessary compromises to accomplish a goal, sharing responsibility for collaborative work, and recognizing individual contributions.
7.1.S.2
Discuss readings and writing in pairs, small groups and as a class, explaining ideas clearly and extending points others raise, like in a book club.
Official wording
Students will engage in collaborative discussions about what they are reading and writing, expressing their own ideas clearly while building on the ideas of others in pairs, diverse groups, and whole-class settings.
7.1.S.3
Give formal or casual talks alone or in a group that back a main idea with evidence, shaping purpose, content and format for the listeners.
Official wording
Students will give formal and informal presentations in a group or individually, providing evidence to support a main idea while determining the purpose, content, and form to suit the audience.

Reading and Writing Process: Reading

3 standards
Students will read and comprehend inclusive, diverse, and increasingly complex literary and informational texts.
7.2.R.1
Summarize print or multimedia texts with their main idea and key details, and connect ideas across texts, like two articles on one event.
Official wording
Students will summarize alphabetic and/or multimodal texts, including main idea and key details, to demonstrate comprehension within and between texts.
7.2.R.2
Use details in fiction, poems and nonfiction to sort texts by genre, like dialogue and a plot signaling fiction.
Official wording
Students will analyze details in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction texts to distinguish genres.
7.2.R.3
Put a short passage of a few paragraphs into fresh wording to show it was understood, like restating a page of a science chapter.
Official wording
Students will paraphrase a short passage in their own words to demonstrate comprehension.

Reading and Writing Process: Writing

5 standards
Students will engage in a recursive process that may include prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
7.2.W.1
Brainstorm and plan writing before drafting and come back to planning as needed, like an outline or a list of reasons.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively prewrite (e.g., develop ideas and plan).
7.2.W.2
Shape planned ideas into an organized first draft, revisiting the plan as new ideas come up, like fleshing out an outline into paragraphs.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively organize and develop ideas to compose a first draft.
7.2.W.3
Revise drafts repeatedly for purpose, audience, organization and coherence, like keeping the same point of view from start to finish.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively revise drafts for intended purpose, audience, organization, and coherence (e.g., consistent point of view).
7.2.W.4
Check and correct grammar, usage, spelling and punctuation in each draft with help from resources like a style guide or a peer editor.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively edit for correct grammar, usage, and mechanics, using various resources.
7.2.W.5
Publish polished writing for real audiences, like a class blog, a spoken performance or a local writing contest.
Official wording
Students will routinely and recursively publish final drafts for an authentic audience (e.g., publishing digitally, performing, entering contests).

Critical Reading and Writing: Reading

8 standards
Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate increasingly complex literary and informational texts that include a wide range of historical, cultural, ethnic, and global perspectives from a variety of genres.
7.3.R.1
Read texts on one topic by authors from different times, cultures or places and compare the methods each uses to reach their purpose.
Official wording
Students will read works written on the same topic from a variety of historical, cultural, ethnic, and global perspectives and compare the methods the authors use to achieve their purposes.
7.3.R.2
Assess how a cultural, historical, ethnic or global viewpoint colors stories and informational texts, like immigration told by a newcomer.
Official wording
Students will evaluate how perspective (e.g., historical, cultural, ethnic, and global) affects a variety of literary and informational texts.
7.3.R.3
Use setting, plot, protagonist and antagonist, characterization, inner and outer conflict, and point of view, including second person, to back an interpretation.
Official wording
Students will analyze literary elements to support an interpretation of a text:•setting•plot•characters (i.e., protagonist, antagonist)•characterization•conflict (i.e., internal, external)•point of view (i.e., third person limited and omniscient and second person)
7.3.R.4
Use figurative language, sound devices and verbal irony to back an interpretation of a text, like a character calling a disaster just great.
Official wording
Students will analyze literary devices to support an interpretation of a text:•figurative language (i.e., simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, imagery, symbolism, idiom)•sound devices (i.e., onomatopoeia, alliteration)•verbal irony
7.3.R.5
Identify story elements and devices that shape a text's theme and mood, like a stormy setting creating a tense feeling.
Official wording
Students will identify literary elements and devices that impact a text’s theme and mood.
7.3.R.6
Tell a factual claim, which can be checked, apart from an opinion, like the bridge is 100 years old versus the bridge is ugly.
Official wording
Students will distinguish factual claims from opinions.
7.3.R.7
Explain how an author's choice of structure, such as cause and effect, problem and solution, comparison, description or sequence, supports their purpose.
Official wording
Students will analyze how informational text structures support the author’s purpose:•compare/contrast•cause/effect•problem/solution•description•sequential
7.3.R.8
Analyze several ideas in a text and support each inference with evidence from the text, like what a character's choices reveal.
Official wording
Students will analyze multiple ideas from a text, providing textual evidence to support their inferences.

Critical Reading and Writing: Writing

3 standards
Students will thoughtfully and intentionally write, addressing a range of modes, purposes, and audiences.
7.3.W.1
Write true or imagined narratives with complex characters, events in order or with surprises like foreshadowing, dialogue, inner thoughts and sensory detail.
Official wording
Students will compose narratives reflecting real or imagined experiences that:•include plots involving complex characters resolving conflicts•unfold in chronological or surprising sequence (e.g., foreshadowing)•include a narrator, precise language, sensory details, dialogue, and thoughts to enhance the narrative•use sentence variety to create clarity•emulate literary elements and/or literary devices from mentor texts
7.3.W.2
Write informative essays or reports that present a topic objectively, use facts, charts or data, stay organized and keep a formal tone throughout.
Official wording
Students will compose informative essays or reports that:•objectively introduce and develop topics•incorporate evidence (e.g., specific facts, details, charts and graphs, data)•maintain an organized structure•use sentence variety and word choice to create clarity•establish and maintain a formal style•emulate literary devices from mentor texts
7.3.W.3
Write formal argument essays that state a precise claim and support it with credible, relevant evidence arranged in a logical order.
Official wording
Students will compose argumentative essays that:•introduce precise claims•organize claims and evidence in a logical sequence•provide relevant evidence to develop arguments, using credible sources•use sentence variety and word choice to create clarity•establish and maintain a formal style

Vocabulary: Reading

4 standards
Students will expand their grade-level vocabularies through reading, word study, and class discussion.
7.4.R.1
Work out how words connect through synonyms, antonyms and analogies, like author is to book as composer is to song.
Official wording
Students will analyze the relationships among synonyms, antonyms, and analogies.
7.4.R.2
Use context, connotation and denotation to pin down word meanings and pick the right sense of multiple-meaning words, like a novel idea versus a novel.
Official wording
Students will use context clues, connotation, and denotation to determine or clarify the meaning of words or distinguish among multiple-meaning words.
7.4.R.3
Break harder words into prefixes, suffixes, Greek roots and stems to define them, like graph meaning write in autograph.
Official wording
Students will use word parts (e.g., affixes, Greek roots, stems) to define and determine the meaning of increasingly complex words.
7.4.R.4
Use a dictionary, glossary or thesaurus to confirm a word's meaning, syllable breaks, pronunciation, related words and part of speech.
Official wording
Students will use a dictionary, glossary, or thesaurus to determine or clarify the meanings, syllabication, pronunciation, synonyms, antonyms, and parts of speech of words.

Vocabulary: Writing

2 standards
Students will apply knowledge of vocabulary to speak and write effectively.
7.4.W.1
Write with exact, grade-level vocabulary so ideas are clear, like reluctant instead of not wanting to.
Official wording
Students will use precise, grade-level vocabulary in writing to clearly communicate ideas.
7.4.W.2
Choose words in writing for a deliberate effect that suits the purpose, like calm, soothing words in a bedtime story.
Official wording
Students will select language in writing to create a specific effect according to purpose.

Language: Reading

2 standards
Students will expand and apply knowledge of grammar, usage, mechanics, and style to comprehend, analyze, and/or evaluate a variety of texts.
7.5.R.1
Identify simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences and explain how each affects the reading, like a long sentence that builds suspense.
Official wording
Students will recognize simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences and explain their effects.
7.5.R.2
Explain how word types shape meaning, like gerunds, cumulative and coordinate adjectives, demonstrative and vague pronouns, singular they and correlative conjunctions.
Official wording
Students will recognize and explain the impact on meaning of parts of speech in sentences:•nouns•gerunds•subject and verb agreement•cumulative and coordinate adjectives•demonstrative pronouns•vague pronouns (i.e., ones with unclear or ambiguous antecedents)•singular they/them/their•correlative conjunctions•adverbs•interjections

Language: Writing

11 standards
Students will expand and apply knowledge of grammar, usage, mechanics, and style to speak and write effectively, demonstrating standard usage when appropriate.
7.5.W.1
Mix sentence types, from simple to compound-complex, to make writing clear and varied, like adding a clause that explains why.
Official wording
Students will compose simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences to add clarity and variety in their writing.
7.5.W.2
Use well-chosen nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns to add clarity and variety, like a precise noun instead of thing.
Official wording
Students will add clarity and variety to their writing with nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, adverbs, and pronouns.
7.5.W.3
Find and fix run-ons, subject verb agreement errors, unneeded tense shifts, and vague pronouns whose antecedent is unclear, like a stray it.
Official wording
Students will recognize and correct the following: run-ons, errors in subject and verb agreement, inappropriate shifts in verb tense, and vague pronouns (i.e., ones with unclear or ambiguous antecedents).
7.5.W.4
Use capital letters correctly in writing, like for proper nouns, the pronoun I and important words in titles.
Official wording
Students will write using correct capitalization mechanics.
7.5.W.5
Close every sentence with the correct end mark, choosing a period, question mark or exclamation point to fit its meaning.
Official wording
Students will write using correct end mark mechanics.
7.5.W.6
Place apostrophes correctly in contractions and possessives, like it's versus its or the students' lockers.
Official wording
Students will write using correct apostrophe mechanics.
7.5.W.7
Use commas to separate items in a list of words or phrases, like apples, pears, and grapes.
Official wording
Students will use commas to separate words or phrases in a series.
7.5.W.8
Use a colon to introduce a quotation taken from a source, like a line from an interview after a complete sentence.
Official wording
Students will use a colon to introduce a quotation from a source.
7.5.W.9
Use quotation marks for dialogue, words quoted from sources and titles of works, like a short story or an article.
Official wording
Students will use quotation marks to indicate dialogue, quoted material, and titles of works.
7.5.W.10
Underline or italicize titles of works, a character's thoughts in a story, and foreign words, like bon appétit.
Official wording
Students will use underlining or italics to indicate titles of works, thoughts in narratives, and words in a foreign language.
7.5.W.11
Use a semicolon to join the clauses of compound and compound-complex sentences, in place of a comma and a conjunction.
Official wording
Students will use a semicolon to punctuate compound and compound-complex sentences.

Research: Reading

3 standards
Students will gather, comprehend, evaluate, and synthesize researched information to acquire and refine knowledge.
7.6.R.1
Follow self-written research questions to find and understand claims and evidence on a topic, like whether screens hurt sleep.
Official wording
Students will find and comprehend information (e.g., claims, evidence) about a topic, using their own viable research questions.
7.6.R.2
Find, note and organize information from many primary and secondary sources while following copyright and fair-use rules.
Official wording
Students will find, record, and organize information from a variety of primary and secondary sources, following ethical and legal guidelines.
7.6.R.3
Judge whether gathered information is relevant, reliable and valid, like checking a statistic against a second trusted source.
Official wording
Students will determine the relevance, reliability, and validity of the information gathered.

Research: Writing

4 standards
Students will synthesize information ethically through speaking and writing.
7.6.W.1
Create a focused research question that can be answered, then refine it, like turning video games into whether games improve reaction time.
Official wording
Students will formulate and refine a viable research question.
7.6.W.2
Draft a clear, brief thesis statement that sums up the main claim of a research project.
Official wording
Students will develop a clear, concise thesis statement.
7.6.W.3
Quote and summarize research findings with citations in one steady style, like MLA or APA, so every borrowed idea is credited.
Official wording
Students will quote and summarize findings following a consistent citation style (e.g., MLA, APA) to avoid plagiarism.
7.6.W.4
Carry out research papers or projects alone, both short ones over two or three days and longer ones over about a week.
Official wording
Students will create research papers and/or projects independently for shorter timeframes (e.g., two or three days) and over extended periods of time (e.g., one week).

Multimodal Literacies: Reading

1 standard
Students will comprehend and evaluate multimodal content.
7.7.R
Compare and judge how well techniques in text, audio, visuals, layout or gesture work from different viewpoints, like camera angles in two ads.
Official wording
Students will compare and contrast the effectiveness of techniques used in a variety of alphabetic, aural, visual, spatial, and/or gestural content from various perspectives.

Multimodal Literacies: Writing

1 standard
Students will create multimodal content to communicate effectively.
7.7.W
Produce work that blends text, audio, images, gesture or layout to get ideas across to an audience, like an infographic or a short video.
Official wording
Students will create multimodal content (i.e., alphabetic, aural, visual, gestural and/or spatial) that effectively communicates ideas for an intended audience.

Independent Reading and Writing: Reading

1 standard
Students will read self-selected texts independently, choosing genres to suit and expand their personal preferences and purposes.
7.8.R
Read self-chosen books alone for varied stretches of time, choosing genres that match personal tastes and branching out, like trying a mystery.
Official wording
Students will read self-selected texts independently and for various lengths of time, choosing genres to suit and expand their personal preferences and purposes.

Independent Reading and Writing: Writing

1 standard
Students will write independently, intentionally selecting modes, purposes, and audiences.
7.8.W
Write independently by hand, in cursive or by typing for any length of time, choosing or blending genres to fit the audience and purpose.
Official wording
Students will write independently using print, cursive, and/or typing for various lengths of time, choosing and combining modes and genres to suit their audience and purpose.

The official Oklahoma documents

Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts, Oklahoma State Department of Education.

The plain-English lines are EMStudio's own explanations, shown beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.