About the AP English Language and Composition Course

The AP English Language and Composition course focuses on the development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing, the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, and the decisions writers make as they compose and revise. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Additionally, they read and analyze rhetorical elements and their effects in nonfiction texts—including images as forms of text—from a range of disciplines and historical periods.

College Course EquivalentThe AP English Language and Composition course aligns to an introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum.

PrerequisitesThere are no prerequisite courses for AP English Language and Composition. Students should be able to read and comprehend college-level texts and write grammatically correct, complete sentences.

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 V.1 | 7AP English Language and Composition Course and Exam Description

Introduction

An AP English Language and Composition course cultivates the reading and writing skills that students need for college success and for intellectually responsible civic engagement. The course guides students in becoming curious, critical, and responsive readers of diverse texts and becoming flexible, reflective writers of texts addressed to diverse audiences for diverse purposes. The reading and writing students do in the course should deepen and expand their understanding of how written language functions rhetorically: to communicate writers’ intentions and elicit readers’ responses in particular situations.

To support these objectives, this AP English Language and Composition Course and Exam Description delineates the knowledge and skills colleges and universities typically expect students to demonstrate in order to receive credit for an introductory college composition course.

This publication is not a curriculum. Teachers create their own curricula by selecting and sequencing the texts and tasks that will enable students to develop the knowledge and skills outlined in this document. In some cases, teachers also need to meet certain state or local requirements within the AP curriculum they develop for their school. The objective of this publication is to provide teachers with clarity regarding the content and skills students should learn in order to qualify for college credit and placement. The AP Program recognizes that the real craft is in the skill with which teachers develop and deliver instruction.

Students develop the skills of rhetorical analysis and composition as they repeatedly practice analyzing others’ arguments, then compose their own arguments. As a model for teachers, the course content and skills are presented in nine units. The objective of this unit structure is to respect new AP teachers’ time by suggesting one possible sequence they can adapt rather than having to build from scratch.

An additional benefit is that these units enable the AP Program to provide interested teachers with free formative assessments—the Personal Progress Checks—that they can assign their students at the end of each unit to gauge progress toward success on the AP Exam. However, experienced AP teachers who are satisfied with their current course organization and results should feel no pressure to adopt these units, which comprise an optional, not mandatory, sequence for this course.

Because these nine units only delineate the skills students should be developing across the AP English Language and Composition course but do not specify the content or themes students will study, teachers can assign a theme or title to each of the nine units (e.g., Humanity and Nature, Industry and Technology, Family and Community) or can dedicate multiple units to the same theme (e.g., Family and Community I, II, and III). This enables teachers to avail themselves of the scaffolded skill progressions detailed in each unit to help focus their students’ learning and practice and then assign students the relevant Personal Progress Checks.

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Course Framework V.1 | 11AP English Language and Composition Course and Exam Description

AP

En

gli

sh L

ang

uag

e an

d C

omp

osit

ion

Sk

ills

RH

S  R

heto

rical

Situ

atio

n

Indi

vidu

als w

rite

with

in a

par

ticul

ar si

tuat

ion

and

mak

e st

rate

gic

writ

ing

choi

ces b

ased

on

that

si

tuat

ion.

Ski

ll C

ateg

ory

1S

kill

Cat

egor

y 2

Rhe

tori

cal

Sit

uat

ion

–

Rea

din

gEx

plai

n ho

w w

riter

s’ ch

oice

s refl

ect t

he

com

pone

nts o

f the

rh

etor

ical

situ

atio

n.

Rhe

tori

cal

Sit

uat

ion

–

Wri

tin

gM

ake

stra

tegi

c ch

oice

s in

a te

xt to

add

ress

a

rhet

oric

al si

tuat

ion.

1.A

 Ide

ntify

an

d de

scrib

e co

mpo

nent

s of

the

rhet

oric

al s

ituat

ion:

th

e ex

igen

ce,

audi

ence

, writ

er,

purp

ose,

con

text

, an

d m

essa

ge.

Uni

ts 1

, 4, 7

2.A

Writ

e in

trodu

ctio

ns

and

conc

lusi

ons

appr

opria

te to

the

purp

ose

and

cont

ext

of th

e rh

etor

ical

si

tuat

ion.

Uni

ts 4

, 7

1.B

 Exp

lain

how

an

arg

umen

t de

mon

stra

tes

unde

rsta

ndin

g of

an

audi

ence

’s b

elie

fs,

valu

es, o

r nee

ds.

Uni

ts 2

, 8

2.B

Dem

onst

rate

an

unde

rsta

ndin

g of

an

audi

ence

’s b

elie

fs,

valu

es, o

r nee

ds.

Uni

ts 2

, 8

SK

ILLS

EN

DU

RIN

G U

ND

ER

STA

ND

ING

S

BIG

IDE

AS

CLE

 Cl

aim

s an

d Ev

iden

ce

Writ

ers m

ake

clai

ms a

bout

subj

ects

, rel

y on

evi

denc

e th

at su

ppor

ts th

e re

ason

ing

that

just

ifies

the

clai

m,

and

ofte

n ac

know

ledg

e or

resp

ond

to o

ther

, pos

sibl

y op

posi

ng, a

rgum

ents

.

Ski

ll C

ateg

ory

3S

kill

Cat

egor

y 4

Cla

ims

and

Evi

den

ce –

R

eadi

ng

Iden

tify

and

desc

ribe

the

clai

ms a

nd e

vide

nce

of

an a

rgum

ent.

Cla

ims

and

Evi

den

ce –

W

riti

ng

Anal

yze

and

sele

ct

evid

ence

to d

evel

op a

nd

refin

e a

clai

m.

3.A

Ide

ntify

and

ex

plai

n cl

aim

s an

d ev

iden

ce w

ithin

an

argu

men

t.U

nits

1, 2

, 3, 6

4.A

Dev

elop

a

para

grap

h th

at

incl

udes

a c

laim

and

ev

iden

ce s

uppo

rtin

g th

e cl

aim

.U

nits

1, 2

, 3, 6

3.B

Ide

ntify

an

d de

scrib

e th

e ov

erar

chin

g th

esis

of

an a

rgum

ent,

and

any

indi

catio

n it

prov

ides

of

the

argu

men

t’s

stru

ctur

e.U

nits

2, 4

, 6

4.B

Writ

e a

thes

is

stat

emen

t tha

t re

quire

s pr

oof o

r de

fens

e an

d th

at m

ay

prev

iew

the

stru

ctur

e of

the

argu

men

t.U

nit

2, 4

, 6

3.C

Exp

lain

way

s cl

aim

s ar

e qu

alifi

ed

thro

ugh

mod

ifier

s,

coun

tera

rgum

ents

, an

d al

tern

ativ

e pe

rspe

ctiv

es.

Uni

ts 7

, 9

4.C

Qua

lify

a cl

aim

us

ing

mod

ifier

s,

coun

tera

rgum

ents

, or

alte

rnat

ive

pers

pect

ives

.U

nits

7, 9

REO

 Re

ason

ing

and

Org

aniz

atio

n

Writ

ers g

uide

und

erst

andi

ng o

f a te

xt’s

lines

of

reas

onin

g an

d cl

aim

s thr

ough

that

text

’s or

gani

zatio

n an

d in

tegr

atio

n of

evi

denc

e.

Ski

ll C

ateg

ory

5S

kill

Cat

egor

y 6

Rea

son

ing

and

Org

aniz

atio

n –

R

eadi

ng

Desc

ribe

the

reas

onin

g,

orga

niza

tion,

and

de

velo

pmen

t of a

n ar

gum

ent.

Rea

son

ing

and

Org

aniz

atio

n –

W

riti

ng

Use

orga

niza

tion

and

com

men

tary

to ill

umin

ate

the

line

of re

ason

ing

in a

n ar

gum

ent.

5.A

Des

crib

e th

e lin

e of

reas

onin

g an

d ex

plai

n w

heth

er it

sup

port

s an

arg

umen

t’s

over

arch

ing

thes

is.

Uni

t 3,

5

6.A

Dev

elop

a lin

e of

reas

onin

g an

d co

mm

enta

ry th

at

expl

ains

it th

roug

hout

an

arg

umen

t.U

nits

3, 5

5.B

Exp

lain

how

th

e or

gani

zatio

n of

a

text

cre

ates

uni

ty

and

cohe

renc

e an

d re

flect

s a

line

of

reas

onin

g.U

nit

5

6.B

Use

tran

sitio

nal

elem

ents

to g

uide

th

e re

ader

thro

ugh

the

line

of re

ason

ing

of a

n ar

gum

ent.

Uni

t 5

5.C

Rec

ogni

ze

and

expl

ain

the

use

of m

etho

ds

of d

evel

opm

ent

to a

ccom

plis

h a

purp

ose.

Uni

ts 3

, 4

6.C

Use

app

ropr

iate

m

etho

ds o

f de

velo

pmen

t to

adv

ance

an

argu

men

t.U

nits

3, 4

STL

 St

yle

The

rhet

oric

al si

tuat

ion

info

rms t

he st

rate

gic

styl

istic

ch

oice

s tha

t writ

ers m

ake.

Ski

ll C

ateg

ory

7S

kill

Cat

egor

y 8

Sty

le –

R

eadi

ng

Expl

ain

how

writ

ers’

styl

istic

cho

ices

co

ntrib

ute

to th

e pu

rpos

e of

an

argu

men

t.

Sty

le –

W

riti

ng

Sele

ct w

ords

and

use

el

emen

ts o

f com

posi

tion

to a

dvan

ce a

n ar

gum

ent.

7.A

Exp

lain

how

w

ord

choi

ce,

com

paris

ons,

and

sy

ntax

con

tribu

te to

th

e sp

ecifi

c to

ne o

r st

yle

of a

text

.U

nits

5, 6

, 8

8.A

Stra

tegi

cally

us

e w

ords

, co

mpa

rison

s, a

nd

synt

ax to

con

vey

a sp

ecifi

c to

ne o

r sty

le

in a

n ar

gum

ent.

Uni

ts 5

, 6, 8

7.B

Exp

lain

how

wr

iters

cre

ate,

co

mbi

ne, a

nd p

lace

in

depe

nden

t and

de

pend

ent c

laus

es

to sh

ow re

latio

nshi

ps

betw

een

and

amon

g id

eas.

Uni

ts 7

, 8

8.B

Writ

e se

nten

ces

that

cle

arly

con

vey

idea

s an

d ar

gum

ents

.U

nits

7, 8

7.C

Exp

lain

ho

w g

ram

mar

an

d m

echa

nics

co

ntrib

ute

to

the

clar

ity a

nd

effec

tiven

ess

of a

n ar

gum

ent.

Uni

t 7

8.C

 Use

est

ablis

hed

conv

entio

ns o

f gr

amm

ar a

nd

mec

hani

cs to

co

mm

unic

ate

clea

rly

and

effec

tivel

y.U

nit

7

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Course Framework V.1 | 19AP English Language and Composition Course and Exam Description