CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.4

ELAGrades 11–12Craft and Structure

The Standard

Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 11—12 texts and topics.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6—12

What This Standard Means

Students need to figure out what technical words, symbols, and phrases mean inside a specific science or technical text. They should use context, diagrams, equations, labels, units, prefixes, roots, and nearby explanations instead of guessing or only using a general dictionary meaning.

Mastery looks like a student explaining the term in the exact context of the article, lab, manual, or data display. They can tell when a familiar word has a special meaning, such as “stress,” “work,” or “normal.” Students often get stuck by memorizing definitions, ignoring symbols, or missing how units and diagrams change the meaning.

Ways to Teach It

  • Give students a short lab procedure and have them annotate five technical terms, two symbols, and the clues that define each one.
  • Ask students to explain how the word “model” changes meaning in biology, engineering, and everyday speech, using one example each.
  • Show one paragraph from a science article and ask students to define three bolded terms using only context clues.
  • Have students read a medication label, appliance manual, or weather graph and explain three symbols or technical phrases someone must understand.

Before This Standard

If students are struggling here, check these first.

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Related Standards

Standard text verified against corestandards.org on July 10, 2026.

Page updated July 10, 2026.

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