South Dakota ELA 6.SL.6
The Standard
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts, audience, and tasks, using feedback from self and others and demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 6 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)
South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students change their wording, tone, and level of detail to fit their listener and purpose. They use a self-check or a partner's comment to improve a second try, and use formal English when the setting calls for it.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can tell a friend about a proposed lunch change, then make the same point to the principal with a clear request and formal wording. After a peer says the reason is unclear, the student adds a specific example.
Common Misconceptions
- Some students think everyday speech is wrong in every setting, or that formal speech just means using big words. Others change only their volume for a new audience or ignore feedback about an unclear point.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to make the same 15-second field trip request to a classmate and to the principal. After a partner gives one suggestion, have them repeat one version with a clear change.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs audience cards and task cards; students draw one of each, deliver a 20-second message, then redraw and adjust their wording.
Ask students to write two opening lines about a late bus, one for a friend and one for the principal, then explain their choices.
Play audience switch: call out friend, teacher, or school board while students retell the same lunch suggestion and adjust their wording.
Have students record a voicemail asking the school librarian about a missing book, listen back, and rerecord after a partner's note.
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Printable 6.SL.6 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 7.SL.6
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts, audiences, and tasks, using self-reflection and feedback to and from others and demonstrating command of formal English w...
- 8.SL.6
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts, audiences, and tasks, using self-reflection and feedback to and from others and demonstrating command of formal English w...
- 6.L.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking; retain and further develop language skills learned in pre...
- 5.SL.6
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts, audience, and tasks, using feedback from self and others and demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or ap...
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