Middle School Concepts: Eighth Grade Reading

As children continue to mature through middle school, so do their academic lessons and skills. It is exciting to watch an eighth grade student expand their knowledge and comprehension of academic subjects, such as reading. Many parents are unsure as to what they should be looking for and how to determine if their child is struggling with an academic concept. Identifying deficiencies is difficult because struggling students often attempt to mask their academic troubles. Parents can refer to the following information to determine if their child is progressing adequately.

Figurative Language

The use of figurative language increases in the eighth grade, preparing students for high school English courses. Eighth graders should become proficient in hyperbole, idioms, metaphors, personification, similes and technical language. The ability to determine the meaning of these items within a text is important for students and helps parents and teachers monitor a middleschooler's reading comprehension. As the eighth grade progresses students should increase their knowledge and capabilities of these figures of speech.

Literary Analysis

The use and understanding of literary analysis is also expected to increase throughout the eighth grade. Students in grade eight will start to analyze the relevance of a text's setting in comparison to its mood and tone. These kids will look at the time, place and situation to determine how the setting can affect the overall feel of a story.

Eighth graders are also expected to draw conclusions and inferences about various components of a text based on the writer's word choice. These components include the overall style, mood and meaning of the piece. Literary analysis will also include poetry as students are expected to examine the characteristics and structure of various forms including ballad, elegy, epic, free verse, haiku, lyric and sonnet. An understanding of these elements will strengthen a child's success in high school English.

Persuasive Writing

The ability to analyze and create persuasive pieces is also reinforced in the eighth grade. At the end of the school year students should be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the facts and arguments used in a persuasive paper. Eighth graders can evaluate propaganda methods used within an article such as bandwagon, loaded words, peer pressure, repetition, and testimonials. Students should also be able to locate instances of bias in persuasive texts.

Helping Your Eighth Grader

Students often struggle with these reading skills but are too ashamed or stubborn to ask for help. If parents notice a change in a child's confidence, attitude, behavior or grades, or a teacher voices concern it is an indicator that the middle school student needs additional help with their reading. Parents can work with their child at home or look to the help of a professional tutor.