Part of the Alberta (Canada) Education's "Program of Studies for Elementary Schools, 1978" (amended 1981), this publication presents the curriculum specifications for the grade six language arts achievement test. These curriculum specifications integrate a taxonomy of levels of thinking skills with a set of five communications skills--writing, reading, viewing, listening, and speaking. The guide organizes the thinking skills under these major headings and subheadings: (1) literal understanding (recognizing and recalling); (2) inferential understanding (inferring, interpreting, predicting, and concluding); (3) application (locating and organizing, classifying, and synthesizing); (4) evaluation (distinguishing, judging appropriateness, and judging worth, desirability, and acceptability); and (5) appreciation (responding). After outlining the percentage of classroom time suggested for each of the communications skills, the document recommends time limits for each level of the thinking skills. The main section of the document presents detailed curriculum specifications suggesting the appropriate communication skill to be used in conjunction with each thinking skill, and the relative percentage of classroom time to be spent on each concept. For example, under the thinking skill heading "Literal Understanding," the ability to recognize and recall main ideas is given 15 to 20% listening time, 10 to 15% viewing time, and 25% reading time, with no speaking or writing time. The relative importance of each thinking skill is weighted according to the recommendations of classroom teachers. (JG)