Many of the activities and tasks that students undertake in the Canadian and world studies curriculum involve the literacy skills relating to oral, written, and visual communication. For example, they develop literacy skills by reading, interpreting, and analysing various texts, including diaries, letters, government legislation and policy documents, interviews, speeches, treaties, information from non-governmental organizations, news stories, and fiction and non-fiction books. In addition, they develop the skills needed to construct, extract information from, and analyse various types of maps and digital representations, including topographic, demographic, thematic, annotated, choropleth, and geographic information systems (GIS) maps. In all Canadian and world studies courses, students are required to use appropriate and correct terminology, including that related to the concepts of disciplinary thinking, and are encouraged to use language with care and precision in order to communicate effectively.

The Ministry of Education has facilitated the development of materials to support literacy instruction across the curriculum. Helpful advice for integrating literacy instruction in Canadian and World Studies courses may be found in the following resource documents: