One of a series designed to help districts refine and upgrade their current curricular offerings, this resource guide deals with the development of a unified K-12 language arts curriculum that combines the four major language arts components of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Following a brief foreword and list of acknowledgments, the first three chapters provide the user with information on (1) trends in the research; (2) suggestions for applying research trends in the classroom; and (3) suggestions that will assist language arts curriculum development groups design and refine their language arts curriculum. Specifically, the first chapter presents an overview of the Basic Education Program (BEP) for Rhode Island public schools. The second chapter provides definitions and a review of selected language arts research trends, while the third chapter deals with constructing a K-12 language arts program. The last two chapters constitute a resource section that contains selected language arts program abstracts and other program information, including an extensive bibliography. Two appendixes contain evaluation criteria and a copy of the brochure, "Essentials of English" from the National Council of Teachers of English. (NKA)