A Summary of the Report: What Content-Area Teachers Should Know About Adolescent Literacy Report developed by: National Institute for Literacy National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Department of Education Summary prepared by: teachers of Kinston High School

Introduction Staggering statistic: 8.7 million fourth –twelfth graders struggle with reading and writing tasks Ongoing difficulties illustrate need for literacy instruction beyond elementary years Middle and high school teachers have difficulty providing literacy instruction in addition to content

Key Literacy Components Decoding/phonemic awareness and phonics Morphology Vocabulary Fluency Text comprehension

Purpose of the Report To make content-area teachers “more aware of the literacy skills that skilled readers possess and recognize when students struggle with these foundational skills” Not intended to suggest that content-area teachers focus on developing these foundational skills in context of content-area classroom, but instead to suggest need for more intensive instruction with a reading specialist

Decoding Word identification refers to the ability to decipher a particular word out of a group of letters correctly Phonemic awareness is required for decoding; it is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds called phonemes Phonemic awareness instruction is most beneficial at kindergarten and first grade level; it leads to greater articulation of unfamiliar words later Phonics is also required for decoding; it is the understanding of the relationship between the letters in the written word and the sounds of these words when spoken. Phonics is used as the basis for reading and writing; it helps students to recognize words and decode new ones

Good Readers: Decoding Have conscious understanding of individual sounds, or phonemes Make many sound connections at the syllable level by recognizing chunks such as re-, pro-, -tion, and –ment Use their knowledge of letters and sounds to pronounce unknown words Draw on their own listening and speaking vocabularies to relate to new words

Challenges of Decoding: Adolescents Approximately 10% struggle with decoding Based on research, students who are not successful reading words that are unfamiliar to them most likely struggle with phonemic awareness skills Studies suggest that the deficit of phonemic awareness may be responsible for dyslexia Since students in fifth grade and beyond encounter 10,000 more new words each year, it is crucial for them to have decoding skills to tackle unfamiliar multi-syllabic words Poor phonics skills negatively affects reading comprehension and reading vocabulary

Instruction for Decoding: Adolescent Readers Should emphasize syllable patterns and morphology Should integrate decoding skills with classroom lessons and assigned texts Should focus on content specific vocabulary like osmosis and perimeter and academic vocabulary like examine and cause

Strategy 1- Decoding Instruction Model phonemic awareness skills when introducing new vocabulary Focus on identification of rhyming words, blending isolated sounds to form words, and segmentation of a word into sounds Demonstrate how the change of one phoneme changes a word like revolution, resolution, and evolution

Strategy 2- Decoding Providing instruction in phonics strategies helps students articulate and identify multi-syllabic words Teachers should determine content-area words that would pose difficulty for students Articulate each syllable slowly, pausing between each syllable, repeat several times Point out patterns in pronunciation and spelling of prefixes, suffixes, and vowels in words Point out differences among words that belong to word families (define, definitely, definition)

Strategy 2- Decoding cont’d. Demonstrate using new and difficult words in different contexts Provide opportunities for students to practice using and pronouncing words Ask open-ended questions that require students to use new or difficult words

Strategy 3- Decoding Use direct, explicit, and systematic instruction to teach phonemic awareness and phonics skills (Most appropriately delivered by a reading specialist) Explain, demonstrate, and model the skill with content-area words, relate to subject Guide students to practice skill with corrective feedback Provide time for independent and peer collaborative practice Repeat instructional steps until student is able to apply skill independently in their reading and writing

Strategy 4- Decoding Provide extra time for phonemic awareness and phonics instruction and opportunities for students to practice new skills when reading Struggling decoders need extra time for reading in class in order to comprehend the text May consider recording lessons for these students to review at their own pace

Morphology Study of word structure, describes how words are formed from morphemes Morphemes are smallest unit of meaning in a word Cats- 2 morphemes; cat + s which indicates plurality Changing the morpheme can change meaning of word; bakes to baked Morphology is still developing in late school-age readers

Good Readers- Morphology Adolescents Use their knowledge of morphological structure to recognize complex words Are better able to understand the meaning of words to deal with increased reading and writing demands across the curriculum and content areas

Challenges of Morphology: Adolescent Readers Have more difficulty recognizing and learning words May experience delayed vocabulary and difficulty in defining specific vocabulary words

Instruction for Morphology: Adolescent Readers Teach different morpheme patterns like Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Greek Use speed drills to build automatic recognition of syllables and morphemes Teach six syllable types: closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, vowel pair, vowel-r, and consonant-l-e Teach meaning of morphemes in sentences and derivations jump (verb) changes to jumpy (adjective)

Fluency Ability to read text accurately and smoothly with little conscious attention to mechanics of reading Includes reading with appropriate speed, accuracy, proper intonation, and proper expression

Good Readers: Fluency Recognize words automatically and are better able to understand text Reading sounds natural and expressive Focus on meaning of text and not on mechanics of decoding Complete work faster and with higher quality

Challenges of Fluency: Adolescent Readers Read slowly, often stopping to sound out words Spend excessive time decoding and lose meaning of text Fluency varies with difficulty of text, amount of practice, and genre of text

Instruction for Fluency: Adolescent Readers Provide models of fluent reading Read from class texts regularly, giving students a model of fluent reading Engage students in repeated oral reading of texts Read aloud passages several times regularly with feedback Allow students to practice reading aloud by themselves first to avoid embarassment

Instruction for Fluency, cont’d. Engage students in guided oral reading High school teachers would target a small group of struggling readers and rotate independent instructional time with them, ask them to read aloud, guide them to self-correct, ask questions about content Choral reading used with specific key passages like poems or monologues

Instruction for Fluency Engage student in partner reading Pair more and less fluent readers Consider compatibility and fluency Introduce reading material by reading aloud a few paragraphs Inform students that they will read aloud different passages after first reading silently Take turns reading with partner

Vocabulary Words used in print and speech to communicate Two types include oral and print Oral- words recognized and used in speaking Aural- words understood when listening to others Print- words used in reading and writing, most difficult to obtain

Vocabulary Two important skills of development Word identification- decoding of a word Word analysis- process of understanding the letters, sounds, roots, prefixes and suffixes that make up words, and enable student to understand the words, also refers to syntactic awareness (grammatical use of the word), demonstrated by using the word appropriately in sentences and context

Good Readers- Vocabulary Know a wide range of oral and print vocabulary Read approximately one million words per year, results from extensive and repeated exposure to words through reading and speaking

Challenges of Vocabulary: Adolescents Students not successful in using strategies to decode words especially in academic vocabulary; meaning of text is lost Understanding meaning of word from one content to another; meter means a measurement in math but a poetic rhythm in English class

Instruction: Vocabulary Pre-teach difficult vocabulary selected on the importance of the word, prior knowledge of similar concepts, multiple meanings of the words, grouping words to enhance understanding of a concept

Instruction: Vocabulary cont’d. Use Direct, explicit, and systematic instruction to teach difficult vocabulary Lessons should be fast paced, brief, multi-sensory, and interactive Explain meanings, provide guided practice with words, provide time for independent practice with vocabulary (collaborative learning), repeat steps until students can use words successfully in reading and writing

Instruction for Vocabulary cont’d. Use students’ prior knowledge and provide opportunities for multiple exposures to new words Elicit prior knowledge of content vocabulary from students to help with selecting vocabulary Provide multiple repetitions of the words in different contexts Point out non-specialized academic words that talk about content like cause, consequence, relationship, etc.

Instruction for Vocabulary cont’d. Use computer technology to help teach new vocabulary Computer games, online dictionaries, content-area-related websites, computer animation

Text Comprehension Process of extracting or constructing meaning Making sense of the information and ideas conveyed in a text Even good readers struggle sometimes because of content, style, or syntactic structure of the text

Good Readers and Text Comprehension Set a purpose for reading- informational, instructional, entertainment Use strategies like drawing conclusions, predicting, summarizing, contrasting ideas, connecting to other texts Analyze how writers, illustrators, and others represent people and ideas Apply critical thinking

Challenges of Comprehension: Adolescent Readers Lack adequate fluency to achieve comprehension Lack strategies to understand text Limited background knowledge Encounter expository texts most often in school setting and lack strategies, background, etc. for dealing with difficulty

Instruction for Comprehension Integrate strategies into instruction Generate questions before, during, after reading Model how to formulate answers, where answers come from, drawing on prior knowledge or information in text, charts, graphs, etc. Monitor Comprehension along the way by stopping to interpret Use text structure to analyze transition words, patterns, underlining key words, looking for clues

Strategies for Comprehension cont’d. Teach students to use multiple strategies Questioning, chunking information, summarizing, predicting

Writing Ability to compose text effectively for various purposes and audiences, tool for communication and learning Provides ability to express oneself and persuading others Researchers believe improving writing skills improves capacity to learn

Good Writers Employ different types of strategies to help navigate through writing process Learn to be self-directed and goal- oriented Learn how to plan, organize, and revise Are aware of audience, genres, and purpose of writing

Challenges of Writing: Adolescents Lack effective communication and learning tool when students can’t write well Limits opportunities for future education and employment Suffer academically

Instruction for Writing Explain the writing skill or strategy and then model it Guide student in using the skills and strategies and provide corrective feedback Provide time and opportunities for independent practice with writing skills and strategies Repeat steps until students are able to use them independently

Writing Teach students importance of prewriting Provide a supportive instructional environment for students Use rubrics to assess writing Assess the needs of diverse learners

Motivation Motivated readers are: Self-determined, self-regulated, engaged

Problems with Motivation: Adolescents Changes in beliefs, values, and goals May read magazines of personal interest outside of school, surf the Internet, send and receive email Tracking and grouping students with other unmotivated students Lack of confidence in their reading skills

Instruction for Motivation: Adolescents Set clear goals and expectations for performance, set purpose for reading, let students know what to expect Guide students to focus on their own improvement by setting goals and tracking progress through reading logs and charts Provide a variety and choice in reading materials Provide opportunity for students to interact through reading

Needs of Diverse Learners Use multiple methods of instruction for presenting text, ideas, and strategies in different ways Break down content instruction into smaller chunks for struggling readers Provide extended talk time, small group discussion Model and provide instruction in academic English Talk with students individually, ask them questions about how they are learning

Conclusion Struggling readers are at every socioeconomic level. Explicit, systematic, and direct instruction is the most effective strategy for improving reading skills among adolescents.