1. The Challenges of Reading Content-Area Textbooks
EDC 448

2. Recent Objectives: Getting Their Attention (Activate, Assess, and Develop Bkgrd. Knowledge)
Understand the importance of background knowledge to the success of your content area lesson
Develop an appreciation for read-aloud strategies in your content area classroom to develop knowledge
Explore and reflect on the use of trade books and interactive online resources that can support content area learning to activate/develop knowledge
Consider ways to activate knowledge and connect to students’ lives and interests with Anticipation Guides and Extended Anticipation Guides

4. Today’s Objectives Review APA format for Diverse Text Set
Understand the rationale behind worrying about readability levels in content area textbooks
Discuss the “big ideas” in your two readings about readability and vocabulary
If time, what “other issues” affect readability?

5. Clarifying APA Format The OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue
Refer to your syllabus for citation examples
Can you find the errors and rewrite correctly? See your handout.

6. Reference #1: Printed Books
Bilsing, Mike. (1994). Model Activity Set. CO: Hubbard Scientific Inc.
Author’s first name should be just first initial
For title, only capitalize first word
Book title should be in italics
City of publication should be before state
CORRECTION:
Bilsing, M. (1994). Model activity set. Boulder, CO: Hubbard Scientific Inc.

7. Reference #2: Webpages Missing author’s name.
CELLS Alive: Plant, animal, and bacteria cell models. Retrieved from
Missing author’s name.
Missing website creation date. (if no date, put [n.d.] – but check carefully first!
Missing retrieval date.
Website title goes at the end
Website address not specific enough
CORRECTION
Sullivan, J. (2006). Plant, animal, and bacteria cell models. Retrieved October 2, 2009 from Cells Alive Website at

8. Reference #3: YouTube Videos
Youtube. (2007). “DNA Structure” [Video file]. Retrieved March 4, from
Put title in italics (not quotes)
Need author’s name (if no name, use screen name).
Include Month, day, & year in date
CORRECTION:
Ppornelubio. (2006, September 13). DNA structure [Video file]. Retrieved March 4, 2009 from

9. The Challenge of Reading Textbooks

10. So, what’s the big deal about the reading performance of adolescents?
National Reading Achievement Scores (NEAP) - ??? percentage of students are below basic? Scores (US & Rhode Island)
???% of older readers require some form of remediation (Reading Next, 2004) p.7 and 8.
Only ??? [what fraction] of ACT test-takers have college- ready reading comprehension skills? (ACT National Data Release, 2005 and updated 2009)

11. ACT results

14. And how does this connect to the readability of textbooks???
The reading difficulty of textbooks was a concern way back in 1950! (Mallinson et al, 1950)
The reading level is too advanced
This causes many students to fail in their content-area courses
In 1971, more than 1/2 of 900 students in Grades 10, 11, and 12 were assigned content textbooks that were too difficult when compared to their estimated reading level (Bryant, 1971).
Teacher’s Reading Nightmares…

15. Understanding readability
The estimated reading level is “the break-off point” (or a student’s limit)!
Readability formulas are linked to a 50% correct answer score on a comprehension test (Johnson, 2005).
So, if a book has a reading level of 14 years, an average 14-year old pupil would score only 50% on a test of comprehension!
For a student to read independently (without help, but with comprehension), the reading level of the text should be 2 years below the students’ reading level!

16. How do you calculate readability? Identifying Readability Concerns

17. How is readability determined?
Word difficulty is determined by…
COUNTYING SYLLABLES
Fry Readability: sentence length & syllables [Grades ] [Do this by hand]
Flesh-Kinkaid: sentence length & syllables [How many years of schooling to understand the content … 0-12] - Use Microsoft Word (Tools:Options:Spelling)
Gunning-Fox Index: sentence length & difficult words (3 syllables) [How many years of schooling to understand the content…0-17]
Juicy Studio’s Online Readability Calculator
WORD FREQUENCY/Commonness

18. Look at the readability of the text that you calculated:

19. Lists of Frequently Used Words
Dale Chall’s List of 3,000 Most Frequent Words – see the wiki
Coxhead’s (2000) Academic Word List – see your handout

20. Vocabulary & Readability (Stahl, 2003)
Problems with…
Counting syllables (easy but not always accurate; single syllable words can be difficult: din, phlegm)
Word frequency
Range of difficulty of words on the list (not all equally easy)
Multiple meaning words (some more difficulty than others)
Simplicity of repeated proper nouns (once learned, not hard)
Words derived from prefixes and suffixes (learn subset and apply)
Idioms and slang use of familiar words (especially for ESL students)
Din = loud, booming noise: phlegm: thick, sticky mucous in your lungs

21. Vocabulary & Readability (Stahl, 2003)
Vocabulary difficulty (readability) is likely a measure of the commonness of ideas in a text.
The problem with this notion: What is common with one person is novel to another; readability formulas are based on the “average” child; but no child is “average”; each child’s individual interests may cause one to overestimate or underestimate the actual readability level of the text
Din = loud, booming noise: phlegm: thick, sticky mucous in your lungs

22. Vocabulary & Readability (Stahl, 2003)
Effective vocabulary instruction includes teaching about two different types of word knowledge
Definitional knowledge: rewrite to put in student-friendly terms
Contextual knowledge: how the word is used in different contexts +
PLUS
word learning activities that actively engage students with: (a) generating sentences; (b) discussing scenarios; and (c) comparing how a word is used in different scenarios

23. Concept of Definition (Schwartz & Raphael)
Concept of definition instruction teaches students how to figure out word meanings by themselves by stressing three things:
1. What kinds of information makes a good definition? (concept, category/class, properties, examples, non-examples, and a context)
2. How to use context cues
3. How to use background knowledge

24. Concept of Definition (Schwartz & Raphael)
Authors claim STUDENT DIRECTED instruction is better > teach students word learning strategies and how to independently apply these strategies to expand their own vocabularies and master unfamiliar concepts
PURPOSE: The concept of definition word map provides concrete scaffolds to help students “define in your own words” and to visually model the thinking process when they encounter a challenging word = help students develop a “strong concept of definition”

25. Concept of Definition (Schwartz & Raphael)
When texts provide only a “partial context” of a concept’s definition, they force readers to look inward (activate background knowledge = independent learning) and across other texts (read multiple sources) to develop a strong sense of understanding of that concept (rather than only seeking teacher’s advice)
As a result, learners… (internalize, organize, connect]
Internalize word meanings in a broader context
Organize key components of a word’s definition
Make connections across multiple concepts in a certain content/discipline
Internalize word meanings in a broader context; organize components of a concept’s definition; and make connections across multiple concepts in a certain content/discipline

26. Making Connections… Concept of definition (Schwartz & Raphael)
Definitional and contextual knowledge plus word learning activities (Stahl)
Dr. Coiro - Truly understanding a word is more than reciting a dictionary definition; it’s defining it in your own words, linking it to other words/categories; and providing examples and non-examples related to specific contextual uses of the word

27. What do you anticipate makes this text hard?
POEM
2. STAGES OF MITOSIS

28. What do you anticipate makes this text hard?
3. Oxygen consumption by Frogs
4. Acclimation to low temperatures

29. Homework
Thursday 10/21: Examining Textbooks in Curriculum Library (Textbook Adoption Committee)
10/21: Diverse Text Set Due
Hand in a hard copy to me (with rubric)
Copy/paste your text onto the wikispace page linked to your name
10/26: Vocabulary Readings due; Work on Lesson Plan Outline for Next Week’s Meeting
10/28: Blog Post #7 due (change on syllabus) after Vocabulary Activity in class on 10/26