Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers Professional Development Module

Christy S. Murray, Jade Wexler, Sharon Vaughn, Greg Roberts, Kathryn Klingler Tackett The University of Texas at Austin Marcia Kosanovich Florida State University

The Center on Instruction is operated by RMC Research Corporation in partnership with the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University; Horizon Research Inc.; RG Research Group; the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at the University of Houston; and the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. The contents of this PowerPoint presentation were developed under cooperative agreement S283B050034 with the U.S. Department of Education. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and one should not assume endorsement by the federal government. 2008 The Center on Instruction requests that no changes be made to the content or appearance of this product. To download a copy of this document, visit www.centeroninstruction.org.

Adolescent Literacy: Research and Practice

One in three fourth-graders is reading below a basic level.

Only 31 percent of eighthgraders are proficient readers.

(Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007)

Essential Components of Reading

Elementary Level vs. Secondary Level

Component Phonemic Awareness Word Study

Elementary

Secondary

(Advanced)

Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Motivation

Objectives

Enhance your understanding of selected research-based instructional practices associated with positive effects for adolescent struggling readers.
Learn how to implement these research-based practices.

NOTE: Assessment and its influence on instruction will not be a focus of this presentation.

A Meta-analysis With Implications for Practice

Reading Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers:

1.
2.

3.

Overall, how effective are the reading interventions for adolescent struggling readers that have been examined in research studies? What is the specific impact of these reading interventions on measures of reading comprehension? What is the specific impact of these reading interventions on students with learning disabilities?

Available for download: www.centeroninstruction.org.

(Scammacca, Roberts, Vaughn, Edmonds, Wexler, Reutebuch, & Torgesen, 2007)

Scientific Rigor of Highlighted Studies

All highlighted studies used random assignment and standardized measures.

General Findings of the Meta-Analysis

Various levels of intervention effectiveness:

Students with LD vs. students without LD;

Researcher-implemented vs. teacher-implemented; and

Students at the middle school level vs. students at the high school level.

Highlighted Studies: Caveat

The instructional practices used in the studies we selected represent some of the practices associated with improved outcomes for students in grades 412. The scope of this presentation does not allow us to present all studies and referenced practices from the meta-analysis.

Essential Components of Reading for Adolescents Word Study

Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Motivation

What is Word Study?

What do I do when my students with reading disabilities and difficulties cannot read grade-level words accurately?

Word Study
Practices that improve word-level reading

Research indicates that

Older students in need can benefit from word study instruction
(Edmonds et al., in press; Scammacca et al., 2007).

COI Meta-analysis

FINDING
Interventions focused on word study had a moderate overall effect.

IMPLICATION
For older students struggling at the word level, specific word study intervention is associated with improved reading outcomes.

Word Study
Successful Readers
Read multisyllabic words and use strategies to figure out unknown words. Make connections between letter patterns and sounds and use this understanding to read words. Break words into syllables during reading. Use word analysis strategies to break difficult or long words into meaningful parts such as inflectional endings, prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

Struggling Readers
Often read single-syllable words effortlessly but have difficulty decoding longer, multisyllabic words. May lack knowledge of the ways in which sounds map to print. Have difficulty breaking words into syllable parts. Often do not use word analysis strategies to break words into parts.

(Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004; Nagy, Berninger, & Abbott, 2006; Boardman et al., 2008)

Reasons for Word Study Difficulties

Students might not have been effectively taught how to decode in the earlier grades.
Students might not have been given adequate opportunities for practice. Students may struggle to understand letter-sound correspondences or the rules of the English language.

Strategies for Teaching Word Study

Following are examples of two types of word study practices that can be used with older readers.

Word Study: Instructional Practice #1

Instruction in orthographic processing, or the ability to recognize letter patterns in words and their corresponding sound units.
Instructional focus: Various advanced word study components such as syllable types and blending multisyllabic words.

Instructional Practice #1: Example

Mumble = mum ble

Locate = lo cate
Invalid = in val id

Instructional Practice #1: How do I Teach it? Teach students to identify and break words into syllable types.
Teach students when and how to read multisyllabic words by blending the parts. Teach students to recognize irregular words that do not follow predictable patterns. Teach students to apply these practices to academic words (e.g., tangent, democracy, precision).

Syllable Types and Examples Closed (e.g., cat) short vowel Open (e.g., no) long vowel

Vowel-consonant-e (e.g., like): e makes vowel long

Consonant-le (e.g., mumble) R-controlled (e.g., ar, or, er, ir, ur) Double vowel (e.g., team)

Word Study: Instructional Practice #2 Expose students to information and strategies that will help students gain access to the meaning of words and make the connection between decoding and comprehension.

Instructional focus: Prefixes, suffixes, inflectional endings, root words, and base words.

Instructional Practice #2: Example

Transplanted = trans (across) + plant (base word) + ed (happened in the past) Useless = use (base word) + less (without; not) Careful = care (base word) + ful (full of)

Instructional Practice #2: How Do I Teach It?

Teach students the meanings of common prefixes, suffixes, inflectional endings, and roots.

Provide instruction in how and when to use structural analysis to decode unknown words.

Highlighted Study: Bhattacharya & Ehri (2004)

Participants 60 struggling readers (non-LD), grades 6 through 9
Received one of two interventions provided by a researcher for four sessions totaling 110 minutes.
Syllable Chunking n = 20
Whole Word Reading n = 20

Received current school instruction.

(Comparison Group)

n = 20

Syllable Chunking Intervention

Students were taught to:

1. Orally divide multisyllabic words into syllables; 2. State the number of syllables;

3. Match syllables to their spelling; and

4. Blend the syllables to say the whole word.

Five Steps in Syllable Chunking Intervention

Students read the word aloud. If incorrect, they were told the word and repeated it.
Students explained the words meaning. If incorrect, they were provided corrective feedback. Students orally divided the words pronunciation into its syllables or beats by raising a finger as each beat was pronounced and then stated the number of beats. If incorrect, the experimenter modeled the correct response. (e.g., fin ish = two beats)

Five Steps in Syllable Chunking Intervention (continued)

Students matched the pronounced form of each beat to its spelling by exposing that part of the spelling as it was pronounced, while covering the other letters. (Different ways of dividing words into syllables were accepted.) If incorrect, the experimenter modeled and explained the correct segmentation and students copied the response.

Students blended the syllables to say the whole word. If incorrect, they were told the word and repeated it.

Syllable Chunking Intervention Learning Trials

Words were presented on index cards one at a time over four learning Read and analyzed trials in random orders. 25 words on each of the 4 days.
Trial 1: Perform all five steps.

Trials 24: Perform all steps except step 2.

Whole Word Reading Intervention

Students practiced reading multisyllabic words with no applied strategy.

Three Steps in Whole Word Reading Intervention

Students read the word aloud. If incorrect, they were told the word and repeated it.

Students explained the words meaning. If incorrect, they were told the meaning.

Students read the word again by looking at the print. If incorrect, they were told the word and repeated it.

Whole Word Reading Intervention Learning Trials

Read and analyzed 25 words on each of the 4 days.

Words were presented on index cards one at a time over six learning trials in random orders. Trial 1: Perform all three steps. Trials 24: Perform all steps except step 2. Trials 56: Read words as quickly as possible and record time.

Highlighted Study: Bhattacharya & Ehri (2004)

Participants 60 struggling readers (non-LD), grades 6 through 9

Received one of two interventions provided by a researcher for four sessions totaling 110 minutes.
Syllable Chunking n = 20
Whole Word Reading n = 20

Received current school instruction.

(Comparison Group)

n = 20

Current School Practice (Comparison Condition)

Students received the schools typical reading instruction.

Which Strategy do You Think was Most Effective? Why? Study Findings
Syllable training enhanced readers decoding ability on transfer tasks. Syllable training enhanced readers ability to retain spellings of words in memory. Whole word training was not found to help struggling readers on any of the decoding or spelling transfer tasks.

Implications for the Classroom

There is value in teaching adolescent struggling readers to read multisyllabic words by matching syllables to pronunciations.

Authors note Instruction in that the intervention word study for the could be enhanced weakest readers is by also teaching needed as well as students information comprehension about root words strategy instruction. and affixes, syllable types, etc.

Participant Activity

You are teaching a sixth-grade reading class, and several of your students are having difficulty reading words. You decide to try a syllable chunking strategy with these students.

Syllable Chunking Intervention

Syllable Chunking Strategy

Instruction

Dictionary

Federal

Compensate

Conclusions About Word Study Instruction For adolescent readers who struggle at the word level, instruction in word study skills can improve word identification skills.
There are a variety of instructional methods for this purpose, but most involve teaching students to decode words by recognizing syllables types or by analyzing parts of words.

What is Fluency?

What do I do when my students with reading disabilities and difficulties cannot read words with automaticity?

The ability to read text with speed, accuracy, and prosody (expression)

Fluency

Research indicates that

Word study and comprehension are related to fluency (Shinn
& Good, 1992).

Fluency does not cause comprehension, but is one necessary component of successful reading (Rasinski et al., 2005).

COI Meta-analysis

FINDING
More research on fluency is needed with older students.

IMPLICATION
Fluency practices associated with improved outcomes with younger students may apply to older students struggling with fluency.

Fluency
Successful Readers
Read 100160 words per minute (at the middle school level), depending on the nature and difficulty of the text. Decode words accurately and automatically. Group words into meaningful chunks and phrases. Read with expression. Combine multiple tasks while reading (e.g., decoding, phrasing, understanding, and interpreting).
(Boardman et al., 2008)

Struggling Readers
Read slowly and laboriously.

May continue to struggle with decoding or may decode correctly but slowly. May not pause at punctuation or recognize phrases. Often lack voice or articulation of emotion while reading. May lack proficiency in individual skills, resulting in dysfluent reading and limit comprehension.

Reasons for Fluency Difficulties

Students are focusing too much cognitive effort on decoding the text.
Students are not cognizant of punctuations role in reading.

Students have a weak sight word vocabulary.

Students have had limited exposure, instruction, and practice with reading text fluently or at all.

Students are unfamiliar with the meaning of words in text.

Fluency: Differing Instructional Needs

Adolescents whose oral reading rate on grade-level text is: Below 70 wcpm* need more practice with word recognition in addition to fluency practice; Between 70 and 120 wcpm* may benefit from regular fluency instruction; and Greater than 120 wcpm* may benefit more from increased vocabulary and comprehension instruction rather than increased fluency instruction.
* Ranges are approximations.

What are Repeated Reading and Wide Reading? Repeated Reading

Reading and listening to the same passage several times Wide Reading Reading many different types of text

Rationale for Repeated Reading at the Secondary Level

Repeated reading may be appropriate when providing students with practice on a targeted list of words. Students will have multiple exposures to words that may build their sight vocabulary and automaticity. Repeated reading interventions have been shown to have positive outcomes for students with reading difficulties in the younger grades (Chard, Vaughn, & Tyler, 2002). Therefore, repeated reading interventions may have a similar effect for students in the secondary grades at an early reading level. (Please note that more research in this area is needed).

Challenges Associated With Repeated Reading Repeated Reading

Increases in speed generally fail to transfer to other texts unless there is word overlap (Rashotte & Torgesen, 1985).

May not be more effective than wide reading for increasing reading speed (Homan, Klesius, & Hite, 1993).
Limits students exposure to content, vocabulary, and different text types.

Rationale for Wide Reading at the Secondary Level Wide Reading

Students are exposed to a variety of text structures and vocabulary (which coincides with the expectations of reading a wide variety of text in the upper grades). Students are exposed to more content (when compared to repeated reading), which may increase word/background knowledge. Background knowledge can have a positive impact on comprehension (Hansen & Pearson, 1983). There is less likelihood that students will see the same words over and over again across a variety of texts.

Wide Reading vs. Repeated Reading Which is More Effective? More research is needed in the area of fluency instruction for older students.
Recommendation: Use a combination of repeated reading and wide reading.

Repeated reading provides opportunities for students to improve and automate their sight vocabulary. Wide reading exposes students to new and different content, vocabulary, and text types.

Repeated Reading Considerations for Use

Combine with word learning.

Select passages that include targeted vocabulary and/or passages at the students independent level.
Monitor progress and provide feedback to students. Support reading with modeling and feedback from teacher or peers. Involve students in progress monitoring of fluency goals. As students improve, increase passage difficulty.

Wide Reading Considerations for Use

Select passages at the students independent or instructional reading level.
Practice fluency with successive passages but do not reread the same passage repeatedly. Monitor progress and provide frequent feedback. Support reading with modeling and feedback from teacher or peers. Involve students in progress monitoring of fluency goals. As students improve, increase passage difficulty.

Fluency Interventions Alone Do Not Improve Comprehension

Fluency practice is most effective when combined with instruction in decoding (for select students) and/or comprehension instruction.

Partner Reading

Partner reading is a widely used strategy that provides the opportunity to practice oral reading with immediate and explicit feedback and incorporates the opportunity to engage in comprehension practice. Partner reading:
May benefit both partners in fluency development;
Engages students in fluency monitoring practices; and Improves self-monitoring practices during reading.

Partner Reading Considerations for Use Use at least 3 days per week with students who need practice developing their ability to read fluently. Should last no more than 1520 minutes per day or every other day. Spend a majority of instructional time on other components of reading.
Pair partners based on data: Place slightly higher-level reader with lower-level reader. (Having a model of good reading is essential.)

Partner Reading Considerations for Use (continued)

Use reading materials that are at the independent or instructional level of the more struggling reader. Set individual and partner goals for reading fluency. Have students graph their best results.

Specific Skills to Teach

What counts as an incorrect response. How to sit with partners and locate materials. How to time each other. How to underline incorrect words. How to use correction procedures. How to calculate words correct per minute. How to graph results.

How Do I Implement Partner Reading?

Discuss fluency and its importance.

Model use of partner reading strategies.

Provide guided practice.

Provide independent practice with support.

Teacher Responsibilities Prepare student folders with new passages (one for each student to read and/or follow along with their partner). Observe students during partner reading to monitor fidelity of procedures and accuracy of error checking. Check folders (accuracy, graphs). Move students to next level.

Practice: Who Needs Fluency Instruction? Example 1

Anna is a ninth-grader reading 40 wcpm on eighth-grade-level text. Her teacher has noticed that she often has difficulty decoding words. She did not pass the state test. Does Anna need fluency instruction?
YES, but she also needs explicit instruction in word study. She would also benefit from instruction to boost her vocabulary knowledge and overall verbal reasoning/comprehension ability.

Example 2

Jose is a 10th-grader reading 111 wcpm on 8th-grade-level text and is more than 95 percent accurate. He did not pass the state test. What does this tell us about Jose? Does he need fluency instruction?
Jose is fairly fluent. He may need some fluency instruction, but the fact that he is reading at least 100 wcpm and is very accurate and still not passing the state test tells us that Jose may need instruction to boost comprehension, verbal reasoning, and word knowledge in addition to fluency instruction.

Example 3

Maria is reading 62 wcpm, but she is 96 percent accurate. She did pass the state test, but she had an extended time accommodation. Does Maria need fluency instruction?
YES, Maria would most likely benefit from fluency instruction. She might benefit from some instruction in word study (especially in sight words), but because she is so accurate, she needs practice to increase the rate at which she is reading. Although she is slow, with accommodations she was able to demonstrate good comprehension by passing the state test, which is a positive indication of her comprehension ability.

Fluency Instruction: Conclusions

The level of fluency required for secondary struggling readers to read effectively and understand text is not entirely clear. For some students, fluency may help build a link between decoding and comprehension, but fluency does not cause comprehension. Teachers should not spend a lot of time on fluency instruction and should pair it with instruction in decoding and/or vocabulary and comprehension-enhancing practices.

What is Vocabulary?

What do I do when my students with reading disabilities and difficulties do not know what a majority of words in text mean and cannot use word-meaning knowledge to enhance their comprehension?

Vocabulary is

The ability to understand and use a word effectively and appropriately to foster comprehension.

Research on Vocabulary: A Vocabulary Continuum 1. Ive never heard of this word.

2. Ive heard of this word, but Im not really sure what it means. 3. I can recognize the word in context. 4. I know the word well, including its various forms, definitions, and uses.
(Dale, 1965)

COI Meta-analysis

FINDING
Vocabulary interventions had the largest overall effect size.

IMPLICATIONS
We know that directly teaching students the meaning of words and how to use strategies to uncover meanings of words can improve students knowledge of the words taught. What we dont know is whether or how vocabulary instruction influences comprehension.

COI Meta-Analysis

FINDING
Vocabulary interventions had the largest overall effect size.

CAVEAT
Standardized measures are not typically used for measuring vocabulary knowledge and use. Only researcher-developed measures were used in the studies in the meta-analysis.

Vocabulary

Successful Readers
Are exposed to a breadth of vocabulary words in conversations and print at home and at school from a very early age.

Struggling Readers
Have limited exposure to new words. May not enjoy reading and therefore do not select reading as an independent activity.

Understand most words when they are reading (at least 90 percent) and can make sense of unknown words to build their vocabulary knowledge.
Learn words incrementally, through multiple exposures to new words. Have content-specific prior knowledge that assists them in understanding how words are used in a particular context.
(Boardman et al., 2008)

Read texts that are too difficult and thus are not able to comprehend what they read or to learn new words from reading.
Lack the variety of experiences and exposures necessary to gain deep understanding of new words. Often have limited content-specific prior knowledge that is not sufficient to support word learning.

Reasons for Vocabulary Difficulties

Lack of exposure to words (through reading, speaking, and listening).

Lack of background knowledge related to words.

Lack of direct vocabulary instruction.

Teaching Vocabulary Words and Meaning Effectively teaching vocabulary words does not mean asking students to memorize definitions, nor does it mean teaching students unfriendly and complex descriptions of words.
Effectively teaching vocabulary words assures that students have opportunities to know what words mean and how to use them in oral and written language.

Use All of These Approaches That Match Instructional Needs

Vocabulary Instruction

Word Consciousness

Additive Vocabulary

Generative Vocabulary

Academic Vocabulary

Word Consciousness

Word consciousness refers to an awareness that words have multiple meanings in various contexts.
Example: Assembly

Use various instructional approaches.

Additive Vocabulary Instruction

Explicit instruction of specific words.

Think about your goals for instruction when selecting words.

Becks Three Tiers of Vocabulary.

Three Tiers of Vocabulary Words

Tier 3 Words Rarely in text or are content specific.

Tier 2 Words
Appear frequently in many contexts. Tier 1 Words Words students are likely to know.

(Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002)

Selecting Tier 2 Words Tier 2 words are:

Frequently encountered; Crucial to understanding the main idea of text;

Not a part of students prior knowledge (not Tier 1 words); and

Unlikely to be learned independently through the use of context or structural analysis.
REMINDER: Tier 2 words should be taught before students read, and discussed and used frequently afterward.
(Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002)

Seventh-Grade Text

Alexander Graham Bell is known as the inventor of the telephone. His assistant was named Thomas A. Watson. Together, Bell and Watson discovered how sound, including speech, could be transmitted through wires, and Bell received a patent for such a device. In 1876, the telephone was officially invented and the first telephone company was founded on July 9, 1877.

Ninth-Grade Text from Tuck Everlasting The road that led to Treegap had been trod out long before by a herd of cows who were, to say the least, relaxed. It wandered along in curves and easy angles, swayed off and up in a pleasant tangent to the top of a small hill, ambled down again between fringes of bee-hung clover, and then cut sidewise across the meadow.
(Babbitt, 1975)

Which Words are Tier 2 Words?

The road that led to Treegap had been trod out long before by a herd of cows who were, to say the least, relaxed. It wandered along in curves and easy angles, swayed off and up in a pleasant tangent to the top of a small hill, ambled down again between fringes of bee-hung clover, and then cut sidewise across the meadow.
(Babbitt, 1975)

Additive Vocabulary Instruction: Specific Strategies Teach multiple meanings of words and provide many exposures to target words.
Provide engaging activities: creating definitions and nondefinitions, drawing pictures, and other games. Restructure and clarify tasks, as necessary.

Generative Vocabulary Instruction

Teaching words and related words

Example: Involuntary
volunteer = Choosing an action in = Not ary = Associated with Involuntary refers to something that happens not by choice. Example sentence: Blinking your eyes regularly is an involuntary action.

Generative Vocabulary Instruction: Specific Strategies

Promote wide reading of texts.

Promote opportunities to use target words. Connect new words to oral language or reading materials.

Play word games and explore interesting uses of words.

Use key word strategies that provide phonetic or visual links to target words.

Show students how to break words into parts and to use other strategies to identify meaning.

Academic Vocabulary Instruction

Concentrate on meanings of words within a specific context.

Can be taken from content-area materials. May be Tier 3 words. Example: Conductor.

Academic Vocabulary Instruction: Specific Strategies

Use content-area materials to identify vocabulary.

Obtain depth of understanding by providing multiple exposures and various contexts.

Use assessment procedures to identify words that students need to know.

Provide explicit instruction.

Use computer technology.

Conclusions About Vocabulary Instruction

A good reader uses vocabulary to foster comprehension.
Teachers can do the following to effectively enhance students vocabulary:
Promote word consciousness; Use additive vocabulary instruction; Use generative vocabulary instruction; and Teach academic vocabulary.

Teachers should carefully choose the type of vocabulary instruction they provide by examining the goals of their lessons.

What is Reading Comprehension?

What do I do when my students with reading disabilities and difficulties do not use strategies to enhance comprehension?

Comprehension is

The ability to construct meaning and learn from text using a variety of applied strategies. The ultimate purpose of reading.
Research indicates that to teach students to construct meaning from text, teachers need a firm grasp of: Strategies that successful readers use when creating meaning from text; and Effective instructional methods to teach such successful strategies (National Reading Panel, 2000).

COI Meta-analysis

FINDING
The effect for reading comprehension strategy interventions was medium to large.

IMPLICATIONS
Reading comprehension interventions can have a significant impact on adolescent struggling readers. Providing comprehension strategy instruction throughout the day provides opportunities for multiple exposures and use of strategies with a variety of texts.

Comprehension
Successful Readers
Continuously monitor reading for understanding.

Struggling Readers
Fail to use meta-cognitive strategies as they read. May not be aware when understanding breaks down.

Link content with their prior knowledge.

May lack subject-specific prior knowledge.

Do not readily make connections between what they are learning and what they already know.

Use a variety of effective reading strategies before, during, and after reading.

Have limited knowledge and use of strategies for gaining information from text.

Set a purpose for reading and adjust their rate and strategy use depending on the text and content.

Often do not enjoy reading and lack understanding of the utility of reading.

(Boardman et al., 2008. Adapted from Denton et al., 2007; Pressley, 2006.)

Reasons for Comprehension Difficulties Lack of appropriate prior knowledge. Inability to relate content to prior knowledge. Over-reliance on background knowledge.

Inability to read text fluently.

Difficulty with decoding words; Inability to attend to meaning while reading.

Inability to apply comprehension strategies.

Difficulty with understanding meaning of words.

Components of Comprehension Strategy Instruction

Activate Prior Knowledge

Multicomponent Instruction

Answer/Generate Questions

Monitor Comprehension
(Adapted from Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006)

Summarize Using Graphic Organizers

Anticipate What You Will Learn

Preview slides and handouts. Make a prediction: What will you learn during this portion of the professional development?
Knowledge Before PD Agree Disagree Teachers should explicitly teach students comprehension strategies. Having students make predictions about what they will learn should take about 30 minutes when introducing text. All students who can decode words can also comprehend text. Students who know comprehension strategies generally apply them when they read.

Statement

Knowledge After PD Agree Disagree

Component # 1: Activate Prior Knowledge

What is it?
Existing information students have about a topic, skill, or idea.

Why is it important?
Helps students make connections between what they already know and what they are reading.

Activate Prior Knowledge: Effective Strategies

Previewing Text

Making/Monitoring Predictions

Previewing Text

Instructional Steps
1. Model by thinking aloud. Highlight headings, pictures, key words. 2. Provide small-group practice. 3. Provide independent practice.

Making/Monitoring Predictions

After previewing text, ask students to make informed comments about the text and what they will learn.
Do not solicit guesses. Keep it brief. Revisit after reading to confirm or disconfirm predictions. Provide key ideas or concepts to build background knowledge.

Other Ways to Activate Prior Knowledge

Preview the material by identifying key words or concepts.

Have students briefly discuss what they know about a topic. Explain the use of a word splash. Describe the use of a KWL chart. Demonstrate the use of an anticipation guide.

Component #2: Answering and Generating Questions What is it? Strategies that assist students in answering comprehension questions and generating their own questions about the text to facilitate understanding.
Why is it important?
Teaches students where and how to find answers.

Answering and Generating Questions: Effective Strategies

Levels of Questions

Self-Questioning

Strategy #1: Determining Levels of Questions

Level 3: Making Connections

Cannot be answered by looking in text alone

Level 2: Putting it Together

Put pieces of information from text together to come up with answer

Level 1: Right There

Easier questions, one- or two-word answers

(Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006; UTCRLA, 2003; Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001; Bos & Vaughn, 2002; NIFL, 2001; NRP, 2000; Raphael, 1986)

Goals of Using Leveled Questions

Help students ask and answer increasingly sophisticated types of questions.

Help students become better consumers of text by being able to ask and answer both simple and complex questions. Show students how to approach different types of questions.
(Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006)

Explicitly Teach Each Question Level

Introduce one level of question at a time.

Model how to answer each level of question. Provide guided practice. Provide supported, independent practice.
Provide immediate feedback to students.
(Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006; UTCRLA, 2003; Blachowicz & Ogle, 2001; Bos & Vaughn, 2002; NIFL, 2001; NRP, 2000; Raphael, 1986)

Strategy #2: Self-Questioning

The act of asking yourself questions as you read, such as: Where is this story taking place? Why is this information important for me to know?
This strategy is also used to monitor comprehension.

Explicitly Teaching Self-Questioning

Model how to self-question.

Provide guided practice.

Provide supported, independent practice.

Provide immediate feedback to students.

What Does Self-Questioning Look Like?

Materials: Handout 9, Tornadoes Scratch paper and pencils

Component #3: Monitoring Comprehension Strategies

What are they?

Strategies that enable students to keep track of their understanding as they read and to implement fix-up strategies when understanding breaks down.

Why are they important?

By monitoring their understanding, students become more independent in understanding what is being read.

Effective Strategies for Monitoring Comprehension

Main Idea

Fix-up Strategies

Strategy #1: Finding the Main Idea

Identify the most important who or what.

Identify the most important information about the who or what. Write this information in one short sentence (e.g., 10 words or less).
(Klingner, Vaughn, & Schumm, 1998)

What Does Finding the Main Idea Look Like? Materials: Handout 9, Tornadoesone per participant Handout 10, Finding the Main Ideaone per participant

Strategy #2: Fix-Up Strategies

Rereading, restating Stopping when you come to a word that you do not know Using strategies to figure out unfamiliar words or phrases (e.g., context clues, breaking the word apart)
(Klingner, Vaughn, Dimino, Schumm, & Bryant, 2001)

Component #4: Graphic Organizers and Summarization

Graphic organizers can be used to aid students with summarization.

Graphic Organizers

What are they? Visual representations of ideas in text. Why are they important? Assist students in identifying, organizing, and remembering important ideas.

Graphic Organizers can be Used to: Activate relevant background knowledge; Guide students thinking about the text; Help students remember important elements and information in texts; Help students see and understand how concepts relate to one another within a text; Promote both questioning and discussion as students collaborate and share ideas; and Provide a springboard for organizing and writing summaries.
(Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006)

Graphic Organizer for Summarization

Main idea of first section

Main idea of second section Big Idea (provided by the teacher)

Main idea of third section

Main idea of fourth section

(Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006)

Summarization Instruction

What is it? Strategies to help students identify the most important elements of what they read.
Why is it important? Enhances ability to synthesize large amounts of information during and after reading.

Before Summarizing: Using the Graphic Organizer

1. Teacher introduces the graphic organizer (GO) and explains its purpose.
2. Teacher provides the big idea of the passage and writes it in the center of the GO. 3. Students read the passage, paragraph by paragraph, and record the main idea of each paragraph on the GO.
(Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006)

Main Idea

Main Idea

Big Idea

Main Idea

Main Idea

Summarization Steps for Students

Write a topic sentence using the big idea.

Include main ideas in an order that makes sense.

Delete information that is redundant or trivial.

Reread for understanding and edit if necessary.

How do I Teach it?

Model summarization.
Provide guided practice. Provide supported, independent practice.
Provide immediate feedback to students.

Provide examples and nonexamples.

What Does Summarization With Graphic Organizers Look Like?

Materials:
Handout 9, Tornadoesone per participant Handout 11, Graphic Organizer: Main Idea and Summarization (for Tornadoes)one per participant Handout 12, Graphic Organizer: Main Idea and Summarization (blank)one per participant

Summarization Steps for Students

Write a topic sentence using the big idea.

Include main ideas in an order that makes sense.

Delete information that is redundant or trivial.

Reread for understanding and edit if necessary.

Highlighted Study: Klingner & Vaughn (1996)

Participants 26 students (some LD), grades 7 and 8

Reciprocal Teaching 15 days

Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Taught Predict what a passage is about.

Brainstorm what you know about the topic. Clarify words and phrases. Highlight the main idea of a paragraph. Summarize the main idea.

Identify important details of a passage.

Ask and answer questions.

Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Taught (continued)

Participants 26 students (some LD), grades 7 and 8

Reciprocal Teaching
15 days
Cross-Age Tutoring n = 13 Cooperative Groups n = 13

Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Taught (continued)

Cross-Age Tutoring
Participants provided tutoring to sixth-grade students on comprehension strategies.

Cooperative Learning
Participants implemented the comprehension strategies in cooperative learning groups (35 students) for 12 days.

For both interventions, the researcher:

Circulated around the room; Monitored behavior; and Provided assistance, as needed.

Findings

Initial reading ability and oral language proficiency seemed related to gains in comprehension.
A greater range of students benefited from strategy instruction than would have been predicted. Students in both groups continued to show improvement in comprehension when provided minimal adult support.

Implications for the Classroom

Implementing comprehension strategy practice within peer groups frees up the teacher for monitoring student performance. Teachers may want to consider comprehension instruction for a wide range of students, including those with very low reading levels.

Components of Comprehension Strategy Instruction

Activate Prior Knowledge

Multicomponent Instruction

Answer/Generate Questions

Monitor Comprehension
(Adapted from Simmons, Rupley, Vaughn, & Edmonds, 2006)

Summarize Using Graphic Organizers

Multicomponent Comprehension Strategies are The combination of several reading comprehension strategies in order to gain meaning from text.
Why is it important? The combination of strategies increases the level of comprehension.

It leads to eventual automaticity.

How do I Teach it?

After teaching two or more comprehension strategies, give students opportunity to practice and apply knowledge.
Model using the strategies together.

Provide guided practice.

Provide supported, independent practice.

Provide immediate feedback to students. Teach students to self-regulate their use of strategies.

Revisit Your Anticipation Chart

Knowledge Before PD Agree Disagree

Knowledge After PD

Statement
Teachers should explicitly teach students comprehension strategies. Having students make predictions about what they will learn should take about 30 minutes when introducing text. All students who can decode words can also comprehend text.

Agree

Disagree

Students who know comprehension strategies generally apply them when they read.

Confirm/Disconfirm Predictions

Prediction:

Based on:
Confirmed? ___ Yes

___ No

Conclusions About Comprehension Instruction

TEACH STRATEGIES
Do not just ask comprehension questions.
Eventually, show students how to combine these strategies and use them concurrently.

What is Motivation?

How can I incorporate motivation into my lessons for my students with reading disabilities and difficulties?

Research on Motivation

Motivation:
Makes reading enjoyable; Increases strategy use; and Supports comprehension.
(Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000)

Motivation
Successful Readers
Interact with text in a motivated and strategic way.

Struggling Readers
May engage in reading as a passive process without effortful attention given to activating prior knowledge, using reading strategies, or employing other strategic thought processes.
Often have low comprehension of text.

Have improved comprehension and reading outcomes when engaged with text. Read more and, thus, have more access to a variety of topics and text types. Are interested and curious about topics and content in texts and read to find out more.

Fail to access a variety of wide reading opportunities. Given the choice, prefer not to read. May not be interested or curious to find out about topics or content by reading.

(Boardman et al., 2008)

Instructional Practices Associated With Improved Motivation

Four critical instructional practices can improve students motivation. 1. Provide content goals for reading. 2. Support student autonomy.

3. Provide interesting texts.

4. Increase collaboration during reading.

(Guthrie & Humenick, 2004)

Instructional Practice #1: Content Goals

A content goal is a question or purpose for reading. It emphasizes the importance of and increases interest in learning from what we read. A teacher could:
Facilitate the use of relevant background knowledge. Arrange hands-on experiences. Make content goals interesting and relevant. Model behaviors of a curious reader.

Involve students in creating and tracking content goals. Provide feedback on progress of meeting goals.
(Guthrie & Humenick, 2004)

Instructional Practice #2: Support Student Autonomy

Student autonomy refers to students making instructional decisions for themselves.

Provide opportunities for students to select which text they read. Allow students to choose aspects of the task in which they are to engage. Provide opportunities for students to either select partners or groups, or to work alone.
(Guthrie & Humenick, 2004)

Instructional Practice #3: Use Interesting Texts Students enjoy reading texts they find interesting and choose to continue reading these texts during free time. Here are several guidelines for selecting appropriate and interesting material:
Choose texts for which students possess background knowledge.

Choose texts that are visually pleasing and appear readable. Choose texts that are relevant to students interests. Provide stimulating tasks.
(Guthrie & Humenick, 2004)

Instructional Practice #4: Increase Collaboration During Reading

Adolescents are motivated by working together. Collaboration increases the number of opportunities struggling readers have to respond.
Allow students to collaborate by reading together, sharing information, and presenting their knowledge. Teach collaborative group work skills. Use collaboration to foster a sense of belonging to the classroom community (Anderman, 1999).
(Guthrie & Humenick, 2004)

Motivation: Practical Ideas

Provide weekly/monthly rewards.

Provide student choice.

Allow students to choose incentives.

Schedule student conferences.

Allow students to graph their progress.

Allow students to participate in goal setting or lesson planning.

Effective Reading Instruction at the Secondary Level: Putting it all Together

A Review of Instructional Recommendations
Teach word study skills to adolescent readers who struggle at the word level. There are a variety of methods to teach this information, but most involve teaching students to decode words by recognizing syllable types or by analyzing parts of words. Use data to decide how much fluency intervention students should receive and whether it should be paired with instruction in decoding, vocabulary, and/or comprehension-enhancing practices. Teach the meanings of words to students to enhance their vocabulary. Your instructional goals will guide the words and instructional approach you select. Teach students specific comprehension strategies that they can use to enhance their comprehension. Once individual strategies are taught, combine two or more into a single lesson. Use instructional practices that promote student motivation.

Considerations for Implementation Adjust the focus and intensity of interventions according to individual student needs.
Assess and monitor the progress of students.
Provide targeted support in well-planned, small-group sessions over a long period of time.

Considerations for Implementation (continued)

Provide professional development and support to teachers in general education classrooms to provide classwide interventions.

Considerations for Implementation (continued)

Create ways for general education teachers and specialists to collaborate and coordinate on:
Instructional techniques and content. Programwide decisions. Implementation of reading instruction.

Continue to Learn!

Use Center on Instruction resources to build your background knowledge of reading instruction for older struggling readers.
Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: A Guidance Document from the Center on Instruction

Adolescent Literacy Resources: An Annotated Bibliography

Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta-analysis With Implications for Practice Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Practice Brief
Continue to seek out other sources of support and knowledge. Visit www.centeroninstruction.org.