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Receptive Language

Jeffrey Janssen

Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs

Portfolio Entry for Wisconsin Teacher Standards 7 & 8

EDUW 693: Instructional Design and Assessment

Instructor: Ryan Ourada

November 7, 2017
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Selected Wisconsin Teacher Standard Descriptors

Wisconsin Teacher Standard (WTS 7&8) Teachers know how to test for student progress.

The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and

ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the learner.

Knowledge. (1) The teacher understands the characteristics, uses, advantages, and

limitations of different types of assessments (e.g. criterion-referenced and norm-referenced

instruments, traditional standardized and performance-based tests, observation systems, and

assessments of student work) for evaluating how students learn, what they know and are able to

do, and what kinds of experiences will support their further growth and development. (2)The

teacher knows how to select, construct, and use assessment strategies and instruments

appropriate to the learning outcomes being evaluated and to other diagnostic purposes.

Dispositions. (1)The teacher values ongoing assessments as essential to the instructional

process and recognizes that many different assessment strategies, accurately and systematically

used, are necessary for monitoring and promoting student learning. (2) The teacher is committed

to using assessment to identify student strengths and promote student growth rather than to deny

students access to learning opportunities.

Performances. (1)The teacher uses assessment strategies to involve learners in self-

assessment activities, to help them become aware of their strengths and needs, and to encourage

them to set personal goals for learning. (2)The teacher evaluates the effect of class activities on

both individuals and the class as a whole, collecting information through observation of

classroom interactions, questioning, and analysis of student work. (3)The teacher monitors his or

her own teaching strategies and behavior in relation to student success, modifying plans and

instructional approaches accordingly.

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Danielson Domains

Domain 1: Planning and Preparation

Component 1a: Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy

Component 1c: Setting Instructional Outcomes

Component 1e: Designing Coherent Instruction

Component 1f: Designing Student Assessments

Domain 2: The Classroom Environment

Component 2b: Establishing a Culture for Learning

Domain 3: Instruction

Component 3b: Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques

Component 3c: Engaging Students in Learning

Component 3d: Using Assessment in Instruction

Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities

Component 4a: Reflecting on Teaching

Component 4b: Maintaining Accurate Records

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Pre-assessments

Self-assessment of Instruction Related to WTS and Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)

Reflecting on Wisconsin Teacher Standards 7 and 8, I want to focus on a topic that will

have a direct impact on both my students and my teaching. I teach students in a multi-

categorical classroom where students range from seventh grade through the age of 21. My

caseload consists of two different groups of students. One group is in a transition phase where

they have graduated and are currently between high school and the workforce. Three students

are in this group, with only one of these students in the building for two classes. I plan to focus

my research on the other students on my caseload. This group is comprised of five students who

have been diagnosed with an Intellectual Disability and receive Speech and Language Therapy

services on a weekly basis.

The academic focus of my classroom has recently transitioned towards a more functional

classroom, emphasizing life and daily living skills to prepare students towards independence

after school. During this change, I have noticed many of my students struggle with following

simple directions, especially while reading task lists, recipes, and grocery lists. We focus on

these skills in a variety of ways each day. This year, I have emphasized reading comprehension.

The Speech and Language pathologist has scheduled time once a week to co-teach my ELA class

so we can focus more on comprehension, sequencing, and inferences.

Assessment of Student Performance Related to Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)

I currently have five students in my English Language Arts class. All five of these

students have an IEP goal related to comprehension. Four of these students’ goals relate to

reading comprehension and answering ‘Who’, ‘What’, ‘Where’, and ‘When’ questions in

response to an article they read during class. The student who does not have a goal related to
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reading comprehension is a non-reader with an IEP goal related to sequencing events of a story

using three pictures. All five of these students read significantly below grade level, with the

highest reading at a mid-2rd grade level on their last formal assessment.

During the first quarter of the 2017-2018 school year, these students were assessed for

levels in the areas of comprehension, inferencing, and sequencing. Artifact A is the rubric that is

used in assessing these students under the three areas. Artifact B contains the results collected

from each student over the course of one week. The data shows that these three areas continue to

be areas of concern. The student with the lowest score was expected to be low. When asked a

question, this student will usually answer the first option they are presented. When asked to

sequence a story, this student will keep the pictures in the same order they were presented to

him. The student who scored second lowest is the non-reader who was referenced earlier. I was

pleasantly surprised at how he scored with sequencing. The other scores are at an expected level

in accordance with the students’ abilities.

Assessment of Learning Environment While Learning Targeted Objective(s)

During the current school year, my classroom shifted the location of our group work. We

have several different work areas in the room designed for specific tasks. I have an isolated

room where one student can have a quiet place to do their work. In the main classroom area,

students’ desks are arranged in a semicircle around the whiteboard at the front of the room.

While in this room, students know they will be working on individual tasks. We seldom use this

room for group projects. The last room is designated for direct instruction. When we are in this

room, students understand we will be working as a group on the lesson.

With this set-up, students know the expectations of each room without a need to review

on a daily or weekly basis. I also set up my rooms in this manner so students have opportunities
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to move around during the school day. The majority of my students are in my classroom

between 50-75% of their day.

Assessment Conclusion and Essential Question to Guide Research

The self-assessment, assessment of student performance, and learning environment

assessment show that students are progressing towards meeting their IEP goals, but more

emphasis needs to be placed on assuring that comprehension levels continue to increase across

environments. My goal is to change the way I approach teaching comprehension with my

students, resulting in an increased comprehension across several areas. I hope to find other

proven methods to help students make gains in this area, closing the gap between them and their

same-age peers. The essential question to guide my research is “How will an increased focus on

students’ receptive language skills improve reading comprehension?”

Research Summary

As I began my research, I found numerous scholarly articles on the topic of receptive

language. Most of these articles focused on students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, as

receptive language disorder is a common disability related to Autism. As I dug deeper, I realized

I needed to pull my research question further apart. First, I would focus on receptive language

and receptive language deficits. Then, I would look into reading comprehension of students with

significant intellectual disabilities.

First, I looked further into the definition of receptive language. According to the Pediatric

Therapy Network, “Receptive language skills describe the comprehension of language.

Comprehension involves attention, listening, and processing the message to gain information.

Areas of receptive language skills include: attention, receptive vocabulary, following directions,

and understanding questions” (pediatrictherapynetwork.org). O’Neil explains receptive language

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as the “skills that enable us to make sense of what we hear and read- they are, in essence,

language comprehension skills” (p. 50).

Next, I looked into how receptive language disorder may negatively affect my students.

According to O’Neil, “in spite of intact hearing, children do not understand what they hear –their

receptive language skills are diminished.” O’Neil goes on to explain that diminished skills can

“cause a multitude of difficulties at home, with friends, and at school” (p. 64). Diminished

receptive language skills will continue to widen as vocabulary and inferencing increases as

students get older. O’Neil also points out that “as they learn to read, these same difficulties will

cause interference with comprehension” (p. 64). As O’Neil discussed language disorders, she

clarified the difference between a disorder and a delay. Over time, a student who has a language

disorder does not typically develop language skills at the same level as their same-age peers,

while a student with a language delay will develop language skills, just at a later time when

compared to their peers.

Erickson (2017) looked into different elements of comprehensive emergent literacy

instruction and the impact on student learning. She broke reading into two different methods;

shared reading and independent reading. “Shared reading focuses on the interactions that occur

between an adult and a student while reading a book together and it supports a range of emergent

language and literacy skill and understanding. The goals of shared reading include maximizing

interactions, helping students make connections with the text, and encouraging students to take

the lead in the interaction” (Erickson, p. 195). Independent reading gives students opportunities

to interact with book at their own pace and build the success that will help them be lifelong

readers. According to Hatch (2009) “Even before students with severe disabilities have the

ability to read or understand printed words, opportunities to read from a large collection of
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interesting, age- and ability-appropriate materials lead to measureable gains in as few as 6

weeks.”

Allington (2011) points out that “there are multiple methods that can be used to teach

reading comprehension, each of which requires the use of meaningful, connected text that can be

listened to or read.” She goes on to discuss that after selecting meaningful text, a teacher still

needs to provide students with interventions before, during, and after reading. Pressely and

Allington’s research from 2014 shows that when working with students with severe disabilities, a

change needs to take place from traditional “skills-only” reading comprehension goals to a

combination of skill-based and comprehension-based understanding.

Numerous reading strategies exist to help students improve comprehension. The research

I found did not cite one strategy as being more effective than others. The common theme

throughout these strategies is that students need to be able to make a connection with the text that

they are given. Students need to be able to access the text in different platforms, depending on

their specific needs. For example, the number of new online reading resources continues to

grow, allowing access by all students through individualized methods. (Erickson, 2017)

Research Implications

How will an increased focus on students’ receptive language impact their reading

comprehension? My research shows that reading comprehension is a difficult skill for students

who have been diagnosed with an intellectual disability. A team approach across environments

is needed to help students develop these skills. The team is made up of special education

teachers, regular education teachers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists,

physical therapists, and most importantly, family involvement. I am taking the team approach

this year to co-teach with our school speech and language pathologist, focusing on
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comprehension skills with my students. We are currently using familiar texts at my students’

reading and interest levels to help gain early success that we can build on during this process.

We have already observed some students making small gains in their work.

Research-based Action Plan

Action Plan Summary Outline

1. Use stories that students have prior knowledge about.

2. Create an outline for students to fill in as we are reading through a story.

3. Fill in similar outline as a class as we read stories.

4. Locate videos to use to make connections to what students already know.

5. Frequent checks for understanding.

Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)

1. The students in this class receive instruction from an alternate curriculum, so I looked

into the Essential Elements State Standards for ELA. Standardized goal: EE.RL.11-12.2

“Recount the main events of the text which are related to the theme or central idea.” EE.RI.11-

12.2 “Determine the central idea of a text; recount the text.”

2. Targeted learning objective: This changes from student to student based on specific

comprehension-based IEP goals. Every student in this class has a goal in this area.

Task(s) and Essential Proficiency Criteria for Targeted Learning Objective(s)

1. Task: Student will map out events of a story to answer questions about who,

what, when, and where.

2. Criteria that Prove Proficiency in Meeting Targeted Learning Objective(s)

a. Student will locate key information about the text.

b. Student will place items in correct columns in graphic organizer.

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c. Student will answer comprehension question with assistance of story and

graphic organizer.

Method(s) to Assess Progress of Proficiency for Targeted Learning Objective(s)

1. Student data will be collected on a monthly basis and tracked to see if student

is making progress toward learning objective.

2. Teacher observations will also give input as to which students are making

progress.

3. Student work samples can also be used as a formative assessment for student

learning.

4. Data collected will be used to report on progress toward meeting IEP goals.

Post-assessments

Instructional Insights Related to WTS and Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)

According to the knowledge disposition of WTS 7&8: The teacher understands the

characteristics, uses, advantages, and limitations of different types of assessments… for

evaluating how students learn, what they know and are able to do, and what kinds of experiences

will support their further growth and development. Changing the lens in which I look at reading

comprehension has also made me change the way I assess student learning. I now give students

a variety of ways to show their comprehension such as giving verbal responses to questions,

highlighting the correct answer in text, selecting the correct answer from a shortened list of

options, and writing answers to questions in their workbook. I learned how much I was limiting

some of my students in previous years by assessing student comprehension based on writing

activities at the end of a story. I now have more accurate data showing both what students know

and where gaps are in their learning that will continue to be addressed.
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The student learning objective outlined in EE.RL.11-12.2 Recount the main events of the

text which are related to the theme or central idea. EE.RI.11-12.2 Determine the central idea of a

text; recount the text. With faded support, the majority of students in this class are able to locate

main events and answer comprehension questions about the stories we have read. Two of our

academically lower functioning students continue to struggle with this concept, which was

expected at this point.

Comparison of Student Performance Related to Targeted Student Learning Objective(s)

Measuring student success in children with severe intellectual disabilities is not always as

clear as in their peers without disabilities. My students have made some small comprehension

gains this year. Artifacts D and E are an example of the gains one student has made during this

process. In the beginning of the year, she would underline parts of the story but would stop as

we progressed further in the story. As the semester has moved on, this same student is

highlighting key words and concepts in the text, along with writing down the correct answers to

each of the questions. This is a first step towards increasing her comprehension scores. I am

predicting that by the end of the semester, the majority of my students will be making gains in

their comprehension skills.

Comparison of Learning Environment While Learning Targeted Objective(s)

When I began focusing on reading comprehension during our ELA class, I naturally

began focusing more on comprehension in all of my classes. All of my students need this skill

across all environments. Reading comprehension is incorporated into story problems in math,

task lists in job skills, recipes in life skills, and as a focus while completing homework for

classes that students are not in my room for. As a class, we have grown together in knowing that

everyone has strengths which add to the group.

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When reflecting on my research, I took a long look at how I check for understanding in

all of my classes. This reflection caused me to change my approach, stopping to ask more

questions of my students. All of my students receive speech and language therapy for a language

delay or disorder, which my research showed directly affects comprehension skills. My students

will benefit from continual checks for understanding in all of their classes.

Reflection of Entire Learning Process

My initial research question of “How will an increased focus on students’ receptive

language skills improve reading comprehension?” led me to a deeper understanding of receptive

language deficits and their effect on my students. This has helped my instruction across all of

my classes, not just the English class that I originally hoped to focus on.

I continue to be impressed with several of my students’ gains throughout this process.

They continue to have struggles with reading fluency and decoding, which are both areas that we

will continue to work on. In giving students a new tool to use for comprehension, I am

continuing to close the gap between my students and their same-aged peers without disabilities.

What Worked and Why

1. The majority of my students have been able to correctly place details of the story under

the correct column on their graphic organizer.

2. By showing videos previewing of the nursery ryme related to the story, students are

able to recall prior knowledge to help them understand what the story is going to be about.

What Did Not Work and Why

1. Some students still struggle to locate key information as we are reading. These are

students that have more functional skills than academic.

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2. Students need to be given multiple platforms to demonstrate understanding. I have

several students with very poor writing skills. Therefore, they struggle to keep up with class

discussions because they are more focused on getting ideas on paper than on answering

questions.

My Next Steps

1. Continue to locate engaging materials to use with students after we complete our

current group of stories. I plan to use books that students check out from the library on a weekly

basis and have them complete a comprehension organizer for those stories.

2. Share what I have learned with the regular education teachers who work with my

students, ensuring that our students can be as successful as possible when in regular education

classes.

3. Continue to look for new ways to assess students’ comprehension in different areas

other than during my ELA class. I can do this by collaborating with colleagues to see what types

of assessments they have found to be successful. I will also remain in contact with peers who

work in an ID classroom to share any helpful new methods.

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References

Allington, R. (2011). What really matters for struggling readers (3rd ed.). Boston, MA; Pearson.

Erickson, K. A. (2017). Comprehensive literacy instruction, interprofessional collaborative

practice, and students with severe disabilities. American Journal of Speech-Language

Pathology, 26, 193-205.

Hatch, P. (2009). Wide text exposure for adolescents with moderate to severe intellectual

disability. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

O’Neil, M. (2013). Receptive and Expressive Language Disorders. Prides Crossing, MA:

Landmark School Outreach Program.

Owocki, G. & Goodman, Y. (2002). Kidwatching: Documenting children’s literacy development.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Pressley, M., & Allington, R. (2014) Reading instruction that works; The case for balanced

teaching (4th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford.

Speech-Language Definitions. (2017). Retrieved November 7, 2017, from

http://www.pediatrictherapynetwork.org/services/speech_language_definitions.cfm

Stemper, G. (2010). 5W’s Fiction Story Cards. Scottsdale, AZ: Remedia Publications.
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Artifact A

Assessment Rubric

Student Name:_________________________ Date:____________

1 point 2 points 3 points 4 points

Sequence Max assistance to Errors in some Errors but Student

put story in correct sequencing, student self- independently
order/Unable to needs correct with put story in
put story in continuous adult one verbal correct
sequential order cueing to make prompt sequence
correction

Comprehension Zero-one correct Two correct Three correct Answers all

(Who, What, answers answers answers questions correct
Where, When)

Inferences Unable to make Can make Will make Able to make

inferences with inferences when inferences inferences
max assistance given choices with without
between two prompting assistance
items and no
choices

Total points: /12

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Artifact B

Rubric Data (1st collection)

Student A Student B Student C Student D Student E

Sequencing
1st 4 4 2 1 4
2nd 2 2 2 1 1
3rd 1 1 4 1 4
4th 2 2 4 2 2
Comprehension
1st 1 2 2 1 2
2nd 2 1 1 1 2
3rd 2 1 1 1 1
4th 1 1 2 1 2
Inferencing
1st 2 1 2 1 3
2nd 1 2 3 1 2
3rd 3 1 1 1 3
4th 2 1 2 1 2

Avg 1.916666667 1.583333333 2.166666667 1.083333333 2.333333333

Total 21 19 26 13 28
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Artifact C

WH? Graphic Organizer

This is the graphic organizer that we complete as a class during each lesson that focuses
on reading comprehension. I created this chart specifically for this lesson. Students have found
this to be helpful in keeping their thoughts organized while we read.
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Artifact D
This is an example of student work reflecting my former approach to reading
comprehension. The student underlined key parts of the reading but did not write answers to any
questions. They did, however, answer one question verbally in class.
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Artifact E
This is an example of student work on our 5 W’s comprehension worksheet after we
made changes to better focus on comprehension. This student was able to highlight the key who,
what, when, and where items as we were reading. They used the highlighted parts to fill in
Artifact C during class.