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Literacy, Language learning, and ccssA guide for middle school teachersSky Marietta, MAT, EdDEmily Phillips Galloway, MSEdNonie Lesaux, PHDRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips Galloway1Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Common Pitfalls Schools FaceRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayFor You to KnowMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips Galloway(NB: this overview is for presenters)Pitfalls faced by schools:Lack of knowledge of the underlying causes of reading difficulty for individual students, which leads to difficulty in determining appropriate supports. Many teachers have little training in reading development and difficulties.

Content may delivered through oral means or teacher-generated notes, which reduces the need for students to engage with texts to understand content. While supportive of students content mastery, this tendency to reduce time reading text also may lead to a situation in which our students have little experience reading to learn.

Given the push to cover a certain number of topics, students are exposed to a breadth of topics; however, they rarely have the chance to engage in developing depth of knowledge. Problematically, the richest language learning occurs when students are exposed to a topic overtime, which occurs most frequently when topics are covered in depth. This allows students to engage with texts that use similar vocabulary, thus building language knowledge.

Often we use a single textrather than a number of texts of different genres and on different topics. This reduces the opportunities that readers have to develop language knowledge through wide reading on a topic.

2Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013AgendaAcademic texts and the demands of the CCSSA conceptual framework for literacy skills breakdownsThe code-meaning distinctionThe code-meaning distinction and ELLS

Materials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayToday, we will discuss four topics in our meeting:

The challenges posed by academic texts and the call for more rigorous literacy instruction via the Common Core. A conceptual framework for thinking about literacy skills breakdownsA distinction between types of literacy breakdowns: Code and MeaningCode and meaning distinctions and ELLs3Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013

What might be challenging about this text? What background knowledge does the reader need to support comprehension?Anything else you are struck by?

Materials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips Galloway(To engage participants in this exercise print copies of the handout)4Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Demands of the CCSS

Literacy in the Content AreasReading a variety of sourcesCiting evidence from textAdopting a disciplinary perspectiveWriting for a variety of purposesEvaluating information and sourcesMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayKey demands in light of the CCSS on our students include:

Reading a variety of different texts on a single topic is required by the CCSS, so a student would be tasked with reading this text.

Students are also asked to read a text and then use the text as a source of textual evidence.

Students must also write for a variety of purposesto explain, to persuade, for example.

Evaluation of information and sources is also a central tenet of the CCSS.

Students are also called upon to think like a member of a discipline, for example as a scientist or historian.

5Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Advanced LiteracyContext for LearningContextual and affective factors that influence learningCode-Based SkillsSkills involved in accurate and efficient word readingMeaning-Based CompetenciesSkills involved in comprehending the language and meaning of complex texts and ideas when reading or listeningAdvanced Literacy Skills & Breakdowns: Our Conceptual FrameworkMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayWe present a framework to understand breakdowns in reading skills that support the complex literacy tasks called for by the Common Core.

We begin by thinking about Code-based skills or those skills that are needed to read words on a page. These skills are involved in reading accurately and quickly enough so that there is enough short term working memory remaining to focus on text comprehension. For many middle school students, these skills are mastered; but for some difficulty reading words remains a challenge.

Meaning-based competencies include the skills that are involved in comprehending the language and meaning of complex texts. This involves how much background knowledge a student has, his or her level of vocabulary knowledge and prior experience with text features. Many adolescents do not struggle with the disciplinary words in texts that are often bolded. Instead, it is all of the words surrounding these words that are most challenging. For instance, in the text on waves, the term, disturbed, is used in a way that may be different from the way it is used in most texts that students have encountered previously.

The context for learning refers to the features of the classroom environmentrelationships with peers and teachers, the manner in which tasks are organized and framed, the texts selectedand the affective characteristics of students that impact readers. Affective factors include motivation and ability to persevere when a task is challenging.

We focus here on code and meaning. 6Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013The code-meaning distinctionMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayLesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 20137High-Speed TrainsA type of high-speed train was first introduced in Japan about forty years ago. The train is low to the ground, and its nose looks somewhat like the nose of a jet. These trains provided the first passenger service that moved at a speed of one hundred miles per hour. Today, they are even faster, traveling at speeds of almost two hundred miles per hour. There are many reasons that high-speed trains are popular. -igh familyhighsighthigh115+ words correct per minute (grade 5)4 sounds, 1 word:/s/ /p/ /ee/ /d/

Understanding of languageCognitive strategiesRelevant background knowledgeInterest and motivationVocabulary/H/What is Reading?Materials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowaySo what do you need to know to read this passage successfully?

WORD READING SKILL: Start with the first word, high. A student must know the sound /h/ plus spelling pattern -igh. Speed presents similar challenges in that students must be able to segment this word into its pieces to read the word.

READING SPEED: By 5th grade students will need to do this very quickly if they are to comprehend (about 115 words per minute).

Other factors also impact reading skill. VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE: To read this text, students need vocabulary knowledge. For instance, the word, nose, is used here to describe the front of the train; many learners will not have heard the word used in this sense. The word, service, may also be unfamiliar in the way it is used in this text. Terms like, somewhat, that signal that a comparison is being made also pose challenges to readers. Although this is a word that can be found in the texts of every subject, it may be unfamiliar to some students because words like this are rarely explicitly taught.

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: Students also need background knowledge of trainsof what a train looks like or of how quickly trains travelto fully understand this passage.

UNDERSTANDING OF LANGUAGE: To grasp the meaning of this passage, students also need to understand sentence structures and words that are used across content areas.

INTEREST AND MOTIVATION: To persevere through reading a complex text, readers need to have some motivation for reading. Interest in the content or in the task also supports comprehension.

COGNITIVE STRATEGIES: Readers also need to have some idea of when and how to make use of reading strategiesfor instance to recognize when re-reading is necessary for comprehension.

8Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013High-Speed Trains

A type of high-speed train was first introduced in Japan about forty years ago. The train is low to the ground, and its nose looks somewhat like the nose of a jet. These trains provided the first passenger service that moved at a speed of one hundred miles per hour. Today, they are even faster, traveling at speeds of almost two hundred miles per hour. There are many reasons that high-speed trains are popular. -igh familyhighsighthigh115+ words correct per minute (grade 5)4 sounds, 1 word:/s/ /p/ /ee/ /d/Understanding of languageCognitive strategiesRelevant background knowledgeInterest and motivationVocabulary/H/Two Different Problem SpacesCode-based skillsMeaning-based Skills

Materials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayThese skills can be divided into code-based skills and meaning-based competencies.

Code-based skills support reading accurately and efficiently.

Meaning-based skills support students to make sense of the text. 9Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013The Code-meaning distinction & EllsMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayLesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 201310Percentile Rank Age 4.5 Age 8 Age 11 Age 14 National Rate of Growth_Word Reading: 135 W-score PointsSample Rate of Growth: 145 W-score PointsNational Rate of Growth_Vocabulary: 45 W-score PointsSample Rate of Growth: 60 W-score PointsMancilla-Martinez & Lesaux, 2011The Gap Between Word Reading & Word Knowledge Word ReadingWord KnowledgeNational AverageMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayWhat does the code-meaning distinction mean for ELLs?

This is a longitudinal study that followed low-income ELLs born in urban centers in the North East to parents who spoke Spanish as a first language. These students were followed from age 4 to age 14.

The line that goes across the figure shows the national average. At the start of kindergarten these students had low-word reading skillsbut you see that they caught up to the national average in word reading skills; in fact they surpassed the national average.

Word knowledge skills (vocabulary) remained low. However, it is not that students are not learning wordsin fact, it is the case if we look at the upper left hand corner that we see that these students were actually learning more words than their peers who were progressing at the national average. However, they would have had to learn twice as many words each day as their peers if they were to catch-up.

This finding has important ramifications for how we think of ELLsthey are not actually experiencing a learning difficulty and should not be classified as such; in fact, they are learning each day, but without intensive and rich instruction are not afforded the chance to catch-up to their peers who began school knowing many more words.

11Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013

The Gap between Reading Words & Comprehending Text Crosson & Lesaux, 2009; Lesaux, Crosson, Kieffer & Pierce, 2010Materials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayIn this study, we examine adolescents reading skills. This second study shows us that these ELL students attained skill in word reading that was about average. However, there is a gap between the oral language skills (vocabulary) that students are developing and their skill to read words. Vocabulary is really a proxy for what students knowor background knowledge. Given the role that both background knowledge and vocabulary play in reading comprehension, the difficulties we see on the far right are not surprising in light of students oral language skills. Reading comprehension is much more strongly linked with meaning-based skills.Most adolescents, including ELLs, struggle with meaning-based skills; not code-based skills. 12Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013What Makes Text Challenging for Many ELLs?Complex LanguageComplex IdeasMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayOften complex ideas are embedded in complex language. To access ideas, or read to learn, students need to have many opportunities to have developed meaning-based skills that allow them to understand the text. 13Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Good for the goose, good for the ganderMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayThis section is entitled, good for the goose, good for the gander to remind us that all students, not just ELLs benefit from instruction that develops meaning-based skills. 14Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Skills-Based vs. Knowledge-BasedLiteracy Competencies: A Pervasive Gap(Lesaux & Kieffer, 2010) AverageReading ComprehensionVocabularyWord Reading AccuracyWord Reading AutomaticityPassage Reading FluencyMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayThis graph shows us the performance of native-English speakers in tan compared to those for ELLs in red. We see similar patterns in both groups. There is a gap in students word reading skills and their comprehension skills. For the majority of ELLs and native-English speakers, word reading is not the greatest difficulty that they face in accessing texts. For both, meaning-based skills are the primary area of challenge. 15Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Increasing OpportunitiesMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowaySo what does this mean?

To reach that end goal, we are going to need really good instruction. Children need multiple opportunities to generate language and to interact with print. While we acknowledge that this is not easy to enact, this is exactly the type of instruction that the CCSS calls for.

Increasing Language Opportunities

-Classroom DISCUSSIONS that build knowledge by engaging students in discussing text, content and ideas with peers and teachers. This is very different from traditional models where teachers do much of the talking.

-Conversations that analyze ideas support students in thinking through ideas. This is like the types of thinking that we ask students to do when writing and reading.

-Building disciplinary languagestudents need to hear and practice the ways one can speak like a scientist, historian, mathematician, etc.

Increasing Print Opportunities

Reading/listening to a wide variety of genres-Listening is often as important as reading because texts contain language that we do not use very often when speaking conversationally. Hearing the language of a text can help to support students in accessing and gaining exposure to this language. Students should also be engaged in reading texts, but this should not be the only opportunity that students have a chance to interact with text. For many students who are still developing reading skills, listening to text read aloud gives students access to ideas that they are ready to grapple with, but cannot access through print.

Reading/listening with a variety of goals/purposes-We may read for many reasons. Students often have little exposure to the many purposes for which we readwe can model reading as a task for learning, for entertainment or to answer a question.

Responding with words and writing-Students need multiple opportunities to respond to texts orally and in writing. Often we can support students in developing the language to respond to text by focusing on thematic units. This gives ELLs many chances to hear the same language and to develop rich background knowledge.

16Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Practice with Complex Language is Especially Important for ELLsMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayThis is especially true for our ELLs, who require immersive print experiences, lots of classroom discussion, and generally lots of opportunities to read, write, and talk about ideas and content. Because students are asked to generate language at school that is different than the language we use in everyday conversation, they need many opportunities to produce this language if it is to become their own. 17Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Demands of the CCSS

Literacy in the Content AreasReading a variety of sourcesCiting evidence from textAdopting a disciplinary perspectiveWriting for a variety of purposesEvaluating information and sourcesExperience with a variety of genresPractice reading and writingImmersive print experiencesRich classroom discussionA challenge and an opportunityMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayFortunately, it is also these types of learning experiences that support the development of the skills called for by the CCSS.

Immersive print experiences support readers in reading a variety of sources, citing evidence and adopting a disciplinary perspective.

Rich classroom discussions provide readers with a chance to adopt a disciplinary perspective, to cite evidence and to evaluate information and sources.

Practicing reading and writing gives students the chance to write for many purposes and to read a variety of sources.

Finally, reading many genres gives readers the opportunity to evaluate information and sources and to cite evidence from texts as well as adopt disciplinary ways of thinking.

This is a challengebut also an opportunity to work to implement what we know are best practices. 18Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013Closing and ReflectionRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips Galloway19Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013

Closing Discussion

Materials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayMaterials sponsored by the Office of English Language Learners, New York City Department of EducationRTI Model for ELL Academic SuccessLesaux, Marietta, & Phillips GallowayWe will close this presentation with these discussion prompts. 20Lesaux, Marietta, Phillips Galloway, 2013