Learning and Instruction A SERP Research Agenda (2004) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 30-65
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From page 30... ...
This chapter is divided into two parts: one on early reading and one on reading comprehension beyond the early years. In many respects the parts overlap: teacher education is a major theme in both, as is research and development to improve instructional interventions.
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From page 31... ...
The consensus is captured in the National Research Council report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (National Research Council, 1998) and in the report of the National Reading Panel, Teaching Children to Read (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000~.
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From page 32... ...
The differences are highly relevant because verbal ability generally, and vocabulary development particularly, are good predictors of success in early reading. While normal language development supports reading acquisition, other abilities required for effective reading mastery are unlikely to develop unless children receive formal instruction.
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From page 33... ...
This is the decontextualized language that minimizes contextual cues and shared assumptions (e.g., by explicitly encoding referents for pronouns, actions, and locations; Olson, 1977; see Box 2.1~.~ These extensions of discourse in the decontextualized register of academic language are what predict literacy success into middle school, controlling for home variables (Dickinson and Sprague, 2001~. These relationships between preschool oral language and middle school reading comprehension are clearly mediated by decoding instruction in the primary grades (Whitehurst and Lonigan, 2001~.
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From page 34... ...
In addition to understanding the contributors to successful reading acquisition, there is also an extensive research base on the typical hurdles that children encounter (National Research Council, 1998; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000~. It is now well established that a significant number of children have difficulty learning the alphabetic principle because they have not developed phonemic awareness.
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From page 35... ...
Many teachers rely largely on basal readers for teaching the alphabetic principle, supplemented by trade books for children's reading practice, guided reading for comprehension instruction, and books read aloud for vocabulary development and further comprehension modeling. Other teachers place more emphasis on children's writing as one source of instruction about the alphabetic principle, systematic minilessons in grapheme-phoneme correspondences using word sorts and other procedures (but no basals)
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From page 36... ...
Because the ability to obtain meaning from print depends so strongly on the development of word recognition accuracy and reading fluency, both of the latter should be regularly assessed in the classroom, permitting timely and effective instructional response when difficulty or delay is apparent. Beginning in the earliest grades, instruction should promote comprehension by actively building linguistic and conceptual knowledge in a rich variety of domains, as well as through direct instruction about such comprehension strategies as summarizing the main idea, predicting events and outcomes of upcoming text, drawing inferences, and monitoring for coherence and misunderstandings.
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From page 37... ...
SOURCE: National Research Council (1998~. · ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "basic" level (National Center for Education Statistics, 2001~.2 It is therefore of utmost importance that knowledge gleaned from the study of effective practice and from research on reading instruction be carefully articulated, tested in rigorous research, and incorporated into instructional programs and into teacher education programs.
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From page 38... ...
In second grade word reading continues to be a strong predictor of second grade outcomes, with reading fluency and reading comprehension becoming increasingly important predictors of reading outcomes. For children at risk of reading difficulties due to poverty and language background, oral language in general and vocabulary in particular are critical to reading success (Foorman et al., in press; National Research Council, 1998; Dickinson and Tabors, 2001~.
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From page 39... ...
TEACHER KNOWLEDGE Reading teachers need to understand the current state of knowledge on the course of literacy development, and the role of reading instruction in supporting that development. The specific areas of study that would align teacher preparation with the learning experiences that should be provided to children in the classroom are outlined in detail in Preventing Reading Difficulties (National Research Council, 1998:285-287~.
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From page 40... ...
systematic phonics instruction should be integrated with other reading instruction in phonemic awareness, fluency, and comprehension strategies to create a complete reading program" (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000:11~. But this is not now standard practice.
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From page 41... ...
schools are not learning to read well, and in many primary classrooms good teaching practices are not being implemented. While accountability and incentives may be part of the solution, the committee believes there are important gaps in knowledge and know-how that must be filled if effective reading instruction is to become the norm.
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From page 42... ...
2. How can the knowledge base on components of effective reading instruction be refined to address important instructional questions and classroom management issues?
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From page 43... ...
suggests that such opportunities are both relatively rare and highly facilitative of children's language growth. · Professional development programs that provide rich practice-embedded knowledge about vocabulary and oral language development, whether or not paired with explicit guidelines about the use of such activities as dialogic reading, text-talk sessions, science curricula, and so on.
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From page 44... ...
At the same time that the National Reading Panel emphasized the importance of what research says about phonics instruction, for example, they point to the instructional questions that remain unknowns (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000:10~: If phonics has been systematically taught in kindergarten and I st grade, should it continue to be emphasized in 2nd grade and beyond? How long should single instruction sessions last?
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From page 45... ...
One approach to this research would be to identify teachers who consistently beat the odds with the performance of their students on the full range of literacy skills. Observing these teachers the constellation of practices that they employ, the mix of activities, the distribution of time spent on various tasks, and the assessment measures to which they attend and respond would allow for hypothesis formation regarding the features of effective, integrated reading instruction programs.
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From page 46... ...
, and both studies report their limitations. For example, the vast majority of words presented in text selections in a lesson in first grade basals are used only once, yet research clearly indicates that multiple presentations of a word are required before it becomes part of a student's vocabulary (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000~.
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From page 47... ...
. Clearly, if student learning is the ultimate goal, teacher learning must be a target.
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From page 48... ...
How can teachers optimally be supported over the Tong term to ensure sustained implementation of new methods and sustain student achievement gains? The relationship between the development of standards and teacher education is also an important gap in current knowledge" (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000:17~.
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(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000~. Those reports make clear that with regard to both student learning and teacher preparation, the research base to support practice is weak.
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For that, the text must be used to construct a situation model, that is, a mental model of the situation described by the text. Generally, this requires the integration of information provided by the text with relevant prior knowledge, as well as the goals of the reader.
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From page 51... ...
The Vehicle: Curriculum and Pedagogy Instruction in reading comprehension is generally limited. Research in the 1970s indicated that only 2 percent of classroom reading instruction time was devoted to comprehension of the text being read (Durkin, 1978-1979~.
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From page 52... ...
The surprising failure of comprehension focused attention on the complexity of the comprehension process, as well as on the nature of the activity as one involving active engagement rather than passive reception (National Institute of Chilct Health anct Human Development, 2000~. Research on comprehension instruction in the clecacles since has focused on strategies to actively engage the reacler.
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From page 53... ...
They notice when something is unclear or is inconsistent with their background knowledge. Metacognitive strategy instruction teaches students to consciously use problem-solving strategies to comprehend difficult text, to activate relevant background knowledge, and to stay alert to comprehension breakdowns.
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From page 54... ...
In reviewing the studies that met their methodological standards, the National Reading Panel concluded, "when readers are given cognitive strategy instruction, they make significant gains on measures of reading comprehension over students trained with conventional instruction procedures" (National Inshtute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000:4-40~. Research also suggests that the classroom norms and practices that promote reading comprehension are those that enhance student motivation and engagement (RAND, 2002a)
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From page 55... ...
Comprehension capacity builds on successful initial reading instruction; Comprehension capacity is coincident with good oral language skills (vocabulary and listening comprehension) ; Students who have had rich exposure to literacy experiences are more likely to succeed at reading comprehension; · Maturing cognitive capacities, including attention, memory, analytical ability, inferencing ability, and visualization ability, contribute to comprehension ability; Good comprehenders actively monitor their understanding and use strategies that help them retain, organize, and evaluate information; The growing store of background knowledge acquired both inside and outside school contributes to comprehension capacity; and · The motivation that the student brings to reading contributes to comprehension.
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From page 56... ...
If the text is too hard and relies on background knowledge that the reader does not have, he or she will not be able to construct a good situation model and comprehension will fail. If it is too easy, comprehension may remain superficial.
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From page 57... ...
Mastering decontextualized rules of instruction will not be adequate (National Research Council, 2000~. Metacognitive strategy instruction is a case in point.
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From page 58... ...
But the studies provided little guidance on which aspects of the teacher preparation were most effective (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000~. RESEARCH AGENDA In the area of reading comprehension, the panel proposes four initiatives: 1.
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From page 59... ...
Hannon and Daneman (2001) , for example, designed a comprehensive test that measures four different components of comprehension: a reader's ability to recall a text, the ability to make inferences based on explicitly stated facts, the ability to access general word knowledge, and the ability to make inferences that require integration of prior knowledge with text information.
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From page 60... ...
parison to what is considered a reliable measure of that performance. The benchmark might be the ratings on one or more indepth interviews that thoroughly explore and rate students' comprehension of a text.
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From page 61... ...
The panel therefore recommends an R&D effort to develop instructional materials, protocols, and supports for teachers who are learning to use strategy instruction in the classroom. The effort should include careful identification of teacher conceptions regarding student learning and effective instruction in reading comprehension, as well as their divergence with the research base that undergirds the intervention.5 Instructional Clearly there is overlap across disciplines in research on teacher conceptions of student learning and of effective teaching.
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From page 62... ...
Research could be designed to test the "which" questions in much the same way as research on effective reading instruction in earlier years. Teachers who consistently beat the odds with the performance of their students in the area of reading comprehension could be identified and compared with other teachers whose students consistently achieve less.
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From page 63... ...
As with reading instruction in the earlier years, features are likely to differ by grade and by the average achievement level and language development of the students in the classroom. Designing the research to look at various levels (e.g., third, sixth, and ninth grade)
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From page 64... ...
If the capacities outlined above can reasonably be expected of an 18-year-old reader, then what are the developmental benchmarks that characterize progress toward that point? Once the endpoint is established, it is relatively easy to work backward in order to define the expected comprehension capacity of younger students.
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From page 65... ...
Thus benchmarks for comprehension, while not themselves a simple matter of drawing conclusions from research findings, could be deeply informed by a set of research activities that considered both basic cognitive development and the array of standards identified by various groups with a wide array of interests and experiences. Establishing an initial set of benchmarks, and developing assessments of them, would help improve outcomes in reading comprehension simply by proffering a common understanding of what needs to be taught and learned.
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