Language Diversity & Literacy Development:
Increasing Opportunities-to-Learn in Urban Middle Schools
Nonie K. Lesaux, PhDMichael J. Kieffer, EdD
Joan G. Kelley, EdMS. E. Faller, EdM
June 30, 2010
IES Annual MeetingNational Harbor, MD
Funders & Partners
San Diego Unified School District• Participating Schools, Teachers, & Students• Superintendent’s Office• Office of Language Acquisition• Curriculum & Instruction• Literacy Department• Standards, Assessment, and Accountability
Division
Funding Sources• Institute of Education Sciences,
U.S. Department of Education• Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
• Harvard Medical School• William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation• WT Grant Foundation
• Large numbers of struggling readers, often from low-income, diverse linguistic backgrounds
• In feeder high schools, the majority of incoming 9th graders read at or below the 7th grade level
– Biancarosa & Snow, 2004; Lutkus, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007 • With increasing grade levels, the sources of reading difficulties
become increasingly diverse – Catts et al., 2003; Lesaux & Kieffer, in press; Buly & Valencia, 2004
Literacy in the Urban Middle School
Developmental Factors
OrganizationalFactors
Research Framework• Two developmental studies to inform instruction:
– 5-year longitudinal study of ELLs in 4th - 8th grade– Comparative study of ELLs and native English speakers
who struggle with reading in 6th grade
• Design & evaluation of an approach to teach academic vocabulary– 2007-2008: Quasi-experimental evaluation in 21
classrooms, rich data and feedback from teachers on implementation (Lesaux, Kieffer, Faller, & Kelley, 2010)
– 2008-2009: Randomized controlled trial in 14 schools (~60 classrooms)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90Pe
rcen
tile
Rank
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Word Reading Fluency Oral Language Reading Comprehension
The Gap between Reading Words & Comprehending Text
Crosson & Lesaux, 2009; Lesaux, Crosson, Kieffer & Pierce, in press
Struggling Comprehenders in Middle School
Lesaux & Kieffer, in press
-2
-1,5
-1
-0,5
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
Z-s
co
res
Automatic Word Callers (.18)
Slow Word Callers (0.60)
Globally Impaired Readers (.22)
General Vocabulary
(PPVT)
Academic Vocabulary
Working Memory (SCPT)
Passage Reading Fluency
(DIBELS)
Word Reading
Efficiency (TOWRE)
Pseudoword Reading Accuracy
(WLPB-R)
Skill Profiles of Struggling Readers: 3-Class Solution
Research-Practice Partnership: Guiding Goals
• To increase vocabulary and reading comprehension levels in mainstream, middle school classrooms
• large numbers of struggling readers from low-income, diverse linguistic backgrounds
• To simultaneously address issues of middle school literacy reform– Susceptibility to effective implementation of new programs– Supporting teachers to meet their students’ needs
Three Considerations
What the vocabulary & linguistics research indicatesWhat the vocabulary & linguistics research indicates+
What will engage studentsWhat will engage students +
What makes delivering the instruction clear What makes delivering the instruction clear and with easeand with ease
Framework
High utility High utility academic wordsacademic words
Targeting Targeting depthdepth of word knowledgeof word knowledge
Direct instruction & Direct instruction & word-learning word-learning
strategiesstrategies
Anchored Anchored in textin text
Multiple, Multiple, plannedplannedactive active encountersencounters
ALIAS Elements• Ecologically valid, engaging program for teachers to use in
mainstream ELA classrooms• 20-week curriculum, 45 minutes a day• 9 two-week units; 2 one-week review units
– Each unit built around 8-9 target words
• Starting with rich text• Building depth of word knowledge over time• Engaging students & encouraging word play• Increasing student talk in class • Gradually releasing responsibility to students
How to spell it
Building up Knowledge of a Word,Building up Knowledge of a Word,Piece by Piece…Piece by Piece…
What it looks like
What it sounds
like
What I alreadyknow about its
meaning
Its dictionary definition
Its meaning in the article
How to use it to talk about the article
Multiple meanings for the word
How to represent itsmeaning graphically
The different word partsinside the word & their
meanings
The differentforms of the word & how
they are used
The meaning of the wordin different contexts
How to use the word towrite & talk about other topics
How to use the word precisely in extended writing
Day 8 & 9Day 8 & 9
Day 7Day 7
Day 5 & 6Day 5 & 6
Day 4Day 4
Day 3Day 3
Day 2Day 2
Day 1Day 1
Platform for Discussion:Platform for Discussion:
•community service
•tolerance
Day 1:Day 1:Words in Context of Engaging TextWords in Context of Engaging Text
Target Words:Target Words:
affect, community, contribute, culture, establish, ethnic,
resident, welfare
Days 5 & 6:Days 5 & 6:MorphologyMorphology
Verbs(actions)
Nouns(person, place, thing, or idea)
Adjectives(words to describe nouns)
Adverbs(words to describe actions)
contribute contribution
organize organization
solve solution
decide decision
1. Introduce new word
part: “-tion”
2. Add target word to
chart: contribute/
contribution
3. Search article for
words with “-tion”
and add to chart.
Lesson Framework
Days 8 & 9:Days 8 & 9:WritingWriting
Lesson Framework
1. Read and discuss the pre-
writing discussion article.
2. Analyze the writing
prompt.
3. Model planning writing
using a graphic organizer.
4. Work on ideas for writing
with partners.
Intervention Research : The ALIAS Curriculum2008-09 Randomized Controlled Trial
• 14 participating middle schools• 51 teachers randomly assigned to treatment or control
– 26 Treatment (39 classes); 25 Control (41 classes)• approx. 2300 participating students• 70% language minority learners; 30% native English speakers
Data Sources:• Student assessments • Implementation logs; videotaped observations• Teacher survey, • Teacher interviews (end-of-study)• Student focus groups
Implementation• Reported fidelity = 93%• Observed fidelity = 85%
• ALIAS teachers differed from control teachers on techniques related to supporting reading & language development,
but not on overall instructional quality
• Observations in the control classrooms demonstrated that about 13% of time is spent on explicit vocabulary and comprehension instruction
Outcome Measures• Academic Words Taught • Depth of Word Knowledge• Morphological Skills• Understanding of Academic Words in Context• Comprehension of Passages with Words Taught
• Gates MacGinitie Reading Comprehension Test• Writing (Oral & Written Language Scales)• California Standards Test – English Language Arts
Analyses• 4-level Multilevel Modeling (aka HLM) to account
for nesting of students within class periods within teachers within schools
• Pretest covariates used to improve precision (i.e., statistical power) and to investigate if treatment effect differs by students’ pretest scores
• Effect sizes are robust, whether we include covariates and random effects at each of the four levels
• Student* treatment interaction– LM, EO; initial vocabulary level
Summary of Findings• Significant and meaningfully sized effects on
vocabulary, morphology, and comprehension of texts that included the words
• Larger effects on word-level knowledge than on text-level skills
• Significant and meaningful sized effects on standardized text-level measures for some students– Effects on writing for below-average students– Effects on state-level ELA for above-average students
• Larger effects for LM students on words taught
Effects on Vocabulary Knowledge
Effects on Vocabulary
*
Effec
t Siz
e (C
ohen
's d
)
Effects on Text-level Skills
*
Student by Treatment Interaction on Words-in-Context Comprehension
*
Effects on Text-level Skills
*
Student by Treatment Interaction on Writing
*
Effects on Morphological Awareness
*
*
Student by Treatment Interactionon Morphological Awareness
*
*
Effects on ELA California Standards Test
*
What helped teachers succeed?
• Program Materials“When it comes down to it, it’s you,
the classroom, and the curriculum”• Other Teachers in the School
Colleagues helped in “debugging” the program.• Program Specialist
Newer teachers and teachers with fewer colleagues using ALIAS found specialist especially helpful
(Lesaux, Kieffer, Faller & Kelley, 2010)
Next Steps•Delayed post-test to determine maintenance effects
•Analysis of classroom talk•How much natural variation in the quality of classroom talk exists in mainstream 6th grade classrooms in urban middle schools? •In what ways, if any, does the implementation of the ALIAS alter the quality of classroom talk over the course of the 20-week program?
•Influence on reading comprehension and vocabulary?
•Explaining variation in implementation•School demographics, school climate, classroom instruction characteristics
•Describing Standard Practice (CO, Tx baseline)•Quality of Classroom Relationships (CO, Tx)