Chelsea Tramel BEEP 4384 4-19-2012
Academic Honesty Statement Mid-Level Program – College of Education – University of Texas at Arlington The following statement must be used as a cover sheet and turned in along with every course assignment, quiz, test, or other work which will count toward a grade in any EDML/Mid-Level course or field work. Academic Honesty Statement I have read and understand the UTA Academic Honesty clause as follows. “Academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form at The University of Texas at Arlington. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University. “Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.” (Regents’ Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2., Subdivision 3.22).” Further, I declare that the work being submitted for this assignment is my original work (e.g., not copied from another student or copied from another source) and has not been submitted for another class. “Signature” (Chelsea Tramel) Date: 04/19/12
Chapter 1 • Who are English learners? • Students who speak English as a non-native language. It is a person who is learning the English language as well as their native language. English language learners bring their own history and culture into the classroom, which is what helps to diversify the United States. Teachers need to be aware of their students’ personal histories and cultures, so they can understand their frustrations, feelings, aspirations, and hopes. Understanding the basic features of their home and culture will allow the teacher to avoid asking students to do or say something that may be prohibited in their home culture. A dialogue journal allows students to continue constant communication with the teacher. They give students the opportunities to share personal experiences and information with the teacher, building a better student-teacher relationship. Dialogue journals are also a good tool for teachers to assess students, based on their writings, and perceive their progress throughout the year. An illustrated autobiography is another way to get to know students. They give teachers insights into their students lives, without singling anyone out in the class. It gives EL’s the opportunity to talk about their family, friends, what they like to do or eat, or where they live, etc. • How can I ease newcomers into the routines of my class when they understand little or no English? • There are two basic needs to consider when easing new students into the routines of the classroom, one being safety and security, and the other being a sense of belonging. The “first things first” approach is helpful when considering safety and security. It is helpful to assign a personal buddy to each newcomer, preferably a buddy that speaks the newcomers native language. Another way to address safety and security is to follow predictable routines in your daily classroom schedule. Predictability in routine creates a sense of security for all students. Predictability may be the first stability some students have experienced in awhile, especially if they have just immigrated under adverse circumstances. • What kinds of programs exist to meet the needs of English learners? • Bilingual education programs can take many forms, and have two major goals, to teach English and to provide access to the core curriculum through the home language while students gain English language proficiency. The program model description indicates whether the program serves language minority students (those who speak a language other than English at home), language majority students (those whose primary language is English), or both. Transitional bilingual education programs serve language minority students who are limited English proficient, and primary language instruction is given for one to three years. The purpose of primary language instruction is to develop a foundation in literacy and academic content that will facilitate English language and academic development as students acquire the new language. The goal is develop English language proficiency for limited English proficient students as soon as possible. • Maintenance bilingual education serves language minority students who are limited English proficient. The goals of this program are full bilingualism and bilateracy for English learners. Immersion education teach a minority language to language majority students. Students receive subject matter instruction through their second language to develop second language proficiency while learning academic content. Two way immersion programs (developmental bilingual education) serve both language minority and language majority students. They group
more or less equal numbers of native English speaking students and native speakers together for instruction. Both groups develop and maintain their home language. Newcomer programs support the initial adjustment of immigrant students to the language, culture, and schooling of their new country. They emphasize the integration of academic and personal-social support to help students adjust. • English language instructional programs use only English for instruction. Sheltered english or specially designed academic instruction in English (SDAIE), students are taught instruction completely in English. Subject matter is organized to promote second language acquisition while teaching cognitively demanding material that is grade level appropriate. ESL pullout programs have students being taught instruction in regular classrooms for the majority of the time, alongside their monolingual English speaking peers. English language development teach students all subject matter using English as the language of instruction in a class taught by a teacher with special knowledge of second language development. Lastly, structured English immersion is where students are taught all content through English using sheltering techniques to make instruction understandable. It does not promote primary language literacy, and the goal is language, literacy, and content learning in English only.
Chapter 2 • What do we know when we know a language? What are some of ways experts have defined language proficiency and communicative competence? • Knowing a language means you have language proficiency. Language proficiency is the ability to use a language effectively and appropriately throughout social, personal, school, and work situations required for daily living in a given society. It includes both oral and written proficiency in a literate society, as well as grammatical rules governing sounds, word forms, and word orders to convey meaning (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), and knowledge of social conventions of language use. Communicative competence is emphasizes the idea that proficient language use extend beyond grammatical forms to include language functions and the social conventions of language to achieve communication. It is very important to understand the social and cultural norms of a language, as well as, being able to form and pronounce sentences correctly. • What theories have been proposed to explain first and second language acquisition? • The behaviorist approach places primary weight on children imitating what they have heard, and has been proven to be the least adequate for explaining observed facts in child language development. It focuses on verbal behaviors such as words and utterances of the child and people in social environment. The innatist view places primary focus on the child, particularly on innate, biological mechanisms to account for language acquisition. Children construct grammar through a process of hypothesis testing. The interactionist perspective acknowledges both the child’s role and that of caregivers in the social environment. It emphasizes the importance of social interactions, with the essential ingredient being aimed at communication. Caregivers play a critical role in adjusting language to facilitate the use of innate capacities for LA, and both nature and nurture play a part in the LA process.
• Second language acquisition theories are about how people learn to speak a second (or third or fourth) language are directly related to the first language acquisition theories. The behaviorist perspective in second language acquisition, students are taught first to listen and speak and then read and write based on the assumption that this is the natural sequence in first language acquisition. Errors were corrected immediately to avoid forming bad habits that would be difficult to overcome. Activity • Using the National ESL Standards included in the syllabus, study the goals and standards for 4-8. Analyze and explain how communicative competence is represented in the standards. • National Standards: • ESL Standards for: • Goal 1, Standard 1 Pre-K-12 Students: To use English to communicate in social settings: Students will use English to participate in Grades 4-8 social interactions • Goal 1, Standard 2 To use English to communicate in social settings: Students will interact in, through, and with spoken and written English for personal expression and enjoyment • Goal 1, Standard 3 To use English to communicate in social settings: Students will use learning strategies to extend their communicative competence • Goal 2, Standard 1 To use English to achieve academically in all content areas: Students will use English to interact in the classroom • Goal 2, Standard 2 To use English to achieve academically in all content areas: Students will use English to obtain, process, construct, and provide subject matter information in spoken and written form • Goal 2, Standard 3 To use English to achieve academically in all content areas: Students will use appropriate learning strategies to construct and apply academic knowledge " • Goal 3, Standard 1 To use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways: Students will use the appropriate language variety, register, and genre according to audience, purpose, and setting • Goal 3, Standard 2 To use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways: Students will use nonverbal communication appropriate to audience, purpose, and setting • Goal 3, Standard 3 To use English in socially and culturally appropriate ways: Students will use appropriate learning strategies to extend their sociolinguistic and sociocultural competence • Communicative competence emphasizes the idea that proficient language use extends beyond grammatical forms to include language functions and the social conventions of language to achieve communication. When students master both language areas, they can be considered to have communicative competence. Goal 1 standard 1 students are participating in social interactions, and using cooperative groups is a good example of this goal with introducing communicative competence within the lesson. Standard 2 is students are required to interact through various forms of communication. A example of this is creative writing, such as, having beginning students create a scrapbook with pictures and putting descriptions by them, or having intermediate to advance students to go to studentpublishing.com to have them create their own book, and share it with the class or groups. Goal 2 Standard 1 has students interacting in the classroom speaking in English. AN example of this is, having classroom discussions where all students participate, or rotation groups with the ELL as a leader and stays put, but everyone else rotates around them. It
helps them communicate with everyone in the class, but it takes the pressure off of presenting in front of a large group of people. In standard two, students are to using English to process, construct, and provide content information in spoken written form. An example of this is, having students do a photo analysis, where they are making observations, inferences, and developing questions by looking at a picture related to the lesson. Goal 3 Standard 1 involves students use English in a socially and culturally appropriate manner, but with appropriate language variety, genre, according to the audience, purpose, and setting. They can be involved in readers theater to accomplish this goal. Standard two is students using non verbal communication appropriately to audience, purpose, and setting. Examples of this is RAFT, where students develop an understanding of role, audience, format, and topic, or also charades.
Chapter 3 • How are curriculum standards used in classrooms serving English learners? • Standards consist of three components, content standards that delineate what students should know and be able to do, benchmarks that specify expected knowledge and skills for each content standard at different grade levels, and performance standards (progress indicators) that describe how students will show they have met the standard. SBI helps teachers focus on high expectations for all students, while motivating the teacher to modify instruction to meet individual student needs. It also supports multiple ways of assessing learning, such as careful observation as students carry out particular tasks. For example, writing an essay or conducting an experiment. Standard based instruction and assessment might permit students to attain and demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a multiple of ways. All of these goals are very effective for English language learners. TESOL standards help teachers facilitate ELA for social, intercultural, and instructional purposes. It also helps to conceptualize grade appropriate curriculum and assessment in major content areas in ways that address varying EL proficiency levels. Performance indicators point out how to tailor instruction and assess learning according to students’ various English language proficiency levels, including ideas for building supports. For instance, peer work, the use of visuals, and opportunities to use the primary language when appropriate. • What is differentiated instruction, and why is it important for EL’s? • Differentiated instruction is an approach in which teachers acknowledge, respect, accommodate, and build upon a wide variety array of student differences to facilitate optimal growth for all. Teachers consider each student’s prior knowledge and experience relevant to the topic or procedure to be taught, using the primary language as a resource when possible. The approach calls for ongoing assessments that are relative to the curriculum and constant and careful observation of students as they engage in a variety of learning activities. Through this teachers can start to determine the best starting point for each student and create an optimal learning experience for everyone. Differentiated instruction calls for a classroom environment that actively promotes mutual respect and caring among students and teacher. It is to provide each student the support needed to learn, grow, and thrive, and each student is valued for their particular talents. It also calls for variety and flexibility in classroom organization, learning materials, and grouping. DI addresses individual differences, and
emphasizes accommodating a wide variety of student traits, talents, and special needs. DI is important in EL’s because it addresses individual differences in students, and English learners bring a variety of differences to the environment, and need individualized attention from the teacher. • What is content-based instruction (CBI), and how is it related to sheltered instruction or specially designed academic instruction for SDAIE? • CBI is uses the target language as a medium of instruction to teach language and content simultaneously. It is used to teach to teach a second/foreign language in a variety of programs from kindergarden to college. CBI programs include the modifications of teacher language and instruction that allows students to understand, participate, and learn in a new language. Comprehensible input is used to help make instructional language usable by pairing it with visuals, concrete objects, and other cues to convey meaning. CBI should provide academic, language, and literacy learning opportunities for English learners. SDAIE instruction focuses on grade appropriate content area learning, English language and literacy development, and positive social and affective adjustment. At times the English language instructor and the content instructor may be responsible for subject matter attainment. Both instructors use sheltering strategies, and preferably with ongoing co-planning and coordination. The social emotional relationship established also provides ELs the opportunity to see themselves worthy, capable, and contributing members of the classroom community.
Chapter 4 • What are the relationships among listening, reading, speaking, and writing? How do these relationships inform classroom teachers? • Language development correlates to vocabulary acquisition and expansion of the functions for which language is used. By the age of 5, children become grammatically competent speakers, and competence in reading and writing is achieved later on, but it is not universally achieved. Basic oral language competence emerges earlier than reading and writing skills for ELs with little literacy in the home language. Older students who are literate in their first language, competence in written English may come before oral English. ELLs don’t need to be fully proficient in oral English before they start to read and write. Second language knowledge can be developed from written input as well as oral input, but the text must be comprehensible. It is important provide frequent, meaningful uses of both oral and written language for all learners. These relationships inform the classroom teachers that integration of listening, speaking, reading, and writing is functionally appropriate. Practical use of the language provides detailed development of that process and overall language development in English. Teachers should strive to develop each student’s abilities to the fullest as listeners and speakers, readers, and writers. • What strategies will assist beginning and intermediate students in developing oral language proficiency? • Some strategies to assist with beginning and intermediate students in developing oral language proficiency are, using games in second language classrooms. Routine instructional events are very good for English language learners, they could be anything from literature circles, process
writing, theme studies, circle time, journal time, or any other lesson sequences in content areas, such as math, social studies, and science. Singing songs, students can participate at any level and songs are language based, so the teacher will need to provide cues to meanings, such as pictures, gestures, or pantomime. Some other strategies could be drama, show and tell, or dramatizing poetry. The one looks, one doesn’t strategy the teacher places a transparency of a picture on an overhead projector after telling students that one of them may look at the transparency while the other one looks away. When students work with partners, they can use wordless picture books to create and tape record a story based on pictures, a strategy called tape-recording children’s recreations of wordless book stories. Taping and dubbing your own TV show is a strategy that a lot of students love, it is where students create their favorite TV show, such as a cartoon, sports event, etc. Some other strategies include riddles and jokes and choral reading. With choral reading, the teacher first reads the materials to students several times while showing the words to a poem or story, then the students practice through repeated reading before they preform/read their story together and act out the actions.
Chapter 5 • What are the “emergent literacy” and “reading readiness” perspectives, and how do they influence early literacy instruction? • The reading readiness perspective is based on maturationist theories of development and the standardized testing movement of the 1930’s and 40’s. Its proponents go along with the belief that children are not developmentally ready to read until they reach a mental age of 6.6 years. The reading readiness perspective is the traditional view that assumes children must be able to perform certain auditory, visual, psychomotor, and linguistic tasks in order to show the maturity needed for reading instruction. Some problems with this perspective were that for English speakers and learners, reading readiness subskill prerequisites were deemed unnecessary hindrances to literacy development. Emergent literacy perspective was pioneered by Marie Clay, Emilia Ferreiro, and Ana Teberosky. Literacy development is viewed as parallel to oral language development in process, and children begin to develop written language knowledge from the moment they are first exposed to reading in writing in the home. Emergent literacy research has led to the following teachers recommendations, acknowledge that all children bring literacy knowledge to school, they need to immerse children and reading and writing experiences as well as model and demonstrate the processes, and also that teachers need to enrich dramatic play centers, and use props. It also recommended that teachers need to accept and celebrate student progress, and encourage students to read and write at home and talk to their parents about reading and writing. • How can teachers and parents work together to enhance home-school relationships and promote early literacy development? • Families promote early literacy by modeling a variety of day to day literacy uses, answering children’s questions about print and its meaning, providing children with literacy materials, and telling stories and reading aloud to children. Teachers can enhance home-school relationships by making a special effort to help parents feel comfortable at school by providing notices in the home language that explain the purpose of the school function and what is
happening in the classroom. Teachers and parents can work together to promote literacy development by, having children show their parents what they wrote or draw, to read a story to their parents, or to talk about their daily activities. Another tool that could be used is to send home storybooks with audiotapes that the children have been reading in class. Teachers can promote early literacy development by creating a literacy rich classroom environment, using daily routines to highlight the forms and functions of print (e.g. morning message, classroom rules and procedures, and wall dictionary), and reading out loud to students as much as possible. Also, they could use dialogue journals, alphabet books, and use the language experience models functional reading and writing, which illustrate the relationship of print to speech, it helps to develop sight vocabulary, and illustrates sound/symbol correspondences. Internet Activity • Go to one of the following websites and browse through its various links. Describe three links that you find particularly useful for beginning English learners and three that are especially useful for intermediate English learners. As you do so, consider how you might use the material with older students who are beginners in English language development (upper elementary, middle school, high school). • Enchanted Learning: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html • Everything ESL: http://www.everythingesl.net/ • Thinkfinity: www.thinkfinity.org (try http://www.thinkfinity.org/english-language-learnersresources or simply searching “ESL” or “English Language Learners”) • Beginners: • Giants Steps with Nonfiction: This goes through the writing process that should be used with ELLs. It states to focus on the pre-writing phase with beginners, and to use brainstorming, charts, and different types of graphic organizers. I liked how it also told you some of the mistakes they may make when going through the writing process. http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/ giants_steps_nonficti_writing_96247.php • Amazing Animals: It has students learning vocabulary through a lot of pictures. The teacher is to teach the vocabulary, and the students are to point to the specific animal that the teacher asks for. Older students could have more complex pictures with multiple things to point at (such as collage). http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/animals.php • Total Physical Response: The teacher acts out words or phrases, first they say the word or phrase, and then they act it out. Students learn about present continuous and past tense in context, and also sentence structure and word order in English. This is good for any age learner, because by moving and learning, it stores it to the long term memory bank. http://www.everythingesl.net/ lessons/tpr.php • Intermediates: • Memoirs and Personal Essays: It has more group work and less teacher guidance. ELL students are provided a story map, but have to finish it within their groups. Older students would be provided a
more age appropriate memoir to read. http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/ memoirs_personal_essays_03701.php • Extreme Weather: Students watch a video, and then fill out a KWL chart. Then a story is read to them, or a reading from weatherwizkids or weather watch. Students should mark the text, but prior to reading students know to look for three things that must be present for hurricanes to form. Ask questions, and have them respond orally, and write answers on W part of KWL chart. Modifications are made through visual aids and leveling of the text. This site also gives assessment tips for high beginners and intermediate students. http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/ extreme_weather_hurricanes_60832.php • Teaching About Nutrition: This has students working in cooperative groups, by having them participate in a blindfolded taste test of different cereals. It also has students watching a video and report on TV food commercials, or they can create their own commercials. It states that all ELL students should participate at their own level, but no matter what age, all ELL’s are able to participate in the lesson (blind taste test). http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/food_unit.php
Chapter 6 • What does research have to say about learning and developing vocabulary in a second language? • The average native English speaker entering kindergarten knows at least 5,000 words, but the average ELL student knows about 5,000 words in their native language, but few words in English. ELLs have more of a challenge of building the foundation for the language, and then closing the gap. Unknown words are particularly burdensome to some English Language Learners. • What does it mean to “know a word”? What words do students need to know? • To know a word means that you have language knowledge in four domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In knowing a word, you know its form, what it sounds like, how it is pronounced, and what does it looks like (spelling). Also, you know the specific meaning of the word depending on its use in context. This includes grammatical function in the sentence or utterance. If a word is in your receptive oral vocabulary, you recognize and understand it when you hear it, if it is in your receptive written vocabulary, you recognize and understand it if you see it while reading. You will be able to use the word when you write if it is in your productive written vocabulary, and be able to use it when speaking if it is in your productive oral vocabulary. Students need to know vocabulary that includes academic content words and high frequency words, because it is extremely important for learning history, literature, science, math, etc. Word frequency estimate are important for students to know because it directs us to words that are used most often. The Dolch list has the most common 220 words in reading material. Function words such as, articles, pronouns, conjunctions, and prepositions, show relationships among other words in a sentence. High frequency words are good for explicit instruction, because they pack meaning, even when given in isolation.
Chapter 7 • What is process writing, and how can it be used with English learners? • Process writing is an approach to teaching writing, where students experience five interrelated phases: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. It breaks the writing act into manageable parts and puts oral language, reading, and writing at the service of the student’ communication goals. Prewriting students choose a topic and generate ideas through brain storming or oral discussion. After they begin drafting, during their first draft they are encouraged to let their ideas flow onto the paper without concern for perfection. Revising is aimed towards reordering arguments or reviewing scenes in a narrative, supporting information, or reviewing or changing sentences. Editing is for correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation, mechanics, etc., and publishing is when students share writing with one another, showing that writing is valued. Process writing helps English learners because it allows them to write from their own experiences. Personal relationships are enhanced, because teachers and students are getting know each other better through the writing. Students benefit from cooperative assistance among students during revising and editing. Cooperating groups promote writing and oral discussion, when comprehensible input is generated. Peer response groups help the writer during the revision process, and peer editing groups help them during the editing process. Publish student writing is a good way to develop meaningful collaborative writing. • Which classroom contexts and teaching strategies can best assist second language writers? • Some strategies to assist beginning writers are oral discussion, partner stories using pictures and wordless book, or concept books. Students share their ideas orally with the teacher or with their peers in oral discussions, this facilitates in choosing and focusing their topics. Concept books are great for beginner writers, because they help to illustrate and focus on concept or idea. Pattern books and riddle books are sentence level scaffolds that help to make use of repeated phrases, refrains, and sometimes rhymes. Personal journals, dialogue journals, of buddy journals are some other strategies to help assist with second language writers. These demonstrate automaticity, the ability to engage students in a complex activity without having to concentrate on each part of the writing. Journals help students to develop fluency and the ability to generate ideas. Clustering assists writers in developing vocabulary and preparing for writing, and it represents one of the first steps, along with buddy journals, as beginning level students begin to consider an audience for their writing. It has numerous advantages including it is easy to create and there are no rules for what can go into a cluster- students decide for themselves. Also it is easier to share with others and helps the students create an experience or story orally. Intermediate writers have developed fluency in their writing, and they are able to produce a large number of words o the page, although they still need to help with organization on sentence variety, grammar, and spelling. Some strategies that can be used with intermediate writers are show and not tell, because it helps English learners are able to transfer this knowledge to their own writing. Sentence combining teaches the students to combine shorter sentences into longer ones, while containing the meaning. Sentence shortening is the opposite of sentence combining, and it assists students with changing wordy sentences into more structured sentences. The object is to write the shortest sentence with no loss of meaning. Sentence models are from quality classroom reading materials or from writing produced by students themselves. Mapping is another strategy that is used with intermediate writers. The
mapping procedure helps students generate ideas and think about how they might organize their ideas before they begin to write.
Chapter 8 • What does research tell us about students reading in a second language? • Research tells us that the process of reading is the same whether students are reading in English as the first or second language. Readers use their own background knowledge about the text’s topic and structure along with their linguistic knowledge and reading strategies to interpret and achieve their purpose in reading. Linguistics systems involved in reading are graphophonics, syntax, and semantics. Second language readers have two key differences between the first and second language readers. The two major differences are second language proficiency and background knowledge are pertinent to the text being read. Allowing students the opportunity to read in their native language helps boost success in second language reading. ELLs and background knowledge have advantages such as knowing how to read in the first language or if the first language uses a writing system similar to the English alphabet. The reading processes of proficient readers allow for word recognition and past experience influence fluency.
Chapter 9 • What characteristics of narrative and expository text structure are useful for students to know and why? • Expository text is factual, and its purpose is to inform, explain, or persuade. This text is important for students to understand, because students must learn that authors may use a variety of structures to organize their ideas, including cause and effect or compare and contrast relationships, time and order sequences, and problem solution patterns. Students need to know that authors may sometimes use some or all of these structure in any chapter or section of text. Expository text can be organized into heading and subheadings, and sometimes may contain extensive graphics, such as tables, charts, diagrams, and illustrations. Narrative text tells a story, and is found in the form of short stories, folktales, tall tales, myths, legends, fables, fantasies, and science fiction. The structure of narrative text often feature a beginning, middle, and end, also it features story grammar or story elements (characters, settings, themes, a resolution to the conflict, etc.) Students learning to identify recurring story grammar elements provides them with a story schema. When students encounter a new narrative text, students recall the story schema to make predictions about what might happen in the story, to visualize settings or characters, or summarize plot events.
Chapter 10 • Why should we teach vocabulary in the postreading phase of content reading? What role does this instruction play in assisting students’ memory? • The postreading phase of content reading allows for students to organize the information they read, so that they will remember it. Postreading allows students to integrate their reading skills with the other language skills (listening, speaking, writing), help them to integrate with foreign culture, make use of key words and structures to summarize the reading passage, extract the main idea of a paragraph or a reading text, interpret descriptions (outlining and summarizing), and to make use of classroom games for reading. Teaching vocabulary during postreading is important, because it reinforces the information, and it uses the strategy of repetition. Other visual strategies that help student connect special vocabulary are mapping, clustering, and structured overviews. These strategies help students to expand their knowledge of new technical terms and understand them in a content of related terms, which in turn creates a cognitive net for storing the information in the long term memory. Internet Activity • Go to the NAEP (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/) website and click on reading. Search State Profiles (http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/) and click on Texas for our state results. Next, compare Texas results with those of other states and the nation overall. What factors can you identify that might affect these results? • The states that on average have higher scores than normal public schools, are schools that are in the northeast region of the United States. The west coast schools tend to be below the national average, and the east coast schools appear to be either at or above the national average. I think the varying scores across the country have to do with the different types of cultures and societies that each contain. I would assume the students from the north do not get out much, due to the cold weather, so they have more time to study. (joke) I think a factor affecting the Texas scores is the vastly expanding population. The state has not had enough time to adjust to the fast population increase, resulting in over-crowded schools, and more frustrated teachers.
Chapter 11 • What is the meaning of the three reading levels: independent reading level, instruction reading level, and frustration reading level? How can we use these levels to inform our evaluation and instruction? • The IRI (informal reading inventories) tells you the number or percentage or word recognition errors, or miscues, that indicate independent, instructional, and frustration levels on a particular passage. It also tells you the number or percentage of missed comprehension questions that indicate each level. It is important to combine the IRI results with different forms of assessment, including your own personal judgement to be most accurate in gauging
each student’s reading abilities. IRI’s can be used to create a strategy development plan for students to help them become more competent readers. We can use these levels to assess our learners by answering questions such as, is it a comfortable level for the learner, did the errors make sense, did the learner know basic sight words, what kinds of questions did the learner answer correctly, and how well did the learner understand the selection. Also, which level does the learner read independently, instructionally, or with frustration, what keeps the learner from reading well at the next level, what is necessary to turn the instructional level into an independent level? By answering these questions and others, it gives appropriate information on specifically how the instructor can modify the instruction, and differentiate it. Independent reading level is when the student is reading at a level that is easy for them, where they require little help from the teacher. Students reading at a 98% word recognition accuracy and a 90% comprehension they are reading at this level. The comprehension from this level of reading is determined by how well the student retells information or on the comprehension questions for the passage, or a combination of both. Instructional reading level comprehension is about 70% and word recognition is about 95%. Student are able to read classroom materials with assistance of teacher. Frustration reading level is when the student has major difficulty with word recognition and comprehension. Students at this level are below 90% word recognition and below 70% comprehension. This level is to difficult for students even with help.