Best Practices in Teaching Literacy Research Paper

BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING LITERACY

Best Practices in Teaching Literacy

Lourdes Brock

Fall 2013

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

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BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING LITERACY 2


Abstract

This research is grounded in current knowledge about

literacy teaching and learning in grades PreK-12. It

presents research-based best practices and strategies that

are tailored to fit specific classroom circumstances and

student populations. Strategies for helping all students

succeed including struggling readers and teaching each of

the major components of literacy are provided. This

research also addresses ways to organize and plan

instruction with innovative uses of technology,

intervention, assessment, and evaluation.

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BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHING LITERACY 4


Introduction

What is literacy? Literacy, meaning the ability to

construe a written, linguistic, alphabetic symbol system is

arguably the most important skill students acquire in

preschool through 12th-grade education because it makes all

forms of higher-order learning, critical thinking, and

communication possible.

The study of reading, writing, and communicating is

therefore essential to all other study in early childhood

education, primary school, and secondary school. Such study

comprises not only the fundamental knowledge and skills of

language arts (reading, writing, speaking, and listening),

but also the knowledge and skills of discourse (dialogue and

discussion), and rhetoric (the ability to make arguments and

to think critically about arguments made by others)

including the knowledge and skills involved in responding to

imaginative literature.

Comprehensive Literacy Plan

Purpose and Background

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Recognizing the critical role that literacy plays in

the academic success of all Colorado’s children, the

Colorado Department of Education (CDE) has initiated a

Comprehensive Literacy Plan (CLP). The CLP will serve as a

focal point for all of the department’s efforts to support

Colorado districts, schools, and communities to ensure all

Colorado children are on track to meet the literacy demands

of the 21st century.

The Colorado Department of Education defines a

standards-based curriculum as an organized plan of

instruction to engage students in mastering the national

Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association

Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School

Officers, 2010), which is infused with the necessary

supports of expectations that embodies 21st century skills

that is comprehensive, ensuring, at a minimum, access to all

areas specified in state legislation; that is connected

within and across content areas; that is culturally

relevant, meaningful, and applicable; that is equitable and

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accessible to all students; and that is guaranteed, viable,

and appropriate for the instructional level of each student

(CDE, 2012a).

The Five Areas of Reading Instruction

The integration of the five components of reading is

also essential for successful literacy outcomes from

kindergarten to fifth grade. Teaching the foundational

skills enable them to become proficient readers with the

capacity to comprehend a wide range of complex texts. The

components are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,

vocabulary, and comprehension, including oral and written

language development (National Institute of Child Health and

Development, 2000). For adolescent learners, these same

five components are equally relevant. The increasing

expectations for advanced literacy require increasingly

sophisticated instructional responses. Research reviews on

teaching reading to adolescent students with learning

disability testify to the importance and timeliness of this

issue, and they present valuable instructional guidance

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(Torgesen, Houston, Rissman, Decker, Roberts, Vaughn,

Wexler, Francis, Rivera, & Lesaux, 2007).

Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Phonemic Awareness (PA) refers to the ability to focus

on and manipulate these phonemes in spoken words. Phonemes

are the smallest units making up spoken language. PA

training involves helping students recognize, isolate, and

manipulate phonemes. PA is directly taught during lessons

on principles of phonemic awareness, application of the

principles, reading aloud to students, and during language

and word play activities. Some of the activities within

this curriculum that specifically address phonemic awareness

are saying rhyme words, identifying the onset and rime in

spoken words and syllables, hearing and isolating individual

sounds in words, connecting words that sound alike and words

that sound different, blending and segmenting words, making

new words by deleting or substituting phonemes, and

attending to sounds of words. The lessons are logically

selected based on students’ needs and an organized continuum

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of concepts. When writing, students learn to say words

slowly to hear discrete sounds at the beginning, middle, and

end of words.

Teachers should keep in mind several cautions for

implementing phonemic awareness in the classroom. First, PA

training does not constitute a complete reading program;

rather, it provides children with essential foundational

knowledge in the alphabetic system. It is one necessary

instructional component within a complete and integrated

reading program. Several additional competencies must be

acquired as well to ensure that students will learn to read

and write. Second, there are many ways to teach PA

effectively. In implementing PA instruction, teachers need

to evaluate the methods they use against measured success in

their own students. Third, the motivation of both students

and their teachers is a critical ingredient of success

(National Reading Panel, 2000). Providing texts that

students want to read is a widely known approach to

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improving reading motivation (Roberts, Torgesen, Boardman, &

Scammacca, 2008).

Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction is a way of teaching reading that

stresses the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences and

their use in reading and spelling. The primary focus of

phonics instruction is to help beginning readers understand

how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes) to form letter-

sound correspondences and spelling patterns and to help them

learn how to apply this knowledge in their reading. Phonics

instruction may be provided systematically or incidentally.

The hallmark of a systematic phonics approach or program is

that a sequential set of phonics elements is delineated and

these elements are taught along a dimension of explicitness

depending on the type of phonics method employed.

Conversely with incidental phonics instruction, the teacher

does not follow a planned sequence of phonics elements to

guide instruction but highlights particular elements

opportunistically when they appear in text. Phonics

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instruction can also vary with respect to the explicitness

by which the phonic elements are taught and practiced in the

reading of text. The types of phonics instructional methods

and approaches that determine these are: analogy, analytic,

embedded, synthetic, and phonics through spelling. For

example, many synthetic phonics approaches use direct

instruction in teaching phonics components that provide

opportunities for applying these skills in decodable text

formats characterized by a controlled vocabulary. While

embedded phonics approaches are typically less explicit and

use decodable text for practice less frequently, the phonics

concepts to be learned can still be presented systematically

(National Reading Panel, 2000).

Fluency Instruction

Fluency is the ability to read a text correctly and

quickly. Fluency is not a stage of development at which

readers can read all words quickly and easily. Fluency

changes, depending on what readers are reading, their

familiarity with the words, and the amount of their practice

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with reading text. Therefore, it is important to note the

types that describe each reading levels in fluency

instruction: independent level, instructional level, and

frustration level. Independent level reading is when it is

relatively easy for the student to read at 95% word

accuracy. Instructional level reading is when it is

challenging but manageable for the reader with 90% word

accuracy. When it is a difficult text for the student to

read less than 90% accuracy, reading is at frustration

level. Considering the disadvantage of reading at

frustration level, fluency instruction should be with a text

that students could read at their independent level. It is

at this level where students are able to practice on speed

and expression rather than decoding.

In an effort to help teachers gain knowledge on fluency

instruction, researchers have investigated two major

instructional approaches related to fluency. In the first

approach, repeated and monitored oral reading (commonly

called “repeated reading”), students read passages aloud

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several times and receive guidance and feedback from the

teacher. Students who read and reread passages orally as

they receive guidance and/or feedback become better readers.

Repeated and monitored oral reading substantially improves

word recognition, speed, and accuracy as well as fluency.

To a lesser but still considerable extent, repeated oral

reading also improves reading comprehension and the reading

ability of all students throughout the elementary school

years. It also helps struggling readers at higher-grade

levels. In the second approach, independent silent reading,

students are encouraged to read extensively on their own

inside and outside the classroom with minimal guidance or

feedback. Teacher-education and reading-education

literature often recommends in-class procedures for

encouraging students to read on their own, such as, Silent

Sustained Reading (SSR) or Drop Everything and Read (DEAR).

On the other hand, many teachers have relied primarily on

round-robin reading to develop oral fluency. In round-robin

reading, students take turns reading parts of a text aloud

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(though usually not repeatedly). However, round-robin

reading in itself does not increase fluency. This may be

because students only read small amounts of text, and they

usually read this small portion only once (U.S. Department

of Education, 2003).

Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary refers to the words children must know to

communicate effectively. Wide reading is a powerful vehicle

for vocabulary acquisition for older and more proficient

readers (Stanovich, 1986). Nonetheless, since beginning

readers are limited in their independent reading to simple

decodable or familiar texts, exposure to novel vocabulary is

unlikely to come from this source (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan,

L., 2012).

Viewed as another important vehicle for vocabulary

development that is common practice in primary classrooms is

reading aloud (Herman, Anderson, Pearson, & Nagy, 1987).

Read-alouds are complex instructional interactions in which

teachers choose texts, identify words for instruction, and

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select the appropriate strategies to facilitate word

learning. Read-alouds fill the gap by exposing children to

book language, which is rich in unusual words and

descriptive language. During read-aloud interactions, word

learning occurs both incidentally and purposely (Carey,

1978), as the teacher stops and elaborates on particular

words to provide an explanation, demonstration, or example

(Kindle, 2009). Even brief explanations of one or two

sentences, when presented in the context of a supportive

text, can be sufficient for children to make initial

connections between novel words and their meanings

(Biemiller & Boote, 2006).

Word learning is enhanced through repeated readings of

text, which provide opportunities to revise and refine word

meanings (Carey, 1978). These repetitions help students

move to deeper levels of word knowledge from never heard it, to

sounds familiar, to it has something to do with, to well known (Dale,

1965). To facilitate word learning, teachers employ a

variety of strategies such as elaboration of student

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responses, naming, questioning, and labeling (Roberts,

2008). Others are by: wide reading, modeling, wordplay,

control of learning, context learning, use of word-learning

tool, graphic organizers, clustering techniques,

personalizing learning, and mnemonics.

Comprehension

Without a strong background in basic skills like

decoding and vocabulary building, reading comprehension is

impossible. Reading is often thought of as a hierarchy of

skills, from processing of individual letters and their

associated sounds to word recognition to text-processing

competencies. Skilled comprehension requires fluid

articulation of all these processes, beginning with the

sounding out and recognition of individual words to the

understanding of sentences in paragraphs as part of much

longer texts.

Based on research, the first recommendation to

educators who want to improve students' comprehension skills

is to teach them to decode well. The next successive

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recommendations are to teach them how to use a repertoire of

active comprehension strategies, including prediction,

analyzing stories with respect to story grammar elements,

question asking, image construction, and summarizing. Teach

them to acquire word knowledge through reading and to relate

what they know to what they read (e.g., by asking “Why?” and

questions about factual knowledge in text). Lastly,

demonstrate the three key elements in a transformational

view of comprehension strategy with instructional context on

explicit instruction, agency and metacognition, and

scaffolding for transfer. There is little doubt that

instruction that develops these interrelated skills should

improve comprehension (Kindle, 2009).

Oral Language Instruction

The development of oral language is one of the child's

most natural and impressive accomplishments. Oral language,

the complex system that relates sounds to meanings, is made

up of three components: the phonological, the semantic, and

the syntactic (Lindfors, 1987). Of course, speakers of a

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language constantly use these three components of language

together, usually in social situations. Some language

experts would add a fourth component: pragmatics, which

deals with rules of language use. Pragmatic rules are part

of our communicative competence, our ability to speak

appropriately in different situations; for example, in a

conversational way at home and in a more formal way at a job

interview. Learning pragmatic rules is as important as

learning the rules of the other components of language,

since people are perceived and judged based on both what

they say and how they say it.

Teachers can help sustain natural oral language

development by providing environments full of language

development opportunities. Peer learning is an important

part of oral language development, especially in mixed-age

groups. There should be a balance between individual

activities and those that nurture collaboration and

discussion. Activities involving a wide range of materials

should promote conversation. Children learn much from each

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other, but adults are the main conversationalists,

questioners, listeners, responders, and sustainers of oral

language development and growth. Most importantly, the

strategies for developing listening/speaking skills are by:

modeling; use of real and concrete experiences, songs,

dramatization, role-playing, poetry, puppetry; and use of

wordless picture books.

Understand that every child's language or dialect is

worthy of respect as a valid system for communication that

reflects the identities, values, and experiences of the

child's family and community. Every area of the curriculum

is enhanced through language, so that classrooms full of

active learners are hardly ever silent. Treat children as

if they are conversationalists by encouraging interaction

among children as they come to understand written language

(Genishi, 1988).

Written Language Instruction

Writing is a highly complex language skill. Whether a

kindergartener scrawls a couple of sentences or an eighth-

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grader prepares an advanced research report, composing text

is a complex academic accomplishment. Without skilled,

systematic instruction, many students particularly those

with disabilities, may not become proficient writers.

Because it brings many specialized skills together, writing

has been thought of as falling at the top of the language

hierarchy (Johnson & Johnson, 1993).

Writing has its foundation in oral language, but its

unique purpose, form, and function set it apart (Goodman,

1986). Whereas oral communication can rely on immediate

verbal and nonverbal feedback, written language is highly

de-contextualized (Sulzby, 1992). In other words, writing

does not provide a lot of contextual clues to help with the

communication process (Bruning & Horn, 2000). Writing

requires more specificity and a better sense of an (absent)

audience than does communication in the oral domain

(Johnson, 1993).

While research in the area of writing instruction is

still emerging, researchers have determined that written

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language requires a complex set of processes to learn and

teach. These processes can be broken down into two major

categories: writing mechanics and writing process. Writing

mechanics includes the physical act of writing, spelling,

vocabulary, grammar, syntax, semantics, punctuation, and

capitalization. Writing processes include background

knowledge, retrieval of knowledge, planning, constructing

and editing text, and regulation of the entire process.

In their meta-analysis, Graham and Perin indicated that

the most effective writing instructional strategies

educators could utilize to improve writing outcomes for

students are by teaching writing strategies for planning,

revising, and editing compositions; teaching students how to

summarize texts explicitly and systematically; arranging

instruction so that adolescents work together on

collaborative writing; teaching students to construct more

complex, sophisticated sentences; assigning students

specific, reachable goals for writing; and using computers

and word processors as instructional supports for writing

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assignments (McCutchen, 1996). Other factors relevant to

developing written language skills are when teachers

activate background knowledge, discuss the strategy, model

the strategy, support the strategy, and give ample time for

independent practice and performance.

Innovative Use of Technology

As society and technology change, so does literacy.

Because technology has increased the intensity and

complexity of literate environments, the 21st century

demands that a literate person must possess a wide range of

abilities and competencies. These multiple types of

literacy are dynamic and malleable. Active, successful

participants in this 21st century global society must be

able to develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of

technology; build intentional cross-cultural connections and

relationships with others so to pose and solve problems

collaboratively and strengthen independent thought; design

and share information for global communities to meet a

variety of purposes; manage, analyze, and synthesize

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multiple streams of simultaneous information; create,

critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts; and attend

to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex

environments (CDE, 2012b).

Technology can play an essential role in science

instruction through the use of virtual environments in four

areas: Learners think critically and logically about

scientific ideas and compare them with real-life conditions;

learners critically evaluate and communicate scientific

ideas; learners formulate scientific explanations from

evidence; and learners use appropriate tools to gather,

analyze, and interpret data. Technologies associated with

these learning dimensions include thinking critically with

modeling, visualization, and simulation tools (American

Educational Research Association, 2000). Using these

technology tools can help students experiment and think

critically about phenomena they are experiencing first-hand

in the real world by using controlled, hypothetical, or

virtual environments (Songer, 2007).

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The Importance of Intervention

Early recognition of reading difficulties and effective

intervention to promote literacy skills are important to

prevent life-long educational and social struggles.

Teachers who specialize in reading should deliver

interventions for the most severely struggling reader. The

intervention must match the student’s level of reading

development because each stage of growth requires a special

focus (Curtis & Longo, 1999). Once literacy achievement

gaps exist however, they become more and more difficult to

close. The key to closing the literacy achievement gap is

early intervention. A framework to ensure that students

receive intervention at the earliest indication of need is

Response to Intervention (RtI). Response to Intervention

promotes a well-integrated system connecting general,

compensatory, gifted, and special education in providing

high quality, standards-based instruction and intervention

that is matched to students’ academic, social-emotional, and

behavioral needs. The way to help educators with the

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process is to acquire professional development trainings to

get informed on how to collect data efficiently and

reliably; develop data-driven decision rules for providing

differentiated instruction to students at varied reading

proficiency levels; and differentiate instruction including

varying time, content, degree of support, and scaffolding

based on students’ assessed skills (National Center on

Response to Intervention, 2010).

The Importance of Assessment

Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering

information to make educational decisions for children

related to academics and behavior. A comprehensive

assessment system provides a framework that defines purposes

and uses of assessments within a standards‐based teaching

and learning cycle and a response to intervention framework.

A comprehensive assessment system is fluid, allowing for

ongoing evaluation of children’s growth, as well as the

quality or effectiveness of the instructional program. Such

an assessment system enables educators to screen students to

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identify those at risk. Diagnostic assessments to determine

factors contributing to at‐risk status as required by

Colorado Basic Literacy Act (CBLA) rules, such as Dynamic

Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS),

Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS), and

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2) are formative

assessments and progress monitoring tools used to adjust

instruction and monitor the effects of instruction for K-3.

Transitional Colorado Assessment Program (TCAP) and Colorado

Alternate Assessments (CoALT) are interim and summative

assessments for third to tenth grades used to make outcome‐

based decisions about individual mastery of academic

standards and English language development, as well as

evaluation of literacy program, including the Colorado

English Language Assessment (CELA) for 11th-grade students

(CDE, 2011).

When connecting curriculum to instruction and

assessment, it is important to keep in mind the strengths of

a student. This is an important component to consider for

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special populations (English learners, students with

disabilities, gifted and talented, etc.). Research findings

suggest that curriculum and instruction include appropriate

selection of reading materials, guided critical discussions,

advanced organizers for processing, connection to broad-

based themes and issues, incorporation of writing models,

language and oral communication, language studies,

independent research, and interdisciplinary connections –

again at the age appropriate cognitive development and

achievement level (Van Tassel-Baska, 2006).

Due to the diversity among children, a single

assessment will be inappropriate for all students. Some

measures for collecting data are more appropriate for a

specific age level, skill level, or culture (Wren, 2004).

Teachers must use multiple assessments when gathering

information on student performance, must gain the most

information from gathering information through both formal

and informal assessments, must use strategies that are

supported by research evidence to give them useful

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information about their students, and must acquire

professional development trainings in the strategies they

use to feel comfortable with their implementation.

The Importance of Evaluation

Evaluation is the process whereby educators seek

evidence that the learning experiences they have designed

for students are effective. The evaluation plan varies

depending on the nature of the project on how to determine

the scope of the evaluation study. There is a need to look

at the evidence of how some specific strategies or materials

work with a given group of students (e.g. how students use a

simulation exercise), evidence of how some specific

strategies or materials work across diverse groups of

students, and evidence of how some specific strategies or

materials assist students learn specific concepts or

procedures.

Given students’ skills in assessment and outcome

evaluation, school psychologists can play an important role

in working with educators to assess the effectiveness of

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early intervention reading programs in school districts.

Reading programs should include research skills, exposure to

a variety of genres, independent research projects,

opportunities to pursue areas of interest in depth over

time, and guidance in critical reading and literacy analysis

at an earlier stage than age peers (Halsted, 2002).

Information from outcome evaluations of early literacy

programs can be helpful to monitor children's progress,

understand whether the current literacy program in the

school district is effective or needs to be modified, and

provide a rationale to administrators for continued program

funding (Blom-Hoffman, Dwyer, Clarke, & Power, 2002).

Conclusion

As we increase our understanding of effective literacy

instruction, our conception of best practices will continue

to broaden and deepen. Our students need and deserve

instruction that embraces the richness and complexity of the

reading process as well as instruction that are both

evidence-based and comprehensive. This is no easy task. It

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requires commitment, time, and knowledge. It begins with a

teacher who is a visionary decision maker, one who can

identify the strengths and needs of each individual child

and plan instruction accordingly. It begins with the

commitment to provide comprehensive, differentiated literacy

assessment and instruction for all our students. It begins

with time… is it a challenge to incorporate best practices

in teaching literacy right this very moment? While the

challenge is daunting, the rewards are great as we nurture

and support students in becoming engaged lifelong readers

and writers.

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