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Topic: Teaching Reading in English to K-5 English Learners Practice: Screen and Monitor Progress

Monitoring the Reading Progress of English Learnersapril 2007

Highlights• Definitionofkeyreadingskillsinkindergartenandfirstgrade--

phonemicawareness,letterknowledgeandreadingwords.

• Characteristicsofassessmentsofthesereadingskills

• Howthefocusandbenchmarksforassessmentschangeoverthecourseoftheyearasmorechallenginginformationislearned.

• Oralreadingfluencyisparticularlyimportanttowardstheendoffirstgrade,especiallyforEnglishlanguagelearners.

• Keycharacteristicsoffluencyassessmentsandtipsformonitoringprogressoffluency.

• Howoftenprogressismonitoredandthetypeofassessmentsusedwilldependonthestudents—onesizedoesnotfitall.

Monitoring the Reading Progress of English Learners

Full Transcript

Slide#1

Hereareafewtipsbeforewegetstarted…

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Slide#2

Lastyear,RiverElementaryrealizedthatmanyofitsstudentswerestrugglingwithreading.Somewerehavingtroublereadingfluently.Othersoftenfailedtocompleteindependentwork,orshowedsignsoffrustrationwhentryingtokeepupwiththeclass.

Slide#3

Realizingitfacedaseriousproblem,theSchoolLeadershipTeammettodiscussthematter.

Theyconcludedthatmanyofthestrugglingstudents,mostofwhomwereEnglishlearners,hadmissedoutonbeginningreadingskillsandnowwerehavingtroublemakingprogress.

Slide#4

RiverElementaryrealizeditneededatooltohelpthemspotreadingproblemsearlyon,sothatteacherscouldaddressthem.

That’swhytheschooldecidedtoaddasystemofformativeassessmentstoitscorereadingprogram.

Formativeassessmentsallowteacherstoidentifywhointheclassarehavingdifficulties,andwhatthosedifficultiesare.Theyalsoallowteacherstofocusonindividualneeds,whichhelpsteachersreinforceimportantskillsbeforetheybecomebigproblems.

Slide#5

Forexample,first-gradeteacherMrs.Leefoundthattwodifferentgroupsofstudentsin herclassneededhelpintwodifferentareas.

Onegroupwasstilllearningtorecognizetheseparatesoundsinwords;anothergroupmaketheconnectionbetweenthenamesoflettersandtheircorrespondingsounds.

Withthisdata,Mrs.Leewasabletore-teachasmallgroupofstudentshowtosegmentthesoundsinwords,

Monitoring the Reading Progress of English Learners

andgiveextrapracticeinletter namingtotheothergroup.

Slide#6

Shethenpairedupstudentswhohadamasteredaskillwiththosewhoneededmorepractice.

Throughuseofformativeassessments,Mrs.Leeaddressedtheproblemsofindividualstudents,enablinghertogoforwardwiththecorereadingprogramknowingallherstudentswereontrack.

Slide#7

Masteryofreadingskillsiscriticaltothesuccessofallstudents—andit’softentheareawhereEnglishLearnersneedadditionalsupport.

Withoutit,theymaynotdevelopfoundationalskillsatanearlyage—leadingtoanumberofproblemsthatcanstaywiththemtherestoftheirschoolcareers.

That’swhyit’simportanttodiagnosedifficultiesforEnglishLearnersearlyon.

Slide#8

TherearethreekeyskillsEnglishLearnersshouldmasterduringkindergartenandfirstgrade.Theyare:

1)PhonemicAwareness

2)LetterKnowledgeandtheAlphabeticPrinciple

3)WordReadingandBasicDecoding

MeasurementsofstudentprogressinthesethreeareasarevalidfordeterminingwhetherornotEnglishLearnersneedextrasupportinbeginningreading.

Let’slookathowformativeassessmentcanhelpyoudeterminehowwellkindergartenersandfirstgradersaremasteringtheseskills.

Slide#9

Phonemic awarenessistheabilitytohearandmanipulateindividualsounds.Teachersoftensayit’saskillthatcanbedoneinthedarkbecauseitrequirestheabilitytohearindividualsoundswithoutneedingtosee anyprint.

SharpeningawarenessofsoundsisafoundationskillbothnativespeakersofEnglishandEnglishLearnersneedwhenlearningtoread.

Monitoring the Reading Progress of English Learners

Slide#10

Teacherscanuseformativeassessmentstomonitorphonemicawarenessbyaskingstudentstoperformtaskssuchas:

·blendingsoundstoformwords·repeatingnon-wordsaccurately·segmentingwordsintoparts·matchinglikesounds,or·distinguishingunalikesounds.

ThesetypesoftaskscanhelpateacherassesshowwelleachstudentisabletorecognizeanddistinguishkeysoundsinEnglish.

Slide#11

AnEnglishLearner,forexample,mighthavedifficultydistinguishingparticularsounds—thedifferencebetween/sh/and/ch/,forexample—sincethesesoundsarenotpartoftheirnativelanguage.Or,theassessmentmightidentifystudentswhocannothearandmanipulatesoundsverywell.

Slide#12

Onceteachersidentifysuchproblems,theycanthenworkonthem.Practicegamesthatchallengechildrentosoundoutdifferentsoundsmightworkformoststudents.Thosestrugglingwithspecificsoundscouldgetadditionalattentionandpracticewiththoseissues--allowingthemtoquicklycatchuptotherestoftheclass.

Slide#13

Thosestrugglingwithspecificsoundscouldgetadditionalattentionandpracticewiththoseissues--allowingthemtoquicklycatchuptotherestoftheclass.

Slide#14

Letter Knowledge and the Alphabetic Principleisthenextkeyskillearlyreadersshouldmaster.Learningtherelationshipsbetweensoundsandlettershelpschildrendecipherwords—acriticalreadingskill.

Slide#15

Formativeassessmentsofthisskilltypicallyaskstudentstonameuppercaseandlowercaseletters.Anotherasksstudentstoproduceorrecognizelettersoundsandlettercombinationsounds.

Becausesomanyletterssharesimilarsounds,developingtheabilitytorecognizerelationshipsbetweensoundsandletterscanbechallengingforyoungstudents–especiallyEnglishLearners.

Monitoring the Reading Progress of English Learners

Slide#16

EnglishLearnersoftenneedextrasupportinapplyingthealphabeticprinciple–theideathatlettersrepresentsounds–becausetheymayhavealreadymadeanassociationbetweenlettersandsoundsintheirnativelanguage–associationsthatoftendifferfromtherulesofEnglish.

Teacherswillneedtore-teachtheseassociationsinEnglishbeforeEnglishLearnerswillbeabletofullycomprehendwrittentext.

Slide#17

Oncestudentshavemasteredinitialskillsassociatedwithsoundsandletters,theyarereadytolearnBasic DecodingandReading Words.

Slide#18

BecausetheEnglishlanguagedoesnothaveone-to-onecorrespondencebetweenlettersandsounds,mostbeginningreadersneedexplicitinstructionandalotofpracticerecognizingandproducingthepatternsofsound-letter correspondence.

Slide#19

ThefactthatasoundinEnglishcanoftenbemadebymorethanoneletterorlettercombinationcanbeconfusingtoallstudents—especiallyEnglishLearners.

Takethe“eff”sound,forexample.Boththeletterfasin“fall”andthelettersghasin“laugh”canbeusedtomakethe“eff”sound.

Slide#20

Teacherscanbeginwithcommonsingleletter-soundcombinationsandprogresstomorecomplexcombinationssuchas/ch/or/aw/.

Slide#21

WehaveseenhowAssessingPhonemicAwareness,LetterKnowledge,theAlphabeticPrinciple,andBasicDecodingarekeytohelpingearlyreaders.

But,asstudentsbuildskills,formativeassessmentsneedtochangetomonitornewskilldevelopment.

Slide#22

So,whileassessmentsnearthemiddleoffirstgrademightaskstudentstoreadnonsensewordsthatrepresentdifferentpatternsofletter/soundcombinations,assessmentslaterthatyearmightfocuson

Monitoring the Reading Progress of English Learners

wordsthatpresentmorechallengingcombinationsofsounds,orrequirestudentstodistinguishinflectionalendings.

Thekeyideaistofocusassessmentsontheskillsthestudentislearningorneedstolearnatthatmoment–nomatterwhatlevelclassthestudentisin—tobesurethateachstudenthasthefundamentalskillstheyneedtosucceed.

Slide#23

ThatiswhyteachersshouldalsoassesstheOral Fluencyoftheirstudentstowardtheendoffirstgradetomonitorhowaccuratelyandsmoothlystudentscanreadconnectedtext.

Slide#24

Fluencyistheabilitytoreadtextquickly,accurately,andwithproperexpression.Teacherscannotmeasurefluencyuntilchildrenarereadingtext--usuallytowardstheendoffirstgrade.

Slide#25

FluencypracticeisparticularlyimportantforEnglishLearnersbecauseitprovidesopportunitiestoapplytheirdecodingskills,vocabulary,andbackgroundknowledgeincontext.Astheseskillsbecomeautomatic,childrenwillbegintoreadtextfluentlyandcanfocusonunderstandingwhatthey’rereading.

Slide#26

Formativeassessmentsoffluencytypicallyaskstudentstoreadshortpassagesaloud.Theassessornotesaccuracyandspeed,andinsomecases,alsochecksthestudent’scomprehensionofthepassage.

Sincemoststudentsneedlotsoforalreadingpracticetogainfluency—teachersseethisasaperfectopportunityforpracticingwithpeers.

Fluencyassessmentsmightrevealtheneedformoreinstructioninkeyskillsstudentsaremissingsuchasautomaticrecognitionofsightwordsorparticulardecodingpatterns.