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Rebecca S. Wheeler, [email protected]
How to factor dialectinto
Reading Assessment & Intervention
1© Wheeler 2011
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Anchor: a true story A teacher reads dialectally
diverse literature
‘Twas the night before ChristmasAn’ all t’ru de houseDey don’t a t’ing passNot even a mouse.
2© Wheeler 2011
(The Cajun Night Before Christmas. Rice, 2001)
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Anchor: a true story A teacher reads dialectally
diverse literature
‘Twas the night before ChristmasAn’ all t’ru de houseDey don’t a t’ing passNot even a mouse.
3© Wheeler 2011
‘Twas the night before Christmas And all through the houseThey don’t anything passNot even a mouse.
19 words; 5 errors Accuracy score: 14/19 (73.68%)
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Reading A Cajun Night before Christmas
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Teacher’s Accuracy score: 14/19 (73.68%)
Does this mean the teacher…
Is a struggling reader?
Is failing reader?
Needs phonics instruction?
Of course not!
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Reading A Cajun Night before Christmas
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Interpreting the Teacher’s Accuracy score: 14/19 (73.68%)
The reader is unfamiliar with
Cajun Pronunciation (an, t’ru, de, dey, a’ting)
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Expect language transfer with unfamiliar grammar
De chirren been nezzleGood snug on de flo’An’ Mama pass de pepperT’ru de crack on de do’
6© Wheeler 2011
The children were nestledGood snug on the floor And Mama passed the pepperThrough the crack on the door
Unfamiliar vocabulary: chirrenUnfamiliar grammar: been nezzle, passUnfamiliar pronunciation: de, flo’, an, t’ru,
Our home dialect influences
our reading performance
77© Wheeler 2011
By 2050, current majority minority
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Shift our focus… …Reading assessment in schools
With cultural diversity comes
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Linguistic diversity
HOW can home dialect influence a child’s reading performance?
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Pronunciation Vocabulary Grammar
Count as dialect influence
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Features from a child’s first language or dialect transfer into his/her reading
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Language transfer
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Definition:
Language transfer occurs …
…when the patterns of one’s first language or dialect transfer into reading and writing.
Note: What we consider reading performance inextricably reflects instruments of reading assessment.
Wheeler, Cartwright, Swords & Savage (2010) “Factoring Dialect into Reading Assessment and Intervention,” Reading in Virginia
© Wheeler 201113
How do we assess achievement of our linguistically diverse readers?
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Assessing Vernacular speakers
With Standard English instrumentBut without awareness of dialect
© Wheeler 2010 14
Look at the effect
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4th grade student, Tidewater, VA
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September reading level: DRA2 38Level 38: grade 3, month 8
The school year passes…In April, time for reading assessment
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Accuracy Score: 21 miscues; 184/205 (89.76%)
Teacher stopped test
Teacher administered Level 40 (on-grade)
April reading assessment:
Accuracy Score: 23 miscues; 204/227 (89.86%)
17© Wheeler 2011
Teacher stopped test
Next, teacher administered Level 38 text
April reading assessment:
Accuracy Score: 14 miscues; 199/213 (93.42%)
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Next, teacher administered Level 34 text
September level: DRA2 38April level: DRA2 34
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Had made no progress in year of instruction Had regressed 4 months in reading
DRA2 assessment indicated Brandon
© Wheeler 2011
Something’s not right!
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Dialect was NOT factored
into reading assessment
© Wheeler 2011
Level 38 in September, A year of instruction, Level 34 in Spring?
Factor dialect into reading assessment
September level: DRA2 38
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Result? Of 205 words, Brandon scored 92.2% accuracy (16 errors)
Revisit April: DRA2 Level 40
Recognizing 5 dialect transfers:Brandon was an ON-GRADE reader!
not 89.5% (21 errors)
© Wheeler 2011
September level: DRA2 38
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Result? Of 227 words, Brandon scored 91.6% accuracy (19 errors)
Factor dialect into reading assessment
Revisit April: DRA2 Level 38
Recognizing 4 dialect transfersBrandon succeeded at level 38!
not 89.8% (23 errors)
© Wheeler 2011
September level: DRA2 38
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Result? Of 213 words, Brandon scored 93.89% accuracy (13 errors)
Factor dialect into reading assessment
Revisit April: DRA2 Level 34
Brandon succeeded at level 34
not 93.42% (14 errors)
© Wheeler 2011
Sound contrasts
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Grammar contrasts Verb “be”: “That why” for “that’s why”
Plurals: “nose” for “noses”; “sound” for “sounds” (“They have very good noses”)
[f] for [v]: “Woof” for “wolves” [ar] for [ere]: “Thar” for ‘there”, “shard” for “shared” “Dogs and humans shared a common home”
Past time”: “Look” for “looked”; “walk” for “walked”; “start for “started”
© Wheeler 2011
Allows us to correctly assess
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Discuss with your neighbor? Notice? Wonder?
Students’ reading performance
© Wheeler 2011
© Wheeler 2011
Not factoring dialect into reading assessment
Depicts low, low frustration level reader
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© Wheeler 2011
The case of Rajid
Not factoring dialect into reading assessment
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Factor dialect into reading assessment
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Result? Of 161 words, Rajid scored25 errors: 136/161 = 84% accuracy
Not factoring dialect into assessment
Recognizing dialect allows us To recognize a successful reader
© Wheeler 2011
Result? Of 161 words, Rajid scored 16 errors: 145/161 = 90% accuracy
Factoring dialect into assessment
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Grammar contrasts: VERBS Was/were (2 instances)
Plurals: The guard...; their place (2 instances)
Past time: The pines post guards
© Wheeler 2011
Other verb:
Have + past participle: Had took Have + bare verb: Had hide
Grammar contrasts: NOUNS
Pronouns: theirselves (2 instances)
What is the effect of factoringdialect into reading assessment?
We see an on-grade reader
3131© Wheeler 2011
PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) manual clearly states that
"[d]ialect substitutions are NOT counted as errors. It is not an error, for example if a student says "ax" for "ask" and you know that the student normally says "ax" for "ask" in his or her oral language." (Invernizzi, Meier & Juel, 2004, p. 21).
3232© Wheeler 2011
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Grammar contrasts: VERBS Was/were (2 instances) Past time: The pines post guardsOther verb:
Have + past participle: Had took Have + bare verb: Had hide
Plurals: The guard...; their place (2 instances) Pronouns: theirselves (2 instances)
© Wheeler 2011
Grammar contrasts: NOUNS
These dialect substitutionsSHOULD NOT
be counted as reading errors
Now what?
How to teach the Standard English Expected in school?
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Identify dialect influence:pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar
Use linguistically informed insights and strategies
to teach Standard English
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Wheeler/Swords 2006 NCTE Wheeler/Swords 2010, A FirstHandCurriculum Imprint, Heinemann
Linguistically informed response …
© Wheeler 2011
When students write or say…“Mama walk to the store” or
“I want to play on Derrick team,” etc.
When students write or say…“Mama walk to the store” or
“I want to play on Derrick team,” etc.
Instead, they are CORRECTLY following grammar patterns
of the community language variety
Instead, they are CORRECTLY following grammar patterns
of the community language variety
They are notMaking mistakes inside Standard English
They are notMaking mistakes inside Standard English
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Build on student’s existing knowledge
of their own community
grammar patterns
To add new knowledge of
Standard English
“My goldfish name is Scaley”
“My goldfish’s name is Scaley”
That one linguistic insight…transforms classroom practice
So students are empowered to
make grammatical choices
38© Wheeler 2011
Transforms teaching & learning
39© Wheeler 2011
Code-switching:Choosing the (language) style
to fit the setting (time, place, audience,
communicative purpose)
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DiscoveringAAVE ispatterned…
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Seeing student writing as data
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Seeing students’strengths.
Modelingadditiveapproach.
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Modeling linguistic ways of talking …
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Modeling linguistic ways of working …
Unseating the correction impulse © Wheeler 2011
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“I never knew there were rules to my language.”
“Now with code-switching, I can lay down my shame, feel good about myself, my home, and switch up my language to suit the setting.”
From an African American college student:
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Transforming teacher practice, … through pattern discovery
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Unseating grammar blindness, … seeing the student as writer
© Wheeler 2011
© Wheeler 2011
Chat with your neighbor? What do you notice? What do you wonder?
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Code-switchingChoosing the language to fit the setting
Vernacular? In Narrative? Standard? In analytic essay?
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We must factor dialectInto Reading Assessment &
Intervention
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For an accurate picture of our children’s abilities
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