EvidenceBased Reading Instruction: Effective Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension Instruction

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Evidence-Based Reading Instruction Effective
Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension Instruction

• Featured Presentation
• D. Ray Reutzel, Ph.D.
• Board of Directors
• International Reading Association

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Learning to Read

•  
• Jake is 5 and learning to read.
•  
• He points at a picture in a zoo book and says,
• Look Mama! Its a frickin Elephant!
•  
• Deep breath. What did you call it?
•  
• Its a frickin Elephant, Mama! It says so on
  the picture!

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And so it does..

•  
• A F R I C A N ELEPHANT

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
  (National Research Council)
• Teaching Children to Read An Evidence-Based
  Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature
  on Reading and Its Implications for Reading
  Instruction (National Reading Panel)
• The Voice of Evidence in Reading Research
  (National Institute of Child Health and Human
  Development).
• National Assessment of Educational Progress 2007
  Reading Results for 4th Grade

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction
The mission of public schooling is to offer
every child full and equal educational
opportunity, regardless of the background,
education, and income of their parents. To
achieve this goal, no time is as precious or as
fleeting as the first years of formal schooling.
Research consistently shows that children who get
off to a good start in reading rarely stumble.
Those who fall behind tend to stay behind for the
rest of their academic lives.
Burns, Griffin, Snow, 1999, p. 61
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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• Until the turn of the millennia, NAEP trend data
  in 4th grade reading scores suggested
  unacceptably high rates of below basic reading
  proficiency among vast segments of the population
  of children. The achievement gap was widening,
  particularly in rural and urban centers and in
  specific ethnic populations.

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• The Nations Report Card
• on Reading NAEP 1971-2007

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction
NAEP, 2007 Fourth Grade Trends
http//nationsreportcard.gov
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Evidence Based Reading Instruction
NAEP, 2007 Fourth Grade Trends
http//nationsreportcard.gov
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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• The most expensive burden we place on society is
  those students we have failed to teach to read
  well. The silent army of low readers who move
  through our schools, siphoning off the lions
  share of administrative resources, emerge into
  society as adults lacking the single prerequisite
  for managing their lives and acquiring additional
  training. They are chronically unemployed,
  underemployed, or unemployable. They form the
  single largest identifiable group of those whom
  we incarcerate, and to whom we provide
  assistance, housing, medical care, and other
  social services. They perpetuate and enlarge the
  problem by creating another generation of poor
  readers.
• Fielding, L., Kerr, N., Rosier, P. (1998). The
  90 reading goal, p. 6-7. Kennewick, WA National
  Reading Foundation.

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• During the 1990s and early 2000s the Reading
  Wars were raging. Why have we turned to
  evidence-based practices in reading instruction?
• Resolving disputes in practice should be
  grounded in evidence rather than the product
  of political processes.
• We need quality control mechanisms
• and consumer protection in educational
• research and practice.

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• What does the evidence say about Reading Fluency
  Instruction?

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• Because the ability to obtain meaning from print
  depends so strongly on the development of word
  recognition and reading fluency, both of the
  latter should be regularly assessed in the
  classroom, permitting timely and effective
  instructional response.. (p. 323).
• Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• Practices Recommended in the Report as
  Research-Validated
• Focused on analysis on
• 1) Guided oral repeated reading
• 2) Independent reading (encouraging more reading
  on their own).

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• Practices Recommended in the Report as
  Research-Validated
• 77 guided, oral repeated reading studies were
  analyzed.
• Results show that guided, oral, repeated
  reading is effective in promoting reading
  fluency.
• The Effect Size was .41 of a standard deviation
  or approximately 14 percentile points
  difference).

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• Practices Recommended in the Report as
  Research-Validated
• 14 studies were located and analyzed looking at
  independent reading practice (SSR, Dear,
  Accelerated Reader, voluntary reading).
• Mostly of the studies were of poor quality.
• Only studies 3 found differences.
• The differences werent large enough to be
  considered educationally significant (Effects of
  less than 5 difference).

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency Defined

• Accuracy and Automaticity
• Readers decode words accurately.
• Readers decode words effortlessly.
• Reading Speed or Rate
• Readers read with an age or grade level
  appropriate rate.
• Reading speed is adjusted for purpose and text
  difficulty.
• Expression and Prosody
• Readers read with smoothness, phrasing, and
  inflection.
• Comprehension
• Readers comprehend important ideas.

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• Skilled readers can read words in context three
  times faster and read words in lists two times
  faster than can struggling readers.
• With this distribution of fluency in a classroom
  whole class instruction and singular approaches
  will not be likely to meet the needs of all
  children.
• Struggling readers are slower because of problems
  in list reading as context doesnt make any
  unique contribution to fluency rates and
  accuracy.
• Jenkins, J.R., Fuchs, L. S., Van den Broek, P.,
  Espin, C., Deno. S. L. (2003).
• Accuracy and fluency in list and context reading
  of skilled and RD groups
• Absolute and relative performance levels.
• Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 18
  (4), 237-245.

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency
25 words make up 33 of the words you
read! Thorndike-Lorge magazine count. Ed. E.L
Thorndike I. Lorge. New York, 1944 Columbia
Univ.. entries from "The teacher's word book of
30,000 words" on RLIN
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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• 107 words make up over 50 of the words you read!
• 930 words make up 65 of the words you read!
• 5,000 words make up 80 of the words you read?
• 13 of words occur only once in one million words
• Zeno, S. M., Ivens, S. H., Millard, R.T.,
  Duvvuri, R. (1995). The educators word guide.
  New York Touchstone Applied Science Associates,
  Inc.
• Hiebert, E. H. (2004). Texts for Fluency and
  Vocabulary Selecting Instructional Texts that
  Support Reading Fluency

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• Effective fluency lessons include practice and
  explicit instruction on the elements of fluency.
• Fluency practice is effectively accomplished
  using a variety of effective practices such as
  readers theater, oral repeated readings, buddy
  or paired reading, assisted reading, closed
  caption TV, choral reading, etc.
• Worthy, J., Broaddus, K. (2002). The Reading
  Teacher, 55(4), 334-343. Worthy, J., Prater, K.
  (2002). The Reading Teacher, 56(3), 294-297.

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Explicit
Instruction of Fluency

• Explanations explicit teaching of the terms and
  components of fluency.
• Modeling teacher demonstrations of fluency and
  disfluency characteristics.
• Scaffolding
• ME, YOU and ME, YOU
• Easier texts to more difficult
• Charts, visuals, diagrams to convict you of
  teaching fluency terms, concepts, and fluency
  fix-up strategies

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Fluency

• Effective fluency lessons include practice and
  explicit instruction on the elements of fluency.

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Explicit Fluency Lessons An Example

• Lesson Plan
• Explanation
• What
• Today boys and girls, we are going to be learning
  about how to read expressively. Important parts
  of reading expressively are pausing, stopping,
  and raising or lowering our pitch as we read.
  Pitch is how high or low the sounds are that we
  make with our voices (demonstrate high and low
  pitch). Marks on the page called punctuation
  marks (point to) help us to know when we need to
  pause, stop, raise or lower our pitch.
• Why
• We need to read expressively so that we can show
  that we understand what we are reading.
  Punctuation tells us what we need to know about
  how to express the words, phrases, and sentences
  with the right pauses, stops, and pitch.
• When/Where
• Whenever we read, we should pay attention to the
  punctuation so that we know where to pause, stop,
  and raise or lower our pitch.

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Explicit Fluency Lessons An Example

• Modeling
• Example
• To begin, I am going to read this page with good
  expression paying attention to what the
  punctuation tells me to do, such as pause, stop
  and or raise or lower my pitch. Please look at
  the page on the overhead. Notice that I have
  colored each punctuation mark with a different
  color to help you see them more clearly. Follow
  what I read with your eyes. Listen very
  carefully to see if I stop, pause, or change my
  pitch where I should.
• Non-example
• Now I am going to read this page with poor
  expression paying no or little attention to what
  the punctuation tells me to do. I wont pause,
  stop or raise or lower my pitch. Please look at
  the page on the overhead. Notice that I have
  colored each punctuation mark with a different
  color to help you see them more clearly. Follow
  what I read with your eyes. Listen very
  carefully to see where I should have changed my
  reading to stop, pause, or raise or lower my
  pitch.

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Explicit Fluency Lessons An Example

• Scaffolding
• Whole Group (Me You)
• Now that I have shown you how and how not to read
  this page, lets practice it together! We will
  begin reading this page all together. (Point)
  Watch my pen so that we can all stay together.
• Now we will read this again using echo reading.
  How many of you have ever heard an echo? Show me
  if you know what an echo is by putting your hands
  on your head like this. So if I say, HELLO..the
  echo will say HELLO. I will read and you will
  echo me Lets begin
• Small Group/ Partners/Teams (Me You)
• Now turn to your neighbor. Partner 1 will read
  and the other will echo. After Partner 1 reads,
  Partner 2 reads.

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Explicit Fluency Lessons An Example

• Individual (You)
• Next, take your fluency phone and read this page
  again to yourself listening carefully to see
  where of IF you are stopping, pausing, and
  raising or lowering your pitch.

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Fluency Guided Practice

• Select an appropriately challenging, engaging,
  and short reading selection.
• Start with
• Choral reading echoic, unison, antiphonal, and
  mumble reading

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Fluency Supported Practice OR

• Select an appropriately challenging, brief, and
  engaging piece of reading.
• Paired Reading Buddy, Peer, Tutor
• Assisted Reading - NIM, Read along tapes, CDs,
  etc.

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Fluency Recorded Practice

• Select an appropriately challenging, brief, and
  engaging piece of reading.
• Individual Recorded Reading
• Cassette tapes/Audio Computer Files

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Fluency Performance

• Select an appropriately challenging, brief, and
  engaging piece of reading.
• Readers Theater
• Radio Reading
• Recitation

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• What does the evidence say about Reading
  Vocabulary Instruction?

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Vocabulary

• Learning new concepts and the words that encode
  them is essential for comprehension development
  (p. 217).
• Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Vocabulary

• Practices Recommended in the Report as
  Research-Validated
• Vocabulary should be taught both directly and
  indirectly.
• Repetition and multiple exposures are important
  to learning new vocabulary.

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Vocabulary

• Practices Recommended in the Report as
  Research-Validated
• Learning vocabulary in rich contexts is valuable.
• Vocabulary learning tasks should be restructured
  when necessary.
• Vocabulary tasks should entail active engagement.

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Vocabulary Essential Number 1

• Incidental Vocabulary Learning
• Examples
• Read Aloud
• Interactions
• Wide Reading

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Illustration of Vocabulary Essential 1 Read
Aloud
The Weighty Word Book By Paul M. Levitt Douglas
A. Berger Elissa S. Guralnick Illustrated by
Janet Stevens ISBN0-917665-13-9
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Vocabulary Essential Number 2

• Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
• Typical Teacher Questions
• Word Selection Which words? (Tier 2)
• Strategy Selection Which strategies?
  (Definition, Contextal Conceptual)
• How many per day? (2 -3)
• How many per week? (10-11)
• What does explicit vocabulary instruction look
  like?
• Explain the word meanings, model how to get word
  meaning from multiple exposures contextual,
  conceptual, and definitional.
• Provide guided practice with words in multiple
  task formats

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Vocabulary Essential Number 2

• Tier One Words- Consists of basic words and
  rarely require instructional attention in school
  and highly frequent in life clock, baby, ball,
  happy, walk, run, etc.
• Tier Two Words - High frequency use for mature
  language users and found across a variety of
  knowledge domains coincidence, absurd,
  industrious, fortunate, etc.
• Tier Three Words - Low frequency use and limited
  to specific knowledge domains isotope, lathe,
  peninsula, refinery, etc. Best learned when
  teaching specific content lessons such as
  geography, science, etc.
• Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Kucan, L. (2002).
  Bringing words to life Robust Vocabulary
  Instruction. NY Guilford Press.

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Vocabulary Essential Number 2

• Estimates indicate that about 8,000 basic words
  need no instruction Tier 1
• Estimates indicate that about 7,000 words for
  Tier 2 or about 700 words per year.
• Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2002) recommend
  teaching about 400 words per year K-12.
• Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Kucan, L. (2002).
  Bringing words to life Robust Vocabulary
  Instruction. NY Guilford Press.

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Vocabulary Essential Number 2

• Albasa
• Albasa will usually be found at grocery stores
  and resturants.
• People like to eat albasa on their hamburgers,
  although albasa are tasty with a variety of
  dishes.
• Since albasa are a vegetable, they are also
  nutritious.
• One disadvantage of albasa is the strong odor
• which has been known to produce crying symptoms
  among those who slice them.
• Gipe, J.P. (1980). Use of a relevant context
  helps kids learn new word meanings. The Reading
  Teacher, 33,(5), 398-402.

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Illustration of Vocabulary Essential 2
Explicit Instruction using a Graphic Organizer
Ainslie, D. (2001). Word detectives. The Reading
Teacher, 54(4), 360-62.
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Vocabulary Essential Number 3

• Word Awareness and Word Learning Strategies
• Examples
• Word Awareness
• Word Play
• Word Study
• Word Learning Strategies When I dont know what
  a word means, how can I find out?
• Dictionary use
• Thesaurus use
• Using context clues

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Illustration of Vocabulary Essential 3 Word
Wizards

• Copy the cover of a book for a vocabulary word
  wall (black and white copy will do) . Put the
  cover and the words from the book at the top of
  the word wall.
• Write childrens names down the left hand side of
  the vocabulary word wall.

Beck, I. L., Perfetti, C., McKeown, M. (1982).
Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on
lexical access and reading comprehension.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(4), 506-521.
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Illustration of Vocabulary Essential 3 Word
Wizards

• When children use one of the words on the wall in
  their conversation or in their written work they
  get a star, check, or some other mark.
• The student with the most marks at the end of the
  designated time period (say a day or week) is
  given the honor becoming the WORD WIZARD.

Beck, I. L., Perfetti, C., McKeown, M. (1982).
Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on
lexical access and reading comprehension.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(4), 506-521.
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Word Wizards Display

• Inventions
• Technology
• Electricity
• Appliances

Jamie v v v Jackson v v v v v Cambry v v v
v v v v Shania v v v
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Evidence Based Reading Instruction

• What does the evidence say about Reading
  Comprehension Instruction?

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Rand Study Group (2002) Definition of Reading
Comprehension

• Reading comprehension is the process of
  simultaneously extracting and constructing
  meaning. Comprehension involves three elements
• 1. The reader who is doing the comprehension
• 2. The text that is to be comprehended
• 3. The activity in which comprehension is a
  part
• -Sweet Snow, 2003, pp. 2-3

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National Reading Panel Report Definitionof
Reading Comprehension

• Comprehension is a complex processoften viewed
  as the essence of reading. Reading
  comprehension isintentional thinking during
  which meaning is constructed through interactions
  between text and reader. Meaning resides in the
  intentional, problem-solving, thinking processes
  of the reader that occur during and interchange
  with a text.
• The National Reading Panel Report, 2000, p. 4-5

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National Reading Panel Report Definitionof
Reading Comprehension Continued

• The content of meaning is influenced by the text
  and by the readers prior knowledge and
  experience that are brought to bear on it.
  Reading comprehension is the construction of the
  meaning of a written text through a reciprocal
  interchange of ideas between the reader and the
  message in a particular text.
• The National Reading Panel Report, 2000, p. 4-5

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Comprehension

• Throughout the early grades, reading curricula
  should include explicit instruction on strategies
  such as summarizing the main idea, predicting
  events, and monitoring (p. 323).
• Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Comprehension

• Practices Recommended in the Report as
  Research-Validated
• Six Cognitive Strategies
• Graphic organizers. (11 studies)
• Comprehension monitoring. (22 studies)
• Question answering. (17 studies)
• Question generation. (27 studies)
• Story structure. (17 studies)
• Summarization. (18 studies)

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Evidence Based Reading Instruction Reading
Comprehension

• Practices Recommended in the Report as
  Research-Validated
• Two Conditions of Instruction
• Cooperative learning. (10 studies)
• Multiple strategies. (38 studies)

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Evidence-Based Comprehension Strategy Example
1 Story Structure Graphic Organizer

• Reutzel, 1985, 1986
• Teach Story Structure
• Setting
• Problem
• Goal
• Events
• Resolution
• The Reading Teacher, 38 (4), 400-404 39(5),
  524-528.

Story Map
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Evidence-Based Comprehension Strategy Example 2
Question Answering
Raphael, T.E., Au, K. H. (2005). QAR
Enhancing comprehension and test taking across
grade and content areas. The Reading Teacher,
59(3), 206-221.
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Evidence-Based Comprehension Strategy Example 3
Summarizing

• Noyce and Christie (1989) offer four steps for
  producing a text summary.
• Step 1 Write a topic sentence that tells in
  general terms what the content of the text or
  story theme is about.
• Step 2 Delete all unnecessary, redundant, or
  irrelevant ideas from the text or story.
• Step 3 Sort ideas into categories. After sorting
  ideas into categories, think of a collective
  term(s) for those things that fall into the same
  category.
• Step 4 Collapse ideas on the same subject down
  to one mention if they are largely redundant.
• Noyce, R. M., Christie, J. F. (1989).
  Integrating reading and writing instruction.
  Boston Allyn Bacon.

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Evidence-Based Reading Instruction Effective
Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension Instruction

• an extensive knowledge base now exists to show
  us the skills children must learn in order to
  read well. These skills provide the basis for
  sound curriculum decisions and instructional
  approaches that can help prevent the predictable
  consequences of early reading failure.
• (National Institute for Literacy, NIFL, 2001, p.
  ii)

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If you would like a copy of this power point

• D. Ray Reutzel, Ph.D.
• Emma Eccles Jones Endowed Chair Professor
• Utah State University
• www.cehs.usu.edu/ecc
• Presentations Button Left Hand Side
• or
• D. Ray Reutzel, Ph.D.
• IRA Board of Directors
• International Reading Association
• rreutzel_at_reading.org