Using speaking and listening activities to support the development of reading comprehension skills

Transcription

1 Using speaking and listening activities to support the development of reading comprehension skills Dr. Paula Clarke School of Education, University of Leeds Emma Truelove, Professor Maggie Snowling & Professor Charles Hulme Centre for Reading and Language, University of York

2 Overview of presentation Reading comprehension impairments Supporting reading comprehension Previous research The York Reading for Meaning Project Project design Teaching techniques Results Implications for education contexts

3 Reading Comprehension Weaknesses

4 Primary Framework for Literacy Rose Review (2006) emphasises the importance of language to literacy development Move towards Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover & Gough, 1990) Two components of reading: Decoding Language Comprehension Both skills are necessary Neither skill alone is sufficient for reading

5 Simple View of Reading Successful Reading Reading for Meaning

6 Simple View of Reading Dyslexia

7 Simple View of Reading Poor Comprehenders

8 Simple View of Reading Generally Poor Readers

9 Poor comprehender profile Comprehension Normal Readers Accuracy Poor Comprehenders Nation & Snowling (1997)

10 Poor comprehender profile Evidence of impairments on a range of different oral language tasks: Vocabulary Nation, Clarke & Snowling, 2002; Nation, Clarke, Marshall & Durand, 2004, Stothard & Hulme,1992 Oral expression Nation, Clarke, Marshall & Durand, 2004 Figurative language Nation, Clarke, Marshall & Durand, 2004 Narrative skills Cragg & Nation, 2006; Cain & Oakhill, 1996; 2006 Grammatical development Nation, Clarke, Marshall & Durand, 2004; Nation & Snowling, 2000 Verbal reasoning Nation, Clarke, Marshall & Durand, 2004 Inferencing Oakhill, 1984; Cain & Oakhill, 1999; Nation, Clarke, Marshall & Durand, 2004 Evidence of impairments in other areas: Comprehension monitoring Ehrlich, Remond & Tardieu, 1999; Yuill, Oakhill & Parkin, 1989; Cain, Oakhill & Bryant, 2004; Oakhill, Hartt & Samols, 2005 Verbal working memory Nation, Adams, Bowyer-Crane & Snowling, 1999; Cain & Oakhill, 2006; Cain, 2006 Suppression/Inhibition Cain, 2006

11 Supporting Reading Comprehension

12 Previous intervention research Yuill and Oakhill (1988) McGee & Johnson (2003) Yuill and Joscelyne (1988) Oakhill & Patel (1991) Johnson-Glenberg (2000) Inference Training Inference Training Story Structure & Inference Training Mental Imagery Training Verbal RT vs. Visualising Training

13 Our Research Study Clarke, P.J., Snowling, M.J., Truelove, E., & Hulme, C. (2010) Ameliorating children s reading comprehension difficulties : A randomized controlled trial. Psychological Science, 21,

14 Research questions Text level training in written language domain Oral language training in spoken language domain Improvements in text comprehension Text level training in written language domain Oral language training in spoken language domain

15 Project aims To investigate three approaches to improving reading comprehension skills in poor comprehenders. Oral Language (OL) Text Comprehension (TC) Combined (COM) To compare these approaches to existing classroom practice by monitoring the performance of an untreated waiting control group. To address the objectives of the primary framework (NLS) and equip teaching assistants with a wide range of skills and materials, useful in supporting children with reading comprehension and oral language difficulties.

16 Programme components Oral Language Programme Vocabulary Listening Comprehension Figurative Language Spoken Narrative Text Comprehension Programme Metacognitive Strategies Reading Comprehension Inferencing from Text Written Narrative Combined Programme All eight components connecting oral language and text-based activities in an integrated and naturalistic approach. All sessions contained both reading and listening comprehension to support complementary components. Opportunities for children to encounter new vocabulary/idioms/inferences in both written and spoken language.

17 Intervention delivery Two 10-week blocks of intensive teaching in individual and pair sessions. Each session is 30 minutes long. Children receive 2 pair sessions and 1 individual session per week (1½ hours per week). Teaching took place in designated areas within school (small classrooms/meeting rooms etc.). Teaching times varied depending upon existing timetabled commitments. All fully funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

18 Session structure Activity Approx. time per session Activity Approx. time per session Introduction 3 mins Introduction 3 mins Vocabulary Listening comprehension 5 mins 7 mins Metacognitive strategies Reading comprehension 5 mins 7 mins Figurative language 5 mins Inferencing from text 5 mins Spoken narrative 7 mins Written narrative 7 mins Plenary 3 mins Plenary 3 mins

19 Session structure Activity Approx. time per session Activity Approx. time per session Introduction 2.5 mins Introduction 2.5 mins Metacognitive strategies Reading comprehension 5 mins 5 mins Vocabulary Listening comprehension 5 mins 5 mins Inferencing from text Listening comprehension Spoken narrative 5 mins 5 mins 5 mins Reading comprehension Inferencing from text Spoken narrative 5 mins 5 mins 5 mins Plenary 2.5 mins Plenary 2.5 mins

20 Links to Primary Framework (NLS) 1. Understanding & interpreting texts Objective Retrieve, select and describe information, events and ideas Deduce, infer and interpret information, events and idea Use syntax, context, word structures and origins to develop understanding of word meanings Identify and comment on structure and organisation of texts Explain and comment on writer s use of language including vocabulary, grammatical and literary features Corresponding Components RT (Clarification, Summarisation) Metacognitive strategies RT (Prediction) Inferencing from text Vocabulary Figurative language Inferencing from text Narrative Vocabulary Figurative language

21 Links to Primary Framework (NLS) 2. Engaging & responding to texts Objective Read independently for purpose, pleasure and learning Respond imaginatively using different strategies to engage with texts Evaluate writer s purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader Corresponding Components All TC Components Metacognitive strategies Narrative RT (Summarisation) Narrative

22 Links to Primary Framework (NLS) 3. Text structure and organisation Objective Organise ideas into coherent structure including layout, sections and paragraphs Write cohesive paragraphs linking sentences within and between them Corresponding Components RT (Summarisation) Narrative Written Narrative

23 Oral Language Teaching Materials

24 Vocabulary Mnemonic Strategies Levin, 1993; Peters & Levin, 1986; Graves & Levin, 1989 Picture Cards warmth & shelter At school, books and pencils are a necessity. Multiple Context Learning Beck, McKeown & Kucan, 2002 Necessity Food, water and air Graphic Organisers Nash & Snowling, 2006 Verbal Reasoning Generating synonyms & antonyms

25 Listening RT refers to an instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of spoken language The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of the teacher in this dialogue Palinscar & Brown (1984) Review by Rosenshine & Meister (1994)

26 Listening Reciprocal Teaching at Work: Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension by Lori D. Oczkus (2003) International Reading Association. ISBN

27 Figurative Language Idioms a piece of cake a frog in your throat the apple of my eye Jokes why do cows have bells? because their horns don t work! Riddles the more of them you take, the more of them you leave behind. What are they? footsteps Simile like a bull in a china shop as wise as an owl Metaphor he was boiling mad it was a recipe for disaster To be at sixes and sevens Post cards through the smart chute and reveal the answer! Then use the idiom in a sentence

28 Narrative Story structure (Beck & McKeown,1981; Pearson, 1982; Idol & Croll, 1987) Sequencing Story production The Story Mountain Much of the narrative work centred around the Story Mountain. For example, sequencing story cards onto the mountain and using the stages of the mountain the support story production. Children used story planners to map out their ideas then using digital voice recorders created cds of their stories. Children presented their stories to one another and reflected on them at the end of the programme.

29 Text Comprehension Teaching Materials

30 Metacognitive Strategies Re-read (Garner, et al., 1984) Look-back (Garner, 1982) Think aloud (Farr & Connor, 2004) Mental imagery (Oakhill & Patel, 1991) Explain & reflect (McNamara, 2004)

31 Reading RT refers to an instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of the teacher in this dialogue Palinscar & Brown (1984) Review by Rosenshine & Meister (1994)

32 Inferencing from text Lexical inferencing Bridging inferencing Activating prior knowledge Elaborative inferencing Guessing missing information Evaluative inferencing

33 Narrative Story structure (Beck & McKeown,1981; Pearson, 1982; Idol & Croll, 1987) Sequencing Story production Children used story planners to map out their ideas. They then wrote their stories out in full, illustrated them and turned them into books. Children presented their stories to one another and reflected on them at the end of the programme.

34 Screening Randomised Controlled Trial Design Group Screening (Oct-Dec 2006) Y4 children in 23 schools in York & N.Yorks; eligible for assessment (n = 1120) Group assessments: Listening Comp (n = 1042); Ravens (n = 1054); Spelling (n = 1045); Numerical ops (n = 1050) Complete data on key measures (n= 977) Individual Screening (Jan-Feb 2007) 21 schools; eligible for assessment (n = 296) Individual assessments: NARA reading comp (n = 284); TOWRE (n = 282); WASI Verbal IQ (n = 277) Complete data on key measures (n= 282) Oct - April 2006 July 2007 Dec-Jan 2007 Dec 2008 July years 9 years 9-10 years years

35 Screening Pre test Randomised Controlled Trial Design Eligibility Criteria Discrepancy in standard score points between NARA II reading comprehension and TOWRE real word reading efficiency. NARA II reading accuracy standard scores of 85 and above. NARA II reading comprehension scores of 105 and below. Age appropriate spelling ability. Non-Verbal IQ of 85 or above. Of these children, we selected eight children within each school with the greatest discrepancies. Average discrepancy = 15 standard score points. Oct - April 2006 July 2007 Dec-Jan 2007 Dec 2008 July years 9 years 9-10 years years

36 Screening Pre test Randomised Controlled Trial Design TC block 1 OL block 1 Random Allocation At this point 20 schools, 160 children selected COM block 1 Within each school 2 children were randomly allocated to each of the four groups 40 children per group Control Oct - April 2006 July 2007 Dec-Jan 2007 Dec 2008 July years 9 years 9-10 years years

37 Screening Pre test Randomised Controlled Trial Design TC block 1 OL block 1 Intervention Block 10 weeks 3x 30 minute sessions per week (2 pair, 1 individual) Delivered by trained teaching assistants COM block 1 Control Oct - April 2006 July 2007 Dec-Jan 2007 Dec 2008 July years 9 years 9-10 years years

38 Screening Pre test Mid test Post test Maintenance test Randomised Controlled Trial Design TC block 1 TC block 2 TC OL block 1 OL block 2 OL COM block 1 COM block 2 COM Control Control Control Control block 1 Control block 2 Oct - April 2006 July 2007 Dec-Jan 2007 Dec 2008 July years 9 years 9-10 years years

39 Treatment fidelity Manuals Detailed, prescriptive manual and pre-prepared worksheets, readers and resources Training Training took place over 3.5 days. Delivered by the research team. Fortnightly tutorials Opportunity to monitor delivery of programmes by discussing experiences, ideas and observations. Some sessions took the form of top up training in which we focused on particular components of the programmes. Observations Each TA was observed by a member of the research team at least twice in each intervention block. Careful records were kept and onsite feedback and support was given. Filmed sessions Five TAs gave us permission to film teaching sessions.

40 Statistical technique Regression based approach used, controlling for performance at T1. Report 95% robust confidence intervals. Control group change in performance from T1 T2 Distant from 0 = significant Crosses 0 = non significant Cluster variable = School Comparing each group to the control group Change in performance of intervention group from T1-T2 relative to control group.

41 Effect sizes An effect size helps to determine whether a statistically significant difference is a difference of practical concern Cohen s d 0.2 to a "small" effect a "medium" effect 0.8 and above - a "large" effect

42 Results WIAT II

43 Results NARA II

44 Results Vocabulary

45 Results Control task (arithmetic)

46 Results Vocabulary as a mediator

47 Overall Summary & Conclusions In poor comprehenders, 20-week intervention programmes can produce significant gains in Text comprehension and Oral language. Importantly these gains are relative to an untreated waiting control group. The gains maintain over time and for the OL programme the difference between intervention group and controls increases in significance. Evidence to suggest a causal relationship between vocabulary and text comprehension. Improvements in text comprehension can be explained, at least in part, by improvements in vocabulary skill.

48 Implications for Education

49 Implications for education Evidence that the skills that underpin oral language and text comprehension are trainable in children aged 8-10 years. Evidence that teaching assistants with a relatively small amount of training can deliver high quality effective teaching.

50 Parent Feedback I think it was an excellent and enjoyable project for my daughter It has given him a thirst for learning he is much more enthusiastic than last year He has enjoyed learning the meaning of new words and testing my understanding of them Sometimes the things she has learnt pop up in conversation she makes a connection It has been a pleasure to see her grow in confidence she has read more at home for pleasure XXX has improved so much in her school work and enjoys all the learning that is given to her I think the whole course has been very worth while This project has increased her awareness She has been talkative about what s been happening She questions more and opens conversations

51 The York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension A new assessment tool for teachers and researchers Developed by the team at the Centre for Reading and Language in York Published by GL assessment See:

52 Thank you for reading!

53 References Beck, I.L. & McKeown, M.G. (1981) Developing questions that promote comprehension: The story map. Language Arts, 58, 8, Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G. & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life. New York: Guildford Press. Cain, K. (2006). Individual differences in children s memory and reading comprehension: An investigation of semantic and inhibitory deficits. Memory, 14, Cain, K. and Oakhill, J.V. (1996) The nature of the relationship between comprehension skill and the ability to tell a story. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 14, Cain, K., & Oakhill, J.V. (1999). Inference making ability and its relation to comprehension failure. Reading and Writing, 11, Cain, K. & Oakhill, J.V. (2006). Profiles of children with specific reading comprehension difficulties. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Bryant, P. E. (2004). Children's reading comprehension ability: Concurrent prediction by working memory, verbal ability, and component skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, Clarke, P.J., Snowling, M.J., Truelove, E., & Hulme, C. (2010) Ameliorating children s reading comprehension difficulties : A randomized controlled trial. Psychological Science, 21, Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, Cragg, L., & Nation, K. (2006). Exploring written narrative in children with poor reading comprehension. Educational Psychology, 21, Ehrlich, M. F., Remond, M. & Tardieu, H. (1999). Processing of anaphoric devices in young skilled and less skilled comprehenders: Differences in metacognitive monitoring. Reading and Writing, 11,

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55 References Nash, H. & Snowling, M. J. (2006). Teaching new words to children with poor existing vocabulary knowledge: A controlled evaluation of the definition and context methods. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 41, Nation, K., Adams, J. W., Bowyer-Crane, C. A., & Snowling, M. J. (1999). Working memory deficits in poor comprehenders reflect underlying language impairments. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 73, Nation, K., Clarke, P., Marshall, C. M., & Durand, M. (2004). Hidden Language Impairments in Children: Parallels Between Poor Reading Comprehension and Specific Language Impairment? Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 199. Nation, K., Clarke, P., & Snowling, M. J. (2002). General cognitive ability in children with poor reading comprehension. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, Nation, K. & Snowling. M.J. (1997) Assessing reading difficulties: the validity and utility of current measures of reading skill. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 67, Nation, K. & Snowling, M. J. (2000). Factors influencing syntactic awareness in normal readers and poor comprehenders. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, Oakhill, J. V. (1984). Inferential and memory skills in children s comprehension of stories. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 54, Oakhill, J.V., Hartt, J., & Samols, D. (2005) Levels of comprehension monitoring and working memory in good and poor comprehenders. Reading and Writing, 18, Oakhill, J. V. & Patel, S. (1991). Can imagery training help children who have comprehension problems? Journal of Research in Reading, 14, Oczkus, L.D. (2003). The Four Reciprocal Teaching Strategies. In Reciprocal Teaching at Work (pp ). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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