Independent Practice of Multiple Criteria Text
Purpose
Research on Characteristics of Early Reading
Text and Implications for Practice
• Examined the impact of independent practice of multiple criteria text that targeted high
TEXTS: Teaching Expository Text Structures
Purpose and Literature Review
• To teach children the structure of expository text and the associated clue words
frequency words, decodability, and meaningfulness
• Found no empirical studies with kindergarten or first grade or that focused on sequence
Methodology
•Second grade students random assignment to treatment or contrast group within classrooms
•During daily 30-minute independent reading time for 10 weeks
•Treatment group (n = 34) read multiple-criteria text
• Found 1 study with 2nd grade students trained in cause and effect (Hall, Sabey & McClellan,
Jill Allor, Ed. D.
Stephanie Al Otaiba, Ph. D.
Jennifer Cheatham, Ph. D.
Southern Methodist University
2005; Reutzel, Smith, & Fawson, 2005; Williams et al., 2005, 2009).
Methodology
• K-2 students (qualified on standard score of <100 on WJ-III Passage Comprehension
jallor@smu.edu
www.JillAllor.com
Download books at www.EducationInspired.com
•Contrast group (n = 28) that read authentic literature
(Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2006) and <50% correct on researcher-made multiple choice
•Treatment group text: multiple-criteria text designed to target high-frequency words (both
Abstract
decodable and irregular words), decodability, and meaningfulness; students were given a
This presentation describes evidence from two randomized control trial studies examining the
influence of early reading text types for struggling and at-risk readers. The first study examined
the impact of independent practice of multiple criteria text targeting high-frequency words,
decodability, and meaningfulness with second graders. The second study focused on
expository text instruction with kindergarten through second graders, examining the impact of
directly teaching students about text structure. Implications for practice are provided.
placement test to assign them to one of four levels of text
•Contrast group text: authentic literature from the classroom or school library that was in the
range of the student’s reading level
•Pre-post test: Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE; Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 1999)
Sight Word Efficiency and Phonemic Decoding Efficiency subtests
•Progress monitoring every two weeks: Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
text structure screener
• Intervention: 20-minute lessons 4 days/week in small groups
• (1) Sequencing uses numerical or chronological order to list items or events
• (2) Compare/Contrast compares and contrasts two or more similar things
• (3) Cause and Effect delineates one or more causes and then describes the ensuing effects
• Lesson Structure followed a scripted direct instruction format
Level 1 Reader Example Page
•Explicit Teaching: Read text, teach clue words, link to graphic organizer
Lesson Plan
•Guided Practice: Teacher and children read the text, identify clue words, complete
(DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2002) Nonsense Word Fluency and Oral Reading Fluency
individual graphic organizers, and orally retell the story
•Students categorized as “developing” or “advanced” decoders for analysis based on
•Independent Practice: Kindergartners use pictures to follow graphic organizer and
performance on the TOWRE Phonemic Decoding Efficiency test
orally retell story using clue words. 1st and 2nd graders create their own graphic
Results
organizer and retell the story using clue words
•No statistically significant differences on t-tests when comparing all treatment students to all
• Pre/Post Proximal Unit Test
contrast students
1) Identification of clue words from an expository story
•Moderate effect size of .67 on pre-post analysis of TOWRE Sight Word Efficiency for developing
2) Oral recall of clue words without looking at the story
Logic Model
decoders
•HLM model of best fit revealed significant impact of treatment on NWF for students who began
Level 2 Reader Example Page
3) Multiple choice questions/text structure questions about an expository story
Reading
Comprehension
• Pre/Post Distal: WJ-III: Oral Language; Listening Comprehension; Understanding Directions;
the study as developing decoders
Oral Comprehension
Discussion
Word
Reading
•Preliminary evidence that practice with multiple-criteria text may be more effective than practice
with authentic literature for developing decoders
Oral Language
and Listening
Comprehension
Proximal Unit Test: Multiple Choice Assessment
•Minimal intervention; just changed text read during pre-existing reading time
•Some benefit for some students
Text Structure
Knowledge
Predicted Scored Over Time for Developing Decoders
Causal
Connectives
“Clue words”
2nd Grade Text Sample Text
110
Level 3 Reader Example Page
Predicted Score
100
Contrast Group NWF
Treatment Group NWF
Contrast Group ORF
Treatment Group ORF
70
The Two Boys (same/different)
• This is a story about
how two boys are the
same and different.
• Both boys have black
curly hair. This is the
same.
• One boy has a red
collar, but the other
boy does not. This is
different.
90
80
Results
60
• Students read/hear an
expository story within their
condition.
• They are asked to answer a
series of multiple choice
questions. Questions are
written to test knowledge
across conditions.
Kindergarten
Seq Condition
CE Condition
CC Condition
C/C Items
T
0.00
p value
1.00
es
0.00
T
-0.32
p value
0.75
es
-0.11
T
9.90
p value
0.00
es
2.76
C/E Items
1.58
0.14
0.62
6.89
0.00
2.02
2.18
0.04
0.73
S Items
First Grade
5.93
0.00
1.79
1.76
0.10
0.61
0.90
0.38
0.31
C/C Items
0.37
0.72
0.11
0.00
1.00
0.00
8.51
0.00
2.61
C/E Items
0.57
0.58
0.15
5.63
0.00
1.46
0.44
0.67
0.14
S Items
Second Grade
4.42
0.00
1.44
0.62
0.54
0.12
2.03
0.06
0.58
C/C Items
1.76
0.10
0.61
0.00
1.00
0.00
5.75
0.00
1.53
C/E Items
1.59
0.13
0.58
3.20
0.00
1.24
0.93
0.37
0.29
S Items
0.77
0.45
0.26
1.92
0.07
0.64
1.00
0.33
0.31
Distal Assessments: Pre/Post
• WJ-III Oral Language
• WJ-III Listening Comprehension
• WJ-III Oral Comprehension
Kindergarten
Seq Condition
WJ Oral Lang
T
3.91
p value
0.00
WJ List Comp
3.51
WJ Oral Comp
CE Condition
es
0.74
T
4.38
p value
0.00
0.00
0.35
2.71
2.46
0.03
0.40
WJ Oral Lang
6.90
0.00
WJ List Comp
2.38
WJ Oral Comp
CC Condition
es
es
0.74
T
6.67
p value
0.00
1.17
0.02
0.52
4.84
0.00
0.67
2.32
0.03
0.53
2.64
0.02
0.53
1.15
5.27
0.00
1.22
5.21
0.00
1.00
0.03
0.43
3.46
0.00
0.70
4.07
0.00
0.55
1.01
0.33
0.21
3.44
0.00
0.73
2.40
0.03
0.47
WJ Oral Lang
3.11
0.01
0.76
2.50
0.02
0.73
2.40
0.03
0.44
WJ List Comp
2.03
0.06
0.55
2.57
0.02
0.65
0.99
0.34
0.19
WJ Oral Comp
1.83
0.09
0.47
1.48
0.16
0.46
1.00
0.33
0.26
First Grade
50
1
2
3
4
5
Visual Examples: Day 1 and 2
6
• Use graphic organizer to demonstrate the text structure
Second Grade
Multiple Criteria Text Characteristics
Level 4 Reader Example Page
• 50 Books written for the study
• Systematically introduced irregular high-frequency words
Discussion
• Maximized the use of words that were both regularly spelled and high frequency, while
•Preliminary evidence that students mastered the text structures taught with large effect sizes on
avoiding low frequency words that were likely to be unfamiliar to students
word identification and oral recall of clue words and on multiple choice questions (except
• Natural use of language
sequencing in 2nd grade).
• Used content words comprised of either irregular or advanced decoding patterns with icons
•Across conditions, students in K and 1 made significant growth on all measures; students in 2
underneath the words to provide scaffolding
made significant growth on oral language.
• Several instructional design principles within the text: varied sentence structure, included
discriminant words, repeated common words, and provided cumulative practice
Acknowledgments: Support for carrying out this research was provided in part by grants R324A130102 and R305F100027
from the Institute of Education Sciences. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and have not been reviewed or
approved by the granting agencies.
•Teachers and interventionists were highly positive about the content of intervention, feasibility, and
their perceptions of children’s engagement, response, and learning.