Research Summary

Research Summary

Dr. Linda McElroy

Informational Texts: Challenges and Ideas

Teachers are responsible for helping students develop strategies that will enable them to become effective readers of all types of texts. Upper elementary students are learning about strategies for informational texts, in preparation for the types of advanced reading they will be expected to do in upper grades. Previous research has demonstrated that students’ reading comprehension benefits from instruction that helps them become aware of informational text structures, such as compare/contrast, problem/solution, sequence, and description. Despite the efficacy of text structure instruction, it is frequently a missing element in classroom instruction, both in reading and in writing instruction.

The focus research study for this column gives helpful ideas for strengthening the use of text structure for informational text in literacy instruction. The 2020 article by J. Z. Strong in Reading Research Quarterly was titled “Investigating a Text Structure Intervention for Reading and Writing in Grades 4 and 5.” The study was done with fourth and fifth grade students, and the ideas could be adapted for other grades as well.

The author of the study described important ideas from previous research that were used as a basis for this research study.

• Teaching students about the ways texts are organized and using this knowledge to organize and recall ideas in written summaries can strengthen both reading comprehension and writing quality. • Teaching students about the use of signal words that cue readers about the ways that texts are organized can be done in varied ways. Examples of signal words include: because, therefore, consequently, first, next, last, in comparison, and others. Some interventions teach students to underline or highlight signal words to identify text structure during reading, then use them to signal organization in their own writing.

Other interventions teach students to make initial judgements about a text’s structure based on the organization of ideas, then use signal words to confirm their judgements. • Teaching students to use graphic organizers can help them with reading different types of texts (including compare/contrast matrices, sequence frames, cause/effect organizers, problem/solution frames), then with taking written notes and using them to write informational passages. • Teaching students about summary writing can be supported by instructing them to use text structures to organize ideas.

Both of the instructional patterns in the research study incorporated the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (Pearson and Dole, 1987). This approach begins with the teacher explicitly teaching and modeling a skill or strategy, then including shared applications of the skill or

strategy with support from the teacher, until the children are ready to implement the skill or strategy on their own.

The researchers identified two research questions that guided the study:

1. To what extent does a text-structure intervention focused on reading and writing improve fourth- and fifth-graders’ awareness of information text structures, reading comprehension, and writing quality as compared with an alternative treatment? 2. To what extent do fourth- and fifth-grade teachers perceive the goals, procedures, and effects of a text structure intervention for reading and writing as socially valid? (p. 546).

The research study was done in three elementary schools in a rural school district in a South Atlantic U.S. state. The district includes diverse students (57% Caucasian, 33.3% AfricanAmerican, 4.3% Hispanic/Latino, 0.4% Asian), and 87% of the students were eligible for federal lunch subsidies; 351 students participated in the study. The research took place over 12 weeks. Fourth- and fifth-grade teachers were randomly assigned to one of two interventions and were provided with a two-hour training session on the goals, procedures, and materials for the intervention. Teachers administered pretests at the beginning and posttests at the end. The researcher also conducted teacher interviews in the final week.

The two interventions used in the study both employed explicit instruction. Both included 16 two-day lesson plans and a student workbook using the same texts in the same order. The texts were selected based on content, text structure, and text complexity.

• One intervention was a text structure intervention (Read STOP write) that included reading a passage, summarizing the main idea and details, identifying the text structure, organizing details using a graphic organizer, and planning and writing an informational paragraph about the topic using the same structure.

• The second intervention was a comprehension strategies intervention (RARE Reading and Writing) that included reading a passage, answering comprehension questions, reviewing questions and answers, rereading the passage, restating the main idea and details using a graphic organizer, and explaining the topic of the passage in a written summary.

Quantitative data were from measures of text structure awareness, reading comprehension, and writing quality, using a researcher-developed Text Structure Identification Test on which students identified paragraph-level text structure. Students also completed researcher-developed reading and writing assessments including reading a brief passage, writing a summary sentence, selecting the text structure, constructing a graphic organizer, and writing an informational paragraph.

The pretest scores showed no statistical differences between the groups at the beginning. Posttest scores showed statistically significant differences, favoring the text structure intervention on a researcher-developed Text Structure Identification Test, on the use of graphic organizers, and on ideas and details. Compared with students who received the comprehension

strategies intervention, students who received the text structure intervention were better able to identify the text structure of a passage, use text structure to recall and organize details after reading, and use text structure to organize ideas and details in writing.

Qualitative data came from the interviews with the teachers. The research was also examining teachers’ perceptions of the social validity of each intervention. The researcher used open-ended questions related to the teachers’ perceptions about the importance, acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of the intervention used with their class. Teachers who taught with the text structure intervention indicated it was especially effective. One teacher had reservations because the grade-level text was difficult for some students. All teachers, in both interventions, described improvements in students’ literacy skills (identifying main ideas and details, identifying text structure, using graphic organizers, informational writing). Teachers in the text structure intervention groups emphasized students’ use of strategies taught in the text structure intervention when reading and writing informational texts in other content areas.

The effects of the text structure intervention showed statistically significantly larger gains on the task of constructing graphic organizers, although the modest size of the effect may have been due to similarities in the procedures for using graphic organizers in the text structure and comprehension strategies interventions. Themes from the teachers’ interviews included three goals of text structure interventions:

• using structure to comprehend and organize ideas in informational text • combining literacy instruction with content area instruction by using text structure to build knowledge • teaching students to use text structure to navigate complex texts.

Teachers viewed the procedures as appropriate because they fit within their schedules, the materials facilitated explicit instruction, the gradual release of responsibility was supportive, and the instructional routines were not too complex to implement. The inclusion of components such as explicit instruction, signal words, graphic organizers, and writing influenced students’ improvement in skills, including their ability to use an instructional routine that they could consciously and independently implement when reading or writing informational text.

The researcher concluded that the text structure routines from this study warrant further research as alternatives to traditional instructional practices such as question-answering. Literacy instruction as described in this study has the potential to support teachers in meeting the demands of state standards and the needs of their students.

Teachers in the Oklahoma Reader audience can find helpful ideas from this research study. Teachers have such a powerful influence on students! Explicitly teaching and modeling strategies such as using graphic organizers and noticing signal words were effective with these students in fourth and fifth grades. The strategies can be equally effective with students in other grades. Integrating content-area reading with writing instruction helps students’ reading comprehension as well as their proficiency in writing. Using a Gradual Release of Responsibility Model helps students learn to use the strategies and to implement them in reading informational texts on their own.

References

Pearson, P.D. & Dole, J.A. (1987). Explicit comprehension instruction: A review of research and a new conceptualization of instruction. The Elementary School Journal, 88(2), 151-156.

Strong, J.Z. (2020). Investigating a Text Structure Intervention for Reading and Writing in Grades 4 and 5. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(4), 545-551.

Dr. Linda McElroy is a professor at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. She previously taught in Oklahoma schools as a classroom teacher and as a reading specialist. She can be reached at lmcelroy@usao.edu.