Teaching Reading and Writing

A student's inability to read and write creates a ripple effect that has far-ranging repercussions on his or her future prospects that demand proficient literacy. The implementation of effective reading and writing curricula is particularly crucial during the first few years of primary education when learning is more effectively conveyed during the early developmental stages of childhood. Teachers can use a variety of tools to teach reading and writing, some of which are entrance and exit slips, written conversations, self-assessments, and journal writing. Many instructional approaches advocate integrating reading and writing across the curriculum as a way to further develop students' abilities.

Keywords Electronic Communications across the Curriculum (ECAC); Envisionment; High-Frequency Words; Journal Writing; Language and Learning across the Curriculum (LALAC); Letter-Name Skills; Literacy skills; Metacognitive Skills; No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB); Phonetic Awareness; Sight Words; Teaching Reading; Teaching Writing; Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

Overview

A student's inability to read and write creates a ripple effect that has far-ranging repercussions on his or her future prospects that demand proficient literacy. Given how much faster and technologically-dense everyday American life has become, anyone remaining illiterate after completing the educational process is deprived of basic academic tools and lacks necessary survival skills for future success, including, but not exclusive to, gainful employment as an adult. According to a 1993 United States Office of Technology Assessment, 25 percent of the adult population lacks the basic literacy skills required for a typical job. As of the spring of 2013, approximately thirty-two million Americans could not read. There are numerous reasons for the low literacy rate in the United States. A December 2004 paper released by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) cites an American School Board Journal story stating that less time was being spent on teaching writing because educators are focusing more on meeting the parameters set by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The NWREL paper also mentions that a 2003 study by the National Commission on Writing found limited focus was being given to educating preservice teachers in how to teach writing (NWREL, 2004).

The NCLB is federal legislation defined by the theory of standards-based education reform in which high educational goals are set for states and school districts in which students are expected to meet or exceed these expectations. Federal requirements are measured via roughly 45 million annual standardized tests created at the state level and first administered in the third grade (Scherer, 2006). The demands of NCLB have shifted the focus in classrooms towards test-taking because school districts whose results don't meet or exceed pre-determined test levels risk losing federal funding. According to Guilfoyle (2006), this redirection of focus prevents teachers from providing the kind of rich and varied curriculum needed for an environment more conducive to teaching reading and writing. In 2012 and 2013 President Barack Obama began issuing waivers that released states from the restrictions of NCLB if they continued working toward rigorous educational goals and meeting requirements. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have waivers that will expire—but can be renewed—at the end of the 2013–2014 school year.

Therefore, the implementation of effective reading and writing curricula becomes all the more crucial, particularly during the first few years of primary education when learning is more effectively conveyed during the early developmental stages of childhood. Effective reading instruction is the initial springboard for ensuring that children achieve maximum literacy via a number of techniques incorporating phonemic awareness instruction, an emphasis on decoding and comprehending sight words along with teaching the relationship of this vocabulary within the context of written and verbal communication. To this end, exercises that hinge on frequent prose writing further complement the educational process and are at the heart of programs such as Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), Language and Learning Across the Curriculum (LALAC) and Electronic Communications Across the Curriculum (ECAC).

The grander scope of WAC is that rather than have writing be its own discipline, it is instead used as a tool that can enhance the learning of various subjects like science and math while enriching a child's overall proficiency in communicating both within and outside the educational spectrum. LALAC and ECAC are related movements. LALAC proposes that writing well goes far beyond merely putting words down and that it is one component of learning and communication that should include fostering other components of language-speaking, reading and listening. ECAC has more of a technological bent. This program puts an emphasis on how technologies like the Internet and digital communication are not only changing the way that writers write, but that access to the Web is providing new outlets in which students can communicate, acquire and organize new data. Therefore it is imperative that students are familiarized with the kinds of Web-based documents they'll be using along with utilizing sound, images and links in a way that will make the communicative process far more interactive. This use of technology for purposes other than its original use is referred to as envisionment by Donald Leu and his collaborators in a 2004 paper written for the International Reading Association (cited in Yancey, 2004).

Applications

Some applications of writing exercises used as part of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and approaches used to increase reading competency in elementary through high school levels are:

• Entrance and Exit Slips

• Written Conversations

• Self-Assessments

• Journal Writing

• Improving Reading

Entrance & Exit Slips

In this exercise, entrance slips are assigned at the start of class and students either compose questions or write a few sentences about any knowledge they may have of the day's upcoming topic. These anonymously penned blurbs are collected and read aloud as a means of jumpstarting the day's learning. Exit slips are written at the end of class, where students write brief descriptions of what was covered in the day's lesson along with any techniques they may have used to absorb this new knowledge. Elementary school students should be encouraged to write freely without concern for punctuation or spelling, so the intuitive flow of expression and language structures is not impeded. Proper grammar and spelling are stressed more in the middle and secondary levels as the student's writing abilities become more sophisticated. Throughout, these particular methodologies are mutually beneficial as a teacher can use them to determine how well the class may know a topic while the students can absorb new ideas, review old ones and potentially trigger their long-term memory.

Written Conversations

These five-minute exercises consist of having students write as much as they can about the day's topic, either by themselves or collaboratively with a partner. Subsequently, the pupil will have had a chance to organize his or her thoughts before being asked to participate in a discussion which works equally well when the process is tailored towards a collaborative response. Writers in elementary school would begin with more basic topics. Middle and secondary level instructors can eventually guide their students towards writing about non-literary topics such as the processes behind a science project or the steps taken to solve a mathematical problem. The benefit of written conversations is that students become more familiar and proficient with the pre-writing process, enabling them to more effectively group thoughts about similar topics into a working outline when starting a paper.

Self-Assessments

Students are asked to write brief assessments of a project they are either still working on or are on the brink of submitting. Questions that should be addressed can range from what knowledge they may be accruing through this assignment and what the most difficult aspect of it is to delineating the most gratifying part of it. Teachers can obviously monitor how well their charges are grasping a given topic and also help the student oversee how well they are learning the given subject matter. The approach for these self-assessments is similar throughout elementary, middle and secondary levels due to the simplistic nature of this exercise.

Journal Writing

Students should be consistently encouraged to write, and among the most effective techniques to stimulate the writing process is journal writing. In addition to getting students acclimated to writing, this daily exercise also enriches fluency, encourages reflection and helps students become familiar with the creative thought process.

The mental muscles involved in writing are much like the physical ones that are firmed up at a gym. Using these writing muscles consistently will build up a student's literacy skills and give the student more confidence in tackling future writing assignments. The important approach to take towards having novice scribes compose journals is to allow them to write without concern for proper punctuation and spelling. In this way, they can develop a more intuitive style of writing that's intended to effectively communicate an idea. Children of elementary school age in particular should be engaged in briefer writing exercises to help maintain enthusiasm for the assignment. On all levels, journal writing should be a daily exercise with entries dated to chart a student's progress. As writers enter middle and secondary levels, instructors can more heavily weigh having these entries earn points towards a grade. Also, teachers can suggest topics and solicit student responses which can then be turned in as a creative writing assignment (Wanket, 2005).

Improving Reading

Evaluation is a crucial first step towards determining what kind of help a student may or may not need to improve reading skills. Testing of reading comprehension can be accomplished by giving students 150-200 word passages photocopied from books, then read in class, followed by a handful of questions pertaining to the reading material. Teachers should then take students who performed poorly on this test and have the pupils read brief passages from the books, followed up by answering five content questions. If this proves to be too difficult, the teacher should then read a passage back to the student and ask questions pertaining to the passage. A student's inability to perform well may mean an inability to isolate a main idea within context or a lack of concentration (Shuman, 1975).

Effective study techniques are best conveyed by how a teacher instructs his or her students on how to approach a particular homework assignment. Rather than merely assigning material to read, instructors should have these assignments continue the thread of learning that was covered in class and provoke students into approaching the reading so they will dissect various aspects of the subject matter, instead of just absorbing facts minus any cognition. This can be achieved by having students consider points of view to be aware of, key words that may be problematic or contrasts that may come up. In taking this approach, higher levels of competency and cognition are possible and subsequently, the ease of understanding what was read enhances the potential for students to approach the subject with more confidence and enthusiasm (Shuman, 1975).

Shuman goes on to say that providing an enriched reading environment is pivotal in promulgating the idea that literacy is crucial as well as a communal experience that benefits from a high level of participation. Reports should be posted in an accessible area where students can read, compare and contrast what's been written. A portion of the classroom could be sectioned off as a special quiet area filled with books and reading material. Use of a rug will lend an inviting aura to this area where students are encouraged to visit and read anything of their choosing once their schoolwork has been completed. And lastly, instructors themselves should be reading on their own, particularly within the subject area they teach. Nothing inspires students more than a teacher brimming with enthusiasm over something that may have been read about the evening before. And even if this desire to convey this recently learned knowledge slightly deviates from the day's lesson plan, this contagious zeal has the potential to trigger a student into realizing that academic topics have the ability to be intellectually stimulating. Likewise, teachers should be ready to encourage independent exploration of a subject matter and be willing to help students in their quest.

Further Insights

This section addresses different approaches towards teaching writing and reading that may be of use to educators working with students at the primary level. It also draws on schools of thought for teaching writing based on Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). These techniques include:

• Language and Learning Across the Curriculum (LALAC)

• Electronic Communications Across the Curriculum (ECAC)

• Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

• Writing in the Disciplines (WID)

• Writing to Learn (WTL)

• Basic reading lesson elements

• Significant reading and writing events

• Successful reading acquisition

• Rich classroom environments

• Proficient reading programs

• School community involvement

Language & Learning across the Curriculum (LALAC)

Adherents of Language and Learning Across the Curriculum (LALAC) argue that all aspects of language-speaking, listening, reading and writing-are crucial elements towards achieving more effective communicating and learning.

Electronic Communications across the Curriculum (ECAC)

With advancements in technology, educators are incorporating tools such as the Internet, e-mail, online social networks, and blogs as a means of enticing otherwise reluctant students to have a greater interest in improving their writing skills and in many cases, prompting them to excel in a subject. With so many students becoming computer literate at an early age, these newer technologies serve as enticements for younger, would-be writers while allowing them to use varying approaches that include visual, digital and print processes to capture their ideas.

According to Kathleen Blake Yancey (2004), teachers should be sure to encourage their pupils to become proficient with using various digital tools and software, which will help them adapt more quickly to changing technology. There are different ways this can be applied. The use of slide presentations to provide a visual outline of a research paper encouraged students to more seriously undertake drawing up drafts in a more timely manner. The fact that they were forced to present their projects to a real audience as a group resulted in it being a more enjoyable way of handling this assignment. Having pupils utilize a presentation software package further along in the creative process also gives students a unique way to express themselves by changing font styles or incorporating different colors and special effects that give students a greater and more intriguing manner with which to approach their writing (Yancey, 2004).

Writing across the Curriculum (WAC)

Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) is based on the theory that writing should be held to the highest standards regardless of the discipline to which it may be applied. Students are expected to be at the same writing level whether the subject they are learning is English, science or math. Critics of WAC maintain that the high level of oversight needed to effectively implement this program in non-literary disciplines effectively cuts into a teacher's time allotted for focusing on the fundamentals and more granular aspects of a topic like math in which effective writing is less of a paramount concern.

Writing in the Disciplines (WID) maintains that the thinking, learning and writing skills in a discipline are maximized when participants work within the parameters specific to it. In this case, a history professor could assign students to interview war veterans or a business professor may have them create a marketing plan or sales pitch.

Writing to Learn (WTL) is based on the concept that writing should be a means for students to increase their knowledge of different topics rather than merely being a tool to regurgitate what is already known. Adherents of WTL feel that by having students utilize previously learned knowledge to make connections to newer topics, their metacognitive skills will be strengthened as they unearth newer ideas while they write. WTL is most effective when the exercise coincides with the learning objectives of a particular topic, while keeping in mind a student's skill level and how they will be critiqued.

Basic Reading Elements

There are a number of components that go into efficiently teaching children how to read, ranging from programs that encourage a home environment that develops good reading habits and monitoring homework to school policies driven by the goal of improving reading achievement. Educators in both the classroom and administrative offices strive to understand the success and failure of literacy approaches via analysis and assessment, the setting of goals and the incorporation of effective techniques. There are also more direct applications available towards increasing a student's ability to successfully learn how to read.

Significant reading and writing events are best executed at the kindergarten and first-grade levels. Letter-name knowledge (the knowledge of letter names) and phonemic awareness (the conscious awareness of how a sequence of sounds forms a spoken word) are the most effective approaches used. Instruction of phonemic awareness is based on a mix of sounds that are mixed and blended within activities that include oral recitation of poems and songs, and composition of written communication and journals.

Successful reading acquisition hinges on the teaching of systematic word recognition, in which children are taught about common, consistent letter-sound relationships, high-frequency words (how and we) and sight words (of and was) which are regular and irregular words that may not follow the established phonetic rules of English spelling but are frequently used. Strategies encouraging children to summarize, infer and predict outcomes to enhance and maintain reading accuracy. Conversations about the subjects in reading matter, reading aloud exercises accompanied by feedback and frequent revisiting of reading material are invaluable in fostering comprehension and word recognition.

Rich classroom environments hinge on daily reading and writing assignments that allow for continual student assessment and encourage readers to utilize facets of what they've learned. Daily expectations include both instructors and pupils reading books aloud and engaging in follow-up discussions, writing stories, daily journals being maintained and children reading independently.

Proficient reading programs starting in the third grade provide ample opportunity for students to read, promoting the learning of new vocabulary and knowledge. Students are also apprised of how writers utilize different techniques (poetry vs. prose) to convey concepts and the importance and methodology of comprehending these ideas that goes beyond simply reading text.

School community involvement revolves around having students accomplish higher reading achievement that's encouraged by all those associated with the educational process either at the school level or at home. High expectations are defined, goals are set and the teaching tools with which to reach them are provided with a constant monitoring process in place to ensure success. The focus is on reading and writing with programs based on community involvement ranging from encouraging parental involvement with the children's reading and homework to establishing volunteer tutoring projects.

Terms & Concepts

Electronic Communications across the Curriculum (ECAC): The way in which new technologies like the Internet and e-mail are changing how writing is done.

Envisionment: The ability to use technology for purposes other than its original use.

High-Frequency Words: Phonetically regular words, such as "in" or "not", that consistently show up in reading.

Journal: An editorial log usually maintained on a daily basis in which the writer can recapitulate the day's lessons, note questions that need further study or generate dialogue with teachers and fellow students.

Language and Learning Across the Curriculum (LALAC): The theory that all aspects of language up to and including speaking, listening, reading and writing are crucial elements towards achieving more effective communicating and learning.

Letter-Name Knowledge: The ability to recognize letter names.

Metacognitive Skills: Understanding one's thought processes in a manner that allows use of prior knowledge as a means of comprehending new situations.

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB): This federally mandated program is based on standards-based education reform in which standardized testing results determine whether federal education funding is forthcoming to states based on whether their students meet or exceed pre-determined educational goals.

Phonemic Awareness: The ability to identify the combined speech sounds that make up a word.

Sight Words: These are high frequency regular (it, on) and irregular words (of, was) readers learn to recognize automatically.

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC): An approach driven by the theory that writing should be done with the highest standards of execution regardless of the discipline to which it is being applied.

Bibliography

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Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking & learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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McLeod, S. H., Soven, M. I. (Eds.). (2006). Composing a community: A history of writing across the curriculum. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press

Ntiri, D. W. (2013). How minority becomes majority: Exploring discursive and racialized shifts in the adult literacy conversation. Western Journal Of Black Studies, 37, 159–168. Retrieved January 2, 2014 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=92027572

Osborn, J. & Lehr, F. (Eds.). (1998). Literacy for all: Issues in teaching and learning. New York: Guilford Press.

Popham, J. W. (2006). Assessment for learning: An endangered species?. Educational Leadership, 63 , 82-83. Retrieved December 5, 2006 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=19632012&site=ehost-live

Reis, S. M., & Fogarty, E. A. (2006). Savoring reading schoolwide. Educational Leadership, 64 , 32-36. Retrieved December 5, 2006 from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=22711491&site=ehost-live

Russell, D. R. (2002). Writing in the academic disciplines: A curricular history (2nd ed.). Southern Illinois University Press.

VanderMeulen, K. (1974). Reading in the secondary school: The study formulas revisited. Reading Horizons, 15 , 31-36.

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