Using Your Eyes and Ears to Determine if Instructional Language Parallels Test Language

This week’s tip is part one of a two-part series that uses the objective metric of word count as a gauge for determining if current classroom language use prepares students for the language of testing. 

Instructional materials from each grade level utilize sentences that fall into very specific categories based on two features:  the number of words in sentences, and the grammar constructions used in those sentences.  As we move up the grade levels, instructional materials feature sentences of more words and of greater complexity.  

Look for This in Your Classrooms

Visit at least six classrooms on your campus.  Start with a low grade and move upward.  For secondary observations, pick six different core subject area classes across different grade levels.  For each room you visit, you will collect two pieces of information that should transform how you think about the relationship between academic text language and your students’ academic language use.  

Bring a sheet of paper for your notes.  Here are your two tasks:

1.       Pick up a couple of core curriculum books in each classroom you visit.  They could be math, social science or any subject area.  Open to a random page and count the number of words in five or six of the sentences you read.  Determine a general average number of words per sentence.  Write this number on your note sheet. 

2.       Now, sit down and scribe at least five teacher question- student answer sequences from each classroom you visit.  In other words, write the teacher’s question as verbatim as you can, followed by a verbatim transcription of the student response.  Compute two averages from this data:  average number of words per teacher question, and average number of words per student answer.    

By comparing these two transcriptions, we can see how and why the language used by teachers and students during daily instruction is foundational for preparing students for assessments that require high levels of language sophistication.

When you are done collecting classroom data, complete the following analyses:

1. For each grade level, compare the length of the teacher’s questions to the length of the students’ answers.  In what grades/classes was this difference the lowest and the highest?    

If students’ answers feature fewer words than the teacher’s questions, we have a problem.    

2. What is the average number of words per sentence from the academic texts you surveyed?  Now, subtract the average number of words in students’ oral responses from the text average.    

If students’ oral answers have fewer words than the average book sentence length, we have another problem. 

Here is What You Likely Found

Sample 1

This is representative of what we typically find in classrooms where teachers have not been trained or coached in how to deliberately structure their classroom language to prepare students for testing. 

Teacher Question: What was the author’s viewpoint regarding George Washington Carver?  (nine words)

Student Answer: The author respected him.  (four words – far below grade-level target for number of words and complexity)

Sample 2

Here is an example from a teacher trained and coached in this area of language development.

Teacher Question: What was the author’s viewpoint regarding George Washington Carver?  (nine words)

Student Answer: The author considered George Washington Carver to be an innovator whose discoveries made lasting impacts on our society.  (18 words – met grade-level target for number of words and complexity)

Here are some examples of kinder, second and eighth grade academic text.

Our Research Findings

Based on our work with thousands of teachers in classrooms, here is what we find:

·         The number of words in sentences in academic texts is usually startling.  Even in first grade, most books use sentences of at least 15 words, with double that amount being common.  By fifth grade, and certainly at the secondary level, sentences usually average more than 20 words.  It is common to have sentences of more than 4o to 50 words.

·         Our analyses of the grammar components of academic sentences is sobering:  they are not at all similar to the way most students speak in class.  Academic speech and writing features more than simple nouns and verbs, staples for many students’ spoken and written work.

·         Most teachers are unaware of the relationship between academic text sentences and students’ oral answers to questions.  The result is that students practice language that hurts them during testing situations.  .

·         When neither teachers nor students have a “target” for the number of words and the grammatical sophistication of their responses, the default is usually a short, non-academic sounding sentence.

·         Teachers frequently state in interviews that they are more concerned that students get the “right” answer rather than that they convey information in grade-appropriate sentence length and sophistication.  State and federal assessments do not make this distinction.

These findings from our own extensive research in this area have a silver lining.  When teachers come to see that sentence length and complexity can be put in numerical terms, and that both increase as students move up the grades, they have a catalyst to change their instruction.   

Next Steps

After you have shared your classroom findings with teachers, implement the following:

1. Lead your teachers through the task you did at the beginning: have them bring their texts and compute the number of words per sentence.  Probably like when you did this, teachers will be both surprised and excited.  Post the average number of words per sentence on a chart by grade level.  Discuss the implications for instruction and test success.  

2. Have teachers set word count requirements for responses based on the words-per-sentence targets identified from the step above.  Have them post this number visibly in their classrooms and stick to this requirement.  It may be a challenge at first, but after even a week the difference in student responses will be startling. 

3. Have teachers start introducing and requiring students to use subordinating conjunctions in their oral answers.  Though these sound complicated, subordinating conjunctions can be learned even by students in kindergarten with a little practice.  This part of speech is prevalent in academic texts and stories at all grade levels.  There are about 25 subordinating conjunctions that show up frequently in academic texts, but have teachers start with these:  although, even though, since, unless and while.  Prepare to be amazed when students start using these with fluency in their oral and written answers.

Sentence length and grammar sophistication are the two defining elements of academic language.  Once teachers and students know, understand and implement these two ideas, the stage is set for providing students with the critical tools they need for academic success and higher test performance.

DROP US A QUICK MESSAGE TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIENCES WITH THIS TIP FOR HELPING STUDENTS DO BETTER ON STATE AND NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS.  WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

It’s not too late!  Getting teachers to focus on the behaviors we present in these test-preparation tips have shown to make immediate improvements in student outcome data.  Contact us today to discuss how our comprehensive teacher training and in-class coaching programs can enhance your students’ language and literacy skills.   

If you want new results, teachers need new skills.  The time is now!