Literacy instruction in a middle school science classroom

Abstract

I've noticed that students have been struggling to communicate what they know in science class. Having a large English Language Learners (ELL) population at my school, I had initially written this off as language acquisition or struggling with the science content knowledge. I came to realize that reading abilities were strongly impacting not only student's abilities to do well on assessments, but also to work independently in class. Our school uses a comprehensive online reading assessment called STAR reading. The test is administered multiple times a year to assess reading abilities and growth. By collecting this data, we know that the average reading level in the 8th grade was well below what would be considered functional for 8th grade. In fact, it is much closer to 4th grade reading level. Upon completing research on literacy instruction in science classrooms, I realized that students need to interact with text materials more in order to gain a better understanding of the content. I chose to focus on teaching student's strategies to interact with text more often to see if reading levels and science content knowledge would increase. After completing a STAR literacy test and science content pre assessment, I began a novel study, and small group instruction on close reading strategies. Students were taught close reading strategies that were evidence-based practices for ELL learners. Students immediately applied that close reading strategies to content aligned articles, while also reading a fictional novel aligned with out current science unit. Science content knowledge was assessed throughout the unit. When the unit was completed, a second STAR literacy test was administered. Statistically, the close reading instruction and novel study did increase reading scores. More students were also able to show mastery of science content knowledge by the end of the unit. Giving the students tools to use while reading, as well as more opportunities to read, does help both reading scores and science content knowledge grow.