Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Lara Porte
10 June 2019
Abstract
This literature review explores the investigations and research drawn from a five-year study
conducted by Dr. Judith A. Langer, the director of the National Research Center on English
Learning & Achievement. The authors assessed English programs in 4 states, 44 classrooms and
in 25 schools and compared various instructional programs with those that were significantly
high-performing. The article, “Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read and Write
Well,” discusses six features of effective instruction that contribute to teachers’ success in
guiding improved student comprehension and that are helpful to any teacher looking to improve
Though most schools meet student learning criteria and standards, the question posed
here is: what makes the difference for those schools with high proficiency and students who
seem to outperform their peers on standardized tests and high stakes testing? In “Guidelines for
Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read and Write Well: Six Features of Effective
Instruction,” Judith A. Langer and her team of researchers examine the impact that six
They took the time to interview teachers, administrators and perform class observations at 44 of
the nation’s diverse middle and high schools with similar student populations, where they
examined student achievement in reading, writing, and other important literacy skills in
classrooms.
Throughout their studies, Langer and her teams found “if students need to learn a
particular skill, item, or rule, the teacher might choose a separated activity to highlight it”
(Langer et. al., 2000, p. 4). The teachers they observed made subject matter comprehensible to
students by preparing separate, “integrated activities [that] provide ways for students to put their
understandings to use in the context of larger and more meaningful activities” ( Langer et. al.,
2000, p.4). When students are asked to use examples and discuss their responses and rationale
behind their answers, students are more likely to grasp the concept better than if they were given
One other finding they discuss is the importance of integrating ways test preparation and
skills seamlessly into the planned curriculum. Effective staff have met to collaborate and take the
test themselves to better “understand the demands of the test, consider how these demands relate
to their current practice, and plan ways to integrate the necessary skills and knowledge into the
LITERATURE REVIEW DOMAIN A 4
curriculum, across grades and school years” (Langer et. al, 200, p. 6). By having knowledge of
the demands the test will ask of students and knowing students’ abilities, teachers can determine
the areas of important instruction to teach to boost student success rates. Colleague collaboration
and reflection ensures the same plans across the board for best practices and approaches to high
stakes testing skill integration rather than being inserted as a separate, unrelated test prep activity
the week prior to the test. With this process, students are likely to not understand the purpose of
the test or what knowledge they should have to succeed. Therefore, this process helps teachers
recognize the “knowledge that underlies successful learning and achievement in literacy and
English” and ultimately make the skills and knowledge comprehensible and accessible when it is
time to take the exam (Langer et. al., 2000, p.6). Furthermore, the researchers interviewed one
educator who mentioned the teams at their school even developed curriculum guides that would
create year-long experiences in different types of writing, including the kinds of organization,
A final trend found in high performing schools was that educators were scaffolding
content in various ways to increase task achievement. The most successful teachers “divide new
or difficult tasks into segments and provide their students with guides for accomplishing them”
(Langer et. al., 2000, p.8). This is extremely important when promoting an environment where
students are able to self-manage and self-advocate for themselves. One area of learning that
students need to excel in is being able to think for themselves. It is a teacher’s job to teach
students how to think and when they have drawn one conclusion, they must be challenged to
consider ideas that build on their previous conclusions even more. These strategies can be
discussed as a class and modeled for students in the classroom. The classroom is a better place
LITERATURE REVIEW DOMAIN A 5
when “students learn and internalize ways to work through a task” so they are confident and
References
Langer, J.A., Close, E., Angelis, J., & Preller, P. (2000). Guidelines for teaching middle and high
school students to read and write well: Six features of effective instruction. National