Reshaping Teacher Practice Through Close Reading Formative Assessment Tasks

• In Event: 73.029 - Systematizing Formative Assessment for English Learners: Teacher Change and Student Academic Language Outcomes

Abstract

Introduction
Formative assessment (FA) of student learning gives teachers the information needed to reshape their instruction in specific, targeted ways. This paper examines the ways in which teachers create, implement, and use FA tasks to engage English learners (ELs) in close reading of subject matter texts. The paper explores how teachers working within communities of practice uncover new understandings of student needs through the integration of close reading FA tasks into their practice.

Objectives
1. Examine teacher implementation of close reading FA tasks using subject matter texts.
2. Examine ways teachers interpret and use data from FA tasks to inform instruction.
3. Develop a professional learning framework to guide implementation of close reading FA tasks

Theory
Three conceptual notions underpin this work: close reading, FA, and pedagogical language knowledge. Close reading involves a careful, purposeful investigation whereby students are guided to deeply analyze aspects “of text, such as “attention to form, tone, imagery and/or rhetorical devices; the significance of word choice and syntax; and the discovery of different levels of meaning as passages are read multiple times” (Brown & Kappes, 2012, p. 2). FA is a systematic “process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes” (CCSSO, 2008, p. 3). Through FA processes, the study engages teachers in the development of pedagogical language knowledge, the “knowledge of language directly related to disciplinary teaching and learning and situated in the particular (and multiple) contexts in which teaching and learning take place” (Bunch, 2013, p.307).

Methods, Data Sources
This paper is informed by qualitative and quantitative data collected over two years. Phase 1 focused on the creation of a close reading FA task template with middle/ high school teachers in a Delaware school district. The template supported assessment of receptive and productive academic language. Phase 2 involved implementation of the template with English language arts middle school teachers in a Virginia school district. Both phases incorporated professional development for the teachers and the co-creation of FA materials for classroom tryout. Teachers learned to administer FA tasks related to subject matter text passages, analyze student work, and use information obtained to enhance instruction. Data sources include researcher observation of tryouts, written teacher reflections, teacher discussion in learning community meetings, examples of student work, and student feedback through think aloud interviews.

Results
Our analyses of the multiple sources of qualitative and quantitative data create a nuanced picture of changes in teacher practice. We show how teachers move toward creating their own FAs to meet their specific subject matter needs. Teachers reported having a better understanding of how to use complex texts in instruction, and deeper student involvement in reading and writing tasks.

Significance
This paper explores one approach to the development of teacher pedagogical knowledge as it relates to close reading FA tasks. The approach has the potential to better articulate for teachers the instructional adaptations that lead ELs toward the accomplishment of academic language goals.

Authors

• Patricia A DiCerbo, The George Washington University

• Keira Gebbie Ballantyne, Center for Applied Linguistics

• Charlene Rivera, The George Washington University