Small Groups in Early Elementary Grades Help Support English Language Learners in Literacy
Heather Porch
Saint Mary’s College of California
Introduction
Only five years ago more than 5.3 million English language learners made up 10.6 percent of America’s public schools in the grades K-12 (Calderon, Salvin, & Sanchez, 2011, p. 103). An English Language Learner (ELL) is a student who speaks another language other than English primarily in their home, or does not speak English at all. Many such students struggle to participate and fully understand the mainstream classroom instruction in English. Since ELL numbers have increased dramatically in schools across America it is important that teachers are able to accommodate and support the learning needs of these students. These young adolescents have lower academic performances and lower graduation rates (Calderon et al., 2011, p. 104). Reading comprehension is commonly defined as the level of understanding the written words on paper. Reading interventions need to start in the early elementary grades to help ensure that young adolescents enter the upper grades with the tools necessary to succeed and not fall further behind in their academics that require them to use higher levels of reading comprehension skills.
Teaching literacy using small groups is one way, I believe, that will improve reading comprehension and fluency. In this literature review I have found research articles that support this idea. Fluency is commonly defined as how quickly a person can read using correct syllables and how smoothly the reader can say the words that are written on paper. Using small groups to teach early literacy interventions are not only beneficial for ELL’s but for English speaking students that are at risk for falling below grade level as well (Kamps, Abbott, Greenwood, Arreaga-Mayer, Wills, Longstaff,. . . Walton, 2007, p. 160). This review of literature describes research how to effectively teach English language learners. The review goes on to present results that show that teaching literacy using small groups should be done as early as kindergarten and that there are effective methods for teaching literacy using a structured reading intervention in the small groups. According to the studies described below, using small groups to teach literacy helps to not only improve comprehension skills, but also fluency, letter decoding, and other reading ability skills.
How is Early Literacy Measured?
Throughout elementary school all students are assessed on their reading comprehension skills. One test that teachers use to assess students comprehension skills is called the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) (Scheffel, Lefly, & Houser, 2012, p. 75). This assessment is a good and reliable indicator that helps predict English language learners that are at risk and should be placed in or continue on in a reading intervention program. DIBELS measures Phonological Awareness which includes Initial Sound Fluency (ISF), Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (PSF) (assesses how well the student can identity the individual sounds that are in a word), and the Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) (assesses how well the student is able to blend letters together to make unfamiliar “nonsense” words), and the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) assesses the number of words read correctly per minute from a grade appropriate text. As stated in Good’s et al., 2001 study (as cited in Scheffel et al., 2012, p. 76), “DIBELS is being used in thousands of schools across the nation, often to provide formative data to schools accountable for increasing student achievement on end-of-grade-level state reading achievement tests”. Since the fastest growing student population is made up of 57% students that are considered to be not fluent English speakers and since thousands of schools across the nation are using DIBELS to assess these students reading achievement scores (Calderon, Slavin, & Sanchez, 2011,p. 104), teachers need to accommodate to the learning needs of these students to ensure that they do not stay at risk for reading failure.
Effective Instruction for English Learners
Since the population of ELL students is so numerous, education must adapt to the needs of these students. ELL students are often given up to thirty minutes of ESL instruction every day in the grades K-5 but the achievement gap between ELL students and English-proficient students is still increasing (Calderon et al., 2011, p. 106). Teachers need to be educated on how to effectively teach the ELL students while in the mainstream classroom (Calderon et al., 2011, p. 106). It is important to address the needs of students’ vocabulary range because researchers have found that children of poverty only hear about 615 words per minute and the children of parents who are professionals hear around 2,153 words per minute (Calderon et al., 2011, p. 110). Vocabulary instruction in schools can help make up for lower exposure to vocabulary in the home. “Vocabulary instruction contributes to overall effective instruction by developing students’ phonological awareness and reading comprehension” (Calderon et al., 2011, p.110). A way to help with vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension is to have constant vocabulary exposure, reading instruction, and cooperative learning. Cooperative learning can be done using small group instruction. As Calderon states,
Cooperative learning has been found effective for elementary and secondary students across a broad range of subjects, and it is especially so for English learners who are learning to operate in English. The cooperative activities give them regular opportunities to discuss the content and to use the language of the school in a safe context. (Calderon, 2011, p. 113)
This is why it is important to have early reading interventions using small groups. It is also important to remember that English language learners are also affected by differences due to socioeconomics, cultural backgrounds, and the schooling conditions (Abedi, 2002, as cited in Gyovai, Cartledge, Kourea, Yurick, & Gibson, 2009). Students that are trying to learn English as a language may have higher academic risks such as underachievement, grade retention, and poor reading acquisition (August & Hakuta, 1997, as cited in Gyovai et al., p. 2009). In a study conducted by Gyovai and colleagues (2009), the skills of 11 kindergartners and 1 first grader were measured on phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency, and curriculum-based assessments in this quantitative study. After 15 weeks of using the Early Reading Intervention (ERI) Curriculum, the researchers found “A functional relationship between ERI instruction and student growth indicated from the data for phonemic segmentation fluency. For some students, the improvements were immediate and dramatic, while for other students, the progress was more gradual but eventually resulted in sizable gains” (Gyovai et al., 2009, 152). Gyovai and his colleagues noted that English language learners benefit from instruction that is systematic and addresses reading difficulties. They state, “Without such instruction, the literacy deficits of students with such risk markers, especially ELLs, are likely to persist and become increasingly resistant to intervention” (Gyovai et al., 2009, p. 160).
Effective Methods for Teaching Literacy
Kamps and Greenwood (2005) investigate an effective method for teaching literacy to English language learners and non-English language learners using small groups and a three-tiered invention model. This model has been described to, “intensify instruction to meet the needs of students with increasing academic need” (Kamps & Greenwood, 2005, p. 500). A three-tiered model includes primary intervention that includes instructional explanations, a secondary intervention that uses strategic small group instruction, and a third level of intervention that includes pull-outs and progress monitoring. The researchers found how to formulate, deliver, sustain, and manage secondary-level intervention which includes small group reading instruction. The experimental secondary-level intervention used small groups, explicit, phonics-based instruction. The students using this form of intervention were compared to students from a schools that were being taught using whole group instruction with little individualization. The researchers stated that “High-risk schools need reading programs with strong emphases on phonemic awareness and systematic phonics instruction combined with three-tiered models that identify early and intensive instruction to students’ learning to read before reading problems emerge” (Kamps & Greenwood, 2005, p. 506). ELL student achievement is lower than non-ELL student achievement on reading standardized assessments (Kamps, et al., 2007, p. 3).
The students in the 2007 study by Kamps and colleagues included 318 first and second graders and the three-tier model used in this study to help the 170 ELL students and 148 English only students from six elementary schools on reading comprehension which included three tiers, as follows: (1) the first tier provided the students with strategies on how to read, (2) the second tier included small group intervention during which a reading specialist targeted critical reading skills that students needed to catch up on, and (3) the third tier consisted of individualized grouping. The reading intervention included phonemic awareness, letter sounds, alphabetic decoding, reading activities, and writing of sounds. The results indicated that ELL students in the intervention group had higher gains in reading comprehension than ones who were not enrolled in the intervention. As noted by the researchers: “The main finding was that students in secondary-level interventions improved in early literacy skills. This was true for the majority of the students in our sample” (Kamps, et al., 2007, p.8). The students benefitted from small group reading interventions which helped the students to catch up to their peers. Students in the interventions didn’t fall so far behind that their academic progress suffered. They were able to catch up with their peer group. Other research shows the importance of using early reading instructions in a tiered approach.
A multi-tiered approach can help can help ELL students and can improve the learning achievements for all students (Fien, Smith, Baker, Chaparro, Baker, & Preciado, 2011, p. 143). A multitiered approach includes: reading instruction that focuses on reading difficulties, differentiated instruction matched to students needs, monitoring progress to help determine instructional needs, teaching programs that are evidence-based to help effective instruction, and using both group and individual student instruction (Fien et al., 2011, p. 144). Elementary schools start testing reading proficiency by third grade. It is important that students start reading interventions that begin in Kindergarten and continue through second grade because it can improve their success outside and inside of schools in the future (Fien et al., 2011, p. 144).
Early Reading Interventions Lead to Better Outcomes
Reading interventions are often excluded in kindergarten. Kindergarteners are still developing their language abilities. If reading interventions begin early in the school year and are done throughout all elementary grades reading scores should continue to improve. We should start to see more students reading at higher levels in middle school and high school grades. It can be challenging to determine in kindergarten if the students’ low reading levels are due to their low levels in language knowledge or are associated with a learning disability. It has been shown that early reading interventions done in kindergarten leads to better outcomes for students with poor language abilities when done earlier in the year (O’Conner, Bocian, Frankenberger, & Linklater, 2010, p.220). In the study by O’Conner and colleagues, 69 students were analyzed by using three screening measures. The screening measures used were Letter Naming Fluency, Initial Sound Fluency, and The PPVT-3.
The students in the study were pulled out of their classrooms for 15-minute sessions three times a week. The lesson focused on alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, and oral language. The students were in small groups of about two to three students. This allowed the teacher to provide further practice on the activities and to provide additional practice. One third of the students in this study reached average levels on the screening measures and two thirds of the students met the exit criteria. The researcher stated that, “Some students in the immediate intervention group caught up with average-reader classmates as early as February and maintained these levels through the end of kindergarten (O’Conner et al., 2011, p. 229). This is an important study because the study demonstrated that small group reading interventions helped students with poor language skills. This study also demonstrates that early reading interventions helped students that have mild cognitive impairments and were not English language learners. Since classrooms are so diverse and many students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, and language abilities it makes it really difficult for teachers to have all their students in the classroom reach the same learning goals at the same time.
The study conducted by Kamps, Abbott, Greenwood, Wills, Veerkamp, and Kaufman, in 2008, examines using early literacy interventions within a three-tier model for the most at risk students in kindergarten to help address this problem. This model was based on the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach. The 83 kindergarteners were placed in small groups and taught phonemic awareness and phonics-based instruction during 30 to 40 minutes sessions of a minimum three times a week over a 2-year period. The three-tier intervention included curriculum that used direct instruction with scripted lessons and teacher modeling, programmed reading that included a sequenced curriculum used in small groups, the use of the Open Court which included additional support for systematic phonics instruction used in small groups, and guided reading groups that included word study and group reading of stories and writing activities. The results showed that the interventions were very effective based on the DIBELS student assessments and that continued support of the RTI model helps student catch up to their benchmark levels. Differentiation of instructional support does support grouping students and helps with attention.The researchers stated that, “An important finding in this study and the larger study was that schools were able to manage the intervention for students in these early grades before the learning problems became severe and students fell too far behind in reading to ever catch up to typically developing peers” (Kamps et al., 2008, p. 110). This is why early reading interventions should begin as early as kindergarten.
Positive Effects of Teaching Literacy Using Small Groups
Reading fluency is connected to reading comprehension and has been defined as the student’s ability to read with expression, speed, and accuracy. If a student struggles with reading fluently they are not able to fully comprehend the meaning of what they are reading. Teachers need to think of efficient ways to teach students in order for ELL’s to start to read more fluently. Research shows that small group interventions can be as quick and successful in helping with reading fluency and comprehension as one-to-one instruction (Ross & Begeny, 2011, p. 604). In this study, five second-grade students working individually were compared to five students in a group. For the small group condition in this study, the students all worked with the trainer assigned to them and read a passage aloud while the other students in the group read silently along. The students were called on randomly to continue the reading. The students then repeated the reading, taking turns being the group leader. The leader read a passage and the other students were instructed to follow along. Then the students were asked to retell the passage that was read and the instructor would randomly call on the students in the group to answer a question on the reading. Then each student was given a handout of a preselected passage in the reading that was determined to be the most difficult for them and they practiced reading it chorally. To insure that students understood the vocabulary, the instructor pointed to a word that was written on a whiteboard that was in the passage and after the definition was read aloud to them the students then had to chorally read the definition. The intervention of this study lasted a total of 8 weeks and found a significant increase in reading aloud as measured by for word count per minute (WCPM). Ross and colleagues in 2011 stated that, “This study therefore suggests promising effects of an intervention package that can be delivered in two time-efficient formats to target ELLs’ reading fluency development.” (p. 616) This is important because teachers are very limited on time and the small group method requires less time than individualized intervention.
Another study conducted by Oddo, Barnett, Hawkins, & Musti-Rao, in 2010, showed that using small groups to teach literacy using repeated reading (RR) has a positive impact on reading comprehension and fluency. The small groups in this study included 17 students and met three times a week in a fourth grade classroom. The students were grouped by their reading rate and decoding problems that impacted their reading comprehension abilities in groups of four to five. The teacher in this study had a timer and each time the RR groups met she would set the timer for ten minutes and then would instruct the students to begin reading. The students would take turns reading aloud the passages and would read the selected reading at least three times. The study showed that the RR intervention using small groups was very effective. The researchers stated that, “The teacher reported that students became increasingly self-managed and naturally assigned themselves roles” (Oddo et al., 2010, p. 856).
Using small groups while teaching literacy has also been shown to improve the students understanding of vocabulary. The students in the study conducted by Fien, Santoro, Baker, Park, Chard, Williams, and Haria, in 2011, showed that using small groups to do read aloud activities and allowing the students opportunities to go over the vocabulary in the reading with the other students in the small group enhances their vocabulary understanding and helps with the students retelling skills. The read aloud included going over the -before, -during, and -after components of the text and explicit instruction of the vocabulary that will be in the text and then making connections with the reading by comparing text-to-life and text-to-text. In this study the students’ in the small groups completed four lessons. The first lesson included first having a warm up discussion to activate background knowledge and going over the vocabulary in the text using visuals to help with understanding. The second lesson began with a review of the vocabulary in the text and focused on the main idea or topic of the story. The third lesson included a read aloud followed by a discussion using the vocabulary words. The fourth and final lesson included the students having to summarize the topic and preview the topic that will be in the next unit. The research stated that, “The small-group intervention effect on increased vocabulary and expository retells was an added value above and beyond the benefit of the whole-class instruction alone” (Fien, Santoro, Baker, Park, Chard, Williams, & Haria, 2011, p. 315). Teaching with small groups that provide practice using vocabulary promotes deeper understanding of the text by relating and finding connections and allows the students opportunities to learn from their peers.
Summary and Conclusions
Many English language learners require special assistance from teachers to help them meet the reading academic standards in early elementary grades and since there are more than five million English language learners enrolled in schools across the United States teachers need to make an extra effort to focus on vocabulary and comprehension with these learners. Small-group instruction for ELL provides an environment for the students to feel comfortable and receive feedback from other students and from the teacher. To help students to learn to read and help with comprehension you must have visuals, consistent classroom management, graphic organizers, and give students extra time to practice. The five reading elements that should be included in reading lessons are phonological awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Explicit and direct instruction should be done. The small group should meet daily for a minimum of 30 minutes with no more than six students. Teachers should allow the students many opportunities to respond to question, practice reading, writing short sentences within their small groups and feedback must be given. Group interventions do improve students’ oral reading fluency and comprehension.
Students in small groups are more engaged and gain more reading retention. Earlier interventions lead to better outcomes then when done later in kindergarten. It is important to start reading interventions early because the number of students who speak a language other than English are growing and will continue to do so. It is important to remember that effective readers adjust their reading to fit the type of text and will actively pursue meaning and carry on a mental dialogue with the writer. to help our students become effective readers and help develop their meta cognition they should participate in Writer’s Workshops, Literature Circles, Discussion Groups, Read Alouds, and small guided reading groups.
References
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