Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW DOMAIN A 1

Literature Review - Domain A

Lara Porte

10 June 2019

TED 690 – National University

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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

their own teaching strategies and skills.

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Literature Review – Domain A

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

interrelated instructional characteristics have on educational achievement across the country.

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

the example once and the teacher moved on.

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
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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,

elaboration, and polishing required for these types of tests.

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
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when “students learn and internalize ways to work through a task” so they are confident and

capable in the task completion (Langer et. al., 2000, p.8).

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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

Research Center on English & Learning Achievement. 1-15