Transcript The Modified Sentence Completion Task as a Scaffold for by

The Modified Sentence
Completion Task as a Scaffold for
Expository Reading and Writing
by
José Montelongo, Ph.D.
California Polytechnic State University
The Problem
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Elementary students do not have an
awareness of expository or
informational text structures
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Elementary students possess an awareness of the
text structure for narrative stories
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Parents read narrative stories to their children
Most of the books students read in elementary school
possessive narrative structures
Most students in elementary reading programs such as
Accelerated Reader select fictional books to read (Clifford
books, R.L.Stine books)
The Problem Exacerbated
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Expository text is largely ignored in the early
primary grades, where emphasis is on
narrative text
Strategies for reading expository text are not
taught or developed in the upper elementary
grades because teachers believe students
already know how to read (Clinton, 2002)
Importance of Knowing Text Structure
 Reflect
logical connections
among the ideas in text
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Important for understanding and studying
information contained in textbooks, reference
books and nonfictional works
Important for organizing information in memory
Important for retrieving information
Some Ways of Organizing Information
(i.e., Types of Expository Structures)
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Sequence (Chronological ordering of events)
Comparison/contrast (Similarities & differences
between things)
Cause/effect (Reasons why something happens or
exists)
Problem-Solution (Statement of problem with steps
for its solution)
Generalization (Stating a main idea and defending it
with supporting details)
Practical Importance of Knowing
Informational Text Structures
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Students must be able to read textbooks if
they are to be successful in the “Information
Age” (Moss,Leone, & Dipillo (1997)
In order to get information from the Internet
students must be able to read expository text
(Schmar-Dobler, 2003)
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In an era of “high stakes testing,” 70%-80%
of reading content on standardized tests is
expository. (Daniels, 2002)
Effects of Underconcern for
Expository Reading
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Students have problems organizing and
remembering information resulting in
lower-level and often faulty thinking
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Students have problems identifying important
information
Students have problems finding the main ideas
Students have problems remembering the
information
Students read a history book in the same way they
would read a funny story
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Sentence Completion Task
(Fill-in-the-Blanks Activity)
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Students complete the sentences by filling in
the blank with appropriate vocabulary word.
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Used nearly every time new vocabulary is
introduced
Used to reinforce vocabulary usage
Used in every grade, K-12 and beyond
Used in the language arts and content areas
Modified Sentence Completion Task
(A better mousetrap?)
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Eight or more sentences requiring a vocabulary word
to complete a sentence.
A paragraph is embedded amongst the unrelated
sentences.
Students must fill in the blanks and abstract the
related sentences.
Students arrange the related sentences in order to
form a paragraph and paste them onto a graphic
organizer.
Students use the abstracted paragraph as a scaffold
for their own composition.
(Montelongo, 2004; Montelongo & Hernández, forthcoming)
The Modified Sentence Completion
Task and the Reading Classroom
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Reinforce Vocabulary Usage
Acquaint students with the different
expository structures found in content area
textbooks
Reinforce Reading Skills such as Locating
the Main Idea and Noting Important
Supporting Details
Reinforces Recognizing Signal Words
Strengthens Use of different Graphic
Organizers
The Modified Sentence Completion
Task and the Content Area Classroom
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Reinforce Content Area Vocabulary
Reinforce Learning of Main Ideas in the Social
Studies classrooms
Acquaint students with the Text Structures particular
to a specific discipline
Aids students in writing expository paragraphs
Representations of Arithmetic Word Problems
Writing Science Laboratory Experiments
Advantages of the
Modified Sentence Completion Task
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Reinforces Expository Reading and Writing
Skills throughout the Curriculum.
Reinforces Expository Reading and Writing
Skills throughout the School Year
May be used to reinforce Content Area main
ideas particular to unit of study and/or to reintroduce and review main ideas from prior
learning.
More Significant Advantages of the
Modified Sentence Completion Task
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Challenges students to form mental
representations of the information and
to think logically:
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While they search for the related sentences
As they order their sentences to form a paragraph
To include or delete supporting details as they write their
own paragraphs
When they create their own arithmetic word problems
As they write their science laboratory reports
Grounding for the
Modified Sentence Completion Task
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Researchers suggest that reading skills
instruction is much more fruitful when skills
are taught in tandem rather than in isolation
(Donndelinger, 2005).
Building Automaticity
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Emphasizing links (such as connecting
reading with writing processes) and providing
enough practice opportunities to build
automaticity are among the important
metaprinciples for developing curricular
components (Carver, 2001)
Practical Considerations
Advantages
Creating Your Own Materials
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Difficult to find materials that conform to one type of
expository structure
Teachers can create their own models
Teachers can tailor the exercises for their own
classes
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Choose the content to be reinforced
Modify vocabulary words
Choose the different types of expository structures
Creating the Materials
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Find paragraph(s) that contains a main idea from the
unit currently being taught or from a previously
learned unit
Select a vocabulary word from each one of the
sentences. If you can’t find a suitable word, use a
challenging synonym of one of the words.
Create challenging unrelated sentences (foils)
Scramble the order of the related sentences
Mix the related and unrelated sentences
Introducing the
Modified Sentence Completion Task
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Introduce task using small groups
Review vocabulary words
Have students complete the fill-in-the-blanks
exercises
Ask students to cut out sentences and sort them into
two piles: related and unrelated
Have students arrange the sentences in logical order
Have students paste the related sentences onto a
graphic organizer
Have students rewrite the paragraph in their own
words
Maintenance of
Modified Sentence Completion Task
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Use to reinforce important content area concepts or
main ideas
Use when new vocabulary is introduced
Use in different content areas: History, Science,
Mathematics
Assign tasks for homework
Create more challenging activities:
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embed two paragraphs
make categorization task more difficult
Technology and the
Modified Sentence Completion Task
http://www.angelfire.com/ill/monte/textstructure.html
Advantages of
Posting Activity on the Web
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Students can work more creatively on a computer
Permits students to self-correct their work
Allows students to type their compositions
Students may avail themselves of reference works
such as on-line encyclopedias, thesauri, dictionaries,
and the Internet.
Students can embellish their own work by using clip
art or pictures from the Internet
(Montelongo, Herter,and Littlefield-Cortez, in preparation)
For Which Students?
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Basically, this exercise can probably be done
by any student that can complete a fill-in-theblanks activity
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Williams (2004) suggests that students in the
second grade are sensitive to text structure
Students at the fourth grade and above like it
Great with adult ESL students
Use in Math/Science Classes
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Use for word problems as a diagnostic tool
What information are students using to
solve word problems?
(Montelongo, Riley, Berber-Jiménez, and Herter, in preparation)
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Use in Science Classes
Structure laboratory reports
(Montelongo, Berber-Jiménez, Hernández, and Hosking, 2006;
Berber-Jiménez, Montelongo, Hernández, and Hosking, submitted)
References
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Clinton, P. (2002). Literacy in America: The crisis you don’t know about. Book, 1-7,
http://www.bookmagazine.com/issue24/literacy.shtml.
Daniels, H. (2002). Expository text in literature circles. Voices From the Middle, 9, 7-14.
Donndelinger, S.J. (2005). Integrating comprehension and metacognitive reading strategies. In S.E. Israel, C.C. Block, K.L.
Bauserman, and K. Kinnucan-Welsch (eds.), Metacognition in literacy learning: Theory, assessment, instruction, and professional
development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 241-260.
Garner, R., Alexander, P., Slater, W., Hare, V.C., Smith, T. & Reis, R. (1986). Children’s knowledge of structural properties of
expository text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 411-416.
Montelongo, J. A. (2004). Reinforcing student’s knowledge of expository paragraph structure through sentence completion
exercises. New Mexico Journal of Reading, 24, 14-22.
Montelongo, J. A., Berber-Jiménez, L, Hernández, A. C., & Hosking, D. (2006). A vocabulary activity to reinforce text structure
fluency in a science class. Science Teacher, 73(2), 28-31.
Montelongo, J. A. and Hernández, A. C. (forthcoming). Reinforcing expository reading and writing skills: A more versatile
sentence completion task. The Reading Teacher.
Moss, B., Leone, S. & Dipillo, M. L. (1997). Exploring the literature of fact: Linking reading and writing through information trade
books. Language Arts, 74, 418-429.
Schmar-Dobler, E. (2003). Reading on the Internet: The link between literacy and technology. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 47, 80-85.
Wood, K.D., Lapp, D., & Flood, J. (1992). Guiding readers through text: A review of study guides. Newark, DE: International
Reading Association