Informational Texts

Informational Texts-ECI Kristen D. Anderson North Carolina State University

Informational Texts

CCSS: A Greater Emphasis on Informational Texts One important objective of the Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) is to prepare students for higher levels of education and future careers. In order to accomplish this lofty goal, the standards call for a significant amount of students reading and writing time to be spent working with informational texts that provide a level of complexity comparable to the types of writing they will encounter beyond high school. Fifty percent of instructional time is expected to be spent on informational texts at the elementary level, with the amount increasing to seventy percent by the twelfth grade. This distribution of texts aligns with the 2009 reading framework of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (National Assessment Governing Board, 2008). With such a large focus placed on informational texts, it is necessary for literacy to be taught in all subject areas, not only to achieve the quantity of time suggested, but also to allow students to develop the needed skills for accessing content specific texts. There are specific standards to address the reading of informational texts and content area literacy development. Research Base Nell Duke (2000) wrote Informational literacy is central to success, even survival, in advanced schooling, the workplace, and the community.(p. 202) One driving force behind the CCSS is the need to produce students that are college and career ready and one way to accomplish that is through informational texts. The majority of texts that students will be expected to use beyond a high school education are informational (Duke, 2004), yet research shows that these texts are scarce both in classroom libraries and in reading instruction at the elementary school level (Duke, 2000). The deficit is not being made up for by the use of informational texts in content area subjects, where very little reading and literacy instruction is

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taking place. Because students have not been exposed to these types of texts from an early age, there are many reaching college unable to comprehend the content specific texts required for their area of study (Bowen, Roth, & McGinn, 2002). In order to better prepare our students for the future, they need to be exposed to a variety of forms of informational texts from an early age. By increasing student exposure to informational text types, teachers can also increase the level of comprehension students have when working with what are considered to be more difficult texts. Narrative has traditionally been used to teach reading skills in the primary grades and is generally accepted as easier for students to connect with (Caswell & Duke, 1998). By exposing our students again and again to various forms of informational texts and providing them with genre specific instruction from the beginning of their education, we can help them to develop a framework for understanding these texts (Purcell-Gates, Duke, & Martineau, 2007). Background and vocabulary are key components for the comprehension of many informational texts and are also areas that can be developed through the reading of such texts (Duke & Block, 2012). Reading informational genres allows students to build their understanding of how that genre works as well as add to their schema on the topic being covered. The more a student learns through the reading of these texts, the more background they will be able to build on when working to comprehend other texts. Finally, the component of student engagement and motivation is important to consider when arguing for the inclusion of informational texts in the elementary classroom. Using a wider range of text types ensures that teachers are able to engage a larger student population. Some students are simply more motivated by informational genres, especially when the topic falls within their area of interest (Caswell & Duke, 1998). Informational texts are the go to for needed or wanted information. Students and adults alike have been shown to better comprehend

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texts when they are reading them for authentic purposes that pertain to their current interests. In one study, Purcell-Gates, Duke, and Martineau (2007), found that there is a strong relationship between the amount of exposure students get to authentic literacy activities with informational texts and their comprehension of the texts (p. 41).

Unresolved Issue After reviewing the research surrounding the use of informational texts in the elementary school classroom, I can see the benefits of spending fifty percent, or more, of classroom instructional time focusing on informational texts. I am not as sure, however, about where the percentages for elementary school and the upper grades come from. The CCSS references the distribution of text types determined in the 2009 NAEP reading framework, which were used to create the assessment. After reviewing the framework, I cannot locate any references to research that suggest that this particular breakdown is beneficial for students. I am curious as to whether the writers of the Common Core State Standards are using this particular breakdown of informational versus literary texts simply because that is how a national assessment has been designed and doing so could improve overall performance on the assessment. If this is the case, would we consider this to be an example of teaching to the test?

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References Bowen, G. M., Roth, W. M., & McGinn, M. K. (2002). Why students may not learn to interpret scientific inscriptions. Research in Science Education, 32, 303327. Caswell, L. J. & Duke, N. K. (1998). Non-narrative as a catalyst for literacy development. Language Arts, 75(2), 108-117 Duke, N. K. (2000). 3.6 Minutes per day: The scarcity of informational texts in first grade. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(2), 202-224. Duke, N. K. (2004). The case for informational texts: Younger students need to expand their repertoire and build literacy skills with informational texts. Educational Leadership, 61(6), 40-44 Duke, N. K. & Block, M. K. (2012). Improving reading in the primary grades. The Future of Children, 22(2), 55-72. National Assessment Governing Board. (2008). Reading framework for the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Washington, DC: Author. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy Purcell-Gates, V., Duke, N. K., & Martineau, J. A. (2007). Learning to read and write genrespecific text: Roles of authentic experience and explicit teaching. Reading Research Quarterly, 42(1), 8-45.