English Language Arts Research Articles

From Paired Text to Blended Genres: Pairing Picturebooks with Poems

This article introduces the concept of blended genres and describes a rationale for using blended genres to teach important topics in the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. It begins with a vignette that sparked curiosity about, and the motivation to develop, a variety of blended genres. It describes blended genres as rooted in traditional notions of paired text, provides theoretical background on the benefits of paired text, and highlights intertextuality as one important benefit, among others. It shares examples of blended genres and illustrates samples of instructional strategies used with blended genres to support intertextuality and student learning on important topics in English/Language Arts (ELA). It ends with concluding thoughts.

Authoring Counter-Narratives: Showcasing Student Voice through Critical Stance

In this teaching tip, we provide a method for teaching middle and secondary English language arts (ELA) students to assume a critical stance while reading and responding to diverse literature and media. Specifically, we address the infusion of critical literacy as a pedagogy to enable students to engage in criticality by identifying negative stereotypes and harmful biases, and then take action by offering counter perspectives. We begin with a brief discussion on critical literacy as a means to promote critical stance, followed by the learning activities for classroom instruction and a student example to illustrate the power of critical stance to promote student agency. Our method for critical stance instruction draws upon Rosenblatt’s (1978) seminal work on literature-based instruction that reading is a transaction between the reader and the text and Leland et al. (2018) who explicated that readers need to engage in critical transactions—a dimension of critical literacy.

Water Protection:

This six-week water inquiry unit with pre-service teachers in an English Language Arts (ELA) elementary education methods course explores the guiding question: Why is it important to protect water, and how can water be protected? Core whole-class texts include We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (2020) and Thirst by Varsha Bajaj (2022). Multiple assessment projects that support pre-service teachers’ informational reading and writing are included.

Mental Health Literacy in the Middle School English Language Arts Classroom: Perspectives from Teachers and Social Support Staff

ABSTRACT Background The prevalence of mental health challenges among adolescents warrants innovative school-based approaches that support students’ mental health literacy (MHL). Purpose In this qualitative case study, we interrogated the experiences of three eighth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers and two of their school’s social support staff as they conceptualized, developed, and delivered a novel MHL unit of study within their existing curricular framework. In doing so, we sought to better understand the experiences of these school professionals to inform future iterations of the unit. Methods We explicated focus group data to identify themes that emerged regarding participant goals, experiences, and outcomes as they related to unit planning, delivery, and recommendations. Results Generally, practitioners advocated for increased collaboration with each other to overcome professional apprehension and streamline efforts, a need for such a curriculum to enhance student wellbeing, and having access to more school-provided resources. Discussion Themes are contextualized within the current landscape of school MHL programming, and suggestions are highlighted to advance this ELA curriculum-based work. Translation to Health Education Practice Health Educators’ expertise can supplement the ELA curriculum with targeted MHL lessons for students, alleviating teacher role confusion and advancing the goals of the unit by providing psychoeducation.

An Examination of Secondary English Language Arts and Social Studies’ Teachers’ Perceptions of Literacy Integration in Their Content Area Classrooms

Secondary students continue to struggle with achievement gains in literacy. Content area teachers have the responsibility of providing literacy integration to support struggling students and help close the achievement gap in their content area classrooms. With this responsibility, it is important to examine content area teachers’ perspectives and instructional needs related to the role of literacy integration in their content area. Using a correlational research design and multiple regression analysis of survey data, this study examined the relationships between secondary English Language Arts and Social Studies teachers’ perceptions of ease of use, usefulness, and attitude toward literacy integration of effective literacy practices in grades 6-12. Results from this study showed a significant relationship between ease of use and teacher attitude, as well as teacher attitude and integration of literacy instructional practices. The results also showed the significance of ease of use when integrating literacy practices into secondary content area classrooms. Findings from this study may provide much needed insight to school- and district-based literacy professionals and administrators about how to support the instructional decisions of English Language Arts and Social Studies related to integrating literacy practices in their secondary content area classrooms.

Composing Time in a Secondary U.S. Classroom: (Not) Challenging Ideological Polarization through Straight and Queer Temporal Movements

Drawing on a larger year-long ethnography at a public, urban, comprehensive high school in the Midwestern United States, this article describes the texts students composed in a co-taught sophomore (grade 10) humanities course combining social studies and English language arts. Bringing together sociocultural perspectives on literacy and composition with queer theorizations of time, I argue for the utility of attending not only to time’s multi dimensionality but also its multi directionality. Doing so in writing instruction can help thaw binary polarization and foster more humanizing temporal and in turn ideological movements. To illustrate, I present an ethnographic case of students writing about the history of gendered clothing in 20th-century U.S. society. I examine how different temporal ideologies had consequences for students (not) reproducing antagonistic, polarized binaries with respect to oppressive values, in particular anti-LGBTQIA+ values as they intersect with class, race, and politics. Although my emphasis is how gender and sexuality intertwine with economics, race, and politics, this article suggests that attending to the multidimensionality and multidirectionality of time is a productive site for scholars and educators committed to praxes of justice in writing instruction.

Humanizing pedagogies and student‐centered instruction in a networked improvement community

AbstractImproved English Language Arts instruction within classrooms and schools that typically serve low‐income, English Language Learners, and Students with Special Needs is important for ensuring all students receive rigorous and inclusive instruction. From the case of a Networked Improvement Community focused on improving instructional practices through student‐centered routines, this research explores the role of humanizing pedagogies in enabling effective student‐centered instructional routines by interviewing 16 teachers who were identified as particularly successful in working with Students of Color. Two major themes and six subthemes were identified from these interviews focused on building relationships as a foundation for humanizing pedagogies and then leveraging those relationships to create a positive classroom culture that fosters increased student engagement and academic risk‐taking with challenging student‐centered routines. These strong teacher–student relationships and student‐centered routines led to improved academic outcomes.

Participation in the Missouri Parents as Teachers Parent Education Program and third grade math and English language arts proficiency

The Missouri Parents as Teachers (PAT) Parent Education Program is a voluntary and universal home visiting program available to all Missouri families who are expecting a child or who have a child ages birth to kindergarten entry. Families participating in the Missouri PAT Parent Education Program receive a variety of family support services, including family personal visits with trained parent educators to develop parent practices and child school readiness. Research indicates that home visiting components of parent education programs support child academic outcomes. However, studies have not extensively examined how variation in participation, including the developmental period of exposure—the child's age upon entry and duration of participation—and number and frequency of home/family visits, is associated with child outcomes. In this study, we used linear probability regression to examine associations between variation in participation in the Missouri PAT Parent Education Program and child third grade proficiency in math and English language arts (ELA) (n = 9777), while controlling for relevant child, parent, family, and school-level factors. We also tested the potential moderating role of family low-income status at enrollment into the program. We found that the number of family personal visits was positively associated with third-grade math and ELA proficiency, whereas no significant findings emerged for developmental period of program exposure. Our findings indicate that increased exposure to the Missouri PAT Parent Education Program was positively associated with third-grade academic achievement for all children, including those from low-income families.

Supporting preservice teachers to navigate the tensions of teaching English Language Arts: An examination of two teacher educator's literacies pedagogies

In 1997-1998, we taught in the same independently funded elementary school. As teachers of Grade 1 and Grade 2, the school leadership asked us to research and recommend a program to support early reading instruction and replace the outdated basal readers. Opinions were sometimes diverse as we met with parents and school board members to identify beliefs/priorities in early reading instruction. More than 25 years later, in our work as teacher educators in two provinces, we are embroiled in similar conversations about reading instruction in a field mapped by polarizing views expressed in reports, social media, and teacher professional texts. As teacher educators, we recognize: 1) this context as challenging for preservice teachers to enter professional practice and 2) our role in supporting preservice teachers in entering the field. This was the impetus for a research study examining our pedagogies. We ask: How are we, as teacher educators, supporting preservice teachers to navigate the theoretical and practical tensions of teaching Language Arts through our pedagogies? In this article, we share findings from a collaborative Self-Study of Teacher Education Practice (S-STEP) where we leverage our long-standing relationship as critical friends in research/teaching to examine our teacher education pedagogies in our elementary English Language Arts courses in 2022-2023. Data sources include teaching artifacts (e.g., syllabi, powerpoints, activities) and videorecordings of discussions as we share these artifacts over Zoom. Guided by posthuman perspectives, we consider the non-human and human entities that were a part of our pedagogies. Analysis is currently underway. Preliminary findings suggest a shift from sharing particular practices with each other to a focus on decision-making to support preservice teachers in weighing the desires of teaching practices in literacies as well as diffusing binaries. This article highlights teacher education practices as relational and moving in response to context.

A study of Lau v. Nichols’ legacy: Examining the relationship between language support program availability and student trajectories

ABSTRACT The Lau v. Nichols ruling shows the importance of tailoring programs for local multilingual learners. We used longitudinal data from one school district in California to assess the relationship between attending a school with a language support program and English language arts (ELA) achievement. We found that students labeled an English learner had positive and significant average score changes over time when they attended a school with an academic language acquisition or a two-way bilingual program. Findings highlight how emerging multilingual learner access to high-quality bilingual programs can be associated with positive ELA growth over time.

School‐based motivational interviewing: Change and sustain talks during goal setting

AbstractThe student check‐up (SCU) is a brief school‐based motivational interviewing intervention developed to promote academic‐related behavioral changes and to increase accessibility to mental health services. Despite published randomized controlled trials demonstrating SCU's effectiveness in promoting student self‐efficacy in academic efforts, the SCU's impact on student grade outcome has been inconsistent across studies. This study examines whether student participants' written statements that represent change talk and sustain talk predict differences in post‐treatment grade outcomes and whether these effects are moderated by students' pre‐treatment academic achievement. In addition, we examine whether change and sustain statements mediate the relationship between study sites and grade outcomes. A two‐level linear regression controlling for pre‐treatment grades indicated that as the frequency of change statements increases, students' post‐treatment grades in English Language Arts decrease (B = −0.62, p = .03), suggesting that “the more” is not always “the merrier” when it comes to evoking change statements related to academic goals that require multiple behavioral changes for attainment.

Adopting a languaging approach for teaching about the climate crisis in English language arts

Purpose This paper posits the need for English language arts (ELA) teachers to foster students’ use of languaging about their relations with ecosystems and peers, leading to their engaging in collective action to critique and transform status-quo systems impacting the climate crisis. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews the current theory of languaging theory and research that focuses on the use of languaging to enact relations with ecosystems and others and voice emotions for transforming communities and reducing emissions contributing to climate change. Findings This review of languaging theory/research leads to identifying examples of teachers having students critique the use of languaging constituting status quo energy and community/transportation systems, respond to examples of characters using languaging in literary texts, using languaging in discussing or writing about the need to address climate change, critiquing languaging in media promoting consumption, using media to interact with audiences and using languaging through engaging in role-play activities. Originality/value This focus on languaging in ELA classrooms is a unique perspective application of languaging theory, leading students to engage in collective, communal action to address the climate crisis.

Reconfiguring the Sanctions of Schooled Literacy Through Living Literacies

AbstractIn this article, the author argues that living literacies—relational, embodied forms of literacy engagement—are an integral component of literacy engagement and hold the potential to disrupt and reconfigure the power structures embedded within schooled literacy. Drawing on affect theory and rhizomatic theory, the author analyzes youths’ literacy engagement in a seventh‐grade English Language Arts and Reading classroom in a New York City public school. This research addresses how schooled literacy, constructed through a sanctioned educational system, potentially dehumanizes students who diverge from the idealized curricular norm, while a focus on living literacies challenges these limitations. Central to this study is the rhizomatic approach of tracing and mapping to analyze the complexities between imposed schooled literacy engagement and living literacies engagement. The author presents findings through two sections: (1) an analysis of the sanctioning power of schooled literacy and (2) an analysis of living literacies through youths’ in‐class literate engagement. Findings demonstrate how schooled literacy practices become normalized and sanction what types of literacy engagement are valued in the classroom—and, therefore, transfer value to students themselves. However, by mapping assemblaging moments of living literacies, including socially charged interactions and spontaneous peer assistance, findings provide insight into how embodied, interrelational forms of literacy engagement offer opportunities for reconfiguring the sanctions of schooled literacy. The author concludes by discussing implications for policy, practice, and research, advocating for a shift toward more humanizing, interrelational, and embodied forms of literacy engagement in school spaces.

A framework for approximations of practice: Variations in purpose, approach, and opportunities for learning

Approximations of practice are common in preservice teacher education, but there is currently no shared language to describe how teacher educators facilitate approximations. This study draws upon observations of four social studies and English Language Arts methods courses in the United States to outline the Framework for Approximations of Practice. This framework plots teacher educators' choices about how actively to intervene during approximations, and their choices about whether to prioritize enacting practices with fidelity or improvisationally responding to pedagogical dilemmas. Greater clarity around teacher educators’ pedagogical options may facilitate more instructional collaboration and provide new avenues for research and advocacy.

IB PYP 적용을 위한 개념 기반 단원 설계의 방향성 탐색: 영어과를 중심으로

Objectives The purposes of this study were to enhance the understanding of the structure of the curriculum when designing a concept-based curriculum and to explore the direction of designing concept- based units, particularly in English subject, within a process-oriented curriculum. Methods First, this study explored the direction for implementing a process-oriented, concept-based curriculum and examined methods for designing concept-based units with a focus on understanding the structure of the process. To this end, the study proposed the approaches and implications based on Lanning’s(2013) “Designing a Concept-Based Curriculum for English Language Arts.” Second, the study examined the 2022 revised national curriculum and suggested the direction for designing concept-based units for English subject within the context of conceptual understanding. Results By attempting unit design based on English subject matter knowledge, an understanding of the 2022 revised curriculum, and the structure of the process, using an approach centered on concept-based inquiry, it will promote deep understanding and transfer among learners, thereby realizing the true meaning of integrative learning. Conclusions By moving beyond a language function-based approach and shifting towards an integrated and multidimensional perspective on language, grounded in an understanding of the structure of process, unit design can provide learners with learning opportunities that enable them to become active language inquirers, ultimately leading to deeper conceptual understanding.

Social annotation and dialogic teaching and learning in English language arts

AbstractThis research study explores the role of social annotation in supporting dialogic teaching in secondary English language arts. Grounded in Bakhtin's dialogism and building upon research into online discussion, this study describes how a high school English teacher and her students used a digital annotation tool to read and talk about texts. Analyzing student annotations based on discourse features associated with comprehension and high‐level thinking, the study examines the extent to which social annotation supports quality dialogue. Findings highlight the need for open‐ended prompts and teacher scaffolding of online discussions, and authors suggest that dialogue enhances comprehension of texts when students go beyond reporting on others' thoughts and instead share their own ideas, connections, and questions about the text.

Glimpses of Possibility: Decentering the E in English Language Arts Juntos

Authors of the NCTE policy brief on translanguaging discuss possibilities for the field of English language arts by sharing examples from their expansive work on translanguaging in teacher education.

Columns: Black Youth Futures: Rhythm and Verse: Blues Music in the Classroom

The author calls for the implementation of blues music in secondary classrooms— specifically as a tool for humanizing Black voices in English language arts.

Project TRANSLATE: Collaborative Translanguaging across ELA Settings

In this article, three teacher educators share how English language arts teachers can implement collaborative translanguaging in secondary settings.

Specialized Knowledge, Text-Based Discussion, and Preparing Elementary Teachers for Disciplinary Literacy in English Language Arts Classrooms

ABSTRACT Text-based discussion is a form of disciplinary literacy that engages students in collaboratively building understanding of texts. It is a form of instruction that benefits students’ reading comprehension, but is rarely used in classrooms, despite its potential. This rarity may be because facilitating discussion requires teachers to have specialized knowledge of text. Specifically, teachers must understand how authors use discipline-specific text features and language patterns to convey meaning and how readers notice and evaluate these aspects of texts as they build textual understandings. This mixed methods study adopts a convergent-parallel design to investigate the effects of a 14-week intervention on pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) acquisition of specialized knowledge and its application to text-based discussions conducted with students in field placements. Findings suggest that the intervention improved PSTs’ specialized knowledge and that teachers felt more prepared for their discussions after applying their knowledge when planning discussions. However, even at the end of the intervention, PSTs continued to demonstrate gaps in their specialized knowledge, which influenced their ability to lead text-based discussions. The findings have implications for teacher educators attempting to prepare novice teachers for text-based discussions.