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Reading Rockets: Authors: Jacobs | Reading Rockets

PoorChildren'sFourthGradeSlump
By:JeanneS.ChallandVickiA.Jacobs(2003) Teachershaveoftenreportedafourthgradeslumpinliteracydevelopment,particularlyforlowincome children,atthecriticaltransitionfrom"learningtoread"to"readingtolearn."ThisstudyusesChall's stagesofreadingdevelopmenttotakeacloserlook. AdministrationsofreadingtestsbyNAEP(NationalAssessmentofEducationalProgress)havesince1971 confirmedwhathaslongbeenpartofthecommonsenseandintuitiveknowledgeofbothteachersand laypeople:Childrenfrommoreeconomicallyadvantagedfamiliesscoresignificantlyhigherthantheless advantagedatallagestested(nine,13,and17),andthegapsbecomegreaterwithincreasingage.The questionsare:Whydothesedifferencesoccur?Whyaretheysoenduringandsouniversal?

ADevelopmentalModelofReading
InChall'sstagesofreadingdevelopment(1983,1996),readingisconceptualizednotasaprocessthatis thesamefrombeginningstagesthroughmature,skilledreading,butasonethatchangesasthereader becomesmoreableandproficient. ChangesinreadingdevelopmentfallintosixstagesfromStage0(prereading)toStage5(themost mature,skilledlevelofreadinginwhichreadersconstructandreconstructknowledgefromtheirown reading).Generally,Stages1and2(typicallyacquiredingrades1,2,and3)canbecharacterizedasthe timeof"learningtoread"thetimewhensimple,familiartextscanbereadandthealphabeticprinciple isacquired(i.e.,readersareabletodecodewordstheydonotimmediatelyidentify,andtheybecome fluent,especiallywhenreadingtextsthatuselanguagealreadywithintheirexperienceandability)Stages 3to5canbecharacterized,roughly,asthe"readingtolearn"stageswhentextsbecomemorevaried, complex,andchallenginglinguisticallyandcognitively.BeginningatStage3(grades48),studentsuse readingasatoolforlearning,astextsbegintocontainnewwordsandideasbeyondtheirownlanguage andtheirknowledgeoftheworld.Wordsandconceptsinsuchmaterialarebeyondtheeveryday experienceofchildren.Inordertoread,understand,andlearnfromthesemoredemandingtexts,the readersmustbefluentinrecognizingwords,andtheirvocabularyandknowledgeneedtoexpand,asdoes theirabilitytothinkcriticallyandbroadly.IfchildrenareunabletomakethetransitionfromStage2to3, theiracademicsuccessisusuallyseverelychallenged. Usingthisdevelopmentalstagemodelofreading,wefocusedaresearchstudyonthecriticaltransition fromStage2toStage3from"learningtoread"to"readingtolearn."Teachershaveoftenreporteda "fourthgradeslump"inliteracydevelopment,particularlyforlowincomechildrenpreciselyatthepoint oftheStage23transition.Wewantedtoexaminetheskillsandabilitiesofalowincomepopulationto determinewhysomemightmeetthechallengeofStage3readingwhereasothersmightnot.

TheStudy
Thesubjectsinthestudy(seeChall,Jacobs,andBaldwin,1990)were30childrenabout10eachfrom grades2,4,and6,whomwefollowedfortwoyears(throughgrades3,5,and7respectively).Low incomestatuswasdeterminedbythestudents'eligibilityforafreelunchprogram.Eachchildwasgivena seriesofindividualtestsofreadingandlanguage(aswellaswriting,butthosefindingsarenotpresented hereseeChallandJacobs,1983).Thereadingmeasureswerescoresonthesixsubtestsofthe experimentalversionoftheDiagnosticAssessmentsofReading(DAR)(Roswell&Chall,1992)thatconsist ofwordrecognition,wordanalysis,oralreading,wordmeaning,readingcomprehension,andspelling.
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Reading Rockets: Authors: Jacobs | Reading Rockets

Themostsignificantfindingofthestudyforreadingwasthatlowincomechildreningrades2and3 achievedaswellaschildreninthenormativepopulationonallsixsubtests.However,aspredictedbythe theoreticalmodelofreadingusedforthestudy,someofthestudents'scoresstartedtodeceleratearound grade4.This"fourthgradeslump,"reportedoftenbyteachersofdisadvantagedchildren,startedingrade 4onsometestsandlateronothertests. Thefirstandstrongesttoslipwaswordmeaning.Thelowincomechildreninourstudyingrades4 through7hadgreatestdifficultydefiningmoreabstract,academic,literary,andlesscommonwordsas comparedwithanormativepopulationonthewordmeaningtest.Ingrade4,thechildrenwereabouta yearbehindgradenorms.Bygrade7,theyweremorethantwoyearsbehindnorms.Nexttodecelerate weretheirscoresonwordrecognitionandspelling.Oralreadingandsilentreadingcomprehensionbegan todeceleratelateringrades6and7. Thus,ifweviewreadingascomposedofthethreebasiccomponentsproposedbyCarroll(1977) cognition,language,andreadingskillcognitionseemedtobealesserproblemforthemthanlanguage. Ingrades4to7,theydidbestonthereadingteststhatreliedoncontextandrequiredunderstanding readingcomprehensionandconnectedoralreading.Thechildrenhadgreatestdifficultyingrades4 through7indefininglesscommonwordsandinrecognizingandspellingthemskillsandabilities neededforreadingathigherlevelsofcomplexity(Chall,1983,1996). Thelanguagetestsassessedvocabularymeaning,metalinguisticawareness,andgrammaticaljudgment. Allbutthevocabularymeasure(theWISCRvocabularysubtest)weredevelopedbyCarolChomsky. Ourpopulationseemedtodowellonmeasuresofbasiclanguageabilitiesthroughthethirdgrade.After thethirdgrade,theybegantodeceleratefirstinknowledgeofthemeaningsofwords(ontheWISCRas ontheDAR)especiallythelesscommon,moreacademicwordsfoundinbooksusedintheintermediate andupperelementarygradesandhigher.Thechildren'sbasiclinguisticcompetencies,asshownintheir grammarandlanguageawarenessscores,werestrongerthantheirwordknowledge,especiallyafterthe thirdgrade. Insum,thelowincomepopulationinoursampleachievedaswellinliteracyandlanguageasanormative populationthroughthethirdgrade.Beginningwiththefourthgrade,however,theyexhibitedsignsofa slump.Firstandstrongesttodeceleratewaswordmeaning.Theslowesttodeceleratewerereading comprehensionandoralreading.

CausesoftheFourthGradeSlump
Onepossiblereasonforthefourthgradeslumpmaystemfromlackoffluencyandautomaticity(thatis, quickandaccuraterecognitionofwordsandphrases).Wefoundthisparticularlyamongthepoorest readerswhoreadslowlyandhesitatinglyingrade2andbeyond.Lackoffluencytendstoresult,ultimately, inchildren'sreadinglessandavoidingmoredifficultmaterials(seeChall,1983,1996Stanovich,1986). Thedecelerationofthescoresonwordmeaning,beginningwithgrade4andcontinuingthroughgrade7, suggestsadifficultythat,ifnotimproved,ultimatelyaffectschildren'sreadingcomprehensionaswell.The highcorrelationofwordknowledgewithreadingcomprehensionhasbeenfoundconsistentlyinthe researchliteraturefromtheturnofthecenturytothepresenttime(seeAnderson&Freebody,1981E.L. Thorndike,1917R.L.Thorndike,19731974). Itisimportanttorealizethatthevocabularyscoresofourpopulation,whentheywereingrades2and3, wereonaparwiththegeneralpopulation.Attheselevels,thewordstestedwereofhighfrequencyand werefamiliar.Itiswhenthewordsbecamelesscommon(atgrade4andbeyond)thattheypresenteda problem. Importantly,too,thevocabularylagdidnotatfirstseemtoaffectnegativelythechildren'ssilentreading comprehensionscores.Althoughtheirvocabulariesdeceleratedingrade4,theircomprehensionstillheld upwellagainstnorms.Itwasatgrade6thattheircomprehensionbegantodecline.Thissuggeststhatthe studentsusedcontextwelltocompensatefortheirweaknessinwordmeanings.Butwhenthereweretoo manydifficultwords,theircomprehensiondeclinedaswell.
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Reading Rockets: Authors: Jacobs | Reading Rockets

Whyshouldlowincomechildrenhavegreaterdifficultywithwordmeaningsataboutthefourthgrade? Onereasonisthatthewordsatfourthgradeandabovearelessfamiliar.Althoughthechildren'slanguage seemedtohavebeensufficientforthefirstthreegrades,theywerenotpreparedtomeetthechallengeof thegreaternumberofabstract,technical,andliterarywordscharacteristicofthereadingmaterialsof grades4andbeyond.Suchlanguageoftentermedliteraryandabstractismorecomplexthanthat usedbychildrenineveryday,oralinteraction. Afollowupstudyofourlowincomechildren,fiveyearslaterwhentheywereingrades7,9,and11, founddecelerativepatternsofscoressimilartothosethechildrenexhibitedwhentheywereinthe elementarygrades(seeSnowetal.,1991).Onmosttests,theirscoreswerebelownorms,andthe discrepanciesbetweentheirscoresandnormsweregreaterineachsucceedinggrade.Bygrade11,their readingscoreswereinthe25thpercentileconsiderablybelowtheirachievementingrades4through7. Similartothedecelerationintheearliergrades,theseventhandninthgradestudentsdecelerated slowestonteststhatpermittedtheuseofcontext.However,bythe11thgrade,eventheirreading comprehensionscoreshadfallen.Thus,similartotheirachievementintheearliergrades,thechildren scoredrelativelywell,aslongastheirmeaningvocabulariesandwordrecognitionwerenottooweakand whentheycouldcompensatethroughtheuseofcontextonreadingcomprehension.Butwhentherewas toogreatamismatchbetweenthestudents'wordmeaningknowledgeandthedifficultyofthetext,their useofcontextwasnotsufficienttohelpthemtounderstandthetext. Thetrendsforgrades2through7andgrades7through11suggestthatwecannotbesanguinewhen studentsdowellinsilentreadingcomprehensiondespiteapparentdifficultyinwordmeaningsandword recognition.Aspredictedbythemodelofreadingdevelopment,ifchildrenarelackingincertainaspectsof reading,laterreadingdevelopmentwillusuallysuffer.Becauseofthedevelopmentalnatureofreading, thelateronewaitstostrengthenweaknesses,themoredifficultitisforthechildrentocopewiththe increasingliteracydemandsinthelatergrades.Moreover,thosewhohavereadingdifficultiesinthe intermediategradeswill,mostlikely,haveserioustroublewiththestudyofscience,socialstudies, literature,mathematics,andothercontentstudythatdepend,ingreatpart,onprintedtext. References Endnotes Chall,J.S.andJacobs,V.A.(2003).PoorChildren'sFourthGradeSlump.AmericanEducator,Spring,2003. RetrievedOct.24,2007,fromhttp://www.aft.org/pubs reports/american_educator/spring2003/chall.html. http://www.readingrockets.org/article/13995/?theme=print Copyright2008.Allrightsreserved.ReadingRocketsisfundedbyagrantfromtheU.S.Departmentof Education,OfficeofSpecialEducationPrograms.ReadingRocketsisaregisteredtrademarkofWETA. Stayinformed!Subscribetoouremailnewsletters.

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