Over the past decade it seems that I have had the same literacy conversation dozens of times with parents.  Around the time a student hits his or her teenage years, it seems that their parents grow increasingly concerned that their child just doesn’t seem to be reading on their own any more.  Now, to be clear, these are often kids in homes where reading is modeled and encouraged.  But, for a variety of reasons, it seems that young people seem to fall increasingly out of love with leisurely literacy activities.

Research tells us that reader motivation and engagement both result from an interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic factors (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997).  There is an intrinsic motivation that refers to a willingness to read because that activity is satisfying or rewarding in it’s own right (Shieffele, et al., 2012).   For example, a person can be motivated to read because of an interest in the topic of the text or because the reading activity itself provides a positive experience, such as being absorbed in a story (Shiefele, 2009).  But there is also an extrinsic reading motivation that comes into play. By extrinsic motivation, we mean the  external outcomes that are associated with the reading topic or reading activity.  For example, students might consider possible praise from a teacher, good grades or outperforming their peers (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997). 

Helping young people to become literate now implies a need for educators who seek strategically to improve their students’ reading motivation by focusing on both the intrinsic and extrinsic elements of reading.  A number of teachers I have worked with lately are seeking to do this by providing students with positive reading experiences and by making the tangible benefits of reading explicit to students.  But there remains the question—Just how do we improve and assess students’ engagement in the literacy activities we design for them?

I was recently attending and presenting at a conference that focused on student engagement in literacy.  At the conference, I was able to sit down and visit with Dr. Linda Rice, a professor and researcher from the University of Ohio. Dr. Rice has authored a number of books and articles on student engagement in literacy.  She has also been a classroom teacher for years. I started off by asking her how she felt we can assess teens engagement in literacy activities.  She stressed a sort of strategic multiplicity when it comes to how we engage students and how we assess them…

References

Nilsen, A. P. (2013). Literature for today's young adults. Boston: Pearson.

Schiefele, U. (2009). Situational and individual interest. In K.R. Wentzel & A. Wigfield (Eds.), Handbook of motivation at school (pp. 197–222). New York: Routledge.

Schiefele, U., Schaffner, E., Möller, J., Wigfield, A., Nolen, S., & Baker, L. (2012). Dimensions of Reading Motivation and Their Relation to Reading Behavior and Competence. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(4), 427-463.

Wigfield, A., & Guthrie, J.T. (1997). Relations of children’s motivation for reading to the amount and breadth of their reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(3), 420–432.

Recently, much attention has been turned to the importance of listening and speaking.  Across the United States, for instance, new curricular standards encourage regular classroom practice in speaking and listening from the time kids enter kindergarten…until they complete high school (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).  In this podcast, we visit with researchers, educators, and students about ways to improve the listening and speaking activities taking place in our schools.

Strategy 1—Listening and Speaking Games

One way to engage students in listening and speaking is through games.  In my own classroom, I occasionally play a version of the board game ‘Moods’ with students.  In Moods, players take turns reading phrases from cards in the “mood” that they have secretly rolled. Mood examples include “dazed,” “zany,” “sneaky,” and “romantic.” The object is for players to vote on which mood is being demonstrated by the reader using their 4 individual voting chips.   Such games provide engaging opportunities for students to experiment with language and listening.

Another teacher I visited with often plays a mystery game with his students in order to encourage listening and thoughtful formulation of questions.  He gives students a mystery to solve, and only allows them to ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions in order to collect evidence.  If students accidentally repeat a question already asked, they get ‘buzzed’ out of the game.

In another classroom, I watched a teacher pass out ‘talk-bags’ to her students.  The contents of each bag were unique and contained 5 inexpensive objects such as a pencil, bracelet, notepad or piece of candy.  Students start off by individually evaluating the contents of their own bag on 5-point scale.  They then float around the classroom and seek to persuade other students to trade some of their items.  After 15 minutes, students re-evaluate the original contents of their bag, and discuss in groups what prompted a change in their perspective.

Whether teachers are playing off-the-shelf board games or some other game they have designed themself, it is important for educators to regularly blur the lines between effective communication and play as they seek to encourage classroom listening and speaking.

Strategy 2—Individual  Listening and Speaking Practice

A variety of activities can be used to encourage individual listening and speaking practice.  One engaging activity I saw used recently was called ‘Own It,” in which students select a piece of text, a handful of terms or some other content important to learning goals, and then seek to demonstrate that they ‘own it’ by creating a dramatic reading, a paper-slide presentation or some other unique, aural presentation.  The only two rules for the presentation were (1) accurate portrayal of the content and (2) a focus on audience engagement.  Offering students choice and control motivates students to develop speaking abilities as they organize, refine, and present their ideas.  Students also develop listening abilities as they get the chance to review and evaluate the finished presentations of their peers.

Many educators seek to encourage individual listening and speaking practice by allowing students to create presentations of existing projects or topics, rather than reinventing the wheel. For example, if a student already seems invested in an art, technology or language arts assignment, teachers can provide suggestions for ‘morphing’ it, or formatting the project into a formal presentation suited to a specific audience (Wallace, Stariha, & Walberg, 2004).

Real-world audiences also foster student effort in listening and speaking activities.  I recently worked with some educators who are using a scenario of an impending alien invasion to help students research various countries around the world.  Each student draws the name of a country at random, investigates its geography, customs, culture, etc. and then works to construct a six-minute argument for the alien invaders as to why their county should be spared.  On ‘Judgment Day,’ each student presents their argument to a panel of aliens.  These ‘aliens’ are actually community members in spacey costumes and masks.  According to their teachers, kids seem to work hard knowing that the fate of millions depends on a single six-minute presentation.

Strategy 3—Pairing, Sharing, and Beyond

Students also need to be granted regular opportunities to listen and to speak with their classmates in pairs and in small groups.  ‘Pairing and sharing’ is a good start, but the novelty of such an activity quickly wears off with students. Thus, there is a need for teachers to regularly update pair-and-share activities by requiring students to examine perspectives beyond their own and by using listening and speaking structures.

For example, a couple weeks ago, I watched students having fun with an activity called ‘Listen…But Don’t Repeat.’ In the activity, the teacher pairs up students and assigns a chooses a topic.  The first person (student A) has one minute to try to explain everything they know about the assigned topic while their partner (student B) listens in silence.  After one minute, the other student has the chance to speak on the same topic, but cannot repeat anything already said by their partner.  Such an activity could easily be done in trios, quartets, and even in slightly larger groups.  While regular pairing and sharing fosters student conversation, it imperative that teachers occasionally vary the format and parameters of such activities to help ensure that students remain engaged in regular listening and speaking.

Strategy 4—Whole Group Listening and Speaking

Speaking with (or in front of) a large group can be an intimidating experience for most students.  In addition, whole group discussions often prove time consuming.  Yet, there is an increased need for structured, whole group discussions that are designed to change the way our learners read, think, discuss, write, and act (Copeland, 2005).  In addition, formal discussions help students learn valuable lessons in preparation and in ‘thinking more while saying less.’

Regular use of whole group discussion such as Socratic seminar and Circles of Knowledge provides students with opportunities to build their thinking and communication skills. Such activities help learners to think more deeply about texts, to support claims with supporting evidence, and to develop and share new insights and perspectives on a topic.  In addition, research posits that a significant correlation exists between student achievement and the extent to which classroom discussion recruits and highlights student ideas and voices (Nystrand et al., 2003).

While the format of whole group discussion often varies from classroom to classroom, success depends on an educator’s ability to (1) spark student interest with an open-ended, relevant question, (2) provide students time to formulate their own thoughts, (3) ‘kindle’ student participation by first allowing students to share/compare responses in smaller groups, and (4) allow students time pause, summarize, and reflect on the responses of others (Pickering, Dewing, & Perini, 2012).

When it comes to listening and speaking outside of the classroom, today’s young people appear adept at sharing and critiquing each other’s ideas and opinions.  The key, however, is for educators to regularly select and implement activities that move students from informal conversations with their peers to more formal presentations and patterns of discourse with a variety of selected audiences.

It takes time—and practice—for students to develop 21^st Century communication. Doing so also requires more classrooms and teachers that work actively to foster, value, and encourage student listening, speaking, and thinking.