Impact of Syntactic Complexity on Text Complexity Roger S. Frantz, Pearson Laura E. Starr, Pearson Alison L. Bailey, UCLA

CERA 2013 Friday, December 6

Text Complexity in CCSS Informational literacy is a key focus in

CCSS for ELA & Literacy Accurate measurement of text complexity

is important for instruction, assessment CCSS Appendix A presents a three-part

model for measuring text complexity: ◦ Qualitative dimensions ◦ Quantitative dimensions ◦ Reader and task considerations

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Text Complexity in CCSS “Using qualitative measures of text complexity

involves making an informed decision about the difficulty of a text in terms of one or more factors discernible to a human reader applying trained judgment to the task.”

Areas of focus are: ◦ Levels of meaning or purpose ◦ Organizational structure of text ◦ Language conventionality and clarity ◦ Knowledge demands

There is no mention of grammar, syntax.

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This Research Project What is the relationship, if any, between

syntactic complexity and text complexity? Reading passages from 2011 NAEP: ◦ Four grade 4 passages ◦ Four grade 8 passages

(http://nationsreportcard.gov) Linguistic analysis of passages uses

categories from Heritage & Bailey (2011) Protocol for Analysis of Language Content in English Language Proficiency Assessments.

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Readability Scores: Grade 4

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Readability Scores: Grade 8

Sentence Structure: Grade 4

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Sentence Structure: Grade 8

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Clause-level Structure: Grade 4

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Clause-level Structure: Grade 8

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Syntactic Complexity Patterns by Genre Grouped passages with similar genre

and writing style Broadly defined categories due to

limited number of passages ◦ Narrative Fiction and literary non-fiction Literary or conversational style, story structure,

narrative arc Literary non-fiction style typical of a magazine

article ◦ Informational Expository and literary non-fiction Informational, formal style typical of a textbook or

encyclopedia 11

Narrative Passages Tough as Daisy – contemporary fiction Ducklings Come Home to Boston –

biographical sketch Twins (in Meet the Author) – essay Mint Snowball – memoir

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Informational Passages Daddy Day Care – expository Marian’s Revolution – expository 1920: Women Get the Vote –

expository Tech-Trash Tragedy – informational

article Not Just for Kids Anymore (in Meet

the Author) – biography

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Sentence Structure Low % complex and CC (<30%)

Mid % complex and CC (40-49%)

Higher % complex and CC (>50%)

fiction, memoir, biographical sketch

essay, expository, informational article

expository, biography

Fiction and memoir have several fragments Bio sketch has conversational style with story-telling feel

Essay has literary style with many long sentences Article has conversational style with informative feel

Biography has expository style

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Clause-level Structure <30%

Dependent 30-35%

Dependent >35%

Dependent

fiction, memoir, biographical sketch

essay, informational article

expository, biography

No surprises — lowest % of complex sentences

No surprises — complex sentences under 50%

About ¼ sentences in each passage have 3 or more clauses

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Readability

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Narrative passages are easier to read than expository passages

Literary style of the essay makes it harder to read than other narratives

Readability scores correlate with genre and clause-level structure patterns generally (but not perfectly!)

Syntactic Complexity: Implications for Assessment and Instruction

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Syntactic complexity can contribute to a broader articulation of the text complexity construct

Teachers can pay attention to syntax in strategic and tactical ways that fit within communicative approaches to language pedagogy

Should teachers expect to do these kinds of

analyses without additional help?

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Broader Educational Context 2013 NAEP reading assessment Students performing below basic: 4th grade: 33% overall; 69% of ELLs 8th grade: 23% overall; 70% of ELLs - did not reach “partial mastery of fundamental skills” (NCES, 2013)

- reading proficiency challenges at current levels of text complexity (e.g., Gamson, Lu, & Eckert, 2013)

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Syntactic Complexity Findings

1) Text complexity does not equal syntactic complexity; need to understand broader construct

2) Varied within grade; lack of stability 3) Did not increase uniformly grade–to-grade;

lack of progression “The forms [or passages] used across grade spans should show a useful progression in complexity of language skills and knowledge as students encounter more challenging uses of content-area language from grade-to-grade.”

(Heritage & Bailey, 2011, p.4).

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Implications for Assessment Test development and interpretation: provides a

tool to strategically evaluate whether passage selection/creation is assessing progression of language development

ELP assessment: New ELD standards/frameworks

emphasize scholastic contexts (i.e., mathematics, English language arts) in which English develops

Less attention has been paid to language content – the features of English and how they develop over time as a result of instruction and experience.

(Bailey & Huang, 2011;

Bailey & Heritage, submitted)

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Implications for Instruction

Faced with existing challenging texts, current findings can be used to: ◦ help teachers more effectively support reading

development, and ◦ help define what reasonable expectations the

profession should have for student achievement in English language arts

(Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013)

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“One hazard of focusing too intently on the CCSS notion of text complexity is that it ushers us into a rather rarified atmosphere, where Lexile rank—or any static single standard—becomes all-important. The danger is that we will lose sight of what researchers and practitioners view as high, but reasonable, expectations….”

(Gamson et al., 2013, p.389)

Role of teachers: Helping students “gain access to the ideas encoded in this complex language” - one sentence at a time.

(Wong- Fillmore & Fillmore, 2012, p.6)

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Teachers Attending to Content and Language

Given a syntactic progression, teachers can learn to be: 1) Strategic: set goals for syntactic development

during content lesson planning based on prior observations of student needs

2) Tactical: ◦ model sentence structures ◦ provide sentence starter phrasing ◦ support target syntax across all modalities ◦ choose activities that provide a context for uptake

Dynamic Language Learning Progressions project, (Bailey & Heritage, submitted).

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“Where this time I just felt more at ease….It wasn't necessarily looking for one or the other [math/language]. But simultaneously… I mean how was one informing the other? How was language being used to help them articulate their reasoning?”

Teacher of ELL & English-only/proficient Students; grades 1&2 combined classroom

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