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What Effect Does the Dictado Has on Writing? Edilberto Cano Literacy Squared Institute Estes Park, CO June 28 th , 2012
What Effect Does the Dictado Has on
Writing?
Edilberto CanoLiteracy Squared Institute
Estes Park, COJune 28th, 2012
Instructional Context
Context: Literacy Block First Grade
Literacy Based ESL
Spanish Literacy
Cross-Lan-guage
Connec-tions
Dictado
First Grade
Literacy Instruction Time Allocation Minutes per Day--Grades 1-3
Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 30
20
40
60
80
100
120
140120
90
6060 60
90
SpanishLit. Based-ESL
Lite
racy
Inst
ruct
ion
Min
utes
Are teachers following the standard procedures for the Dictado in Spanish and English in the first grade?
Are teachers following the critical reminders in the implementation of the Dictado in Spanish and English?
Do we see a positive impact in the implementation of the Dictado in English and Spanish in students’ writing samples?
Initial Questions about Implementation- 2010
Student A- Writing Sample 1st Grade Spanish
Student B- Writing Sample 1st Grade Spanish
Student C- Writing Sample 1st Grade Spanish
Dictado Analysis- First Grade- 2009-2010
Teacher # Spanish Dictados
Range # of Words SpanishMin-Max
# English
Dictados
Range # of Words EnglishMin-Max
Teacher A 26 5-27 26 4-14Teacher B 21 6-18 15 7-15Teacher C 21 5-13 9 5-10Teacher D 17 5-12 13 4-8Teacher E
17 5-12 16 4-10
Dictado Analysis- First Grade- 2009-2010
Teacher 1st Trimester 2nd Trimester
3rd Trimester
Avg. # Words Avg. # Words Avg. # WordsSpanish Spanish Spanish
Teacher A
7.4 11.4 15.6
Teacher B
8 11.6 14.4
Teacher C
8.2 8.8 6.5
Teacher D
8.8 6 6.8
Teacher E
10 8.4 6.8
Teacher A- English Writing Sample- 1st Grade
Teacher B- English Writing Sample- 1st Grade
Teacher C- English Writing Sample- 1st Grade
Emerging Finding: English Dictado
Teacher Number of Dictados Before Jan 25th, 2010
# English Dictados
Range # of Words EnglishMin-Max
Teacher A 14 26 4-14Teacher B 4 15 7-15Teacher C 2 9 5-10Teacher D 1 13 4-8Teacher E 1 16 4-10
Teaching Implications In first grade, increase complexity and
sophisticated vocabulary over time in the Dictados both in English and Spanish
In first grade, start English Dictados earlier in the school year
To improve self-correction, monitor what children are producing and trying to write
Quality Meaning is at the core of the Dictado Specific teaching points (Phrase, transition, word,
and spelling and cross language connections) Consistency
3 times a week- MINIMUM 15 Dictados in English and Spanish- MINIMUM START English Earlier in the school year
Fidelity To the implementation, recommendations, and
standard procedures
Three Main Ideas
Questions?
Longitudinal Analysis Writing Samples and Dictados Grades 1-3
2008-2011Colorado Schools
How does the quality of students’ writing samples (WRS) in English and Spanish improve from the first grade to the third grade?
What are the writing literacy skills and conventions exercised through direct instruction using the Dictado that students’ display in their writing samples in both English and Spanish?
Research Questions
The ParkOn the way to the park, I saw a big balloon in the sky. It was one of the biggest balloons I had ever seen!
Spelling Word segmentation (hyper- and hypo-segmentation) Basic punctuation (Comma, period, exclamation marks) Basic capitalization Syntactical structures (sentences and phrases)
Dictado Example- 2nd Grade English
Grade Language
Total # Avg. Words
Avg. Senten
ces
Date Started
Date Ended
1 Spanish 16 11 1.25 10/2008 4/2009 English 16 8 1 10/2008 4/20092 Spanish 16 39 4 8/2009 5/2010 English 19 32 4 9/2009 5/20103 Spanish 16 51 4.4 8/2010 4/2011
English 17 26 3.1 8/2010 4/2011
Dictados
Grades 1-3 Years :
2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011
17 students grades 1- 2 16 students grade 3 Students took their writing samples in the month
of January-February respectively
Writing Samples
Grade
Spanish Influence
ELD Influence
Defy Category
Undecipherable
1 260 86 4 12
2 122 120 5 3
3 210 138 2 3
Spelling English Grades 1-3
Hide
Made
Spelling- ELD and Spanish Influence Grades 1- 3
Grade 1 (n=17)
Grade 2 (n=17)
Grade 3 (n= 16)
02468
1012141618
16
7 8.5
36
9Spanish InfluenceELD Influence
Med
ian
Scor
es
Research Findings--Phoneme LevelMedian Scores
Grade 1 (n=17)
Grade 2 (n=17)
Grade 3 (n= 16)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
4360
117
24
48
89
2212 18.5
Words Writ-tenCorrect Spell-ing
Reading and writing are mutually reinforced Students analyze what they hear to respond or to
solve: Letter-sound correspondence Initial and ending sounds discrimination Sequence of ideas Word segmentation
Why?
Basic Punctuation Use Analysis
Ending Sentence Example- English First Grade
Unconventional Use of Periods- Writing Samples- Examples
No Internal Punctuation- Spanish 3rd Grade
Variables Language Grade 1% Students
Grade 2% Students
Grade 3% Students
End of Sentence
Spanish 18 24 13English 30 6 16
Unconventional Use of Period
Spanish 6 12 6English 12 6 0
No internal Punctuation
Spanish 0 6 6a
English 0 0 6a
Basic Punctuation (Periods)- Approximations
a Same student
Use Dictados with more than one sentence when appropriate
Craft Dictados that provides a more fluid sequence of ideas in order to provide students the support to create more complex and fluid ideas rather than just independent clauses.
Teaching Implications- Basic Punctuation
Capital Letter Use Analysis
Capital Letter Use Examples- Writing Samples
Beginning Sentence
Random Use
Capital Letter Use- First Sentence Example 2nd Grade Spanish
Basic Use of Capital LettersVariables Language Grade 1
% StudentsGrade 2
% StudentsGrade 3
% StudentsFirst Sentence
Spanish 6 6 0English 6 0 0
Beginning Sentence
Spanish 48 35 6English 41 18 6
Random Use
Spanish 29 12 19English 12 29 31
Include in the Dictados specific rules for using capital letters for: Proper Nouns When using question and exclamations marks Acronyms Titles Emphasizing important events
Capital letter Use- Teaching Implications
According to Soltero-González, Escamilla, and Hopewell (2010):
Bidirectional Syntax transfer Use of Possessives Subject omission Literal Translations
Syntactical Structure
Bidirectional Transfer- Example
Syntactical Structures- Bidirectional Syntax Transfer
Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 305
10152025303540
0
12
0
26
35
25Spanish English
Perc
ent o
f st
uden
ts
Sentence-Level--Subject OmissionPercent of Students
Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 305
1015202530354045
41
29
6
English
Sentence-Level--Literal TranslationsPercent of Students
Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 305
101520253035404550
06
0
29 29
44
SpanishEnglish
In the Dictado, include Use of possessives Phrases in English The use of pronouns Idioms Use of adjectives
Así se Dice strategy: To teach literal and conceptual translations
Teaching Implications
Hyper-Segmentations
Hypo-Segmentations
Hypo- & Hyper- Segmentations- Approximations
Variables Language Grade 1% Students
Grade 2% Students
Grade 3% Students
Hypo-Segmentation
Spanish 24 41 38English 24 18 31
Hyper- Segmentation
Spanish 12 35 13English 6 18 19
According to Bauer and Gort (2012):Students’ acquisition of literacy skills across languages are not linear and “under different circumstances are considered normal characteristics of biliteracy development” (p. 2).Therefore:Finding establishes the need for constant, sustained, explicit, and direct teaching of literacy skills across languages and across grade levels in grades K-5.
Final Thoughts
