The document discusses research on improving outcomes for lower attaining students. It recommends using close assessment of small incremental skills rather than broad general goals. Vocabulary development, morphology, comprehension strategies, fluency, and applying research findings to instruction are highlighted. References are provided for further reading on effective practices for struggling readers.

1. Using research to improve
progress for lower attainers
James Murphy

2. Close assessment / Small steps
• Survey level vs ‘Fine grain’
• Not just ‘improve sentence accuracy’, but
‘identify subject’, identify predicate’, ‘identify
verb’, ‘agree subject and verb’, etc.
• The reason most low attainers don’t make
progress is that we are expecting steps that are
too large and don’t realise how many small steps
there are (which aren’t small until you’ve made
them).

3. Vocabulary
• Expressive (joyful, relieved, apprehensive)
• Academic (aesthetic, pessimistic, erudite)
• Morphology makes word relationships more
explicit.
• Multiplying effect.
• Fostering independence.
• Access to assessment criteria, e.g for
literature.

4. Morphology
Omniscient
• Scient – science, conscience
• Omni – omnibus, omnipotent
Dehydration
Hydro = water (hydroelectric, hydrometer)
-ation = process (elimination, inflation, creation)
De = subtract from (demerit, devalue, devolve)

5. References
Vocabulary:
• Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling
Readers Boardman, A et al (2008)
• Vocabulary/Oral Language/Comprehension:
Some research findings Hempenstall, K (2014)
• Teaching Vocabulary To Improve Reading
Comprehension. Nagy, W. (1988

6. Comprehension
• The need is well recognised but comprehension
is often not taught systematically.
• Comprehension may be intuited by more able
students but for low attainers they often need
explicit practice in order to integrate these skills
into their reading repertoire.
• Fluency in reading is essential to reading
comprehension.

7. Auditory Memory
• Reading comprehension is linked to listening
comprehension
• Listening comprehension is linked to auditory
memory

8. Logical inference
• Statement: I got up at 7 o’clock.
• Logical Inference?
• Statement: I ate six sandwiches when I got home.
• Probable inference?
• The man stood at the door for some time before
knocking.
• Possible inferences?
Engelmann, S. Corrective Reading Comprehension

9. Main Idea: Using Anaphora
• Main idea – finding all the references to a
person or thing in order to recognise how
important it is to the discussion in the text.
Reference
• Dixon, R. Reading Success.

10. Find all the references to
The knights of medieval England kept to a strict
code of chivalry. They also held to very romantic
ideals and they believed that passionate love
was desirable as long as it was unrequited. Thus
many of the tales of these wandering heroes
focus on their denial of temptation, or their
longing from a distance. But these men were
also soldiers, trained to engage in battle and
often seekers of military action.

11. Find all the references to
The knights of medieval England kept to a strict
code of chivalry. They also held to very romantic
ideals and they believed that passionate love
was desirable as long as it was unrequited. Thus
many of the tales of these wandering heroes
focus on their denial of temptation, or their
longing from a distance. But these men were
also soldiers, trained to engage in battle and
often seekers of military action.

12. Background knowledge
Background knowledge is at least as important
as other strategies.
“The implication seems obvious; RCS instruction
should be explicit and brief.”
Reference: Can Reading Comprehension Be
Taught? Willingham, D. & Lovett, G. (2014)

13. References
Comprehension:
• Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling
Readers. Boardman, A. et al (2008)
• http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Prac
tice%20Brief-Struggling%20Readers.pdf

14. References
• Theory of Instruction: Principles and
Applications. Engelmann, S. and Carnine, D.
(1991)
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theory-
Instruction-Applications-Siegfried-
Engelmann/dp/1880183803

15. Expressive Writing
DI Analysis:
• Parts of a sentence.
• Parts of speech do not define a sentence.
• DI rule sequence. (Teaching set, testing set).
• Next step. Identify conjunctions. Add to join.
Remove to separate. Develop predicate. Etc.

16. Underline the verb
• The trees swayed in the breeze.
• I woke up from a dream.
• You are my best friend.
• I am going to write a story about friendly
wolves.
• We sing together every Sunday morning.
• A time to laugh; a time to mourn.

17. Underline the verb
• The trees swayed in the breeze.
• I woke up from a dream.
• You are my best friend.
• I am going to write a story about friendly
wolves.
• We sing together every Sunday morning.
• A time to laugh; a time to mourn.

18. Identify the Verb
1. The Greeks sailed across the sea.
2. They fought a great war with Troy.
3. The war lasted for ten years.
4. They wanted to go home.
5. They built a giant horse.
6. Soldiers hid inside the horse.
7. The Trojans took the horse into the city.
8. The soldiers came out and attacked.
9. The Greeks won.
10. Troy was destroyed.
11. The city was lost for thousands of years.
12. It was rediscovered in 1870.

19. Identify the verb
1. The Greeks sailed across the sea.
2. They fought a great war with Troy.
3. The war lasted for ten years.
4. They wanted to go home.
5. They built a giant horse.
6. Soldiers hid inside the horse.
7. The Trojans took the horse into the city.
8. The soldiers came out and attacked.
9. The Greeks won.
10.Troy was destroyed.
11.The city was lost for thousands of years.
12.It was rediscovered in 1870.

20. Give the rules for:
• A verb
• A sentence
• A verb is a word that tells us that someone is
doing, being or thinking.
• A sentence must have a verb and a subject,
and make sense on its own.

21. Sentences or not?
1. The frog sat on a lily pad.
2. I am going to tell you about.
3. Kayla went.
4. On Wednesday we will go shopping.
5. This is the last Saturday of the month.
6. At eight o’clock.
7. In the newspaper.
8. Breakfast is ready.
9. I hope we can go on holiday.
10. The lorry rumbled down the street.

22. Sentences or not?
1. Over the fence we saw a cow.
2. I like to ride my bicycle.
3. I can leave tomorrow.
4. Not tonight.
5. Having a nice meal.
6. Our whole football team.
7. The hungry teenager ate all of his aunt’s biscuits.
8. Two cakes and a pie.
9. A rough tongue.
10. Cats are friendly animals.

23. Sentences or not?
1. It was a long drive to Scotland.
2. The angry lion.
3. Down there under the sofa.
4. Three blind mice.
5. I want to meet the captain.
6. Even in the darkest blackest night.
7. You will be happy there.
8. You must trust your instincts.
9. Howling wolf.
10. On a Sunday morning.

24. Spelling
• Helps with decoding (reversibility of code).
• Memorising whole words is ineffectual.
Syllabification with phonics. Teach patterns.
• Essential to know code to limit possible
spellings to select from.
• Can be taught discretely or linked to poetry.
• Cumulative set. Scheduled review.

25. Stages of Learning
• Acquisition
• Accuracy
• Fluency
• Generalisation
• Retention
• Adaptation

26. Fluency
Thus, many so-called "learning disabilities" turn
out to be no more than a failure of the schools
to measure and to work toward fluency in basic
skills. Precision Teachers have found that a few
minutes per day of timed practice on carefully
sequenced skills can often eliminate what were
previously considered irremediable learning
problems.“
Binder, C. (1988)

27. Fluency
• Behavioral Fluency: A New Paradigm. (Binder, C. 1993)
http://www.binder-riha.com/behav_fluency_new_paradigm.pdf
• Precision Teaching: Measuring and attaining exemplary
achievement. (Binder, .C 1988)
http://www.behavior.org/resources/214.pdf
• Breaking the Structuralist Barrier - Literacy and Numeracy with
Fluency (Johnson, K. and Layng T. V. J. 1992)
http://www.fluency.org/Johnson_Layng_1992.pdf
• Fluency: Achieving True Mastery in the Learning Process (Binder, C.,
Haughton, E. and Bateman B. 2002)

28. Summary
There is good, useful practical research
available. How to find it?
• Meta analyses
• Recommended articles
• Citations
• Examine
• Evaluate
• Replications / confirmations

29. Applying research in the classroom
• Be selective.
• Focus on one or two targets at a time.
• Integrate.
• For everything you put in, something else will
have to go.
• How different are you allowed to be in your
context?

30. Recommended places to start:
• Clear Teaching (Barbash, S. 2012)
• Visible Learning (Hattie, J. 2009)
• Boardman, A. et al (2008)
• Moats, Louisa (1999, 2004)
• Hempenstall, K. (various – see nifdi.org blogs)

31. @jmurphyincl
Website: www.thinkingreading.net