Making Complex Texts Comprehensible for English Learners and ALL Learners

by Sarah Ottow with Contributions from NPD 117 North Palos EL Team Leaders

Engaging with complex text is a major facet of the college and career readiness standards for all learners, including those learning in a new language, also known as multilingual learners or English learners. We know that it’s more than the task of the English/Language Arts teacher to support learning of texts that are complex, yet what makes a text complex? And how can we ensure access to complex texts for our EL students?

Challenges for Language Learners Reading Complex Texts. Engaging Instruction: Engage background knowledge, Activate metacognition, Embed metalinguistic awareness. Amplifying Text, Not Simplifying It: Strategic support, Richer linguistic features.

What Makes Text Complex?

First of all, we need to recognize that there are substantial differences between how language is spoken and how it is written (Fillmore, C.J. & Fillmore, L.W, 2012). This means that what students encounter in texts is not necessarily the same as everyday talk so understanding complex texts requires a different skill set than understanding oral language. This is true at all grades but even more so when students are in third grade and above, referring to texts with functions across all content areas that are dense with both quantitative elements and qualitative elements that may be unique to that content area, genre or both (Billings, E. & Walqui, A, 2017).

Secondly, as I write about in my book, The Language Lens for Content Classrooms, all teachers are teachers of language. And all students are learning academic language. Therefore, need to go beyond teaching vocabulary to pointing out sentence structures and deeper meaning that is only constructed when language is in larger pieces, like complex phrases, sentences and paragraphs through different genres. If all teachers truly believe that they are agents of literacy and language in their own classrooms, ELs have more opportunity to not just understand texts but comprehend deeper ideas and concepts but to communicate meaningfully about issues that matter.

Finally, the most important part of any reading task--or any learning at all--is the relationship between the content and the learner. As a reading specialist, I know that this “third space” where the learner makes their own meaning with the text is essential especially for motivating or connecting to those who may be underrepresented in the classroom curriculum (as discussed in Benson, S., 2010). For our multilingual learners, we may be working with not just new language structures in a new language but new topics or aspects about culture. So connecting to the learner is critical when it comes to all learning and in particular working with complex texts.

How Can We Ensure Access for Language Learners?

At Confianza, we have a process for doing a “makeover” on tasks, assessments and tasks where teachers build in scaffolds and reduce linguistic and cultural bias right into the materials for students. See the example below of inserting supports right into a task for students which happens to be an economics pretest.

A before and after comparison of two Economics tests. The Before shows vocabulary words being evaluated using a multiple-choice test to provide long definitions. The After shows a fill-in-the-blank word-bank test that evaluates the same information.

This same process of making a task more accessible, especially when working right in complex texts, can be referred to as text engineering. Billings and Walqui (2017) recommend text engineering with complex text in order to keep the complexity high and not water it down by simplifying the text, and, thus, simplifying the meaning. Just like we would “chunk and chew” a lesson to make it comprehensible in parts that make up the whole, we can do the same with complex text.

How Can We Get Started?

I’ve been fortunate to coach a group of EL Team Leaders in North Palos School District 117, Illinois who support teams on making text comprehensible and accessible for their bilingual learners across their district. so I’d like to share their thoughts and tips here. Jolanta Maslak recommends that to get going, “teachers start with the end in mind, asking what we want students to learn/take away from this text. We have students at various levels so if the text is made more comprehensible all students will be able to have connections to it, especially once they are interested in it and motivated by it.”

Feras Majeed agrees that students’ needs come first, sharing, “I would recommend teachers start by reflecting on their students' language needs and embedding supports within their routine rather than fully making over a text, at first.”

“It can be so tempting to dive in and just start a head to toe makeover,” says Nikki McDougal, “The standards are the tools we need to use to get to the comprehension and so we need to keep the level of questions high and we can do that by planning thoughtfully, step-by-step.”

Nikki Inglot explains, “The engineered text helps to provide teachers with predetermined questions that sometimes are hard to think up on the spot. I think it's important to start with selecting a text that may pose challenges for students, reading the text to assess where scaffolds are needed, and then determining the learning objectives both content and language wise.”

Check out these examples of engineered text below from these exemplary Team Leaders. Note how the task is thus madeover through small adjustments that bring more students into the learning—and assessment—process!

From Team Leader Nikki McDougal

An exercise using sensory words to test for vocabulary. At the top is a picture of Inuits on a traditional sled after a hunt in the Canadian arctic. Below that, a table with three columns labeled ‘See,’ ‘Wonder,’ and ‘Think’

From Team Leaders Jolanta Maslak and Feras Majeed

An exercise using ‘know’ and ‘wonder’ words. At the top is a picture of an iguana. Below is a box asking ‘What is an iguana? What do you see?’ Below that is another picture of an iguana with lines pointing to various picture elements.

From Team Leader Nikki Inglot:

An exercise using sensory, know, and wonder words. On the right is a book cover of ‘Nate the Great.’ On the left is a series of boxes for answers to ‘I see,’ ‘I think,’ ‘I wonder.’

From Coach Sarah Ottow

Meet the 106-Year-Old Who Got to Dance with the President and the First Lady

FEBRUARY 22, 2016 AT 2:53 PM ET BY MELANIE GARUNAY https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/

Before you read:

Read 1) the title of the article above, 2) title of the video below and 3) the caption under the picture towards the end of the article. What do you see? I see...
Watch the video. What do you see in the video? What do you hear? I see... I hear…
How you think that woman feels? Why? I think she feels....because….

Now let’s read the article!

"I thought I would never live to get in the White House. And I tell you, I am so happy. A black president! A black wife! And I'm here to celebrate black history. Yeah, that's what I'm here for." -- Virginia McLaurin

Here's how Virginia McLaurin got to the White House:

A friend of Mrs. McLaurin’s reached out to the White House and shared that Mrs. McLaurin has been doing stellar work as a volunteer throughout the D.C. area for decades and would like to visit the White House. So the White House made sure that she not only got to visit -- but also had the chance, before the Black History Month reception, to meet privately with the President and First Lady backstage. It was her dream to meet President Obama, given his passion for investing in early childhood education and his significance as the first African American President.

Stop and jot:

Who is the article about so far? The article is about…

President Barack Obama watches First Lady Michelle Obama dance with 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin in the Blue Room of the White House prior to a reception celebrating African American History Month, Feb. 18, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Virginia McLaurin is a Senior Corps volunteer at Roots Public Charter School as part of the United Planning Organization’s Foster Grandparent Program, serving as a foster grandparent and mentor to special-needs students. As a mentor, she helps children with their reading and social skills.

Virginia has volunteered at C. Melvin Sharpe Health School for over 20 years, serving 40 hours a week. She was introduced to the program by a friend from her church who knew Virginia was interested in finding ways to make life better for those in her community.

Stop and jot:

What does Virginia McLaurin do for students? Virginia McLaurin……
Why do you think the White House wanted to tell this story when it was first published in 2016? I think the White House wanted to tell this story because…

Now let’s write our own version!

A slide showing the results of an assignment. ‘Write Your Own Version: Dancing in the White House for Black History Celebration! March 2, 2021 by Ms. Ottow’s class.’ On the left is the text written by the class. On the write is a photo of the event.

To Further Your Learning:

For more about example lessons and tasks at different levels of cognitive rigor (without watering down!), check out: Ensuring Rigor for English Learners using Depth of Knowledge

For more about celebrating and integrating Black history beyond Black History Month, see: Diversity, Inclusion & Equity 24/7/365: Going Beyond Heroes and Holidays