​Nonfiction in the ELA Classroom

For a more in-depth discussion of the research below, see my essay here.

 

 

In 2010, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were released as a new, nation-wide set of curriculum standards for language arts and math (NGAC for Best Practices). One of the notable changes to the language arts curriculum was an emphasis on nonfiction reading. The CCSS call for half of all texts read in grades K-5 to be informational, and, by the time students read the 12th grade, 80% of all texts should be informational (NGAC for Best Practices). This shift in standards seeks to address a common problem: students struggle to read and interpret nonfiction.

 

What is nonfiction, exactly?

Nonfiction texts, also called informational texts, are broadly defined as being “texts that present factual information” (Maloch & Bomer, 2013). These include a variety of genres, including biographies, speeches, news articles, textbooks, encyclopedia entries, and informational websites. Though “nonfiction” and “informational texts” have been assigned various definitions and nuances, they can typically be thought of as non-narrative texts (Maloch & Bomer, 2013).

 

Maloch and Bomer (2013) described the long-standing trend that has moved students from reading and writing more narrative-based texts to reading and writing expository and analytical texts. This has been the model for decades, and essentially dichotomizes the grade levels (Maloch & Bomer 2013). Students in the early elementary grades, up until about the 4th grade, “learn to read,” while students in the middle and secondary grades “read to learn” (Maloch & Bomer 2013). This dichotomy, though, may have been harming young learners.

“These kids can’t read!”

Even though student success is tied to understanding nonfiction, the genre has not been given much priority in the classroom. In 2001, Sullivan wrote, “Nonfiction just doesn’t get any respect from librarians and teachers” (p. 43).  At the time of his publication, schools in the United States were focused on primarily exposing students to works of fiction. Sullivan (2010) anecdotally described how classroom libraries rarely included nonfiction and how teachers would even go so far as to say, “reading nonfiction is not real reading" (p. 43). Duke’s (2000) survey of 20 first grade classrooms serves as statistical support for what Sullivan noted. Duke found that, on average, students spent only 3.6 minutes per day reading nonfiction texts. In lower socioeconomic areas, that number dropped to 1.9 minutes per day. In a follow-up study, Jeong, Gaffney, and Choi (2010) found that students in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades were not exposed to much informational text either. Though these students spent slightly more time with nonfiction than the students in Duke’s 2000 study, they still spent only 16 minutes each day with these texts (Jeong, Gaffney, & Choi, 2010).

 

Without sufficient opportunities to work with nonfiction texts, students will find these texts difficult to read (Duke 2000). Sullivan (2001) pointed out that, while there are many excellent and entertaining nonfiction texts in existence, there are a huge number of poor quality texts that are produced. This is often the only exposure that students have to nonfiction, so it is no surprise that students have negative perceptions of the genre. McKenna, Kear, and Ellsworth (1995, as cited in Combs, 1998) showed that student attitudes toward academic textbook reading declines as they move from the 1st through the 6th grade. By the time students reach the middle grades, many of them are convinced that informational texts are boring and too difficult to read.

 

Despite a lack of exposure or a lack of interest, students are still expected to be able to read nonfiction, usually textbooks, as a means of obtaining information. Benson (2003) stated that, at the time of publishing, 80-90% of texts read at the elementary level were fiction. However, as students progressed to the middle grades, they were expected to be able to read informational texts and understand their content (Benson, 2003). As an educator, Combs (1998) saw that teachers often recognized that there was a problem and labeled it as, “These kids can’t read!" (p. 9). However, Combs (1998) likens this to taking a car to a mechanic as saying, “My car won’t go” (p. 11). That is, there is a specific reason that so many students had difficulty reading nonfiction, and that specific solutions could target this problem. 

 

How to bridge the gap

The Common Core State Standards emphasize nonfiction reading through all of the grade levels, thus eliminating the dichotomy described by Maloch and Bomer (2013). Students across all grade levels will have more exposure to nonfiction texts, with the goal being that students will be proficient at reading these texts. By the time they reach the middle grades, students should be better able to “read to learn.”

 

Though exposure is a massive step towards improving nonfiction literacy, it is not sufficient to simply provide students with more informational texts and expect them to be understood. Teachers often assume that reading fiction and nonfiction involve the same skills, but this is not the case. Benson (2003) stated that, though it is tempting to think that “reading is reading, writing is writing,” it is not easy to transfer fiction-oriented skills to nonfiction reading and writing (p. 14). Combs (1998) argued that there are specific skills that students need to be taught in order to read informational texts. 

 

What does this mean for middle grade teachers?
Ideally, the Common Core State Standards seek to expose students to nonfiction texts as soon as they enter school. This will mean that elementary students will have a number of years to learn the skills necessary to work with various types and complexities of informational texts by the time they reach the middle grades. However, the Common Core State Standards are relatively new, and may have taken several years to implement in some areas. Some schools, though claiming to use the CCSS, may still be struggling to integrate informational texts into the curriculum in a meaningful way.

 

This means that there are still a large number of students in the middle grades who have not been exposed to much informational text in the classroom. Even as we move forward to a point where our middle grade students will have worked under the CCSS since kindergarten, there will continue to be students that have difficulties with reading and interpreting these texts. Therefore, it is necessary for middle grades language arts teachers to be prepared to teach students even basic skills that they need to successfully read, interpret, and use informational texts. These skills, which are a specific set of literacy skills, are and will continue to be primarily the responsibility of ELA teachers.

 

The question then becomes how, as middle grade ELA teachers, are we to teach our students these skills?