reflection 2
September/October 2009 19
Social Studies and the Young Learner 22 (1), pp. 19–22
©2009 National Council for the Social Studies
Ways to Teach About Informational Text Barbara A. Marinak and Linda B. Gambrell
The basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are necessary, but not sufficient for participation in a world that demands independent and cooperative problem
solving of its citizens.1 Young children come to school with an interest in the community and the world outside their own. Social studies curricula can affirm the child’s immedi- ate exper ience of self, home, and family—and then expand beyond it.2 To provide such instruction, teachers need to locate, evaluate, and use appropriate resources to supplement textbooks. The ever-growing collection of infor mational trade books is an impor tant source of supplemental resources for elementary teachers.
Using informational text across the content areas is well supported by research in reading and social studies. Practice in reading informational text can help prepare students for the rigorous reading demands of secondary school.3 Many recent studies suggest that both the amount of informational text avail able to elementary readers and the number of minutes spent reading infor- mational material is far less than needed in a balanced, comprehensive primary program.4
Reader’s Choice In a recent study, first graders over- whelmingly chose nonfiction books over fiction.5 Students from ten different schools were invited to visit a book display range of genres featuring protagonists of differ- ent ethnicities and gender. Students were invited to browse and select a book that would be theirs to keep. Approximately 85 percent of the children chose non-fiction over fiction. Another study revealed that kin dergarteners preferred informa tional text over fiction.6 Children in this study were just as successful in reenacting mate- rial from the infor mational books as they were from the fictional stories. This result challenged the “narrative as elementary” notion that young children relate best to narrative fiction. Rather, exclusive empha sis on reading “story” in the early grades limits children’s exper iences with other text forms and may create a barrier to full to literacy.
Evidence that reading infor mational text bolsters read- ing achieve ment can be found in data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).7 Trends in results from NAEP from 1990 to the present indicate that reading achieve ment in fifth graders increases as the diversity of their reading experiences increases. In other words, fourth graders who reported reading a wide variety of texts (narrative, infor mation, magazines, etc.) had higher reading achievement than did students who reported reading only one type of text. Exposing young children to informational text pre pares them to handle the literacy demands of their later schooling.8
Elements of Informational Text Children can learn about the five elements of a narrative story: charac ters, setting, problem, events, and solution at an early age. Similarly, there are five elements that occur in most non- fiction texts: the author’s purpose, major ideas, supporting aids,
and vocabulary. TABLE 1 provides an instructional framework to help students recognize these five elements.9
It also provides definitions and guiding questions that teach- ers can use when modeling how to identify the five infor- mational text elements. A version of TABLE 1 could also be posted in the classroom.
Table 1. Elements of Informational Text Element Definition Guiding Questions
Author’s Purpose The intent of the author
Did the author write the text to entertain, inform and/or persuade the audience regarding the selected topic?
Why did the author write this book?
What information did the author want to convey?
Major Ideas Key points the author wants readers to under stand
What are the major ideas of the book/selection?
How are the major ideas presented?
Supporting Details
Information support ing and clarifiying the major ideas
What are the supporting details for each major idea?
How are the supporting details presented?
Aids Pictures, photographs, graphs, tables, charts, time lines
What aids does the author use to convey meaning?
What information is included in the aids (major ideas, sup- porting detail, vocabulary)?
Vocabulary Technical words needed for full understanding of the text
What key vocabulary words are used to convey major ideas?
What vocabulary words are used in the supporting details?
What words should you understand to discuss or write about this book/selection?
20 Social Studies and the Young Learner
Structures of Informational Text A passage of elementary informational text often follows one of five structures: enumeration (list), time order, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and question and answer. A struc- ture reflects the manner in which major ideas and supporting details are organized, displayed, or argued by the writer. The organization can often be identified by signal words that are specific to each structure. TABLE 2 contains a definition and examples of signal words for each of the five text structures. This infor mation can be posted for reference during classroom
discussion and copied and placed in students’ folders for them to use dur ing independent practice or research.
Enumeration, the least complex text structure, is a listing of major ideas, events, or details. There is no specified order to this listing. An instructional analogy to use when teach ing enumeration is that of a shopping list: the order that you put things into the cart does not matter as long as you collect them all before checkout. In other words, in an enumerative text structure, the major ideas and corresponding supporting details do not have to be read or retold in a prescribed order.
More complex relationships exist within the major ideas and supporting details in the three remaining text structures. A time order structure sequences the major ideas and sup- port ing details according to the pas sage of time.
The compare and contrast structure describes how concepts are similar or different.
Cause and effect is a structure in which the supporting details give the possible causes of an event or the results produced by an event.
And in a question and answer struc ture, major ideas are
posed as ques tions with supporting details embedd ed in the answers.
Sentence Strips Theories of child development suggest that the social environ- ment can provide learners with the opportunity to observe higher levels of cognitive processing.10 Modeling by the teacher provides opportunities for students to observe how meaning is derived from informational text. It is especially important in the elementary grades that teachers model how to identify
the five elements of infor mational text. In particular, modeling engages students in learning the language of informational text.
In one classroom that we observ ed, the teacher used an interactive read- aloud activity to model the elements of informational text. The book If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon invites young child ren to study how peo- ple view themselves over time. During the student-teacher exchange, the teacher used a chart that contained a series of sentence strips matched with the five elements of infor mational text.
Informational Element Sort Another activity that can be used to model the five elements is the Infor- mational Element Sort.11 This activity is designed to help children become familiar with the elements of informa-
tional text and learn some vocabulary from a specific book. Word sort activities enhance vocabu lary development and comprehension by actively involving students in the catego- rization process.12
During an Informa tional Element Sort, the teacher guides students in group ing or sorting words into the five categories: author’s purpose, major ideas, supporting details, aids and vocabulary. Before reading, the teacher shares selected words from the text, emphasizing that each word will be sorted into one of the five informational element categories.
Fighting Fires describes the tools of an important com- munity institution: the fire company. We observed a teacher who had selected twelve words from this photo-docu men tary (such as “bucket,” “rescue,” “collaps ed,” “off-road,” etc.) for an Infor ma tion al Element Sort activity. After the teacher read the story aloud, students sorted the words into each of the element categories.
Depending on the words selected, interesting discussions might take place as children talk about the best category for each word. In this book, “bucket” is a supporting detail that describes a piece of equipment on a pumper truck, but
Table 2. Structures of Informational Text Structure Definition Signal Words
Enumeration A major idea is supported by a list of details and examples.
for instance, for example, such as, to illustrate, another,
Time Order
A major idea is supported by details. Both major ideas and supporting details must be in a particular sequence.
at, first, next, last, before, after, finally, following
Compare and Contrast
The supporting details of two or more major ideas indicate how those concepts are similar or different.
but, different from, same as, similar to, as opposed to, instead of, however, compared with, as well as, both, while,
Cause and Effect
The supporting details give the causes of a major idea or the supporting details are the results produced by the major idea.
because of, as a result of, in order to, may be due to, effects of, therefore, consequently, for this rea son, if...then, causing, allow
Question and Answer
The major idea is posed as a question. Supporting details answer the question.
who? what? when? where? why? how?
September/October 2009 21
“buckets” is an important vocabulary word explaining how fires were fought before fire trucks were invented. Words with multiple meanings can prompt lively discus sions. Using carefully selected words from the text, teachers can engage students in a word sort that helps them internalize the five elem ents informational text.
Mapping Structure Modeling the five text structures can be facilitated with the use of infor mational text maps. The teacher, work ing with the students, can illustrate text structure by carefully arranging the major ideas and support ing details in a text map. Creat ing such a map can be easily modeled using an exemplar: a book or portions of a book that is an unambiguous example of one of the five structures.
Rosie, A Visiting Dog’s Story, a photo-documentary about the civic ideal of volunteerism, can be used as an exemplar of time order. It contains a readily identifiable text structure in which the appropriate words are used to “signal” the passage of time. The book describes the early life of Rosie, a Tibetan terrier being trained as a therapy dog.
We observed elementary students creating a time-order text
map during a discussion of Rosie. In this activity, the teacher provided the three sequen tial major ideas on the text map: puppyhood, training, and visiting clients. After discussing the major ideas, students went back into the text to find and record several related supporting details. For example, as part of her training, Rosie joined a visiting dog program at the ASPCA.
Compare and Contrast Bridges Are to Cross can be used to discuss the similarities and differences between bridges from different locations and his- torical periods. Even though the book does not directly com- pare and contrast bridges (it simply enumerates and describes several of them), the author looks at the same attributes in each case (shape, construction materials, coun try, century when built, and purpose).
For example, the author describes similar attributes for the Ponte Sant’Angelo in Rome and the Ponte Di Rialto in Venice. Students can use this information to compare and contrast these two bridges. We observed elem entary students completing a text map during a discussion of this interesting book.
C re
di t:
Ly ne
tt e
M cC
le nd
on , P
en n
St at
e H
ar ris
b ur
g.
22 Social Studies and the Young Learner
Concluding Thoughts Many teachers would agree that young students are far more familiar and comfortable with narrative text than they are with informational text. Research indicates that many students have difficulty comprehending infor mational text,13 although they crave fascinating facts. While there may be many reasons for this difficulty, one explanation is that students often do not recognize the basic underlying structure of informa tional text.14
Research indicates that a student’s com pre hension improves with explicit instruction about informational text struc ture.15 Consequently, it is important that students receive explicit instruc tion in both the elements and structures of informational text. Such instruction can help students become comfortable and familiar with the “academic language” needed for under- standing informational text and talking about it with others.
Supporting students in developing the language, strategies, and skills needed to read informational materials is a critical step in preparing them to comprehend within and across all types of text. Proficiency in compre hending informational text will help our students build the enduring skills they need to “read the world” and be successful in school, work, commu- nity, and everyday life.16
Notes 1. National Council for the Social Studies, Position Statement: “Social Studies for
Early Childhood and Elementary School Child ren Preparing for the 21st Cen tury” (June 1998), www.social studies.org/positions/elementary.
2. National Association for the Education of Young Children, “Position Statement on Developmentally Appro priate Prac tice in Early Childhood Programs” (2009), naeyc.org/about/positions/pdf/PSDAP.pdf; NCSS, 1998.
3. N. Duke and V. S. Bennett-Armistead, Reading and Writing Infor mational Text in the Elementary Grades (New York: Scholastic, 2003).
4. N. Duke, “3.6 Minutes per Day: The Scarcity of Informational Text in First Grade,” Reading Research Quarterly 35 (2000): 202-224; R. Yopp and H. Yopp, “Sharing Informational Text with Young Children,” The Reading Teacher 53, no. 5 (2000): 410-423; C. Snow, S. Burns, and P. Griffin, Preventing Reading Difficulty in Young Children (Washington, D.C: National Research Council, 1998); International Reading Association, Position Statement: “Providing Books and Other Print Materials for Classroom and School Libraries” (1998), www.reading.org/General/ AboutIRA/PositionStatements LibrariesPosition.aspx.
5. K. Mohr, “Children’s Choices for Recreational Reading: A Three-Part Investigation of Selection Preferences, Rationales, and Processes,” Journal of Literacy Research 38, no. 1 (2006): 81-104.
6. C. Pappas, “Is Narrative ‘Elementary’?: Some Insights from Kindergartners’ Pretend Readings of Stories and Inform Books,” Journal of Reading Behavior 25, (1993): 97-129.
7. National Assessment of Education Progress, The Nation’s Report Card (July 2009), nces.ed.gov/naep3.
8. Duke and Bennett-Armistead. 9. B. Marinak and L. Gambrell, “Choosing and Using Informational Text for In str-
uc tion in the Primary Grades,” in B. Guzzetti, ed., Literacy for the New Mil len nium (New York: Praeger Books, 2007).
10. L. Vygotsky, Mind in Society (Cam bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978): 10.
11. Marinak and Gambrell. 12. J. Gillett, and M. Kita, “Words, Kids, and Categories,” The Reading Teacher 32,
no. 5 (1979): 538-546; J. Zutell, “Word Study and Spelling Instruction for Elementary Grade Students,” Paper delivered at the Central Dauphin School District, Harrisburg, PA, (July 16, 1999).
13. S. Dymock, “A Comparison Study of the Effects of Text Structure Training, Reading Practice, and Guided Reading on Reading Comprehension,” In T. Shanahan and F.V. Rodriguez-Brown eds., 47th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (Chicago: NRC, 1998): 90-102; J. Williams et al., (2005). Expository Text Comprehension in the Primary Grade Classroom,” Jour nal of Educational Psychology 97, no. 4 (2005): 538-550.
14. S. Dymock and T. Nicholson, Reading Comprehension: What Is It? How Do You Teach It? (Wellington,: New Zea land Council for Educational Research, 1999); K. Hall et al., “Expository Text Comprehension,” Reading Psychology 26, (2005): 211-234.
15. J. Williams, “Instruction in Reading Comprehension for Elementary-grade Students: A Focus on Text Structure. Journal of Special Education 39, no. 1 (2005): 6-18; J. Williams, K. Hall, and K. Lauer, “Teaching Expository Text Structure to Young At-risk Learners,” Exceptionality 12, no. 3 (2004): 129-144.
16. We would like to thank the teachers and principals in the Mechanicsburg Area School District in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and the Bensalem Township School District in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, for opening their classrooms to our coach ing, research, and observations.
Children’s Books Calmenson, Stephanie. Rosie: a Visiting Dog’s Story. New York: Houghton Mifflin,
2001. Levine, Ellen. If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon. New York: Scholastic,
2006. Simon, Seymour. Fighting Fires. New York: Seastar Books, 2002. Sturges, Philemon. Bridges Are to Cross. New York: Scholastic, 1999.
Barbara A. Marinak is an assistant professor of reading in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education at Penn State Harrisburg in Har- risburg, Pennsylvania. Linda B. Gambrell is distinguished professor of education in the Eugene T. Moore School of Education at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.
An Award for Social Studies and the Young Learner
In July, the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) announced that the special 20th anniversary issue (September/October 2008) of Social Studies and the Young Learner was judged the best anniversary or commemorative issue of any educa tional journal for adults (i.e., teachers rather than students) to have been published in 2008.
This is a very distinguished award to receive, and all authors should be congratu lated, including all three former editors of SSYL who contributed short essays for the anniversary issue: Huber M. Walsh, Gloria T. Alter, and Sherry L. Field.
Turning to the NCSS flagship journal Social Education, Walter Parker’s Research and Practice column was judged the best column or department in an educational periodical for adults in 2008. This marks the first time that NCSS publications have received two number 1 awards from AEP in the same year.