English Language Development

Foundational Skills

Ideally by the time students enter grade seven, their knowledge of
foundational skills is well established. They have a large base of sight
words, and they rapidly and effectively employ word recognition skills
to identify new printed words. Fluency, which includes accuracy, rate,
and prosody, continues to develop as students engage in wide and
extensive reading. Rate of reading varies, as it should, with the text
and the task. Based on an extensive study of oral reading fluency,
Hasbrouck and Tindal (2006) recommend that students scoring more
than 10 words below the 50th percentile receive additional instruction
that targets fluency. See figure 6.21.

Figure 6.21. Mean Oral Reading Rate of Grade Seven Students

Percentile Fall WCPM* Winter WCPM* Spring WCPM* Avg. Weekly

Improvement**

90

75

180

156

195

165

202

177

0.7

0.7

50 128 136 150 0.7

25

10

102

79

109

88

123

98

0.7

0.6

*WCPM = Words Correct Per Minute **Average words per week growth

Source

Hasbrouck, Jan, and Gerald A. Tindal. 2006. “Oral Reading Fluency Norms: A Valuable Assessment Tool for

Reading Teachers.” The Reading Teacher 57: 646–655.

Fluency rates should be cautiously interpreted with all students. See the discussion of fluency in
the overview of the span in this chapter and the section on supporting students strategically. The
primary way to support students’ fluency is to ensure accuracy in decoding and engagement in wide,
extensive reading of texts that are neither too simple nor too challenging. In addition, students should
have authentic reasons to reread text because rereading also supports fluency.

For information on teaching foundational skills to middle school students who need it, see the
section on supporting students strategically in the overview of this chapter. See also chapter 9 on
access and equity.

English Language Development in Grade Seven

The instructional program for EL students, including designated ELD, should anticipate and prepare
students for the linguistic and academic challenges of the grade-seven curricula. An intensive focus on
language, in ways that build into and from content instruction, supports students’ ability to use English
effectively in a range of disciplines, raises their awareness of how English works in those disciplines,
and enhances their understanding of content knowledge. In content instruction with integrated ELD,
all teachers with ELs in their classrooms use the CA ELD Standards to augment the instruction they
provide. English learners at the Emerging level of English language proficiency, particularly ELs who
are new to the U.S. and to English, engage in the same cognitively and linguistically demanding
coursework as their non-EL peers. However, teachers provide support to newcomer ELs that is
responsive to their particular needs.

Grade 7 Chapter 6 | 597