• Children learn words that they experience. This is one of the clear benefits of reading authentic texts—they expose children to words not normally heard in child-directed speech. An analysis of a picture book database demonstrates that the vocabulary in picture books includes many more rare, complex words (also known as Tier II and Tier III words) than found in child-directed speech. Tier II and III words tend to be more complex and cognitively challenging than common words and, therefore, provide children with an opportunity to stretch their vocabulary (Adams, 2011; Hayes 1996), • Making reading material for children easier—shortening the sentences and using phonetically regular vocabulary—“denies students the very language, information, and modes of thought they need most to move up and on” (Adams, 2011). • In general, authentic text materials are intrinsically more interesting and more stimulating in comparison to contrived texts, as authentic texts reflect the real culture, knowledge, and values of the sociocultural community in which they were written (Baniabdelrahman, 2005). More to Know: Tackling Complex Texts Language researcher Freddy Hiebert (2012) lists a set of teaching actions to help students engage with complex texts and glean the support they need to develop as more capable readers in control of even domain-specific, challenging texts. These teaching actions include: • Consistent opportunities with texts that support capacity with core vocabulary. • Direct instruction that extends vocabularies in informational and narrative texts. • Opportunities to increase reading stamina. • Support in developing funds of knowledge (the background knowledge necessary to comprehend the textual content). Students’ ability to handle complex texts doesn’t necessarily develop in a linear fashion. For example, if our students are deeply interested in humpback whales, their interest may sustain them in a text on that topic that otherwise would be too challenging. In general, teachers will want to look for ways to stretch students’ experience across a range of texts, keeping in mind their students’ motivation, knowledge, prior reading, and the natural redundancy of whole texts (Goodman and Bridges, 2014; Bridges, 2013). What Is Close Reading? Kylene Beers and Bob Probst (2013) offer a commonsense explanation: “Close reading should suggest close attention to the text; close attention to the relevant experience, thought, and memory of the reader; close attention to the responses and interpretations of other readers; and close attention to the interactions among those elements.” They offer five characteristics of close reading:
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CHAPTER 4: TEXT
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