All Children Reading

Lessons from the Kom MLE Project in Cameroon

Steve Walter – SIL/GIAL (steve_walter@gial.edu)

Thematic Foci Language of Instruction

Teacher quality/training

Presuppositions Reading entails comprehension.

Reading is vastly easier to teach when the target language of reading instruction is one the learner understands and speaks well.

Language learning and learning to read are NOT one and the same activity(ies).

Background and Context In the (anglophone) North West Region of Cameroon Approx. 250,000 speakers The Kom language is the primary language of communication in the area. Almost all teachers are Kom speakers as are most administrative personnel One teacher training ‘college’ in the Division.

History and Design of Project

Early experience with MT education. Permission granted for an early exit model of MLE. Some Baseline studies—ToT, Reading fluency, and Reading Comprehension—completed in 2006. Experimental project launched in 2007. Mother tongue primary language of instruction in Grades 1-3 with English taught as a subject. All instruction in English from Grade 4 and on. 12 experimental and 12 comparison schools. KEPP = Kom Experimental Pilot Project

Primary Research Questions

1. Will a mother tongue instructional program in a developing country achieve improvements in educational outcomes similar to those seen in well-implemented models in developed countries?

2. What happens to the development of proficiency in L2 in a MTB-MLE program in a developing country?

3. How viable is the early exit MLE model in a developing country context?

4. What are the implications for MLE education when teachers are minimally prepared and skilled?

Documentation and Assessment Yearly end-of-year assessments done with research reports written and filed at various levels. The yearly assessments focused primarily on English, reading, and math. Content drawn from the curriculum (grade-level learning outcomes) All assessments (except some in Grade 3) were prepared and administered in the language of instruction. All testing was done by non-school personnel—adult literacy instructors, retired teachers, former teachers, etc.

Results for 2008 and 2009 – Oral English and Reading

Mean-

Comp.

Mean-

Exp, Gain (%) ES (D)

Grade 1

Language

Arts/Reading 8.4 62.8 648 2.79

English (oral) 35.4 52.5 48 .708

Grade 2

Language

Arts/Reading 26.2 51.5 98.6 1.203

English (Oral) 51.0 59.5 16.7 .410

Results for 2010 (Grade 3) – Language Arts and Reading

Mean

Comp.

Mean-

Exp,

Gain

(%) ES (D)

Language Arts

All Language Arts

(in English) 19.9 40.6 104 1.400

All Language Arts

(Kom) - 65.6 230 1.970

Reading comprehension when…

Reading in English 17.4 38.9 124 1.043

Reading in Kom - 66.4 282 2.070

Achievement in Reading Comprehension – Grade 3

967248240

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Comprehension

Pe

rce

nt

Grade 3 Reading Comprehension - English Only

1007550250

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Comprehension

Pe

rce

nt

Grade 3 Reading Comprehension - KEPP

Results for 2011 and 2012 – Language Arts and Reading

Mean

Comp.

Mean-

Exp,

Gain

(%) ES (D)

Grade 4

All Language Arts 28.1 38.9 38.4 .888

Reading

Comprehension 27.3 34.9 27.8 .565

Grade 5

All Language Arts 26.5 34.9 31.7 .777

Reading

Comprehension 28.2 36.6 29.8 .654

Reading Comprehension in English – Grade 5

847260483624120

40

30

20

10

0

847260483624120

ENGLISH

Reading Comprehension

Pe

rce

nt

KEPP

Panel variable: program

Reading Comprehension - Grade 5 (by MLE History)

Reading Comprehension in English: Grade 5 if Performance Were Based on Random Guessing

Reading Comprehension Across 5 Years and Two Languages

Distribution of Performance for Grade 5 Students by Model – the Hidden Impact

Plot of Effect Sizes for Reading Comprehension Across 5 Years and Two Languages

Reading Comprehension: a somewhat closer look

Texts of Differential Difficulty

Text 1 – “The Fire” Found in Grade 5 textbook/reader Locally themed Simple vocabulary Simple descriptive narrative with no embedded plot All immediate mood Estimated level of difficulty by US standards: 2.5 – 3.

Text 2 – “Tenali and the Thieves” Contains an embedded plot Narrative plus reflection, planning, scheming, etc. Estimated level of difficulty by US standards: 3.5

Comprehension Rates for Two Texts – Class 5

Comprehension of Various Text Features: Grade 5 (A less difficult text – “The Fire”)

Comprehension of Various Text Features: Grade 5 (A more difficult text – “Tenali”)

Mastery of English Vocabulary – Class 5

And What About the Teachers?

120100806040

50

40

30

20

10

0

Percent Comprehension

Pe

rce

nt

Mean 90

StDev 13.92

N 165

Normal

Performance Reading a Level 3.5 Text

Performance of Teacher Trainees Reading a Grade 3.5 Text

Performance of Teacher Trainees Reading a Grade 9 Text

806040200

25

20

15

10

5

0

Comprehension

Pe

rce

nt

Mean 50.12

StDev 17.11

N 165

Normal

Performance Reading a Level 9 Text

Text Difficulty and Comprehension: Level 3 Teacher Trainees

English Vocabulary Mastery: Level 3 Teacher Trainees

Best Predictors of Reading Comprehension

For the Grade 3 Text: Mastery of Grade 4 Vocabulary (R-sq = 14%)

For the Grade 9 Text: Mastery of Academic Vocabulary (R-sq = 22.5%)

English Vocabulary Mastery: Level 3 Teacher Trainees vs. Class 5 Children

Answering the Research Questions

1. Will a mother tongue instructional program in a developing country achieve improvements in educational outcomes similar to those seen in well-implemented models in developed countries? In the Kom case, the advantage in educational outcomes has been high AS LONG AS instruction continued in L1. Gains (relative improvement) of more than 60 percent are common. 2. What happens to the development of proficiency in L2 in a mother tongue program in a developing country?

Children in the L1-based MLE program have consistently demonstrated an advantage in reading comprehension, oral proficiency and general lexical knowledge of L2. This advantage persists at a statistically significant level at least two years after the MT instruction has creased.

Answering the Research Questions

3. How viable is the early exit MLE model in a developing country context?

Early exit MLE programs in developing countries appear to demonstrate deficiencies similar to those seen in similar experimental work in the US. Children are not yet ready for all-L2 instruction after 3 years in L1.

4. What are the implications for MLE education when teachers are minimally prepared and skilled?

Teachers cannot teach what they themselves do not know. Knowledge and skill in Reading and in English of the teachers appears to be approximately that of Grade 6 children in the US. (In math their level is approximately Grade 3-4.)

Teacher effectiveness is significantly enhanced when teaching in L1 and reduced when teaching in L2.

A Few Thoughts on Implementation and Sustainability

Need a tolerant or supportive national policy Implement one-way developmental programs Implement where the population is linguistically homogeneous, sizable, and current educational achievement is low Decentralize: Authority for Implementation as well as resources MUST be at a provincial or lower level Provincial level language panels for curriculum development, teacher training, literature development, other technical inputs External inputs (technical assistance) at the provincial level Rework the role and contribution of TT institutions Rationalize (strip down) the curriculum Develop teachers who are more solid in L2 Develop more adequate curricula for learning L2 (only one needed per L2) Put small libraries of reading material in TT institutions and require substantial reading activity