Chapter 4: Language Factors in Literacy Achievement of Young Adolescents:

Middle grade students occupy a unique set of school experiences as they enter the transitional period between the nurturing, protected atmosphere of the elementary grades and the tracked, focused environment of the secondary grades. These young adolescents, usually in Grades 5-8, are caught “in the middle” and require reading and writing activities that reflect the transitional nature of their lives and the differentiated nature of their educational needs (Atwell, 1998; Carroll, 2004; National Middle School Association, NMSA, 2003).

In general, the bulk of reading activities in the middle school classroom and reading assignments for independent work occurs in the content areas such as science, math, history, and health. In these classes, young adolescents are challenged to integrate new information into existing background knowledge creating new schema organizations and situation models to remember facts and generate reflective comments. This process is difficult to master without a solid foundation in vocabulary knowledge to comprehend the message and literacy strategies to decode the text. Successful learners must master five essential components of proficient reading, including vocabulary, comprehension, word identification, fluency, and listening skills (National Reading Panel, 2000; Richgels, 2004), all of which are based on language elements. Students who can express their ideas through oral language have an advantage over those who have do not have this ability (Catts & Kamhi, 2004; Gee, 2001; Vukelich, Christie, & Enz, 2002). Those who do not have appropriate language bases will benefit from the opportunity for preparation and rehearsal through oral language in classroom literacy activities (Falk-Ross, 2002; Friend & Bursuck, 2005). Another important factor is that teachers’ perceptions of students’ language variation in educational contexts that influence the types of assessment and instruction that occur in the classroom (Haig & Oliver, 2003). Therefore, in middle level education, where high levels of literacy achievement are at the heart of content area learning, a strong language base is the lifeblood, which keeps the system of learning fluid through the foundational reading, writing, and thinking tasks that characterize all learning activities.