Explicit and evidence-based literacy instruction in middle school: an observation study

As evidenced by national data, a large proportion of students in middle school, content area classrooms in the United States (U.S.) may be considered developing readers. Evidence-based literacy practices and explicit instructional practices can support these students' literacy development. Yet, research suggests that teachers often miss opportunities to integrate evidence-based literacy practices to support students' access to text, and little is known about middle school teachers' use of explicit instructional practices. In this observation study, we document 17 U.S. middle school teachers' use of both explicit instructional practices and evidence-based literacy practices across 51 lessons in general education language arts, science, and social studies classrooms. We find that most explicit instructional practices and literacy practices were infrequently utilized across all content areas; within some content areas, some of these important practices were not used at all. We discuss the contexts in which explicit instruction and/or evidenced-based literacy instruction did occur, and the importance of school-wide literacy models and related professional learning opportunities to increase middle school content-area teachers' ability to support developing readers.