Republic of the Philippines

SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Graduate School
ACCESS, EJC Montilla, Tacurong City

HOW TO IMPROVE
SCHOLARLY WRITING

TEACHING DESIGNS IVAN T.

AND ASSESSMENT BARROGA
MAT-ENGLISH 1
 What is
ETHNICITY?
2
 Ethnicity is a concept referring to
“ a shared culture and a way of
life. This can be reflected in
language, religion, material
culture such as clothing and
cuisine, and cultural products
such as music and art.
3
 👪
KEY CONCEPT
It is important to note that
ethnic differences are not
independent of SES differences
because there are clear ethnic
differences in family income
👨👩
and years of education. 4
 The Role of Ethnicity in Language
and Literacy Acquisition

Ethnic differences largely mirror those for

SES; White and Asian students demonstrate
higher levels of achievement than Black or
Hispanic students; differences in the level of
opportunity prior to first grade are apparent.
5
MEDIAN INCOME BETWEEN WHITE AMERICAN
AND ASIAN (Webster & Bishaw, 2006)

White Asian

$44,850 $48,683

6
MEDIAN INCOME BETWEEN BLACK AMERICAN
AND HISPANIC (Webster & Bishaw, 2006)

Black Hispanic

$34,433 $27,380

7
PERCENTAGES OF U.S. CITIZENS OLDER THAN 25
WHO HAVE A BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR HIGHER
(DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Lee, 2006)

26%- WHITE
AMERICAN
14%- BLACK AMERICAN

44%- ASIAN
100%
10%- HISPANIC
Total success!
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 THE ROLE OF ETHNICITY IN LANGUAGE
AND LITERACY ACQUISITION
Thus, whenever an ethnic
or racial difference emerges,
we must first consider the
extent to which these
differences are due to income
and educational differences in
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the families.
1 👪
SPOKEN LANGUAGE
DIFFERENCES
10
 SPOKEN LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES

Pan, Rowe, Spier, and Tamis-LeMonda

(2004) found that White mothers reported
that their 2-year old had larger productive
vocabularies than Black or Hispanic
mothers reported for their children.
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 SPOKEN LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES

Similarly, Roberts, Burchinal, and Durham

(1999) found that, on average, Black children
in their longitudinal study fell at the 53rd
percentile when they were 18-month old, the
45th percentile when they were 24-month old,
and the 27th percentile when they were 30-
month old. 12
 SPOKEN LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES

Together, these studies of low-income children

suggest that ethnic differences are not large at the
earliest phases of language acquisition but are still
detectable by age 2. By the time children enter first
grade, a variety of measures reveal ethnic
differences in spoken language that are moderately
large and consistent. 13
2 📖
READING
14
 READING

In 2005, several hundred thousand

children in the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades
were given an assessment based on a
theoretical framework designed by experts
in reading.
15
 READING
The National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) for reading revealed that
White (M= 229) and Asian(M= 229) 4th
graders performed significantly better than
Black (M = 200) and Hispanic (M= 203) 4th
graders (Donahue, Daane, & Jin, 2005).
16
 READING
It is also notable that whereas the means for
White and Asian students correspond
(unimpressively) to the high end of the basic
level, the means for Black and Hispanic
students fell just below the cutoff for the basic
level.
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 READING
At the 8th grade, the story was pretty much
the same. White and Asian students (M’s of
271 and 271, respectively) performed
significantly better than Black and Hispanic
students (M’s of 243 and 246, respectively).
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 READING
Whereas the 2005 NAEP did not assess the
reading skills of 12th graders, the 2002 NAEP did
include this age group. As was found for younger
ages, White and Asian students (M’s = 292, 286,
respectively) performed significantly better than
Black and Hispanic students (M’s = 267, 273,
respectively). 19
3
WRITING
20
 WRITING
In 2002, the writing skills of 276,000
students at the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades were
assessed. Children were given timed writing
tasks to perform such as completing a story
about a child discovering a castle in his or her
backyard, or writing a persuasive argument to
a friend. 21
 WRITING
Scores could range between 0 and 300, and
specific ranges of scores corresponded to basic,
proficient, and advanced levels. Scores ranging
between 115 and 175 were assigned to the basic
level, scores ranging between 176 and 224 were
assigned to the proficient level, and scores above
224 were assigned to the advanced level. 22
 WRITING

The average scores for White, Asian, Black,

and Hispanic 4th graders were 161, 167, 140,
and 141, respectively

23
 WRITING

At the 8th grade, the effect sizes between the

two higher scoring groups (White, Asian) and
two lower scoring groups (Black, Hispanic)
were approximately d = 0.72; at the 12th
grade, the effect sizes were approximately d =
0.63. 24
 WRITING

Thus, the ethnic gap seemed to become

smaller over time, but the finding for 12th
graders could once again reflect the higher rate
of dropping out in Black and Hispanic
students.
25
4 📌
PROPENSITY
DIFFERENCES
26
PROPENSITY DIFFERENCES

Why are White and Asian children

more likely than Black or Hispanic
children to come to first grade with the
propensities they need to benefit from
literacy instruction?
27
We have seen that
differing preschool
opportunities lead to
their having differing
levels of the
prerequisite skills
needed to be placed
in more advanced
reading groups.

28
Children in these
groups do not differ
in their motivational
profiles, so they all
seem equally willing
to engage in learning
opportunities in first
grade.

29
BYRNES AND MILLER (2007) SUBDIVIDED
THE PROPENSITY TO LEARN INTO:

WHITE BLACK
NO ETHNIC
COGNITIVE NO ETHNIC DIFFERENCE
DIFFERENCE
STRONGER
NO REPORTED
MOTIVATION MOTIVATION TO
DIFFERENCE
READ
ATTENTIVE,
SELF- PERSISTENT, EAGER TO LOWER SELF-
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REGULATORY LEARN AND FLEXIBLE REGULATION
SUMMARY

Ethnic differences in language skills start off fairly

small and grow over time. By the time children enter
first grade, there are already appreciable differences
in their literacy skills, as well. These differences
emerge because children of well-educated parents
experience more frequent opportunities to acquire
language and literacy skills.

31
REFERENC
ES:

Byrnes, J.P. & Wasik, A.B.

(2009). Language and
literacy development:
What educators need to
know. New York: The
Guilford Press.

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THANKS!
Any questions?

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