The Atomization Of Literature: How Standardized Testing Is Killing Reading Instruction
Forbes Aug. 26, 2023 | 598 words
Para. 1 » 由纽约市阅读教学调整引入文章话题：阅读教学关注节选而不是全文 Para. 2-3 » 指出这种转变由来已久，在教学日程的限制下存在一定的合理性 Para. 4-5 » 强调深入研究完整文本的重要性 Para. 6-10 » 分析在高利害测验的压力下，学校和教师偏向教授应试技巧，而非阅读能力 Para. 11-12 » 讨论推动阅读教学采用节选而非全文的其他因素 Para. 13 » 再次强调问题根源在于高利害测验，如果不加以改变将对学生不利 [1]This summer, New York City schools are preparing for a shift in reading instruction, and recent reports indicate that it’s not just for lower grades, but for high schools as well. One shift in particular has caused some alarm—a shift to focusing on short excerpts rather than whole texts. [2]While it may come as a source of alarm in New York City, the shift to excerpts in place of whole texts has been going on for twenty-plus years, coinciding with the rise of the Big Standardized Test as a means of measuring student achievement in reading. [3]Balancing texts against excerpts has always been a challenge for English teachers. There are only 180 days in the year, and only so much success one can have assigning out of school reading. So compromise has always made sense. Do you really want to take a full six months to work through Moby Dick, or will it be good enough to give students just a taste? [4]Still, to really hit the high notes of literacy, teachers and students need to work through full texts. To delve into the full context, not just some key quotes. To take time to dig in and reflect on the ideas contained in the text. To discuss with fellow readers, sharing and exploring ideas, examining different perspectives and interpretations. [5]This is a critical part of becoming a literate person—to be able to dig and reflect and examine and explore a full text. To take time to do all that and then craft a thoughtful response. This should be a major part of every student’s education. [6]The problem is that none of that— none of it— is on the Big Standardized Test. [7]The basic model of the high stakes testing we’ve been subjecting students to for the past twenty-some years is this: [8]Read a short excerpt of a work that you are seeing for the first time. Answer some multiple choice questions about it, and do it, by yourself, RIGHT NOW. Move on to the next excerpt. No context, no time to reflect. Imagine sitting in a corporate office, alone, and someone emails you a single page from a multi-page contract and says, “You have sixty seconds to decide whether or not we sign this contract.” [9]If the test is already set, the best way to prepare for it is with a battery of activities that most closely resemble the test itself. And so as the Big Standardized Tests have spread, publishers have cranked out varieties of coaching workbooks, practice activity sets, and worksheets that are all collections of short excerpts accompanied by a set of multiple choice questions. Administrators have handed these to teachers, particularly those with “at risk” students facing the test soon, and said some version of “Use these. Yeah, you may have to cut a book or two from your plan for the year, but we need to get those scores up.” [10]Instead of teaching students how to read a whole book, we teach them how to take a standardized test. [11]There are certainly other forces that push teachers in the direction of excerpts over complete texts, most notably a belief that students lack the stamina or motivation. [12]One can even point the finger at a culture in which we watch clips instead of movies and read headlines instead of articles. [13]But as long as high stakes testing pushes a quick, superficial solo reaction to a context-free excerpt, schools will de-prioritize teaching reading and literacy as a reflective, collaborative, thoughtful deep dive into a complete work. And that will be a loss for students.
