Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 2 studies (1 causal, 1 quant-synthesis), q2 · 1 of 2 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description

A programme developed by William Saunders and Claude Goldenberg for English language learners that combines teacher-facilitated small-group instructional conversations with literature-log writing and sharing.

Components

• Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs intervention for English language learners: An intervention developed by William Saunders and Claude Goldenberg combining two components for English language learners. Instructional Conversations are "small-group discussions" in which teachers, "acting as facilitators", engage learners in discussion of stories, key concepts, and personal experiences. Literature Logs require learners "to write in a log in response to writing prompts or questions related to sections of stories", with responses shared in small groups or with a partner. The goal is reading comprehension ability along with English language proficiency. (What Works Clearinghouse (2006))

Claims

• The intervention showed substantively important but WWC-unconfirmed effects on English language development, with non-significant CTBS Language and Writing outcomes [+W]
• In a five-year quasi-experimental study, the intervention program showed a statistically significant positive effect on fifth-grade reading performance assessment but not on the CTBS Reading subtest [+W]
• The WWC rates Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs as having potentially positive effects on reading achievement and English language development [+W]
• Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs produce statistically significant positive effects on factual and interpretive story comprehension in a short-term randomized trial with English language learners [+W]
• When implemented alone, neither Literature Logs nor Instructional Conversations produced statistically significant comprehension effects, in contrast to the combined intervention [+W]
• The WWC improvement index is +31 percentile points for English language development and +3 percentile points for reading achievement [+W]

Related Products and Programmes

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Key Sources

• What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. (2006). Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs — WWC Intervention Report. http://crede.berkeley.edu/research/crede/research/llaa/1.5pubs.html

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	instructional-conversations-and-literature-logs
title	Instructional Conversations and Literature Logs
description	A programme developed by William Saunders and Claude Goldenberg for English language learners that combines teacher-facilitated small-group instructional conversations with literature-log writing and sharing.
status	review
moved_from	element/instructional-conversations-literature-logs-intervention
product_kind	programme
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — what-works-clearinghouse-2006

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