Explain lexile levels
About Lexile® Measures for Reading
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Skip to main contentLexile measures provide educators with an interpretive — not prescriptive — tool for measuring student growth and predicting future success. The idea behind the Lexile® Framework for Reading is simple: if we know how well a student can read and how hard a specific book is to comprehend, we can predict how well that student will likely understand that book.
There are two Lexile measures: the Lexile reading measure and the Lexile text measure.
A student gets a Lexile reading measure from a reading test or program. For example, if a student receives an 880L on their end-of-grade reading test, their Lexile reading measure is 880L. More than 65 popular reading assessments and programs and 25 state assessments report Lexile reading measures.
A book, article or piece of text gets a Lexile text measure when it’s analyzed by MetaMetrics®. For example, the first Harry Potter book measures 880L, so its Lexile text measure is 880L.
The Lexile Scale
The Lexile Framework measures students and texts on the same developmental scale to seamlessly match readers to targeted texts.
When the Shoe FitsYou know your shoe size. But imagine how frustrating it would be to try to buy shoes if you couldn’t find out what size they were.
The same goes for non-Lexile reading scores. A student scored “286” in reading, for example— what would that mean? How would that student find materials to match a “286”?
That’s what makes the Lexile Framework for Reading different from other reading scales. It comes to life when you match a Lexile reading measure with a Lexile text measure. The Lexile scale is like a thermometer from below 0L for beginner readers to above 2000L.
The Lexile measure is shown as a number with an “L” after it — 880L indicates an 880 Lexile measure. When a Lexile text measure matches a Lexile reading measure, this is called a “targeted” reading experience. The reader will likely have some challenge with the text, but not enough to get frustrated. This is the best way to grow as a reader — with text that’s not too hard but not too easy.
Lexile measures provide educators with valuable information about students’ abilities, as well as the difficulty of a text, such as a book or a magazine article. Here are just a few ways educators use Lexile measures:
- Personalize learning. Educators best serve students when they treat them like individuals. They can personalize learning by using free Lexile resources to connect students with materials in their Lexile range, or reading comprehension “sweet spot,” which is from 100L below to 50L above their reported Lexile measure.
- Differentiate instruction. When all students in a classroom are using the same textbook, Lexile measures help teachers predict which students might need extra help, and which ones might need enrichment (see the following Forecasted Comprehension figure).
- Communicate with parents. Lexile measures offer educators a way to communicate with parents about their children’s progress. When parents know their child’s Lexile measure, they can use that information at home to connect their child with reading material. Educators can direct parents to additional Lexile parent resources.
These are just a few of the ways educators work with Lexile measures. Please read about all the ways that Lexile measures can work for you.
Forecasted Comprehension
The Lexile Framework helps teachers forecast students' comprehension of a text by knowing their Lexile reading measures.
Introduction - Reading and Lexile Scores
What is a Lexile Score?
A Lexile score is a standard score that matches a Grade 1-12 student’s reading ability with the difficulty of the reading material.
When the reader's score and that of the reading material are the same, the student is expected to read with 75% comprehension – difficult enough to be challenging without undue frustration and to encourage reading progress.
Scores range from 200 to 1700.
Lexile measures are a measure of text difficulty. They do not address age-appropriateness, student interest or the quality of the text.
Google does not use Lexile scores, and while in the past Google Advanced Search used to rate websites as beginning, intermediate or advanced reading level - Google no longer offers this feature. However, an alternative way to search and obtain results with reading levels marked is here: Choosito.com Search.
This site http://www.lexile.com/ will let you enter your lexile level range and find a list of books that not only meet your lexile requirements, but your interests, i.e. social issues or technology, and your age range. However, the age range is limited to 18 years and younger.
You can also see if a particular book is listed to learn the lexile level.
Sample Lexile Texts
Examples of Reading Levels
This Lexile map shows texts matched to levels of reading ability. The literature titles and reading selections are examples that range from 200L to 1700L on the Lexile scale.
Lexile Grade Level
Lexile-to-Grade Correspondence
Student's Guide to Lexiles
This guide gives Grades 1-12 students practical information about Lexiles—what they are, what they mean, and how students can use them to find reading materials that match their reading abilities and interests.
Perhaps you already recognize the term “Lexile” as the reading level number for an article in an EBSCOhost database search. Or maybe you know that a Lexile is a measure of your reading ability based on your score from a reading test.
But do you know what the number really means?
How Can Lexiles Help Me Find Reading Materials?
Lexiles can help you find books and articles based on your individual reading ability and interests. For example, if you are a 980L reader, you should be able to read and understand most texts at this level. It is best to find materials within a range of 100L below and 50L above your Lexile measure. Texts below 980L will be easier to read; texts above 980L will be more challenging.
I don’t know my Lexile measure. Can I get a Lexile measure from EBSCOhost, based on the magazines I like to read?
If you or your teachers do not know your actual Lexile measure, you can use a school library or public library EBSCOhost database to estimate your reading ability. Log into EBSCOhost on your library’s computer and choose a database with Lexiles, such as Primary Search, Middle Search Plus or MAS Ultra.
On the Basic Search screen, check Full Text, then type in a magazine name in the Publication field. Click Search. EBSCOhost will bring up all of the articles from that magazine. Each article will have a different Lexile measure, which will give you a general idea of the magazine’s reading level.
Lexile Framework for Reading GL Education Group (April 14, 2011)
Examples of Reading Levels (Framework)
This Lexile map shows texts matched to levels of reading ability. The literature titles and reading selections are examples that range from 200L to 1700L on the Lexile scale.
Lexile Framework for Reading for Parents and Educators
The educators and researchers at MetaMetrics created the Lexile Framework for Reading to transform the world of education with a research-driven, scientific system to help all readers navigate the path to success in school, college and careers.
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How to explain new vocabulary in an English lesson: Methodology and example of use
Working with vocabulary is an important part of any English lesson, and vocabulary itself requires a separate approach to learning. As a teacher, it is convenient for me to have a ready-made model for working with new words, which I simply adapt to different levels and ages of students.
Let's look at a universal method of presenting new words in an English lesson, which will help to select and present relevant vocabulary on any topic.
Decide what you want to teach
Sometimes it is difficult for a teacher to decide what words to teach in a lesson: there are many words and not all of them will be relevant for students.
Before choosing the words that you will study in the lesson, I recommend paying attention to the following:
- the level of students and their age;
- guess if the students might have come across these words before;
- vocabulary difficulty level: pronunciation, meaning, is it an abstract or concrete concept;
- is it easy to explain the meaning or show the word;
- learning objective: students will use the word actively (speaking and writing) or passively (learn by reading and listening).
By answering these questions, you will be able to figure out how many new words you can use for your lesson.
Present new English words
Scott Thornberry in the book “How to teach vocabulary” talks about the order in which new words are presented: meaning first, then form, or else
form first, then value.
When using the order "meaning - form" you can demonstrate the word and then name it, "form - meaning" - name the word, and then demonstrate or explain it.
Traditionally, when learning new vocabulary, teachers use the method of translating a word into their native language. Yes, this is the fastest way, but not very efficient.
When studying specific concepts, I prefer to show a picture that depicts a word or a real object, you can also use gesture and body language, explain or present vocabulary in the context of the situation. These methods are especially good if you are working with low level students and multicultural groups.
To study abstract concepts, I use synonyms or antonyms to explain the meaning of a word, give a few sentences, or come up with a situation that illustrates the meaning. You can also use facial expressions and drawing on the board for a more colorful presentation of abstract concepts.
Example:
How to present vocabulary on the topic
Now I want to share with you an example of the presentation of vocabulary on a specific topic - take the topic “Seafood”.
It is suitable for the Intermediate level and for teens + using a technique called PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) and visual aids (pictures).
| Creating context | Ask students: “Do you like cooking?/ Do you like cooking or eating seafood?” |
| Conveying meaning | Show the pictures with seafood to students and ask: “Do you like these seafood products?” |
| Eliciting meaning | How are they called? |
| Concept questions | Salmon: Is it medium-sized fish? Is it silver? Is it red inside? Mussels: Are they sea creatures? Are they black? Prawn: Does it have 10 legs? Is it big? Crab: Does it have 5 pairs of legs around its body? Squid: Does it have a long body? Does it have 10 arms around its mouse? Tuna: Is it large? Does it live in warm water? |
| Modeling pronunciation | Pronounce the words and then ask students to repeat them. |
| Highlighting pronunciation | (optional) |
| Drilling | Students answer the questions using full sentences: Do you like eating prawns? Do you often buy salmon? Are you going to cook mussels tonight? How often do you eat tuna? Can you cook crab? Can you give the list of ingredients for the salad with squid? |
| Highlighting the form | a prawn-prawns a mussel-mussels a crab - crabs a squid - squids a tuna - tunas a salmon - salmon |
| Writing down | Students write down the words into their worksheets. |
The pictures with seafoodDownload
The method of presenting new vocabulary in class will help your students not only memorize English words, but remember their meaning and the context or situation in which they are appropriate to use.
Experiment, use different methods and materials to diversify your English lessons and find the most effective ways to teach new words for your students 🙂
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How to explain new vocabulary without using your native language
Five and a half years ago I moved to Croatia and immediately started working there as a teacher of Russian and English at the school of foreign languages. Everything would be fine, only I didn’t know Croatian, and they immediately gave me the initial group of English. Can you imagine?
I had to teach Croatian English without knowing Croatian! “That's the problem,” I thought, but there was nowhere to retreat.
During my work, I have used many methods that have helped me teach a foreign language and present new vocabulary without using my students' native language.
Let's see which of the methods I've tried turned out to be the most effective.
Visual aids - pictures, posters, emoticons, objects
One of the easiest and most understandable ways to explain a new word is to show it with an object or a picture. This approach requires preliminary preparation: you need to find a suitable picture, print it (preferably in color) and, if necessary, plasticize or laminate.
If there is a computer and a projector in the class, show the desired picture by displaying it on the board.
In extreme cases, the desired object can simply be depicted on the board.
This is how I introduced the English alphabet to my first elementary English group in Croatia. For each letter there was a word, for each word there was a picture. I also entered the seasons, weather, days of the week (showing the desired day on the calendar), clothes, etc.
Gestures and facial expressions
Mimicry and gestures are an integral part of every lesson, especially when it comes to explaining new vocabulary.
Let's take the example from the previous paragraph - the explanation of the alphabet. I showed the picture, said the word (let's take the word apple ), the students repeated it after me. The next question is: “Do you like apples?” I explained the word like by folding my hands into a heart, or by smiling and showing thumbs up.
Use facial expressions to explain feelings, emotions, states ( tired, sick, sad, excited, thoughtful, etc. ), gestures - to explain or give a task: listen (put your hand to your ear), write (corresponding hand gesture), read (run your finger over the lines as if you are reading), - or show the meaning of the verb: hug (show a hug), shake hands (shake hands), etc .
Movements
When facial expressions and gestures are not enough, use body movements to help students guess what is being said.
This method is suitable for explaining the meanings of individual verbs ( run - the teacher runs, jump - the teacher jumps, etc.), as well as phrases and phrases ( drive a car - the teacher shows how he drives a car , rush to the door - the teacher quickly approaches the door, perform on the stage - the teacher shows that he is standing on the stage and performing).
Synonyms
Use synonyms to explain vocabulary to higher level students. For example, exhausted can be explained by giving synonyms tired, worn out, wasted . At the same time, it is important to clarify the emotional coloring of the word (the word exhausted has a stronger emotional meaning than the word tired , for example).
Definition in English
Many concepts, words, set phrases can be simply defined in English.
In this case, remember that your language must match the level of the students.
To diversify the presentation of vocabulary, let the students find out what this word means - give them an example and ask them to choose a synonym in English: “You have been working for 12 hours straight, you have no energy left, you are exhausted ", - Can you find synonyms for this word?
*To make things easier for yourself and your students, use more than one method at the same time. Explain the word in English and at the same time show what you explain. For example, accompany the explanation of the word exhausted with facial expressions and gestures (you run your hand over your forehead, showing that you are very tired).
Games
To make introducing new vocabulary more fun, play!
Here's a great idea for a fun word learning team game:
Divide the group into teams.
- each team receives several cards with new vocabulary (the number is optional).
Each card has one new word/phrase and its explanation.
- the team must come up with 2 more explanations for the word, which will be incorrect. As a result, the card will contain 2 incorrect and 1 correct explanation.
- teams take turns reading the words and their explanations and their opponents must determine the correct definition. The one with the most points wins!
Useful life hacks
Be prepared for the fact that explaining vocabulary in English can seem overwhelming to many. I remember how after the first English lesson, in which everything was only in English, my students were, to put it mildly, shocked. And there were disciples who opposed this, since such a state of affairs seemed impossible to them. I offer several life hacks for working with such students:
“I don’t understand”
Do students continue to speak Russian, referring to the fact that they cannot explain a certain word in English? Say: " I don't understand you ".
After a few repetitions, they will get used to and understand the rules of the game.
Explain it differently
Another common situation when students ask: “How will it be…?”. It seems to them that they simply need this word and without it they will not be able to express a thought. But we know that almost everything can be said differently.
Ask students to explain their thought in other words, using gestures, body movements, whatever. If this seems impossible to them, show how you would explain what they want to say. By doing so, you set a good example and show that there are always several ways to express your thought.
In conclusion, I would like to say that when I started teaching, I myself did not really understand how it was possible to teach only in English. With experience, I realized that this is the only correct option in which students can really speak a foreign language.
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We have been developing the magazine on our own for more than 2 years, and now we really need your support!
If our materials at least once turned out to be useful to you, if you used them in your lessons and delighted students with fresh ideas, you can tell us “Thank you” and make any contribution to our work that is comfortable for you in the form of a donation.
