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In this commentary, we identify a phonics-first ideology and its polemical distortions of research and science to promote legislation that constrains and diminishes the teaching of reading. We affirm our own, and a majority of reading... more
In this commentary, we identify a phonics-first ideology and its polemical distortions of research and science to promote legislation that constrains and diminishes the teaching of reading. We affirm our own, and a majority of reading professionals’, commitment to teaching phonics. However, we argue that phonics instruction is more effective when embedded in a more comprehensive program of literacy instruction that accommodates students’ individual needs and multiple approaches to teaching phonics—a view supported by substantial research. After summarizing the politicization of phonics in the United States, we critique a legislated training course for teachers in Tennessee as representative of how a phonics-first ideology is expressed polemically for political purposes. We contrast it with a more collaboratively developed, balanced, nonlegislative approach in the previous governor’s administration. Specifically, the training course (a) makes an unfounded claim that there is a nation...
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ABSTRACT Purposes – To examine the literature on alternative assessments for evaluating student learning in practical classroom learning experiences. To recommend areas of literacy development where additional assessment is needed.Design... more
ABSTRACT Purposes – To examine the literature on alternative assessments for evaluating student learning in practical classroom learning experiences. To recommend areas of literacy development where additional assessment is needed.Design – A review of literature on formative and performance assessment is provided and supplemented with samples of assessments recommended in the literature review.Practical implications – Legislative and political mandates for accountability in student learning increase the need for teachers to understand and apply classroom screening, diagnostic, and progress-monitoring assessments. Teachers can use the information provided to think more carefully about the use of alternative assessments in their elementary and middle school classrooms.Value – This chapter provides a frame of reference for informing teachers’ thinking about alternative assessments and suggests the need for classroom assessments to measure aspects of literacy development not frequently assessed.
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Abstract: This publication offers the 56th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). This Yearbook begins with a preface and presents profiles of three awardees, Michael C. McKenna, Douglas K. Hartman, and Michael Kamil. Included... more
Abstract: This publication offers the 56th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (NRC). This Yearbook begins with a preface and presents profiles of three awardees, Michael C. McKenna, Douglas K. Hartman, and Michael Kamil. Included in this Yearbook are the following papers:(1) What's It All About? Literacy Research and Civic Responsibility (Victoria Purcell-Gates);(2) An Historical Analysis of the Impact of Educational Research on Policy and Practice: Reading as an Illustrative Case (P. David Pearson);(3) Reciprocal ...
The purpose of this research was to investigate instructional conditions aimed at improving future teachers' reflective thinking, to systematically trace how features of a guided instructional procedure influenced... more
The purpose of this research was to investigate instructional conditions aimed at improving future teachers' reflective thinking, to systematically trace how features of a guided instructional procedure influenced these teachers' pedagogical reasoning. The reflective thinking protocol that formed the basis of the instructional approach was built on a clear definition of reflection as a process, individual and collaborative, involving experience
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A study investigated the effectiveness of using thematic organisers to increase the reading comprehensioi,of poor readers. The thematic organiser was wed, to expendthe,reeders' prior knowledge by defining the implied thematic concept... more
A study investigated the effectiveness of using thematic organisers to increase the reading comprehensioi,of poor readers. The thematic organiser was wed, to expendthe,reeders' prior knowledge by defining the implied thematic concept and presenting relevant examples of that concept. Twenty-four fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students who had bun classified as below-average readers are assigned to one Of two remedial' reading tutorial groups. The tutors'for these groups used the same teaching'script with the following exception: tutors in the experimental condition used a thematic organiser with their reading assignments, while, tutors in the caparison group.used a sit of, prereadang questions. Analyses of pretest and posttest comprebensionscores-shoed that the students in thil experimental group performed significantly better than the students in the comparisongroup ontliteraI retellings, inferential retillinio, literal recall questions, and inferential questions. Th...
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A study investigated the effectiveness of using thematic organizers to increase the reading comprehension of poor readers. The thematic organizer was used to expand the readers' prior knowledge by defining the implied thematic concept... more
A study investigated the effectiveness of using thematic organizers to increase the reading comprehension of poor readers. The thematic organizer was used to expand the readers' prior knowledge by defining the implied thematic concept and presenting relevant examples of that concept. Twenty-four fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students who had been classified as below-average readers were assigned to one of two remedial reading tutorial groups. The tutors for these groups used the same teaching script with the following exception: tutors in the experimental condition used a thematic organizer with their reading assignments, while tutors in the comparison group used a set of prereading questions. Analyses of pretest and posttest comprehension scores showed that the students in the experimental group performed significantly better than the students in the comparison group on literal retellings, inferential retellings, literal recall questions, and inferential questions. The experim...
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Poor readers are often characterized as passive learners who fail to select and apply st rategies that will aid thei r comprehension. Activities designed to develop student use of strategies and self-monitoring may be especially helpful... more
Poor readers are often characterized as passive learners who fail to select and apply st rategies that will aid thei r comprehension. Activities designed to develop student use of strategies and self-monitoring may be especially helpful for students who are experiencing reading difficulty in school (Brown, Bransford, Ferrara, and Campione, 1983; Palincsar & Brown, 1984; Pearson & Gallagher, 1983). One activity for enhancing reading comprehension IS reciprocal questIoning. Teaching students to reflect upon what they have read and to formulate questions about literal and implied meanings of the author can improve compre-hension and encourage active monitoring. Previous investiga-tions of reciprocal questioning in different instructional settings and with different populations suggest that this technique is appropriate for remedial readers. Various forms of the reciprocal questioning strategy have evolved from the ReQuest procedure developed by Manzo (1968). With ReQuest, the inst ruct...
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Describes the effect of a language-rich program on a student repeating first grade and viewed as reading disabled. Concludes that the student experienced early and sustained success in reading and writing in the language- and... more
Describes the effect of a language-rich program on a student repeating first grade and viewed as reading disabled. Concludes that the student experienced early and sustained success in reading and writing in the language- and meaning-centered program. (RS)
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Because thematic statements are too global to aid poor readers in comprehending texts, a series of studies using a common procedure was conducted to determine the relationship between teaching thematic concepts prior to reading and... more
Because thematic statements are too global to aid poor readers in comprehending texts, a series of studies using a common procedure was conducted to determine the relationship between teaching thematic concepts prior to reading and reading comprehension. The thematic organizers used in the studies contained three paragraphs that defined the thematic concept of the passage and related this concept to prior knowledge or experiences of the reader. Following the three paragraphs was a set of statements written on the interpretive level. Students indicated whether they agreed with these statements during or after reading. Subjects of the individual studies were elementary, junior high school, and college students. Pretests were used to place students in experimental and comparison groups. Protocols produced by the students were scored according to the degree to which they preserved the meaning of the original textual units. Results indicated that students in the experimental groups recal...
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A study determined whether instruction on story elements within rich contexts can increase students' understanding of the characters' traits and motives, their comprehension of stories, and their ability to write causally coherent... more
A study determined whether instruction on story elements within rich contexts can increase students' understanding of the characters' traits and motives, their comprehension of stories, and their ability to write causally coherent stories. Instruction was organized around an "anchor" (a story rich with embedded information presented on videodisk). For each of 2 school years, two different classes of fifth grade students were selected. One class was designated as at risk for academic failure, and the other class had a high proportion of average achievers from middle-class families. Students in each of the classes were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. During the first year of the project, instruction occurred during three 1-hour periods each week for 6 weeks. In the second year, students received instruction for two 2-hour periods per week for 7 months, reading texts which targeted different story elements. The films "Young Sherloc...
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This study examined preservice teachers' case writing to identify problems they considered important when analyzing a written case, how they proposed to resolve these problems, perspectives that guided their problem solving, and... more
This study examined preservice teachers' case writing to identify problems they considered important when analyzing a written case, how they proposed to resolve these problems, perspectives that guided their problem solving, and whether their problem solving strategies and perspectives changed over the course of a semester. The study occurred in an undergraduate course, "Addressing Literacy Difficulties and Practicum." Student teachers analyzed cases from different perspectives, read multiple texts on factors contributing to literacy development and literacy difficulties among diverse students, and analyzed different approaches to assessment and instruction. They also planned and implemented an individualized literacy program for a child experiencing literacy difficulties, and they wrote cases about their own teaching and the practicum, sharing them with peers during small-group discussions. At the beginning and end of the course, they wrote analyses of one written cas...
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Literacy research has not yet revealed how bilingual learners develop coherent and robust theories of language. Translation, however, provides emergent bilinguals (EL students) with opportunities to develop metalinguistic awareness, which... more
Literacy research has not yet revealed how bilingual learners develop coherent and robust theories of language. Translation, however, provides emergent bilinguals (EL students) with opportunities to develop metalinguistic awareness, which can lead to a more complete conceptual framework for thinking about language and literacy. This preliminary research study sought to formulate an instructional approach (TRANSLATE: Teaching Reading and New Strategic Language Approaches to English learners) focused on using translation to ultimately improve ELL students' reading comprehension. Using design research methods and qualitative analytical techniques, researchers asked middle school students described as struggling readers to work collaboratively and use various strategies to translate key excerpts from their required English literature curriculum into Spanish. Analysis of students' statements, decision making, and interaction indicated that students' conceptual understandings ...
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Research Interests: Psychology and Routledge
IS YOUR school mainstreaming special children into the readin program? Can teachers really provide effective reading instruction for chil dren with special needs within the regular classroom? We think so. Visually handicapped and hearing... more
IS YOUR school mainstreaming special children into the readin program? Can teachers really provide effective reading instruction for chil dren with special needs within the regular classroom? We think so. Visually handicapped and hearing impaired children are children like any others; thus, educational goals are the same as for all children. The learner's handicap, however, sug gests that certain methods and mate rials, adapted to the specific require ments set by the individual impair ment, may be more effective in achieving goals of competence in reading. It is always difficult and perhaps dangerous to categorize a group of children, yet it is important to have some sense of what may be con sidered typical of sensory impaired children. Following is a discussion of these children's characteristics that most directly relate to reading in struction. Given an understanding of probable learning strengths and weaknesses, implications for reading instruction become apparent. Visually handicapped and hearing impaired children have been de prived of clear and/or complete sensory input for much or all of their experience; thus their conceptual de velopment is probably more limited than normal children's. One conse quence of uneven development is that these children often lack some underlying, assumed concept and hence are unable to acquire related concepts.