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A case study of Long Beach Unified School District: How elements of effective reading strategies can be implemented at the secondary level

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A case study of Long Beach Unified School District: How elements of effective reading strategies can be implemented at the secondary level

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Content A CASE STUDY OF LONG BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT:
HOW ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE READING STRATEGIES
CAN BE IMPLEMENTED AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL
by
Lien Thi Truong
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirement of the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
December 2002
Copyright 2002 Lien Thi Truong
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UMI Number: 3093930
Copyright 2002 by
Truong, Lien Thi
All rights reserved.
®
UMI
UMI Microform 3093930
Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest Information and Learning Company
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U n iversity of S outhern California
R ossier S ch ool of E du cation
Los A ngeles, C alifornia 90089-0031
T his dissertation w ritten by
Lien Thi Truong
under the discretion of h Dissertation Committee,
and approved by all members of the Committee, has
been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the
Rossier School of Education in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
Dissertation Committee
Chairperson
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DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to my husband Thu Nguyen, and my children, Kim,
Vi, Vu, and Tammy, whose ongoing love, support and understanding, made this
process possible.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation could not have been possible without
the support and assistance of the following individuals:
Professors:
• Dr. Stuart Gothold: Considerate chair and encouraging
advocate
• Dr. Carl Cohn
• Dr. Robert Ferris
Member of this Parallel Dissertation:
• Lorena Sanchez
Members of Cohort Four:
• Sue Wheeler-Ayres, Maria Gandera, Margie Leon, Richard
Sheehan, Jennifer Kliewer, Lorena Luna Sanchez, and
Gabriel a Arensdorf-Mafi.
Administration and Staff of Long Beach Unified School District, with
special thanks to: Dr. Carl Cohn, Dr. Lynn Winters, Susan Young, Tom
Lind, Susan Hildebrand, Grace Cassoto, Marion Williams, Diana Maruna,
Thomas Lind, Rose Marr, Anderson, Tylene Quizon, and Valerie Linker.
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IV
IN MEMORIAM
In memory o f my parents whose spirits always inspire me to improve
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V
TABLE OF CONTENTS
D ED IC A T IO N , ..........................................................................................................ii
ACKNOW LEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii
IN M EM OR1AM .................................................................................................................. iv
T A B L E S .................................................................................................................................ix
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................x
CHAPTER O NE......................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................. 1
Purpose of the Study..................................................................................................2
Research Questions....................................................................................................4
Significance of the Study...........................................................................................5
Summary of Methodology.........................................................................................6
Limitations of the Study.............................................................................................6
Delimitations of the Study..........................................................................................7
Assumptions and Rationale........................................................................................ 7
Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................8
Organization of the Dissertation................................................................... 12
CHAPTER T W O .................................................................................................................13
Literature Review.............................................................................................................13
Introduction...............................................................................................................13
Current Reforms and Cognitive Science................................................................ 14
The Role of Meta-cognition in Reading Comprehension.....................................18
The Underlying Principle for Coordinating Prior Knowledge with Text to
Generate Inferences..................................................................................................24
Linguistic and Discourse Knowledge, Fluency, and Integrating Non-print
Information with T ext............................................................................................. 26
The Influence of Motivation, Purposes and Goals on Comprehension................ 27
The Influence of Context Variables on Comprehension..................................... 31
Intraand Interpersonal Differences............................................................32
Social Class, Cultural, and Language Differences................................... 33
Developmental Differences....................................................................... 35
Summary of Literature Review............................................................................... 37
CHAPTER T H R E E ............................................................................................................40
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Methodology...................................................................................................................40
Introduction............................................................................................... 40
Sites............................................................................................................................41
Sample............................... , .....................................................................................43
Access and Sample Selection.................................................................................. 44
Interview................................................................................................................... 45
Observations.............................................................................................................46
Instrumentation........................................................................................................ 47
Framework for Research Question O n e .................................................................47
Framework for Research Question T w o ................................................................48
Framework for Research Question T hree..............................................................48
Data Collection Instruments................................................................................... 50
Researcher Rating Matrices....................................................................................52
Data Collection........................................................................................................ 52
Data Analysis............................................................................................................53
Summary....................................................................................................................53
CHAPTER FO U R .................................................................................................................54
Analysis of the Data and Interpretation of the Findings.............................................54
Analysis of the Interview D ata................................................................................54
Research Question One: “How Do Teachers Help Their Students Coordinate
Prior Knowledge with Texts and Generate Inferences?” ...................................... 56
Data for Research Question One..............................................................................56
Findings for How Teachers Help Students Coordinate Prior Knowledge with
Text and Generate Inferences................................................................................. 56
Summary of Findings for Research Question O ne...............................................60
Research Question Two: “Howf does the lack of appropriate comprehension
strategies influence reading comprehension?” .......................................... 61
Data for Research Question T w o ............................................................. 61
Findings for the Influence of Appropriate Comprehension Strategies on
Reading Comprehension..........................................................................................61
Summary’ for Findings for Research Question T w o .............................................71
Research Question Three: “How is reading motivation influenced by context
variables such as task success, “hands-on” activities, autonomy support,
personal or cultural relevance, and what can teachers do to facilitate this
relationship?” ........................................................................................................... 72
Data for Research Question Three...........................................................................72
Findings for Teacher’s Facilitating the Influence of Context Variables on
Student Reading Comprehension...........................................................................73
Criterion 1: Intra and Inter-personal Differences.................................74
Criterion 2: Social Class, Cultural and Language Differences...........77
Criterion 3: Developmental Differences...............................................79
Summary for Findings for Research Question Three............................................80
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Discussion 81
Major Theme One: The success of helping students coordinate prior knowledge
with text to generate relevant inferences is dependent on the activities which
teachers provided their students to bridge or scaffold between the given and the
unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts.....................................................................81
Major Theme Two: The success of helping students become strategic readers
hinges upon the strategies the teachers employ....................................................84
Major Theme Three: The influence of context variables may be lessened by the
teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, sensitivity, and appreciation of the differences
of their students’ background and environments................................................. 87
Intra and Inter-personal Differences........................................................88
Social Class, Cultural and Language Differences................................ 89
Developmental Differences.....................................................................92
CHAPTER FIV E................................................................................................................ 96
Summary', conclusion and Implications of the Findings ............................................96
The Problem............................................................................................................ 97
Purpose of the Study.............................................................................................. 98
Methodology.......................................................................................................... 100
Framework for Research Question O n e..............................................................100
Findings for Research Question One.................................................................... 101
Framework for Research Question T w o ............................................................. 101
Findings for Research Question Two................................................................... 102
Framework for Research Question Three............................................................103
Findings for Research Question Three................................................................. 104
Conclusions................................................................................................................... 104
Recommendations........................................................................................................107
Suggestions for Further Research................................................................................108
Conclusion of the Study and Its Relation to Theory and Literature....................... 109
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ I l l
APPENDICES................................................................................................................... 119
Appendix A: Interview Questions...................................................................... 119
Appendix B: Rating Matrix: Strategies Teachers Used in the Reading
Process.................................................................................................................... 120
Appendix C: Rating Matrix: Strategies Teachers Used to Teach Reading 122
Informed Consent for Non-Medical Research................................................... 123
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v iii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1.......................................................................................................................3
Long Beach Unified School District: Longitudinal NCA Gains for Students
from 2000 to 2001 by High School English Classes - Interviewed Teachers
with Average Language Arts Augmentation Score.
Table 3.1................................................................................................................................38
Long Beach Unified School District Enrollment by Ethnicity
Sample.
Table 3.2................................................................................................................................39
Number and Percent o f LBUSD High School Students Enrolled by Racial
and Ethnic Background at Schools o f Interviewees - Fall 2000.
Table 3 .4 ............................................................................................................................. 44
Relation o f Data Collection Instruments to Research Questions
Table 3.5 .............................................................................................................................. 46
Conceptual Frameworks for Research Questions
Table 4.1................................................................................................................................53
Conceptual Framework One: Research Question One: “How do teachers
help their students coordinate prior knowledge with texts and generate
relevant inferences?”
Table 4.2................................................................................................................................55
Strategies Teachers Used to Coordinate Prior Knowledge with Texts
Table 4 .3 ................................................................................................................................58
Conceptual Framework Two: Research Question Two: “How does
the lack o f appropriate comprehension strategies influence reading
comprehension?”
Table 4.4................................................................................................................................60
Strategies Teachers Used at the Pre-Reading Stage
Table 4.5................................................................................................................................60
Strategies Teachers Used at the Guided-Reading Stage
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Table 4.6......................................................................................................................61
Strategies Teachers Used at the Post-Reading Stage
Table 4.7......................................................................................................................62
Elements of Effective Reading Strategies (Strategies Used On an
Ongoing Basis)
Table 4.8......................................................................................................................67
Conceptual Framework: Research Question Three: How is reading
motivation influenced by context variables such as task success, “hands-on”
activities, autonomy support, personal or cultural relevance and teacher/ and
what can teachers do to facilitate this relationship?”
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ABSTRACT
This qualitative study was to describe and analyze the perspective of
reading teachers whose students achieved the highest gains on the National Curve
Evaluation (NCE) for 2 years, based on their SAT 9 Reading from 2000 to 2001
in the Long Beach Unified School District. The theoretical framework that
formed the basis this study was effective-reading-strategies research. The
research design involved “in-depth phenomenological interviews” (Seidman,
1991), follow-up telephone conversations, and observations involving a primary
sample composed of ten English/Language Arts teachers.
Three research questions were developed to guide the study: (1) How do
teachers help their students coordinate prior knowledge with texts and generate
relevant inferences? (2) How does the lack of appropriate comprehension
strategies influence reading comprehension? (3) How is reading motivation
influenced by context variables such as task success, “hands-on” activities,
autonomy support, personal or cultural relevance, and what can teachers do to
facilitate this relationship?
Qualitative, descriptive case-study research methods were used to
accomplish an in-depth analysis. This study focused on six high schools in a
suburban district, Long Beach Unified School District, selected on the basis o f the
district’s having one of the most diverse ethnic compositions in California.
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xi
The three major findings emerged from the study: (1) Success in helping
students coordinate prior knowledge with texts to generate relevant inferences is
dependent on the activities and the means which teachers provided their students
to preview and anticipate the text. These activities are necessary to bridge or
scaffold between the words they already know with the new unfamiliar
vocabulary and concepts; (2) the success in helping any student to become a
strategic reader hinges upon the strategies the teachers employ; and (3) the
influence o f context variables may be lessened by the teachers’ content
knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, sensitivity, and appreciation the differences
of their students’ background and environments.
Recommendations for successful implementation o f effective reading
strategies included a total transformation in the teacher’s view o f the subject, the
student, and the teacher’s role. Suggestions for future study included curriculum
and instruction that facilitate the smooth transition between elementary and
secondary reading curriculum, a coherent pedagogy among teachers who presume
to teach for comprehension, and both ongoing pre-service and in-service teacher
education programs.
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CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
This case study is motivated by a number of issues impacting both the
research and practice communities: Since the first administration of the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1971, 17 year olds in the U.S.
have not improved their level of reading. In 1998, only 40% of them read well
enough to comfortably manage standard high school texts and only 6% read at an
advance level in which they could synthesize and learn from specialized material.
As one study noted, the level of reading skills is remaining stagnant (RAND,
2001). This poor performance is more problematic when U.S. students are
compared against international standards or the standards of the workplace. For
instance, in international comparisons of performance on reading assessments,
American 11th graders perform very close to the bottom, behind students from
The Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and other third-world nations. In the
workplace, the demand for literacy skills is high and increasing.
More than ever in the history of The United States, economic demands
require a higher level of universal literacy achievement than ever before, and it is
reasonable to believe that literacy demands will increase in the future (Clifford,
1984; Kaestle, 1985; Resnick & Resnick, 1977). Therefore, if schools maintain
the same level of reading instruction, their students will fall further behind in the
workplace as society increases in complexity (Compaine, 1987; Harker, 1985;
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2
Venezky, Kaestle, & Sum, 1987; Willingsky, 1987). The large and persistent gap
in reading achievement in the later elementary and secondary grades also relates
to differences in achievement in other content areas. Thus, problems in reading,
impact performance in other subjects and compound problems of poor academic
performance generally.
Why is reading instruction so ineffective? One reason is that instruction
on comprehension skills is minimal at the secondary level (RAND, 2001). Many
teachers assume that good readers use strategies in reading to learn new concepts,
get deeply involved in the topic, critically evaluate what they read, and apply their
new knowledge to solve practical as well as intellectual problems. But, contrary
to this assumption, many students fail to develop these strategies without specific
instruction in their nature and use. Furthermore, few secondary teachers have any
education or experience in reading instruction. Together these factors suggest that
secondary students reading skills will not improve unless something changes
drastically.
Purpose o f the Study
This case study explores successful instances of secondary reading
instruction in a naturalistic setting. Instead of proposing a monolithic change in
practice, it looks to the field to find evidence of effectiveness and examines the
congruence of that practice to research-based reading instruction. In this way, the
study attempts to learn how reading teachers can improve secondary students’
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reading comprehension. The study focuses on how teachers, whose students
achieved high scores in reading on their SAT 9, implemented the key elements of
effective reading comprehension strategies. These increases were noted in
Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) gains report for students from 2000 to 2001 (see
page 4) in one ethnically and socio-economically diverse school district in
Southern California, Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD). The study
also seeks to explain how much these strategies, related to research-based reading
comprehension strategies. Additionally, through use of interview and
observation, the study explores the feasibility of implementing these strategies in
other content areas.
The following table (Table 1.1.) provides the breakdown of the
longitudinal normal curve equivalent gains made by students per teacher from
2000-2001. These ten teachers were selected for the ten individual interviews of
this study.
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Table 1.1. Long Beach Unified School District
Longitudinal NCE Gains for Students from 2000 to 2001 by HS English Classes
Interviewed Teachers with Average Language Arts Augmentation Score
Teacher/
School
Course
Reading
.N.............00.............01.........
..Chg
Lang. Arts
Aug.
Average
#1/Jordan SE RSP RDG 10 12.3 27.7 15.5 39.0%
SE/RSP ENG 3-4
23 17.3 22.2 4.9 35.7%
#2/Poly ELD RDG I 6 4.5 14.8 10.3 31.8%
ELD Eng 1 6 4.5 14.8 10.3 31.8%
#3/CAMS Eng 1A SMC 15 66.4 74.5 8.1 75.9%
#4/Avalon English 5-6 HP 21 49.6 56.6 7.0 63.3%
#5/Millikan English 5-6 21 37.9 44.7 6.7 52.7%
#6/Wilson English 5-6
69 35.3 40.8 5.5% 52.5%
#7/Wilson English 5-6
111 33.8 39.1 5.3 51.1%
#8/Wilson ELD Eng II
8 9.8 14.6 4.8 34.0%
ELD Eng III 34 19.2 22.5 3.3 37.5%
#9/Millikan English 5-6 75 34.9 39.6 4.7 50.8%
#10/Millikan ELD IV + LIT 50 16.5 21.0 4.5 36.3%
Only students who have test scores for both 2000 and 2001 are included in this
table. The average in the ‘00’ column is the average NCE score for that group of
students on the 2000 SAT9 test, and the average in the ‘01’ column is the average
on the 2001 SAT9 for those same students. The value in the ‘Chg’ column is the
average of those students’ NCE changes from 2000 to 2001. Only sections with
at least five qualifying students are included.
Research Questions
1. How do teachers help their students coordinate prior knowledge with texts
and generate relevant inferences?
2. How does the lack of appropriate comprehension strategies influence
reading comprehension?
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3. How is reading motivation influenced by context variables such as task
success, “hands-on” activities, autonomy support, personal or cultural
relevance, and what can teachers do to facilitate this relationship?
Significance o f the Study
This study of how the elements of effective reading strategies could be
implemented at the secondary level is important for several reasons: (1) For the
students who want to read well, to know that if they want to succeed, they need to
learn what is expected of them in school beyond primary grade level; (2) for
secondary teachers, to realize that teaching comprehension to secondary students
is challenging. These students need to learn to use reading strategies so that they
will be able to learn new concepts, get deeply involved in topics, critically
evaluate what they read, and apply their new knowledge to solve practical as well
as intellectual problems; (3) finally, educators in general, to know that as the
demand for literacy skills is high and increasing in the workplace, advanced
literacy achievement for all students is an economic necessity, and schools need
to prepare their students for this requirement. To improve this situation, the key
players are the secondary teachers, not only English/Language Arts teachers, but
also teachers in other content areas who need to have some tools (i.e. reading
strategies) to help their students achieve their goals by reading to learn. These
tools can be obtained by learning from those who have been successful.
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This study draws upon the literature to create a collection of key elements
of teaching-strategies and their application in teaching reading comprehension for
secondary teachers. By identifying these research-based elements that effective
teachers use, this study contributes practice-based evidence of the effectiveness of
secondary reading instruction and offers a workable model of instruction for other
teachers who are serving similar students.
Summary o f Methodology
Qualitative, descriptive case-study research methods were used to conduct
an in-depth study and analysis of a district and secondary teachers currently
implementing research-based reading comprehension practices. Interviews,
classroom visits, teaching materials, student work and portfolios were all used to
collect data. They were created expressly for this study, based on its conceptual
framework, in order to identify how the elements of effective reading strategies
are implemented at the secondary level to answer the study’s research questions.
Limitations o f the Study
This study was conducted during a three-month period at six selected high
schools in the Long Beach Unified School District. As a consequence, all data
collected reflects only those selected teachers whose students have made the most
significant improvement using the Longitudinal Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE)
gains report for students from 2000 to 2001 in high school English classes. Other
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factors not overtly a part of this study may have affected the reports on which this
study based its selection of the interviewees.
Delimitations o f the Study
The current study gathered qualitative data, including interview protocols,
observations, and student work/portfolios in six high schools in Long Beach
Unified School District. While the results of this study may not allow for
generalization to other school districts, which serve a dissimilar population, the
selection was purposefully done to ensure that the data gathered would be relevant
for secondary level English/Language Arts in the Long Beach Unified School
District. The sample consisted of ten teachers at six school sites.
Assumptions and Rationale
1. In generating a conceptual framework for analyzing the characteristics of
the implementation of elements of effective reading strategies, the
researcher assumes that information of the National Curve Equivalent
(NCE) 2000-2001 gains report is sound and representative of current best
practices.
2. This research is descriptive, in that the researcher is interested in the
process, meaning, and understanding gained through interviews and
observations. The researcher is concerned with process, rather than
outcomes or products.
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3. The researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis.
Data are mediated through this human instrument, rather than through
inventories, questionnaires, or machines.
4. This research involves fieldwork, in which the researcher visits the
teachers at their schools to interview and observe their performance.
Definition o f Terms
ACHIEVEMENT TEST
Standardized tests that measure a student in an academic subject (e.g., math and
reading). These are typically norm-referenced tests used to compare students,
schools, and states to measure acquired learning, not learning potential (potential
is measured by aptitude tests).
ASSESSMENT
The use of data to determine abilities and knowledge about a particular topic. A
distinction should be drawn between a test, which is just a tool used in
assessment, and assessment.
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
The knowledge and understanding of the world that students have acquired
through their everyday experiences - riding in cars or buses, playing and talking
with other children and adults, that help them to make sense of the texts they read.
COGNITIVE
The process of thinking and acquiring knowledge.
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COGNITIVE COMPONENT
Cognitive components include many factors such as: vocabulary, world
knowledge, motivation, purposes and goals, cognitive/meta-cognitive strategies,
linguistic knowledge, discourse knowledge, fluency, and integrating non-print
information with text.
COGNITIVE SCIENCE
Cognitive science defines the goals of reading as to construct meaning and self
regulated learning. Cognitive scientists believe learners’ comprehension results
from an interaction among the reader, the strategies the reader employs, the
material being read, and the context in which the reading takes place.
COGNITIVE STRATEGIES
Cognitive strategies are used to help an individual achieve a particular goal.
CONSTRUCTIVISM
A theory and teaching strategy holding that learners actively acquire or
“construct” new knowledge by relating new information to prior experience. It
contrasts with strategies that rely primarily on passive reception of teacher
presented information.
CONTEXT VARIABLES
Context variables include task success, “hands-on” activities, autonomy support,
personal or cultural relevance, and teacher or peer characteristics. These variables
have great influence on the student’s reading comprehension.
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C U R R IC U L U M
A teacher's detailed plan of skills, lessons, and objectives on a particular subject.
HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES
Activities designed to promote learning through the physical used of various
materials (including manipulative).
INFERENCE
The logical process by which new facts are derived from known facts. Put simply,
drawing conclusions.
KWL CHART (Know, Want to know, Learned)
A pre-reading or during reading activity to support understanding in which adult
and children develop a chart organize in three columns: (1) things the child
already knows about a specified topic, (2) what the child wants to know about the
same topic, and (3) what the child learned about the topic after reading about it.
DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES
Developmental differences refer to the three principles: (1) People develop at
different rates, (2) development is relatively orderly, and (3) development takes
place gradually.
INTER-PERSONAL DIFFERENCE
Inter-personal differences are the differences in the reading comprehension
abilities of student.
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INTRA-PERSONAL DIFFERENCE
Intra-personal differences are the differences in the reading performance of a
single reader that emerges as a function of interests, situation, motivation, or other
factors.
METACOGNITION
Refers to a higher order thinking, which involves active control over the cognitive
processes engaged in learning. Activities such as planning how to approach a
given learning task are meta-cognitive in nature (Livingston, 1977).
METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES
Meta-cognitive strategies are sequential processes that one uses to control
cognitive activities, and to ensure that a cognitive goal (e.g., understanding a text)
has been met. These processes help to regulate and oversee learning, and consist
of planning and monitoring cognitive activities, as well as checking the outcomes
of those activities.
MOTIVATION
An internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior. Motivational
processes such as intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy are needed to energize and
direct the cognitive strategies central to reading comprehension.
STRATEGIC READERS
Strategic readers are readers who possessed meta-cognitive skills such as
summarizing, outlining, and taking notes. Strategic readers are task-oriented,
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have goals, work with others, and consider how the reading is relevant to the
course, to academic, or to life.
WORLD KNOWLEDGE
World knowledge comes from experience and previously read texts. Readers
need to bring to the task enough accurate background knowledge to make sense of
what they read.
Organization o f the Dissertation
Chapter One provided a summary of the relevance of the current study of
secondary-level reading comprehension practices. Chapter Two summarizes
literature related to the effective educational practices in the field of reading and a
historical overview of the developments in reading comprehension leading to the
current “comprehension revolution” movement. Chapter Three will delineate the
study design, including the instrumentation, data collection and an analysis of the
data. Chapter Four will present findings and an analysis of the data for each
research question. Chapter Five, the final chapter, will summarize the study and
present conclusions and implications for students, educators and researchers.
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CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review
Introduction
Since the turn of the century, educational researchers have conducted
many investigations in an attempt to find ways to define and measure attributes of
“effective” education. Nevertheless, no consensus has emerged concerning either
criteria for or quantification of that elusive construct. Three lines of inquiry have
dominated such studies: (a) effective schools, (b) effective teachers, and (c)
effective educational practices. As explained below, the study proposed here will
contribute to the latter and will focus on the field of reading.
To obtain some appreciation of the magnitude of the changes mandated in
policies like California’s Reading/Language Arts frameworks, it is useful to
consider the history of reading education in the 20th Century. The sequence of
events in this history sheds light on the notions of prevailing teaching and
learning at the time when these most recent reading reforms were introduced.
Research on reading has played an important role since 1879, when a
paper was published concerning eye movements in reading (Samuels & Kamil,
1984). In the mid 1960’s, discussion of appropriate reading instruction gained
prominence as a result of published research on models of reading instruction as
well as comparative studies of the U.S. Office of Education’s Cooperative
Research Program in First Grade Reading Instruction (Venezky, 1984; Samuels &
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Kamil, 1984). Both of these research efforts sparked widespread interest in all
aspects of the reading process, particularly at the beginning stages of learning
how to read.
Current Reforms and Cognitive Science
Crisis in education came in the form of the 1983 publication of A Nation
at Risk, which presented a gloomy and failing picture of American education.
Most efforts of educational reform movement were to correct past weaknesses
and educate a generation of Americans, who could successfully maintain
America’s primacy in an increasingly competitive and unstable global economy,
corresponded with the decline of behaviorism and the emergence of cognitive
science. As a result, the principles of cognitive science figure prominently in
nearly all the educational reform movements of the 80’s, including reading
reform.
Traditionally, reading practices emphasize the mastery of isolated facts
and skills through the process of mechanically decoding words and memorizing
by rote. In this view, the learner’s role is passive and viewed as an empty vessel
that receives knowledge from external sources. This view of readers was no
longer true when cognitive science became popular in the field of reading.
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and the nature of
intelligence. It defines the goals of reading as to construct meaning and self
regulated learning. Cognitive science was relatively unknown as a separate field
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thirty years ago. During the 1960’s and 70’s, inconsistently at first, researchers
from different fields became interested in “how the mind works,” and cognitive
science began to take shape (Schoenfeld, 1987). The journal Cognitive Science
appeared in 1977, and the strongest, most comprehensive work to date on the
subject was published in 1985, Howard Gardner’s The M ind’ s New Science.
Among the “first generation of workers in cognitive science” Gardner identifies
Jerome Brunner, Noam Chomsky, Claude Levi-Strauss, Jon McCarthy, George
Miller, Jean Piaget, and Herbert Simon.
At the beginning of 1980s, the movement from the traditional views of
reading (the mastery of isolated facts and skills through the process of
mechanically decoding words and memorizing by rote) based on behaviorism to
visions of reading and readers based on cognitive psychology (comprehension
results from an interaction among the reader, the strategies the reader employs,
the material being read, and the context in which the reading take place) became
noticeable. In 1985, David Pearson referred to this movement as “the
comprehension revolution”. Since then, the new definitions of reading and
readers began to take an important role in education. Reading based on the
cognitive sciences, defines the goals of reading as a way to construct meaning and
self-regulated learning. Learners are no longer viewed as empty vessels because
comprehension results from an interaction among the reader, the strategies the
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reader employs, the material being read, and the context in which the reading
takes place (Knuth and Jones, 1991).
Most knowledge based on cognition comes from the study of good and
poor readers. However, some of the knowledge is also derived from research on
expert teachers and from teacher training studies. The findings include: (1)
Meaning is not in the words on the page, but in the inferences and interpretations
constructed by the reader; (2) the essence of learning is linking new information
to prior knowledge about the topic, the text structure or genre, and strategies for
learning; (3) meta-cognition (the process of thinking about and regulating one’s
own learning) plays an important role in reading to learn; (4) reading and writing
are integrally related (readers increase their comprehension by writing, and
reading about the topic improves their writing performance); and (5) teachers
have a new role in collaborative learning—a facilitator role. This is a powerful
approach for teaching and learning because it establishes a community of learners
in which students are able to generate questions and discuss ideas freely with the
teacher and each other. Students also often engage in teaching roles to help other
students learn and take responsibility for their own learning (Knuth & Jones,
1991).
Driven by the inquiry of how the elements of effective reading strategies
can be implemented at the secondary level, it is important to examine the process
of constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written
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language. The RAND study of 2001, mentioned the three dimensions of this
process as: Cognitive components, outcomes, and reader differences (RAND,
2001). According to the study, cognitive components include many factors such
as vocabulary, world knowledge, motivation, purposes and goals, cognitive/meta-
cognitive strategies, linguistic knowledge, discourse knowledge, fluency, and
integrating non-print information with text. Outcomes include the influence of
motivation, purposes and goals on comprehension. Reader differences include the
influence of context variables on comprehension such as intra and inter-personal
differences, social class, cultural and language differences, and also
developmental differences.
At the same time, Ana Gil-Garcia (2001) also mentioned that the five
areas of learning strategies that facilitate comprehension and critical thinking
skills are: Using meta-cognitive skills, calling on prior knowledge, making valid
inferences, understanding text organization, and promoting vocabulary
development and acquisition.
To provide a more complete context for this study, this literature review
summarizes the following areas: The role of meta-cognition in reading
comprehension, the underlying principle for coordinating prior knowledge with
text to generate inferences, the effect of reading motivation on comprehension,
and the influence of context variables on comprehension.
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The Role o f Meta-cognition in Reading Comprehension
In order to achieve a deep comprehension that synthesizes the knowledge
of literal facts with critical/creative thinking, learners must be capable of
organizing and regulating their thinking processes. This cognitive ability is called
meta-cognition. Meta-cognition refers to higher-order thinking, which involves
active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. Activities such as
planning how to approach a given learning task, monitoring comprehension, and
evaluating progress toward the completion of a task are meta-cognitive in nature
(Livingston, 1997). When students are cognitively aware that the data they
received is incomprehensible and then purposefully begin to redirect their
thinking and attempt another self-chosen learning strategy or combination of
strategies, they have become active participants in their learning. If a breakdown
of understanding occurs, it is up to the learners’ meta-cognitive abilities to
recognize firstly the breakdown and then do something to rectify the situation.
The learner must have an appropriate bank of strategies to use when forced with a
comprehension problem in order to effectively modify his/her learning process, as
well as knowing how and when to use these strategies.
For the reason that meta-cognition plays a critical role in successful
learning, it is important to study meta-cognitive activity and development to
determine how students can be taught to better apply their cognitive resource
through meta-cognitive control. Borkewski, Carr, and Pressley (1987) and
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Sternberge (1984, 1986a, 1986b) emphasize that meta-cognition has been
associated with intelligence and enables us to be successful learners.
The term meta-cognition is most often associated with John Flavell
(1979). According to Flavell, meta-cognition consists of both meta-cognitive
knowledge and meta-cognitive experiences or regulation. Meta-cognitive
knowledge refers to acquired knowledge about cognitive processes and
knowledge that can be used to control cognitive process. This knowledge falls
into three categories: (1) Knowledge of personal variables (general knowledge
about how human beings learn and process information); (2) task variables
(knowledge about the nature of the task as well as the type of processing demands
that it will place upon the individual); and (3) strategy variables (knowledge about
both cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies). Meta-cognitive experiences
involve the use of meta-cognitive strategies or meta-cognitive regulation (Brown,
1987). Meta-cognitive strategies are sequential processes that one uses to control
cognitive activities, and to ensure that a cognitive goal (e.g., understanding a text)
has been met. These processes help to regulate and oversee learning, and consist
of planning and monitoring cognitive activities, as well as checking the outcomes
of those activities.
Although most individuals of normal intelligence engage in meta-
cognitive regulation when confronted with an effortful cognitive task, some are
more meta-cognitive than others. Those with greater meta-cognitive abilities tend
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to be more successful in their cognitive endeavors. The good news is that
individuals can learn how to better regulate their cognitive activities. The most
successful meta-cognitive instruction is the one which enables all students to
become more strategic, self-reliant, flexible, and productive in their learning
endeavors (Scheid, 1993). These instructions are based on the assumption that
there are identifiable cognitive strategies, previously believed to be utilized by
only the best and the brightest students, which can be taught to most students
(Halpern, 1996).
Meta-cognition enables students to benefit from instruction (Carr, Kurtz,
Schneider, Turner & Borkowski, 1989; Van Zile-Tamsen, 1996) and influences
the use and maintenance of cognitive strategies. While there are several
approaches to meta-cognitive instruction, the most effective involve providing the
learner with both knowledge of cognitive processes and strategies (to be used as
meta-cognitive knowledge), and experiences or practice in using both cognitive
and meta-cognitive strategies and evaluating the outcome of their efforts
(developing meta-cognitive regulation). Simply providing knowledge without
experience or vice versa does not appear to be sufficient for development of meta
cognitive control (Livingston, 1996).
There has been evidence showing that without the combination of meta
cognitive and cognitive strategy development, learners are unlikely to be able to
transfer strategies to other tasks. They need activities which incorporate
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reflection, thinking about what they are going to do and why, experimentation,
doing a task and manipulating the language to achieve a goal (O’Malley et al.,
1985, Ellis and Sinclair, 1989).
What about meta-cognition and middle school learners? Research has
shown that even quite young children possess a considerable degree of
metacognitive knowledge. By the time they reach secondary school, basic skills
have been mastered. They are in the early years of adolescence and, for most
young people, there is a marked development of mental functioning, an increased
self awareness and a change from Piaget’s concrete operations to formal
reasoning. Translated into classroom terms this means that our pupils are at a
stage where we can encourage them to reflect critically on what they are doing
and why, in order to plan and direct their own learning (Ellis, 1999).
Given this knowledge, what can secondary teachers do to teach reading?
Do teachers have to stop teaching content in order to teach reading? Vicki A.
Jacobs responded in her article “What Secondary Teachers Can Do To Teach
Reading” , written for Harvard Education Letter in July/August 1999, that reading
through grades 3 or 4 is about acquiring the skills needed to decode the written
word automatically and fluently, then reading from about grade 4 on, is about
using those skills to comprehend what is written. Texts used in subject areas
often employ language, syntax, vocabulary, and concepts that are specific to a
particular field of study.
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Jacobs (1999) also suggests that secondary teachers think of reading as a
comprehension or understanding that involves three stages that derive from the
Schema Theory (1970). The first stage is called pre-reading. In this stage
students learn to acknowledge the different contexts, experiences, biases, and
background knowledge (often called the “given”) of students that will influence
how they read and leam from a text (the “new”). By knowing what students bring
to their reading, teachers can provide them with bridges, or scaffolds between the
given and the new-clarifying unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts, and providing
them with means to preview and anticipate the text. Such preparatory activity is
critical for comprehension to occur. Activities for the preparation may include
brainstorming, graphically organizing information, directed writing or interactive
discussion (Jacobs, 1999).
The second stage of the reading process is called guided reading. During
this stage, teachers need to provide structured means to integrate the knowledge
and information that they bring to the text with the “new” material that is
provided by the text. Guided-reading activities should engage students in probing
the text beyond its literal meaning for deeper understanding. To facilitate this
task, teachers can reword the factual questions that texts characteristically provide
at the end of a chapter into questions that ask “how” or “why.” Such questions
ask students not only to locate information, but also to apply that information in
some substantive way.
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During the third stage, the post-reading, teachers give students ways to
articulate their understanding of what they have read, and then to test its validity,
apply it to a novel situation, or argue it against an opposing assertion.
In summary, by engaging students in pre-reading, guided-reading, and
post-reading activities, teachers not only support students’ understanding of
content, but also provide them with opportunities to hone their comprehension,
vocabulary, and study skills without interrupting content learning. To be aware of
how to employ these skills, teachers can become more confident about whether
students comprehend both the word and the spirit of their texts (Jacobs, 1999).
Content-area teachers can facilitate a meta-cognitive classroom
environment by using the following approaches:
1. Modeling and discussing the teacher’s own reading processes;
2. Asking students to make and test predictions;
3. Setting aside time for reflection on what has been read;
4. Helping students to practice using contextual analysis for unfamiliar
terms;
5. Assisting students’ comprehension by identifying the organization and
structure of text;
6. Asking for a summary of major ideas in a selection that has been read; and
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7. Teaching meta-cognition directly, by planning a lesson to teach meta-
cognitive strategies using bulletin boards and classroom walls (Riggs and
Gil-Garcia, 2001).
The Underlying Principle for Coordinating Prior Knowledge with Text to
Generate Inferences
Barton (1989) argues that prior knowledge plays a crucial role in text
comprehension. Strategic readers bring to the task enough accurate background
knowledge to make sense of what they read. Prior knowledge acts as a
framework through which the reader filters new information and attempts to make
sense of what is read. It also acts as a kind of mental Velcro on which the reader
can attach new information. Students bring a variety of experience and prior
knowledge to class, called “world knowledge”. Research indicates that when
students’ experiences or background knowledge is well-developed and accurate,
they understand and remember more of what they read (Anthony, 1989).
World knowledge comes from experience and previously read texts.
Readers need prior knowledge in order to relate to the new information that they
are about to acquire. Many researchers have demonstrated the importance of
world knowledge for reading comprehension. Benjamin Bloom (1976) proposed
that learning occurred as a result of the interactions of an individual’s prior
knowledge, attitudes toward learning, self-perception, and his or her immediate
environment. Others suggested that “thinking” could be subdivided into several
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distinct, measurable processes (McKinney & Keen, 1974). Kolb (1984) stated
that learning is a cycle based on the learners’ preferences for some combination of
concrete-abstract and reflective-active experiential learning dimensions.
According to the RAND Study (2001) most children from middle-class
families enter school with more world knowledge about school-related topics than
do most children from low socioeconomic homes. Children from working-class
and/or ethnic minority families often enter school with specific knowledge related
to their own cultural and community backgrounds which teachers may not make
relevant to the texts being read. When the knowledge that readers bring to the
reading of a text is untapped, comprehension is limited. Furthermore, Deyhle
(1983) Jordan (1985), Jordan & Tharp (1979), Vogt, Jordan & Tharp (1987)
suggested in the hypothesis of cultural compatibility, that when instruction is
compatible with natal-culture patterns, improvements in learning, including basic
skills, can be expected. Therefore, content area teachers should employ an array
of pre-reading strategies that will help them activate, assess, and extend each
student’s level of prior knowledge. These pre-reading strategies include: (1)
Linguistic and discourse knowledge, fluency, and integrating non-print
information with text; (2) the influence of motivation, purposes and goals on
comprehension; (3) the influence of context variables on comprehension.
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Linguistic & discourse knowledge, fluency, and integrating non-print information
with text.
Chall (1996) suggests that middle-school students are at a stage in which
they are reading to “learn the new.” For those middle-school-aged children who
have limited background knowledge, vocabulary, and cognitive abilities, Chall
recommends that they will develop best as readers when materials are clear and
have a low level of technical complexity. In addition, he asserts that, “.. .they
need to learn a process by which to find information in a paragraph, chapter, or
books, and to continue finding what one is looking for efficiently” (p. 21). One
way of finding information efficiently is by identifying how information is
organized in expository text.
Kintsch and van Dijk (1978) describe a model for text comprehension,
referring to the global organization of a text as the macrostructure. Ambruster
(1985) also mentions several macrostructures in expository text, including cause
and effect, comparison, temporal sequence, and description. Meyer, Brandt, and
Bluth (1980) found that ninth-grade students’ use of a text’s macrostructure as an
organizational framework positively correlated with their recall of information
from the text. Perkins (1992) suggests that pectoral languages of thinking, such
as concept mapping—a diagram that graphically illustrates the relationships
among key ideas in text—are advantageous in that they enable students to
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simplify complex patterns of ideas and “download” them onto paper, minimizing
the amount of information they have to hold in their minds at once.
Besides concept mapping, identifying text structure is a highly
recommended strategy to facilitate students’ awareness and understanding of text
structure (Niles, 1965). In Organization Perceived, Niles advocates that teachers
of content subjects should take on the responsibility for this instruction in
identifying macrostructures by discussing with students the general concept of
patterns leading to a more specific discussion of the patterned arrangement of
ideas in an expositor text. The next step would be to have students identify the
structure of short passages of text and to recognize how the structure helps them
comprehend and remember what they read. Niles also suggests that students
familiarize themselves with the typical words and phrases associated with the
various conventional structures.
The influence of motivation, purposes and goals on comprehension.
Successfully comprehending a text involves understanding the content of
what is read, integrating new with already stored information, and critically
evaluating the information presented. The English and Language Arts (ELA)
Leaders’ Task Force (2000) describes a proficient adolescent reader as a reader
who shows evidence of activating background knowledge of the topic before
reading; making connections to text, world, and self during reading; synthesizing
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information from a variety of sources to develop an understanding and thinking
about next steps—“what else do I need to know?” after reading, and over time;
reading and interpreting data; reading a variety of genres; choosing to read and
interacting with others about their reading matter; developing and extending oral
and written responses to his/her reading; and finally, using reading to solve
problems in life and on the job (ELA Leaders’ Task Force, 2000).
Deep concentration and absorption in reading, characterize good
comprehension. In other words, good readers are often involved with the ideas,
the emotional experiences, and the style of text. They read purposefully, for both
affective and intellectual goals. They have confidence in their ability to
understand what they read. They also evaluate the quality of the texts they read
and determine the relevance of those texts to their own lives (RAND, 2001).
Engaged readers choose to read for a variety of purposes and comprehend
the materials within the context of the situation. Engaged readers are self-
determining (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991) in the sense that they elect
a wide range of literacy activities for aesthetic enjoyment, gain knowledge, and
interact with friends. They are motivated to read for its own sake, and this
motivation activates the self-regulation of higher-order strategies for learning
through literacy (Dole, Duffy, Roehler, & Pearson, 1991).
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Motivation is defined as an internal state that arouses, directs, and
maintains behavior. The expert reader is motivated. Because reading is an
effortful activity that involves choice, motivation is fundamentally important to
reading comprehension. Motivational processes such as intrinsic motivation and
self-efficacy are needed to energize and direct the cognitive strategies central to
reading comprehension (Woolfolk, 2001).
Motivations for reading are seen as internalized goals that lead to literacy
choices and comprehension strategies (Pintrich & Schrauben, 1992). In the goal-
oriented view, motivations may be regarded as reasons for reading. Students’
goals can be classified as intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation refers to the
activities in which pleasure is inherent in the activity itself (Gottfried, 1985).
Students who are intrinsically motivated have an inherent interest in what they are
reading and enjoy figuring out the meanings for them. Extrinsic motivation refers
to motivation that comes from outside the learner. Students who are more
extrinsically motivated prefer to please the teacher, do easier reading tasks, and
are dependent on the guidance of others. Harter, Whitesell, and Kowalski, (1992)
propose that motivations fall on a continuum from intrinsic to extrinsic implying
that they are negatively correlated. Others like Wentzel (1991), report that
students might possess multiple motivational goals simultaneously—some of
which are intrinsic and some extrinsic.
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Further, children’s motivations have been reported to be domain-specific
(Wigfield & Harold, 1992). Students may be intrinsically motivated to read but
not to do math, and vice versa. Gottfried (1985) find that intrinsic motivations for
reading, predicted students’ perceptions of their own competence in reading, but
intrinsic motivation in reading did not predict perceptions of competence in math
or science. In addition, Wigfield and Guthrie (1995) describe the clear distinction
of diversity of motivations for reading among several intrinsic motivations
including diversity of motivations for reading among several intrinsic motivation
including curiosity, aesthetic involvement, importance of reading, challenge,
social interaction, and self-efficacy.
Several researchers have examined relationships between students’
motivations and their use of reading strategies during learning. Pintrich and De
Groot (1990) find that the motivations of intrinsic value and self-efficacy strongly
predicted students’ uses of strategies. In addition, intrinsic value and self-efficacy
predicted student grades and how well they did on seatwork, quizzes, essays, and
reports. Finn and Cox (1992) added generality to the relationship of motivation
and strategy use by reporting that students who were intrinsically motivated in a
learning situation were more likely to have high-standardized achievement test
scores in reading than students who were less intrinsically motivated.
The reciprocity of motivation and cognition during reading includes the
effects of strategy learning on motivation levels. Schunk and Rice (1985)
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reported that learning a strategy for reading increased students’ reading self
efficacy. Students who were taught to verbalize a strategy for comprehension
increased their beliefs in their personal capabilities for successful performance of
a particular task. Furthermore, Zimmerman, Bandura, and Martinez-Pons (1993)
confirm that possessing strategies for learning, increased students’ aspirations.
They report that students, who had high self-efficacy for the strategies of
summarizing, outlining, and note-taking, were likely to set higher academic goals
than students with lower self efficacy for these strategies. Several tips for
improving and maintaining motivation while reading are: being task oriented,
having goals, working with others, and considering how the reading is relevant to
the course, to academic career, or to life.
The influence o f context variables on comprehension.
With adequate instruction, most children will experience success, and also
problems with reading comprehension will be prevented (RAND, 2001 p. 29).
However, given the evidence for intra-individual and inter-individual variation in
learner characteristics and the broad range of environments in which children
develop, it is not surprising that some children do not acquire adequate reading
comprehension skills. This distinctiveness can include learner characteristics, text
characteristics, social variables, and instructional variables. It is important to
recognize that the sources of poor reading comprehension cut across ethnic, socio
cultural, and organizational levels of analysis. Three of the most significant
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context variables that influence reading comprehension are: (1) Intra and inter
personal differences; (2) social class, cultural, and language differences; and (3)
developmental differences.
1. Intra and interpersonal differences. According to Howard Gardner’s (1983)
theory of multiple intelligence, the core component of intra-personal intelligence
is the access to one’s own feelings and the ability to discriminate among them and
draw on them to guide behavior as well as knowledge of one’s own strengths,
weaknesses, desires, and intelligence. On the other hand, interpersonal
intelligence includes capacities to discern and respond appropriately to the moods,
temperaments, motivations, and desires of other people.
Drawing from this understanding, intra-personal differences are the
differences in the reading performance of a single reader that emerges as a
function of interests, situation, motivation, or other factors. Thus, every student
has a particular profile of reading competencies and interests.
Interpersonal differences are the differences in the reading comprehension
abilities of students. Some of this variability reflects the assessment measures
used to measure reading comprehension. In addition, learner characteristics may
partially account for these differences. Thus, differential development of a variety
of capacities such as nonlinguistic abilities and processes, which are the
prerequisites to reading comprehension, may generate varying outcomes.
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An advantage of this perspective (interpersonal differences) is that it
expands teachers’ thinking about abilities and avenues for teaching, but the theory
has been misused. Recently, Howard Gamer described the negative applications
of his theory in that some teachers embrace a simplistic version of Gardner’s
theory and include every “intelligence” in every lesson, regardless how
inappropriate (Woolfolk, 2001).
2. Social class, cultural, and language differences. In her book of Educational
Psychology, Anita Woolfolk (2001) refers to social class as the status that
individuals are accorded in a society. This status is a function of race, gender,
ethnicity, language, and economic conditions. Research has demonstrated
consistent effects of social class on reading achievement. For example, research
on cultural congruence in instruction offers a basis for understanding how
schooling might be made more beneficial for students from diverse backgrounds.
Studies of cultural congruence are based on the premise that school learning takes
place in particular social contexts, often through teacher-student interactions.
From the perspective of Vygotsky (1978), learning occurs when the student’s
performance is assisted by that of a more capable other, who may be a teacher or
a peer. Learning takes place in the context of social relationships, and both
learning and the failure to learn, are considered socially organized activities
(Woolfolk, 2001).
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All cultures have historically evolved beliefs, values, and ways of
organizing the tasks of life, which teach people about what is worth working for,
how to succeed, and who will fall short. Cultures offer a wealth of positions that
readers can inhabit, and they also are major obstacles for academic achievement
of those students whose home language and culture differ significantly from that
of the school. These students often find it difficult to succeed in the school
environment (Au & Kawamaki, 1994). If schools require individual competition
and if the instruction is abstract rather than contextualized, students from cultures
that emphasize cooperation over competition and prefer information in context
may be at a disadvantage. Conversely, it has been suggested that the cultural
congruence between the learning styles prevalent in some Asian societies and
those emphasized in American schools accounts for the academic success of some
immigrant Asian students (Stigler & Baranes, 1988-1989; Caplan et al., 1991).
Although it is logical to expect students to have academic problems if their
home culture differs from the school culture, this conclusion is tempered by
conflicting evidence. One study (Matute-Bianchi, 1986) found that among
students from Spanish language backgrounds, recent immigrants and those who
identified most strongly with their Mexican heritage were more successful in
school than those with weaker emotional ties to the Mexican culture. Studies of
Punjabi (Gibson, 1987) and Southeast Asian (Rumbaut & Ima, 1987; Caplan et
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al., 1991) immigrant students also found that academic success was correlated
with the maintenance of their culture of origin.
Differences in communication practices and in language or language
variety spoken, have major implications for children’s’ reading comprehension
development, especially when teachers do not acknowledge or understand the
different ways in which children communicate and the various languages they
know. Monolingual readers also differ in their oral language development,
knowledge of linguistic structures, exposure to rhetorical forms, and vocabulary
development. These aspects of their language development influence their ability
to comprehend increasing levels of text difficulty (RAND, 2001).
3. Developmental differences. Developmental differences are also important
influences on reader comprehension. It is important to keep in mind the general
principles of development. The first principle is that people develop at different
rates. In a classroom, some students will be larger, better coordinated, or more
mature in their thinking and social relationships, while others will be slower and
less mature in these areas. The second principle of development is that people
develop certain abilities before others. In infancy, children sit before they walk
and babble before they talk. In reading, they must learn the alphabet before they
read. The third principle of development is that it takes place gradually; very
rarely do changes appear overnight, but are likely to take time. For example, a
student who cannot decode the word today cannot read a novel the next day.
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Although developmental differences are related to the child’s age, they are
also crucially influenced by amount and quality of instruction. In its publication
Literacy Development in Early Childhood (Preschool through Grade 3), the
International Reading Association (1995) lists the following basic premises of a
sound reading program:
1. Reading and writing at school should permit children to build upon their
existing knowledge of oral and written language;
2. Learning should take place in a supportive environment where children can
build a positive attitude toward themselves and toward language and literacy;
and
3. For optimal learning, teachers should involve children actively in many
meaningful, functional language experiences, including speaking, listening,
writing, and reading (International Reading Association, 1995).
Rice (1989) advises that all teachers could enrich students’ language
environment by focusing not just on correct or incorrect usage, but also on the
idea expressed. They should also probe and extend students’ ideas. In this way,
the teacher maintains the students’ interest and at the same time expands the
complexity of the statement and recasts the language to a more mature form.
The three dimensions of reading comprehension, define the observational
facts that occur within a larger socio-cultural context. These dimensions which
include cognitive representations and processes involved, such as vocabulary,
prior experience or knowledge in reading strategies, linguistics, discourse
patterns, fluency, and non-print information integrating with text, must be
considered in the analysis of reading comprehension.
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As mentioned in the RAND Reading Study Group (2001), the
sociocultural context affects students’ acquisition of the reading components, their
demonstration of outcomes, and often is a source of individual and group reading
differences. It mediates students’ experiences, just as students’ experiences
influence the context (RAND, 2001, p. 8).
Summary o f the Literature Review
Traditionally, reading practices emphasize the mastery of isolated facts
and skills through the process of mechanically decoding words and memorizing
by rote. In this view, the learner’s role is passive and viewed as an empty vessel
that receives knowledge from external sources. This view of readers was no
longer true when cognitive science became popular in the field of reading.
Reading based on cognitive science, defines the goals of reading as to
construct meaning and self-regulated learning. Thus, comprehension results from
an interaction among the reader, the strategies the reader employs, the material
being read, and the context in which the reading takes place (Knuth & Jones,
1991). The following findings from the study of good and poor readers validate
the definition of cognitive scientists as: (1) Meaning is not in the words on the
page, but in the inferences and interpretations constructed by the reader; (2) the
essence of learning is linking new information to prior knowledge about the topic,
the text structure or genre, and strategies for learning; (3) metacognition (the
process of thinking about and regulating one’s own learning) plays an important
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role in reading to learn; (4) reading and writing are integrally related (readers
increase their comprehension by writing, and reading about the topic improves
their writing performance); and (5) teachers have a new role in collaborative
learning—that of facilitator.
At the same time, Ernestine Riggs and Ana Gil-Garcia (2001) also
mention that the five areas of learning strategies that facilitate comprehension and
critical thinking skills are: using meta-cognitive skills, calling on prior
knowledge, making valid inferences, understanding text organization, and
promoting vocabulary development and acquisition. Metacognition refers to
higher order thinking, which involves active control over the cognitive processes
engaged in learning. Prior knowledge acts as a framework through which the
reader filters new information and attempts to make sense of what is read.
Readers need prior knowledge in order to relate to the new knowledge that they
are about to acquire.
In order to understand text organization, teachers of middle-school age
children who have limited background knowledge, vocabulary, and cognitive
abilities, need to teach their students the process of finding information in a
paragraph, chapter, or books, and doing so efficiently. Besides identifying text
structure, Niles (1965) advocates that teachers of content subjects should take on
the responsibility for identifying macrostructure by discussing with students the
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general concepts of patterns leading to a more specific discussion of the patterned
arrangement of ideas in expositor texts.
Finally, it is important to recognize that the sources of poor reading
comprehension caused by context variables, cut across ethnic, socio-cultural, and
organizational levels of analysis. The three most significant context variables that
influence reading comprehension are: (1) Intra and interpersonal differences; (2)
social class, cultural, and language differences; and (3) developmental
differences.
This chapter has summarized literature related to the effective educational
practices on the field of reading and a historical overview of the developments in
reading comprehension leading to the current “comprehension revolution”
movement. The next chapter, Chapter Three, will describe the design, sample
instrumentation, data collection and data analysis process of the current study.
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CHAPTER THREE
Methodology
Introduction
This case study explores factors that contribute to successful reading
instruction in secondary schools in the LBUSD. It examines the extent to which
research-based reading strategies contributed to the successful reading. The focus
is to examine the relationship of research-based elements of effective reading
strategies at the secondary level and the implementation of these elements in the
classrooms. One school district in Southern California and ten teachers from
different high schools in this district were selected in order to answer the three
established research questions:
1. How do teachers help their students coordinate prior knowledge with
texts and generate relevant inferences?
2. How does the lack of appropriate comprehension strategies influence
reading comprehension?
3. How is reading motivation influenced by context variables such as task
success, “hands-on” activities, autonomy support, personal or cultural
relevance, and what can teachers do to facilitate this relationship?
Qualitative, descriptive-analytic case study research methods were used to
conduct an in-depth study and analysis of a district and secondary teachers
currently implementing research-based reading comprehension practices.
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Interviews, classroom visits, teaching materials, student work and portfolios were
used to collect data. These instruments were created expressly for this study,
based on the study’s conceptual framework, in order to identify how the elements
of effective reading strategies can be implemented at the secondary level to
answer the study’s research questions. The case-study method was utilized in
order to provide explanations for the phenomena studied, research-based best
practices and site implementation, in order to describe their relational patterns
(Gall, Borg & Borg, 1996).
Sites
The sites for this study were typical urban California public high schools
with a diverse student body. The researcher chose high diversity schools because
they reflect the changing demographics of schools across California. The sites
were in Long Beach, in Southern California. The researcher chose LBUSD
because it was the third largest district after Los Angeles Unified School District
(LAUSD) and the San Diego School District, that had the highest diverse
population. Long Beach Unified School District has a total enrollment of 93,694
students representing a very diverse population. For example, the ethnic
breakdown consists of: 45.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.7% African American,
17.8% White (not Hispanic), 11.5% Asian, 3.1% Filipino, 2.1% Pacific Islander,
and .3% American Indian or Alaska Native. Among these, 68.9% are eligible for
free meals and 36.9% are English language learners (LBUSD, 2001). The
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researcher selected a typical, rather than an “exclusive” district because the
researcher wanted to learn how individual teachers could make a difference to
students in average schools under typical circumstances. The researcher chose
high schools as the sites for the research because the researcher was interested in
interviewing secondary teachers. Their insights on teaching strategies might have
implications for supporting other teachers in ways that would lead to the same end
result.
The following table (Table 3.1.) provides the detail of Long Beach Unified
School District enrollment by ethnicity.
Table 3.1. Long Beach Unified School District Enrollment by Ethnicity
Number of
Enrollment
As % o
Enrol
f Total
ment
Ethnicity District County District County
American Indian or Alaska
Native
320 5,115 0.3% 0.3%
Asian 10,780 131,154 11.5% 7.8%
Pacific Islander 979 7,971 21% 0.6%
Filipino 2,928 32,737 3.1% 1.9%
Hispanic or Latino 42,669 998,266 45.4% 59.4%
African American 18,431 188,480 19.7% 11.2%
White (not Hispanic) 16,678 314,701 17.8% 18.7%
Multiple or no Response 9 3,337 0.0% 0.2%
Total 93,694 1,681,787
Adopted from California Department of Education—Educational Demographics
Unit 2000-01.
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Sample
The sample consisted of ten high school English teachers in Long Beach
Unified School District. The researcher purposefully selected the ten teachers,
males and females, whose students gained the most on their SAT 9 reading scores
from 2000 to 2001.
The researcher interviewed ten teachers in order to select a group who has
been exposed to a diverse student population (ethnicity, socioeconomic
background). Because this is not a study specifically about gender, track, grades,
or generation, student groupings were addressed. Prior research indicates that
experiences and perceptions vary systematically along those dimensions
(Gilligan, 1982, Oakes, 1995; Suarez-Orozco, 1995). Thus, those factors will
serve as “sensitizing concepts” (Patton, 1991, p. 391) in our data analysis. By
including a cross-section of participants along these dimensions, the researcher
hoped to discover perceptions of effective teaching that are either widely shared
or that differ categorically (Patton, 1991, p. 172). By selecting a group of ten
teachers using these same criteria, the researcher could test their findings from ten
different interviewed individuals and seek further information.
Table 3.2. provided the number and percentage of Long Beach Unified
School District high school students enrolled by racial and ethnic background at
the schools of interviewed teachers.
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Table 3.2. Number and Percent o f LBUSD High School Students Enrolled
by Racial and Ethnic Background at Schools of Interviewees — Fall 2000
Schools Jordan Poly CAMS Millikan Avalon Wilson
Enrolled 3,896 3,896 601 4,506 225 3,563
N % N % N % N % N % N %
American
or Alaskan
9 0.2 14 0.3 2 0.3 29 0.6 1 0.4 29 0.6
Asian
389 10.0 1,354 33.2 163 27.1 457 10.1 2 0.9 627 17.6
Pacific
Islander
193 5.0 108 2.6 9 1.5 27 0.6 0 0.0 23 0.6
Filipino
85 2.2 302 7.4 70 11.6 72 2.0 1 0.4 72 2.0
Hispanic
1,851 47.5 643 15.7 165 27.5 1,270 35.6 101 44.9
i;27
0
35.6
Black not
Hispanic
1.194 30.6 1,074 26.2 107 17.8 596 16.7 1 0.4 596 16.7
White not
Hispanic
175 4.5 597 14.6 85 14.2 1,261 28 1 0.4 954 26.8
Note: Percents may not total 100% because of rounding off.
Access and Sample Selection
In March, the researcher obtained a permission to conduct the study in the
Long Beach Unified School District from Dr. Lynn Winters, Assistant
Superintendent of Research, Planning and Evaluation. Upon her approval, the
researcher contacted the participants requesting an interview from each selected
teacher. The interviews began in May and ended in June of 2002.
Each interviewee was given a copy of the interview questions prior to the
interview. As required by the USC Institution Review Board, a letter of consent
to participate was signed and a copy of this consent was given to each participant.
Because the sample size was small, the sample would not be
representative of the district population, nor was it intended to be
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(Patton, 1990, p. 185). Using the logic of qualitative inquiry, this researcher was
more interested in understanding, in depth, the experiences and perspectives of
LBUSD secondary English/Language Arts teachers than in being able to
generalize those experiences to a larger population. To be considered for
participation, interviewees must have been the top ten available teachers with the
biggest gains of the NCE of 2000-2001 SAT 9—Reading.
Interview
The sample of ten teachers was individually interviewed by the researcher.
The researcher conducted the interview while a helper manipulated the tape
recorders and took notes. From these ten, only a few participants were observed
in the classroom to clarify any question that needed further explanation.
Instructional materials, student work, and student portfolios were also used to
gather data.
The researcher used in-depth, phenomenological interviewing techniques
with the ten English/Language Arts teachers as the primary method of data
collection. Consistency in interviewing is important because, as Seidman (1991,
p. 4) asserts, “If the researcher’s goal.. .is to understand the meaning people
involved in education make of their experience, then interviewing people provides
a necessary, if not always completely sufficient, avenue of inquiry.”
In order to provide context for understanding the participant’s perspective,
the researcher used an “interview guide approach” (Patton, 1991, p. 288)
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consisting of open-ended questions. The interview focused on the teacher’s
experiences with and perceptions of using research-based reading comprehension
strategies. In this interview, the researcher asked the teachers to make
connections between their instruction and their students’ motivation, achievement,
persistence in school and aspirations. Researchers also asked the interviewed
teachers to reflect on how they could support students in ways that would help
them achieve at high levels in school and beyond.
The researcher conducted interviews for four weeks, three in two
consecutive weeks, two in the following week, and one in another two
consecutive weeks. The researcher tape-recorded each interview. A transcriber
assisted the researcher in transcribing the interviews. The researcher listened to
all the tapes and annotated the transcripts. Immediately following each interview,
the researcher recorded field notes (Patton, 1991, p. 239).
Observations
The researcher observed two teachers who purposefully wanted the
researcher to observe their prompting techniques. Observing the teachers in their
own classrooms proved helpful in contextualizing the information and ideas that
they shared about the relative effectiveness of the instructional strategies.
During the observations, the researcher took field notes and typed them
soon after, adding the researcher’s own reflections. The researcher used the data
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from the observations to inform her follow-up questions in the interviews and to
generate tentative hypotheses.
Instrumentation
Conceptual frameworks and data collection instruments were developed
for each research question by a University of Southern California parallel research
group. The team consisted of two doctoral students, who met in a collaborative
process in the Fall and Spring of 2001-02 school year. Conceptual frameworks
were developed, based on the body of literature in the field, to conceptualize the
research questions addressed in this study. The framework for each research
question is examined as follows:
Framework for research question one: The first research question asked, “How
do teachers help their students coordinate prior knowledge with texts and generate
relevant inferences?” Conceptual framework one found in appendix A - Interview
Questions #3, #4, and #8 were developed to provide the basis for examining how
the research-based elements of effective reading strategies were implemented. For
each interview question, there were sub-questions for the purpose of eliciting in
depth information. Elements to look for included the extent to which the teachers
investigate students’ knowledge as the base upon which new ideas and networks
of ideas will be connected, and also emphasized the activities which teachers
employ to allow students to construct personal meaning of new material by
translating it into their own verbal, visual, or concrete representations.
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4 8
Framework for research question two: The second research question asked, “How
does the lack of appropriate comprehension strategies influence reading
comprehension?” Conceptual framework two, the importance of meta-cognitive
strategies, was developed in Appendix A -Interview Questions #3, #6, and #8.
This framework consisted of the examining the practices in teaching students
meta-cognitive skills necessary for comprehension in three stages of the reading
process: pre-reading, guided-reading, and post-reading, which derived from the
Schemata Theory.
Framework for research question three: The third research question asked, “How
is reading motivation influenced by context variables such as task success,
“hands-on “ activities, autonomy support, personal or cultural relevance, and what
can teachers do to facilitate this relationship?” The conceptual framework for this
question can be found in Appendix A questions #1, # 2, #5, and #10 and was
designed to examine the influence of context variables on students’ reading
comprehension. Table 3.4., below, shows the relationship between data collection
instruments and research questions.
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Table 3.4. Relation o f Data Collection Instruments to Research Questions
Data
Collection
Instruments
RQ1: How do
teachers help
their students
coordinate prior
knowledge with
texts and
generate
relevant
inferences?
RQ2: How does the
lack of appropriate
comprehension
strategies influence
reading
comprehension?
RQ3: How is
reading motivation
influenced by
context variables
such as task
success, “hands-on”
activities,
autonomy support,
personal or cultural
relevance, and what
can teachers do to
facilitate this
relationship?
Case Study
Guide
• Interviews
• Artifact
Analysis of
Classroom
Lessons
and Student
Portfolios.
X X X
Researcher
Rating
Matrices (Post
Data
Collection)
X X X
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Data Collection Instruments
The aforementioned conceptual frameworks that were created specifically
for the research questions, provided the basis for the data collection instruments
created by the group. The group selected interviews (with accompanying data
collection) to support the qualitative case-study methodology. Interviews were
selected to provide an in-depth opportunity for exploring issues involving
teaching practices and implementation. Descriptions of and issues involving the
instrument, were the interviews with the stakeholders who are the ten English and
Language Arts teachers from the five high schools in the Long Beach Unified
School District. The ten English/Language Arts teachers consisted of:
• Ninth/Tenth grade English/Language Arts teachers
Twelfth-grade English Honor teachers
• Special Education teacher
• English Language Learner teacher
• Eleventh/twelfth-grade English/Language Arts teachers
The three Conceptual Frameworks (Table 3.5.) provided the basis for the
interview guides for each of the above-named interviewees. Based on that
framework and the research questions, a series of interview questions and
corresponding probes were generated by the group over the course of several
meetings. Interviews with stakeholders averaged one-hour in length.
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Table 3.5. Conceptual Frameworks for Research Questions
Res. Questions Interview Questions
Research Ouestion
One: How do
teachers help their
students coordinate
prior knowledge
with texts and
generate relevant
inferences?”
Content area teachers feel that they need to know how to teach
reading in order to teach students to read in their content area.
What is your advice to these teachers?
According to research, many students who read well in
primary grades confront difficulties with reading in secondary
grades, what do you think is the reason? And what do you do
to bridge the gap?
Research indicates that good readers are strategic readers.
How do you transform your students into strategic readers?
What activities do you practice to help your students
coordinate prior knowledge with text to generate inferences?
Research Ouestion
Two: How does the
lack of appropriate
comprehension
strategies influence
reading
comprehension?
Content area teachers feel that they need to know how to teach
reading in order to teach students to read in their content area.
What is your advice to these teachers?
What do you think are the common elements of all effective
reading strategies at the secondary level? And how do you
implement them in your instruction?
Content area teachers feel that they need to know how to teach
reading in order to teach students to read in their content area.
What is your advice to these teachers?
Research Ouestion
Three: How is
reading motivation
influenced by
context variables
such as task success,
“hands-on”
activities, autonomy
support, personal or
cultural relevance,
and what can
teachers do to
facilitate this
relationship?
What do you think makes you a successful reading teacher?
What do you think are the most effective tools/practices for
teaching secondary students to succeed in reading?
Recently the RAND (2001) Reading Study mentioned that
reading motivation is influenced by many context variables
such as task success, “hands-on” activities, autonomy support,
personal or cultural relevance. How do you think these
variables may influence your students’ reading motivation?
How do you think successful high school teachers of reading
can transfer the knowledge of effective reading elements to
help their colleagues or interns?
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Researcher rating matrices
This researcher rating matrices, found in appendix B and C were created
by the dissertation group based on the accompanying conceptual framework and
strategies to which the teachers have included in their practice. This instrument
was used to address all three research questions. The plus (+) sign indicates that
the teacher uses the strategies, the minus (-) sign indicates that he teacher does not
use the strategies, and the (X) sign indicates when the teacher implements the
strategies in his/her teaching.
Data Collection
The data collection was conducted between April and June of 2002 over
the course of several sessions. Prior to the collection of data, the researcher
contacted the Assistant Superintendent of Research and Planning for her approval.
Upon her approval, the Assistant Superintendent instructed the researcher to
contact district interviewees and the school principals. A copy of the interview
questions was faxed to each interviewee a week before the interview to allow
them enough time to prepare their answers and to collect artifacts, instructional
materials, and/or student portfolios to support their claims. Prior to all interviews,
a consent-to-participate form was reviewed and signed by each interviewee.
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Data Analysis
The purpose of the study was to examine how the elements of effective
reading strategies can be implemented at the secondary level. The data collection
utilized addressed the study’s purpose through examination of the three research
questions in the following manner:
1 . Qualitative Data - Interviews conducted (ten in all) for the present study were
taped, and the transcripts were reviewed, key/saleable points extracted and
comparisons/contrasts examined.
2. Researcher Rating Matrices - Following the collection of an analysis of all
information and all data from transcripts were reviewed and analyzed using
the aforementioned two researcher matrices. For each rating matrix and item
area, the researcher accumulated anecdotal evidence to support the result.
This was completed at the conclusion of data analysis.
Summary
This chapter provided the research methods utilized in the current study,
including a description of the research design, sample, underlying conceptual
frameworks, data collection instruments and an explanation of the data collection
and analysis processes. In chapter four, the research findings, and an
accompanying analysis, are presented.
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CHAPTER FOUR
Analysis o f the Data and Interpretation o f the Findings
To ascribe appropriate meaning to the interview analysis, it is important to
keep in mind the nature of this study. This study is not one in which the subjects
are necessarily scientifically representative of a larger group, though these ten
teachers may well have numerous counterparts sprinkled throughout the high
school English/Language Arts classrooms of California. This study is one in
which the subjects are real-life members of a corps of teachers who teach reading
to secondary students in California public schools. By listening carefully to these
teachers, we can learn what the real teachers believe it means to teach reading for
comprehension.
Even though the interview analysis allows us to discern patterns and draw
conclusions that may benefit teachers who work with larger, more diverse groups
of students, we are drawing upon complex, personal information from ten
individuals. To help establish pictures of ten individuals, a brief characterization
of the teaching techniques described by each of the teachers in the interviews is
noted. The interview analysis will be followed by a summary of findings.
Analysis o f the Interview Data
Presentation of the interview data analysis is arranged according to the
stages of the reading comprehension process as described in the Schema Theory
(1970): Pre-reading, guided-reading, and post-reading. In addition to these stages
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are strategies that these teachers employed on an ongoing basis. The focus of this
study is to determine and analyze the relationship between research-based
literature on effective reading strategies and the actual classroom implementation,
including a description and analysis of the implementation. Case-study
methodology was used to collect data from the five high schools in the Long
Beach Unified School District.
The data for the current study was collected using the following instruments:
• Evidence-based interviews with ten English/Language Arts teachers.
• Researcher rating matrices: 1. Interview questions; 2. Strategies Teachers
Used in the Reading Process; and 3. Strategies Teachers Used to Teach
Reading. All three, located in appendices and referenced in full, later in
the chapter, were based on conceptual frameworks developed by the
researcher group.
The data obtained from the selected teachers were analyzed using the
Researcher Rating matrices developed to answer the three research questions
developed for this study: The names of the interviewed teachers were not used in
the study due to requirements of confidentiality. Therefore, these teachers will be
called teacher #1 to teacher #10 as their transcriptions are quoted.
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56
Research Question One: How do teachers help their students coordinate prior
knowledge with texts and generate inferences?
Data for Research Question One
The focus of research question one is on the extent to which the teachers
investigate students’ knowledge as the base upon which new ideas and networks
of ideas will be connected. It also emphasizes the activities that teachers employ
to allow students to construct personal meaning of new material by translating it
into their own verbal, visual, or concrete representations. Data collected from the
interviews, students’ portfolios, students’ work, and teachers’ instructional
materials, teacher-made tests, and standardized tests that teachers used, provided a
triangulation of data sufficient to adequately answer the first question.
Findings for how teachers help students coordinate prior knowledge with
texts and generate inferences.
Barton (1999) argues that prior knowledge plays a crucial role in text
comprehension. Strategic readers bring to the task enough accurate background
knowledge to make sense of what they read. Prior knowledge acts as a
framework through which the reader filters new information and attempts to make
sense of what is read. It also acts as a kind of mental Velcro to which the reader
can attach new information. Students bring a variety of experience and prior
knowledge to class. This knowledge is known as world knowledge. Research
indicates that when students’ experiences or background knowledge is well
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5 7
developed and accurate, they understand and remember more of what they read
(Anthony, 1989).
To meet this criterion, teachers had to describe activities in which students
somehow personally represent the new material for themselves as opposed to
replicating procedures modeled by the teachers. As guided by the conceptual
framework for Research Question One (Table 4.1), all interviewed teachers used
questioning technique to teach reading of content texts. Nine teachers have their
students make outline of text, teach their students how to predict what they are
going to read by looking at the title or illustration of the reading materials,
summarize what they have read, and reflect after the reading either verbally or in
writing. Vocabulary is an essential practice of their teaching strategies.
Vocabulary of the content area is taught to students in the context of the reading
material. Teachers also used content vocabulary in the lecture, in essays and in
discussion. Reader Theater techniques, hands-on activities, and reciprocal
teaching are also used by these nine interviewed teachers. Eight teachers teach
their students how to identify text structures, use semantic maps, and teach
reading meta-cognitive skills to their students. Only seven teachers teach their
students how to connect what they read to what they had experienced either in life
or from other readings. Among these ten interviewed teachers, four teachers
teach their students to decode and two teachers preferred to divide texts into small
chunks. Ratings and commentary are as follows (Table 4.1.):
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Table 4.1. Conceptual Framework One
Research Question one: “How do teachers help their students coordinate prior
knowledge with texts and generate relevant inferences?”
Interview Questions Strategies used by Ten
Interviewed Teachers
Number
of
Teachers
used each
strategy
(*)
Content area teachers feel that • Make outline of text 9
they need to know how to teach
• Divide texts into small
reading in order to teach students chunks 2
to read in their content area. • Teach text structures 8
What is your advice to these • Teach reading using
teachers? content texts 10
According to research, many
• Teach decoding 4
students who read well in primary
• Connection 7
grades confront difficulties with
• Prediction 9
reading in secondary grades, what
• Reflection 9
do you think is the reason? And
• Summarization 9
what do you do to bridge the gap?
• Questioning 10
• Semantic maps 8
• Vocabulary 9
Research indicates that good • Teach reading strategies
readers are strategic readers. meta-cognitive skills 8
How do you transform your • Use Reader Theater 9
students into strategic readers? * Use hands-on activities 9
What activities do you practice to • Summarizing 9
help your students coordinate • Predicting 9
prior knowledge with text to • Reciprocal teaching 9
generate inferences?
(*) The total number of interviewed teachers is 10
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59
In the area of helping students to connect prior knowledge with texts in
order to interpret the new material and represent their interpretation externally,
these ten interviewed teachers named the following examples:
• 3-Rs—Read, Research Review
• Assessment (Performance And Standardized)
• Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA)
• Focus Questions
• Graphic Organizers
• Guest Speakers
• KWL—What Do I Know? What Do I Want To Know? And What Did I
Learn?
• Note Taking
• Plotting
• Predicting Techniques
• Prompting With Background Of Text And Review
• Reading Contract
• Reciprocal Questions
• Story-Telling
• Venn Diagram
• Vocabulary Building
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60
Details extracted from the interviews as follow (Table 4.2.):
Table 4.2. Strategies Teachers Used to Coordinate Prior Knowledge with Texts
Teachers Strategies
1 KWL, Venn Diagram, Organizers, Notes
2 KWL, Reading Contract, Scaffolding, Students select reading
material
3 Prompt w/background of text and review
4 SQ3R, Assessment, Prediction
5 3 Rs- Read, Research, Review Vocabulary building, Plotting,
Assessment
6 Guest Speakers, Pre-Think Activities
7 Make reading relevant, Story-Telling, Oral Prompting, Do a
lesson using vocabulary words, Find relevancy in reading
8 Story-Telling, Plotting, Assessment
9 Text Structure (bold words), Focus Questions, Intro. To
Background Setting, Predict & Compare Results, Prompt
10 Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA): predicting,
confirming, comparing prediction w/text, Reciprocal Questions
Summary o f Findings for Research Question One
Research question one sought to describe the techniques teachers used to
help student coordinate prior knowledge with texts in order to understand and
remember what they read. There is evidence in the interviews that the
interviewed teachers provided their students with bridges and scaffolds, between
the given and the new-clarifying unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts, and
provided them with means to preview and anticipate the text. To accomplish this
task, Jacobs (1999) suggested: brainstorming, graphically organizing information,
and directed writing or interactive discussion. These ten teachers did not only
employ these strategies, but also augmented them with more authentic strategies
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61
to meet the needs of diverse student population in Long Beach Unified School
District.
Research Question Two: “ How does the lack o f appropriate comprehension
strategies influence reading comprehension? ”
Data for Research Question Two
The focus of research question two is on the importance of appropriate
comprehension strategies on reading comprehension. Data collected from the
interviews, students’ portfolios, students’ work, and teachers’ instructional
materials, teacher-made tests, and standardized tests that teachers used, provided a
triangulation of data sufficient to adequately answer research question two.
Findings for the influence o f appropriate comprehension strategies on
reading comprehension.
In order to achieve a deep comprehension that synthesizes the knowledge
of literal facts with critical/creative thinking, learners must be capable of
organizing and regulating their thinking processes. This cognitive ability is called
meta-cognition. Activities such as planning how to approach a given learning
task, monitoring comprehension, and evaluating progress toward the completion
of a task are meta-cognitive in nature (Livingston, 1997). When students are
cognitively aware that information is incomprehensible and then purposefully
begin to redirect their thinking and attempt another self-chosen learning strategy
or combination of strategies, they have become active participants in their
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learning. If a breakdown of understanding occurs, it is up to the learner’s meta-
cognitive abilities to recognize the breakdown and then do something to rectify
the misunderstanding. The learner must have an appropriate bank of strategies to
use when forced with a comprehension problem in order to effectively modify
his/her learning process and know how and when to employ these strategies.
To meet this criterion, teachers had to describe activities in which students
somehow obtained meta-cognitive strategies used in the three stages of the
reading process. Guided by the conceptual framework, research question two
consists of data gathered from the results of the following interview questions:
Interview Question Three asked," Content area teachers feel that they need to
know how to teach reading in order to teach students to read in their content area.
What is your advice to these teachers?” Interview Question Six asked, “What do
you think are the common elements of all effective reading strategies at the
secondary level? And how do you implement them in your instruction?” And
Interview Question Eight asked, “Research indicates that good readers are
strategic readers. How do you transform your students into strategic readers?
What activities do you practice to help your students coordinate prior knowledge
with text to generate inferences?”
Findings from the interviews indicated that all ten interviewed teachers
taught reading using content-area texts; they all had their students reflect on what
they read in the forms of quizzes, essay writing, or short answers. Nine teachers
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taught their students to make outlines of content texts. These teachers taught
them to make predictions, connections, find reading frames, build vocabulary, do
self-monitoring, summarize using different activities such as Think Out Loud,
used visual representation, question, create semantic maps, perform Reader
Theater, and engaged in reciprocal teaching. Eight of these teachers taught text
structures and reading strategies (meta-cognitive skills). Only three teachers
taught subject vocabulary and two teachers had their students divide texts into
small chunks. Ratings and commentary follow (Table 4.3.):
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Table 4.3. Conceptual Framework Two
Research Question Two: How does the lack of appropriate comprehension
strategies influence reading comprehension?
Interview Questions Strategies used by Ten
Interviewed Teachers
Numbers of
Teachers
used each
strategy (*)
Content area teachers feel that • Make outline of text. 9
they need to know how to • Divide texts into small chunks. 2
teach reading in order to teach • Teach subject vocabulary. 3
students to read in their • Teach text structures. 8
content area. What is your • Teach reading using content 10
advice to these teachers? texts.
What do you think are the Pre-readins: assessing.
common elements of all prediction, connection, reading
r \
effective reading strategies at frames, vocabulary.
9
the secondary level? And • During: think out loud, visual
how do you implement them representation, questioning,
in your instruction? reciprocal teaching semantic
maps, self-monitoring.
9
• After reading: reflection, quiz.
and writing. 10
Research indicates that good • Teach reading strategies meta-
readers are strategic readers. cognitive skills. 8
How do you transform your • Use Reader Theater. 9
students into strategic • Use hands-on activities. 9
readers? What activities do • Summarize. 9
you practice to help your • Predict. 9
students coordinate prior • Use Reciprocal teaching. 9
knowledge with text to
generate inferences?
(*) The total number of interviewed teachers is 10.
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In the area of teaching the appropriate strategies to ensure reading
comprehension, these ten interviewed teachers gave examples of the following
activities:
• Analyzing reading (one paragraph at a time, sentence by sentence, clause
by clause).
• Developing dialogue with author and creating timeline.
• Discussing to elicit information from read texts.
• Dramatizing.
• Facilitating.
• Finding patterns.
• Graphic organizing.
• Identifying concepts, characters, and inferences.
• Journal writing.
• Making connection with author and applying to life of students and/or
author.
• Paraphrasing, role-playing.
• Pointing out cues.
• Predicting.
• Prompting their students for comprehension using four types of questions:
pulling together, text identifying, right there, on my own.
• Reading between the lines.
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• Reflective writing—weekly j oumals.
• Summarizing, visualizing and connect vocabulary with text.
Details extracted from the interviews as follow (Tables 4.4., 4.5, 4.6.):
Table 4.4. Strategies Teachers Used A t the Pre-Reading Stage
Teachers Strategies
1 All students on the same page, KWL, Venn Diagram,
Organizers, Notes.
2 KWL, Reading Contract, Scaffolding, Students select reading
material.
3 Prompt w^ackground of text and review.
4 SQ3R, Assessment, Prediction.
5 3 Rs- Read, Research, Review
Vocabulary building, Plotting, Assessment.
6 Guest Speakers, Pre-Think activities.
7 Make reading relevant, Story Telling, Oral Prompting, Do a
lesson using vocabulary words, Find relevancy in reading.
8 Coordinate Prior Knowledge by Story-Telling, Plotting,
Assessment.
9 Text Structure (bold words), Focus Questions, Intro. To
Background Setting, Predict & Compare results, Prompt.
10 Direct Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA): predicting,
confirming, compare prediction w/text, reciprocal questions.
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Table 4.5. Strategies Teachers Used at the Guided-Reading Stage
Teachers Strategies
1 Teacher as Facilitator, Prompt students’ comprehension
w/questions
Questioning Techniques: (1) Textbook (right there), (2)
Authoring, (3) On your own, (4) Thinking Search.
2 Popcorn reading, chorus reading, read aloud, Read/Analyze one
paragraph to question text, Story Map, Character Organizer.
3 Use questions, Direct Teaching, Cooperation Groups, Use realia.
4 Analyze, Discuss, Question each passage, Think Out Loud.
5 Make Connections, Self Monitor, Find Patterns.
6 Four Types of Questions: Pulling together (Authoring);Text
Identifying (bring text into the real world); Right there (stated
meaning); On My Own (Inferences). Discuss, Elicit Information
activity.
7 Graphic Organizers, Point out cues, Use vocabulary words
learned, Analyze reading: a few paragraphs at a time, sentence
by sentence, clause by clause.
8 Summarize, Visualize, Connect Vocabulary w/Text, Predict,
Find Patterns
9 Read between the lines, Divide story into small chunks,
Compare text to background, Identify Authors Message, Ask
students about the Plot-Plotting, Use Charts.
10 Reciprocal Questioning.
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Table 4.6. Strategies Teachers Used at the Post-Reading Stage
Teacher
s
Strategies
1 Oral Share Out, Paraphrase, Essay /Process Paper, Role-play,
write a Reading and Writing Connection.
2 Discussion, Journal Writing, Write about a character, Authoring,
Plotting, Summary, Reader Theater, Books on Tape.
3 Summarize, Question the Author, Discuss Text.
4 Discuss, Reflection Essay, Paraphrase, Summarize,
Hands-on activities (e.g., drawings, dress-up, make collages).
5 Reflective Writing, Journals, Hands -o n Activities (Collages,
Posters).
6 Relate to real life, Write about a feeling/reflection that can be
shared.
7 Reflection, Synthesizing Activities, Quiz.
8 Hands-on Activities, Writing Projects, Poetry, Reflection.
9 Journal Writing/Reflection, Dramatization, Hands-on Activities
(collages, drawings), Identify Concepts, Characters, Inferences,
Develop Dialogue W/Author, Create Timeline.
10 Make connections w/author, Find purpose, Reflection, Apply to
life of students/life of author, Hands-on projects connected to
writing assignment, Thinking Maps, Summarizing.
In addition to the strategies that these ten interviewed teachers used at
different stages of the reading process, there are important elements that must be
present on an ongoing basis at all stages of the reading process. These elements
included but are not limited to the following:
Teachers allow students to make mistakes and to take risk.
• Teachers motivate students and value moral.
• Teachers scaffold and take personal stake in student success.
Teachers empower students by transforming them into strategic readers.
• Teachers model their love, passion, and enthusiasm for reading.
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• Teachers promote peer collaboration to share, plan, and network.
• Teachers seek school-wide effort to close gap in student achievement.
• Teachers establish a regimen of daily reading.
• Teachers teach students problem-solving techniques.
• Teachers walk students through steps of different strategies of reading
and allow students to take the lead.
Table 4.7. provides the details of these effective strategies.
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Details extracted from the interviews as follow:
Table 4.7. Elements of Effective Reading Strategies
(Strategies Used On an Ongoing Basis)
Teachers Strategies
1 Enthusiasm, Assessment, Require & Model Reading, Test Taking
Skills, Summarize, Critical Thinking Skills, Student Buy-in, Visuals,
Hands-on, Body Gestures, Collaborate w/ Other Teachers.
2 Consistency/ Daily Reading, Make Cultural Connections, Empower
Students, Immediate Feedback, Connection of Personal Experience,
Silent Sustained Reading, Timed Reading, Reading Aloud, Encourage
Mistakes.
3 Relate to personal Experience, Role-Model, Writing Techniques for
Different Text, Collaborate w/Other Teachers, Match Curriculum to
Student Needs.
4 Enthusiasm, Rubrics, Teach Problem Solving, Create a class spirit,
Connecting prior knowledge to text, Facts vs Opinions, Present
different genres, Teach test strategies, Empower students.
5 Teacher Enthusiasm, Read Daily (20 min.), Writing, Discussion, Peer
Collaboration, Make Connections.
6 Connect what was read to reality (career oriented goals), require
reading, use cassette tapes, connect students to themselves, take
personal stake in student success, motivate students, use technology,
allow mistakes, expect growth, walk students through steps of
different strategies, let students take the lead.
7 Test Taking Techniques, Student Interest, Use multiple techniques,
Provide Realia, Make a personal connection w/student (show you
care), Allow Mistakes, Analyze Patterns, Note Taking, and Analyze
Reading Techniques.
8 Teacher Enthusiasm, Scaffolding/Modeling, Check for Understanding,
Cultural Connections, Main Concepts, Peer Collaboration.
9 Teacher Enthusiasm/Love Passion, Main Ideas, Reading Practice,
Make Real Life Connections, Discussion, Model love for reading,
Peer Collaboration, Provide sample essays to correct, Rubrics.
10 Teacher’s passion for reading, Make meaning from text, realia, Seek
school-wide effort to close gap, Moral Rewards.
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Summary o f Findings for Research Question Two
Research question two sought the importance of appropriate
comprehension strategies on the students’ reading comprehension. There is
evidence from the data gathered from the interviews to show that by assessing
what students bring to their reading, teachers can provide them with bridges or
scaffolds, between the given and the unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts, and
providing them with means to preview and anticipate the text. Such preparatory
activity is critical for comprehension to occur (Jacobs, 1999).
At the guided-reading stage, these interviewed teachers engaged their
students in activities (e.g. Reader Theater, reciprocal teaching, semantic maps,
graphic organizer, etc.) that helped them to probe the text beyond its literal
meaning for deeper understanding. At the post-reading stage, the interviewed
teachers gave students ways to articulate their understanding verbally (discussion)
or in writing (journals, essays, reflective writing) of what they have read, and then
test their validity, apply it to a novel situation (life situation), or argue it against
an opposing assertion.
In summary, by engaging students in pre-reading, guided-reading, and
post-reading activities, the ten interviewed teachers not only supported students’
understanding of content, but also provided them with opportunities to hone their
comprehension, vocabulary, and study skills without interrupting content
learning. These teachers, indeed, facilitated a meta-cognitive classroom
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environment using the following approaches as suggested by Ernestine Riggs and
Ana Gil-Garcia (2001):
1. Modeling and discussing the teacher’s own reading processes;
2. Asking students to make and test predictions;
3. Setting aside time for reflection on what has been read;
4. Helping students to practice using contextual analysis for unfamiliar terms;
5. Assisting students’ comprehension by identifying the organization and
structure of text;
6. Asking for a summary of major ideas in a selection that has been read.
Research Question Three: “ How is reading motivation influenced by context
variables such as task success, “hands-on ” activities, autonomy support, personal
or cultural relevance, and what can teachers do to facilitate this relationship? ”
Data for Research Question Three
The focus of research question three is on the influence of context
variables on students’ reading comprehension and what teachers do to facilitate
this relationship.
According to the RAND (2001) study on Reading Comprehension, there
are criteria can be identified among these variables: (1) Intra and inter-personal
differences; (2) social class, cultural, and language differences; and (3)
developmental differences. Data collected from the interviews, students’
portfolios, students’ work, and teachers’ instructional materials, teacher made
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tests, and standardized tests that teachers used, provided a triangulation of data
sufficient to adequately answer research question three.
Findings for teachers facilitating the influence o f context variables on
student reading comprehension.
The conceptual framework for research question three, guided the findings
for the influence of context variables on student reading comprehension,
consisting of data gathered from the results of the four following interview
questions:
1 . What do you think makes you a successful reading teacher? (Interview
Questions, #1)
2. What do you think are the most effective tools/practices for teaching
secondary students to succeed in reading? (Interview Questions, #2)
3. Recently the RAND (2001) Reading Study mentioned that reading motivation
is influenced by many context variables such as task success, “hands-on”
activities, autonomy support, personal or cultural relevance. How do you
think these variables may influence your students’ reading motivation?
(Interview Questions, #5)
4. How do you think successful high school teachers of reading can transfer the
knowledge of effective reading elements to help their colleagues or interns?
(Interview Questions, #10)
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1. Criterion 1: Intra & interpersonal differences. According to Howard
Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple intelligence, the core component of
Intrapersonal intelligence is the access to one’s own feelings and the ability to
discriminate among them and draw on them to guide behavior as well as
knowledge of one’s own strengths, weaknesses, desires, and intelligence. On the
other hand, Interpersonal intelligence includes the capacity to discern and respond
appropriately to the moods, temperaments, motivations, and desires of other
people.
Drawing from this understanding, Intrapersonal differences are the
differences in the reading performance of a single reader that emerges as a
function of interests, situation, motivation, or other factors. Thus, every student
has a particular profile of reading competencies and interests.
Inter-personal differences are the differences in the reading
comprehension
abilities of students. Some of this variability reflects the assessment measures
used to measure reading comprehension. In addition, learner characteristics may
partially account for these differences. Thus, differential development of a variety
of capacities such as nonlinguistic abilities and processes, which are the
prerequisites to reading comprehension, may generate varying outcomes.
Data gathered from the interviews, indicated that all teachers focused on
task success of the students as one of many significant elements to motivate their
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students to read. Nine teachers emphasized on hands-on activities, eight on
integrating cultural relevance on their reading assignments, five on teaching
reading strategies (prompting, story telling, graphic organizing), and four on basic
skills, understand prints. Only four teachers believed that their passion,
enthusiasm, and sufficient knowledge of how to teach reading would motivate
their students to read. Among these interviewed teachers, only two teachers
mentioned that accurate assessment was the key to reading since they knew what
their students needed, in order to develop a curriculum that matched their
students’ ability. Details extracted from the interviews as follows (Table 4.9.):
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Table 4.8. Conceptual Framework Three
Research Question Three: How is reading motivation influenced by context
variables such as task success, “hands-on” activities, autonomy support, personal
or cultural relevance, and what can teachers do to facilitate this relationship?
Interview Questions Strategies used by Ten
Interviewed Teachers
Numbers of
Teachers
used each
strategy (*)
What do you think makes you a
9
Passion/enthusiasm 4
successful reading teacher?
9
Accurate assessments 2
•
Teacher knowledge 4
What do you think are the most
•
Basic skills 4
effective tools/practices for
9
Understand prints 4
teaching secondary students to
9
Mandatory reading 3
succeed in reading?
9
Teach reading strategies:
prompting, story telling,
graphic organizer 5
Recently the RAND (2001)
9
Culture 8
Reading Study mentioned that
9
Hands-on 9
reading motivation is influenced by
9
Autonomy 9
many context variables such as task
success, “hands-on” activities,
autonomy support, personal or
cultural relevance. How do you
think these variables may influence
your students’ reading motivation?
•
Task success 10
How do you think successful high
9
Attending workshops 7
school teachers of reading can
9
Networking 10
transfer the knowledge of effective
reading elements?
9
Observing and listening 7
(*) The total number of interviewed teachers is 10,
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2. Criterion 2: Social class, cultural, and language differences. In her book on
Educational Psychology, Anita Woolfolk (2001) refers to social class as the status
individuals are accorded in a society. This status is a function of race, gender,
ethnicity, language, and economic conditions. Research has demonstrated
consistent effects of social class on reading achievement. For example, research
on cultural congruence in instruction, offers a basis for understanding how
schooling might be made more beneficial for students from diverse backgrounds.
Studies of cultural congruence are based on the premise that school learning takes
place in particular social contexts, often through teacher-student interactions.
From the perspective of Vygotsky (1978), learning occurs when the student’s
performance is assisted by that of a more capable other, who may be a teacher or
a peer. Learning takes place in the context of social relationships, and both
learning and failure to learn are considered socially organized activities
(Woolfolk, 2001).
Findings for this criterion were established from the strategies these ten
interviewed teachers used on an ongoing basis (Table 4.8.) and throughout the
three stages of the reading process: (pre-reading (Table 4.5.), guided-reading
(Table 4.6.), and post-reading (Table 4.7.). Data gathered from the interviews,
indicated that among the ten interviewed teachers, eight incorporated cultural
relevance through media and reading (novels) but not limited to videos of cultural
celebration, artifacts, guest speakers, movies, and discussion. Nine teachers
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believed in hands-on activities such as drawings, writing songs, dressing up like
the main character in the reading, making collages, or dramatization as ways to
create a class spirit or reflect of what they read and comprehended. Nine hoped to
lead their students from this point to autonomy or self-motivation in reading. And
all but one teacher agreed that teacher and/or peer characteristics have very great
influence on the students’ motivation to read. As one interviewed teacher said,
“The more peer interaction they have, the more enthusiasm they have, and the
better they seem to get it.” This teacher also stated that, “Everywhere I’ve taught,
I need to learn how much kids were able to accomplish with discussion amongst
one another and they do seem to connect very, very well. Giving them guide
questions, giving different groups a different objective to try to achieve and
discussing it with peers and reporting it back to the class has seemed to work
well.” (Interview, 6/15/02).
In referring to teacher characteristics that motivate students to read, the
typical statement of these interviewed teachers was, “I display a lot of passion
toward my reading. I get very excited when I have the chance to meet an author
that has written something I love. I get very excited when someone recommends
a book to me that I really enjoy and so I guess I try to share my own literary
experience ...” (Interview, 6/15/02).
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3. Criterion 3: Developmental differences. Developmental difference is also an
important aspect that influences the comprehension of readers. Anita Woolfolk
(2001) cautioned us to keep in mind the general principles of development. The
first principle is that people develop at different rates. In a classroom, some
students will be larger, better coordinated, or more mature in their thinking and
social relationships. Others will be slower and less mature in these areas. The
second principle of development is that people develop certain abilities before
others. In infancy, children sit before they walk and babble before they talk. In
reading, they must learn the alphabet before they read. The third principle is that
development takes place gradually; very rarely do changes appear overnight. A
student who cannot decode the word today cannot read a novel the next day.
Findings from the interviews (Table 4.3.) indicated that four teachers
taught decoding and basic literacy skills (phonology, syntax, phonics, and
understanding print), three teachers taught subject vocabulary, eight teachers
taught text structures, nine teachers taught their students how to predict,
summarize, vocabulary, and reflect verbally or in writing. All of the interviewed
teachers revealed using different types of questions in their teaching.
Rice (1989) advised that all teachers could enrich students’ language
environment by focusing not just on correct or incorrect usage, but also on the
idea expressed. They should also probe and extend students’ ideas. In this way,
the teacher maintains the students’ interest and at the same time expands the
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complexity of the statement and recasts the language in a more mature form. This
study’s findings showed that these interviewed teachers, indeed, focused not just
on correct or incorrect usage, but also on the ideas expressed.
Summary o f Findings for Research Question Three
Research question three sought the influence of context variables on the
student’s reading comprehension. There is evidence from the data gathered from
the interviews to show that the interviewed teachers acknowledged that context
variables had a great influence on the student’ motivation to read. To facilitate
this relationship, these teachers had employed the following activities:
1. Focus on task success of the students;
2. Facilitate the reading process with hands-on activities such as
drawings, song-writing, poetry, dressing up like the main character in
the reading, collages making. These activities can create class spirit or
reflect of what they read and comprehended;
3. Integrate cultural relevance via media, novel readings, celebration,
artifacts, guest speakers, movies, and discussion;
4. Teach decoding and basic literacy skills such as phonology,
understand prints, fluency;
5. Teach vocabulary, text structures, prediction, summarization,
reflection (verbally and in writing); and
6. Use different types of questioning to elicit student’s comprehension.
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Discussion
Findings for each research question were determined following a careful
analysis of the data, and those findings were subsequently considered and
analyzed, resulting in the emerging of three major themes in the findings of this
study:
1. The success of helping students coordinate prior knowledge with text
to generate relevant inferences is dependent on the activities which
teachers provided their students to bridge or scaffold between the
given and the unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts;
2. The success of helping any student to become a strategic reader is
dependent on teacher’s pedagogical mastery, content knowledge,
passion and support for the students ; and
3. The effect of context variables may be moderated by the teacher’s
pedagogical application, culturally sensitivity, and appreciation of the
differences of their students’ background and environments.
Major Theme One: The success o f helping students coordinate prior knowledge
with text to generate relevant inferences is dependent on the activities which
teachers provided their students to bridge or scaffold between the given and the
new-clarifying unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts.
Prior knowledge acts as a framework through which the reader filters new
information and attempts to make sense of what is read. It also acts as a kind of
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mental Velcro to which the reader can attach new information. Readers need
prior knowledge in order to relate to the new knowledge that they are about to
acquire. Benjamin Bloom (1976) proposed that learning occurred as a result of
the interactions of an individual’s prior knowledge, attitudes toward learning, self
perception, and his or her immediate environment. Therefore, content area
teachers should employ an array of pre-reading strategies that will help them
activate, assess, and extend each student’s level of prior knowledge. Nine out of
ten interviewed teachers used Reader Theater, hands-on activities, summarizing,
predicting and reciprocal teaching; as the following samplings illustrate:
Teacher #4: “I think it is important for students to learn how to
survey, to have an anticipatory set before they read the text.
They need to be able to read the questions first and have an
understanding of where it goes in the text itself.”
Teacher #7: “My advice would be to use graphic organizers,
review the chapter content beforehand, do a lesson early in the
year on the organization of the textbook, point out cues, and
make content vocabulary a living part of the classroom.”
Teacher #9: “I read it to them. I try to reconnect them. I have
them make predictions before reading. Then I ask them what
they think is going to happen and why they think that.”
Teacher #10: “There are activities that content teachers can do
on a daily basis and it’s not going to take away from their
content area. Activities that would teach kids strategies, teach
kids how to predict, teach kids how to clarify, and teach kids
how to summarize for themselves. And these strategies are
strategies they use, using their own textbook material.”
Teacher #10: “For example, have kids do a direct-reading
activity. That is an activity that teaches the kids the strategy of
predicting, of focusing on a text, of confirming or
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disconfirming their predictions. And that’s something that is
so easily done and that’s a strategy I’ve used all year.”
The essence of learning is linking new information to prior knowledge
about the topic, the text structure or genre, and strategies for learning. When the
knowledge that readers bring to the reading of a text is untapped, comprehension
is limited. The following statement is an excellent example of this linkage:
Teacher #6: If kids have no prior knowledge, how can I expect
them to know what I want them to learn? They have to read.
Let them be read to. I have all reading in different forms and
fashions. I have reading on tapes. I have headphones. I do
open tapes and the kids read along.
Benjamin Bloom (1976) proposed that learning occurred as a result of the
interactions of an individual’s prior knowledge, attitudes toward learning, self
perception, and his or her immediate environment. Others suggested that thinking
could be subdivided into several distinct, measurable processes (McKinney &
Keen, 1974). Kolb (1984) stated that learning is a cycle based on the learner’s
preferences for some combination of concrete-abstract and reflective-active
experiential learning dimensions. The following examples illustrate:
Teacher #1: “I think content teachers need to know how to
approach the text they are trying to present to their audience
and teach how to effectively approach the text... [To]
understand how the book is pieced together, how the text is
pieced together, then they can have ownership. And when they
can relate it to their personal experience, they buy into it even
more.”
Because cognitive conceptions of understanding posit that understanding
begins with mental representations, the ways in which learners connect new
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representations, and the links learners form between new representations and
existing mental networks are all important factors in the process of understanding.
In the case of Long Beach Unified School District, the selected teachers had
employed activities to investigate students’ prior knowledge as the base upon
which new ideas and networks of ideas will be connected. These activities also
allowed students to construct personal meaning of new material by translating it
into their own verbal, visual, or concrete representation.
Major Theme Two: The success o f helping students become strategic readers
hinges upon the strategies the teachers employ.
The English and Language Arts (ELA) Leaders’ Task Force (2000),
describes a proficient adolescent reader as one who shows evidence of: (1)
Activating background knowledge of the topic before reading; (2) making
connections to text, world, and self during reading; (3) synthesizing information
from a variety of sources to develop an understanding and thinking about next
steps—“what else do I need to know?” after reading, and over time; reading and
interpreting data; (4) reading a variety of genres; choosing to read and interacting
with others about their reading matter; (5) developing and extending oral and
written responses to his/her reading; (6) and finally, using reading to solve
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problems in life and on the job (ELA Leaders’ Task Force, 2000). The following
statements illustrate this:
Teacher #4: “I think it is important for students to learn how to survey, to
have an anticipatory set before they read the text. They need to be able to
read the questions first and have an understanding of where it goes in the
text itself.”
Teacher #3: “You talk about what you’re going to be doing. What are
some of the things we are going to be looking at? You go back and see
what you’ve done. Working in groups, or having kids think of questions.”
Teacher #7: “There are a variety of techniques designed to break down
the reading task into its component parts. Sometimes a teacher must go
back to elementary methodology and jazz it up for the older students.”
Teacher #8: “You take the cover of the book and ask them what they
think it is about. I do a lot of summarizing.”
Good readers are often involved with the ideas, the emotional experiences,
and the style of text. They read purposefully, for both affective and intellectual
goals. They have confidence in their ability to understand what they read. They
also evaluate the quality of the texts they read and determine the relevance of
those texts to their own lives (RAND, 2001).
Teacher #6 “First of all, I have to connect the kids to themselves. We
read, we stop, we discuss. I never assume the kids understand what
they’re reading about because they don’t have that background. So we
stop and talk about things. I look at eyes and see when they’re
uncomfortable. We do something kinesthetic. You get a kid who will
throw in some humor and you laugh with them. You immerse yourself.”
Teacher #9: “Teachers need to teach students how to skim for key words -
words vs. the rest of the stuff in the paragraph.”
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Teacher #2: “I think of me, I love to read and I love to imagine myself as
that character. His experiences are my experiences. They make story
maps and they might draw a little picture and then a sentence that offers a
summary.”
Teacher #10: “Kids need to read things just as we do as adults. When it’s
difficult, read it over and over until we get it and many of our kids are not
used to that. Everything is so quick in their lives and they’re not used to
sitting down and just taking that time to negotiate that text. So when we
go through reciprocal questioning, they’re focusing again. So we’re
reading more than one time— Before reading, reciprocal question during
reading. During reciprocal questioning, they’re in pairs or doing it
individually. They need to go through again paragraph by paragraph and
when they come up with their questions, and so I’m monitoring how in
depth they’re reading. Now, we have to look at making connections to the
author. We look at author’s purpose, we look at reflection, what does this
reading have to do with your life? With the world around you? Reflecting
in terms of how can you use this text in your learning? Why did the
author write this piece of text? So, they’re going beyond now and they’re
still continuing to focus on that text.”
Evidence has shown that without the combination of meta-cognitive and
cognitive strategy, developing learners are unlikely to be able to transfer strategies
to other tasks. They need activities which incorporate reflection, thinking about
what they are going to do and why, experimentation, doing a task and
manipulating the language to achieve a goal (O’Malley et al., 198.5, Ellis and
Sinclair, 1989). As the following statements illustrate:
Teacher #2: “I think they’ve first got to connect with experience. I think
it’s important that they visualize. I think it is important whether they get a
right to say whether they like what they’re reading or not. They get a
chance to choose for them to make the right connection.”
Teacher #9: “I have them look at the type of questions and start to think.
You have to make a question where you use the Author and Me question
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technique. You compare yourself to the author. I show them how to
connect.”
Teacher #8: “They first have to understand orally. They have to listen
first. There are a lot of kids that can’t speak English, but they have to put
the eyeball on they word. Then they start to connect. It’s tough to do.”
Teacher #5: “I keep pushing and encouraging them. If they are not able
to handle it, I extend the time for them to turn something in. And I give
them extra credit. If I see that this is a little bit much for them, I tell them
we are going to read and discuss questions.”
Teacher #10: “I stress to my kids that you need some form of education
after high school. It doesn’t need to be a four year university, but you
need education. This is what you’re are going to need to do, so I try to get
them to see the relationship between what we do in the classroom and the
importance of that reading, and what they’re going to need to do later.”
In summary, by engaging students in different reading activities, these
interviewed teachers not only supported students’ understanding of content, but
also provided them with opportunities to hone their comprehension, vocabulary,
and study skills without interrupting content learning. It is essential to be aware
of how to employ these skills since they can become more confident about
whether students comprehend both the word and the spirit of their texts (Jacobs,
1999).
Major Theme Three: The influence o f context variables may be lessened by the
teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, sensitivity, and appreciation the differences o f
their students ’ background and environments.
Three most significant context variables that influence reading
comprehension are: (1) Intra & inter-personal differences; (2) social class,
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cultural, and language differences; and (3) developmental differences (RAND,
2001).
1. Intra- & inter-personal differences. According to Howard Gardner’s (1983)
theory of multiple intelligence, the core component of intra-personal
intelligence is the access to one’s own feelings and the ability to discriminate
among them and draw on them to guide behavior; knowledge of one’s own
strengths, weaknesses, desires, and intelligence. On the other hand,
interpersonal intelligence includes capacity to discern and respond
appropriately to the moods, temperaments, motivations, and desires of other
people.
Thus, every student has a particular profile of reading competencies and
interests. He or she has a variety of capacities, which are the prerequisites to
reading comprehension, may generate varying outcome, as the following
statements from the interviews illustrate:
Teacher #1: “At the beginning of the school year, no matter what subject
area I’m teaching, I do a lot of assessment and that drives my curriculum
or any period. So I get into the learning modalities. I believe in trying to
reach the different morning modalities within my classroom, whether
visually or auditory... they do a lot of outside reading.. .whatever interests
them in that free reading that they may have, we share that with them.”
Teacher #7: “First you find out about their interests and background. If a
high schooler doesn’t read and doesn’t like to read, the best thing you can
do is to teach them what they need to know to succeed on their tests. The
best thing you can do is to find a few things that will help them move on.”
Teacher #4: “It is important to try to connect [reading] to something that
gives them both a sense of success and a sense of enthusiasm regarding
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their success so they might try again. So specifically, you help them find
the text that helps them bridge the gap and at a level that they can feel
successful in so doing...let’s give them that sense of success and start
working upwards from that.”
Teacher #8: “This particular program (Project Write in San Diego) is
designed to teach students how to write, based on the premise that if
you’re a good reader, you’ll become a good writer. I dramatized a little
bit. A facial expression, perhaps while I’m reading it. After the reading,
they always have writing. I first give them a structure, and example. I
give them a model or pattern. They learn the language and are putting in
their own ideas.”
Teacher #6: “You have to walk them through. The first sixty days you
have to lead. I don’t hide things from them. I’m always up front... I have
them talk about it (what they read), and discuss it. I may have them close
their eyes and think about it. I have them tell me. I check on them
without demeaning them. I have peripheral vision so I know who’s on and
who’s off all the time.”
Teacher #9: “My love for learning about people through books. If you
seem excited about what you’re doing, the kids will be. [Content teachers]
need to teach [students] how to skim for the key words. Words (antonyms
and synonyms) vs. the rest of the stuff in the paragraph.”
Teacher #2: “I think of me, I love to read and I love to imagine myself as
that character. His experiences are my experiences. They make story
maps and they might draw a little picture and then a sentence that offers a
summary.”
2. Social class, cultural, and language differences. In her book on Educational
Psychology, Anita Woolfolk (2001) refers to social class as the status
individuals are accorded in a society. This status is a function of race, gender,
ethnicity, language, and economic conditions. The consistent effects of social
class on reading achievement, proved that cultural congruence in instruction
served as a basis for understanding how schooling might be made more
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beneficial for students from diverse backgrounds. This type of instruction is
effective because it is based on the premise that school learning takes place in
particular social contexts, often through teacher-student interactions. In
supporting the same view, Vygotsky (1978) states that learning occurs when
the student’s performance is assisted by that of a more capable other, who
may be a teacher or a peer. Because learning takes place in the context of
social relationships, and both learning and failure to learn are considered
socially organized activities (Woolfolk, 2001).
In case of Long Beach Unified School District, the gains in student
achievement on reading comprehension indicated that differences in social,
culture, and language are recognized and dealt with by the majority of secondary
teachers. For example:
Teacher #2: “I like to use fables from all different cultures. We have a
little unit where everybody has their own fable. I try to use as much of
their culture as I can.”
Teacher #4: “I try at the very least to find a short story that would
represent the different cultures, ideally novels. Those will have a more
common thread of cultural universality. I have a high Hispanic
population, so my own enthusiasm, my favorite author, is Victoria Senor,
and so if I can share my own passion for a book of a culture of a student, it
seems to set them at ease and validate.”
Teacher #3: “I think [cultural relevancy] is important, but it is not always
important. Students have many people that they interact with. I think that
if the student feels that you like them, that is one of the motivators. So
often, knowledge is outside our cultural relevance. One of the things we
are constantly doing is going beyond our boundaries.”
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Differences in communication practices and in language or language
variety spoken have major implications for children’s reading comprehension
development, especially when teachers do not acknowledge or understand the
different ways in which children communicate and the various languages they
know, as well as how they differ in their oral language development, knowledge
of linguistic structures, exposure to rhetorical forms, and vocabulary
development. These aspects of their language development influence their ability
to comprehend increasing levels of text difficulty (RAND, 2001), as the following
statements illustrate:
Teacher #2: “For instance, if I was just doing long “A”, I’d do “ate, ade”
syllables that have the long “A” sound. Then they are to find it in English,
and then they are to translate that into their first language. Because it
doesn’t do any good if they have a word like “date” and they can
pronounce it, but they don’t know what it means. For second language
learners, it doesn’t really do any good for them to be able to pronounce it
if it has no meaning.
Teacher #9: “[Content teachers] need to teach [students] how to skim for
the key words, words vs. the rest of the stuff in the paragraph. Another
thing is working on synonyms and antonyms. The American literature is
really hard, but they need to know grammar. We do logic and analogies.”
Teacher #8: “If you don’t speak clearly with ELD (English Language
Development) kids, they don’t hear it like starring, starting, staring. A lot
of times the way we say it and the way it’s written can be very different.
It’s like the compare and contrast thing. You break it down for them and
tell them these are the words we are going to use in the story. I let them
think of words like “enemy” and “amigo”. I ask them what they think the
opposite of a friend is.”
Teacher #4: “To teach my student to examine the basic components of
reading, I begin with the decoding process of both target languages. I
assumed they are to be English and a native language of the student. I
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began with English while acknowledging the difference in the decoding
process of native language of the students to examine the core attributes of
reading components. For example: I teach my students to decode the
words first, and then understand how the print process and comprehension
are related. To be able to do so, I have to give the students an opportunity
to go through the reading process one step at a time.”
Teacher #3: “Reading information is very different from reading art. I
think that they could highlight their books within that context. I ask
certain questions and ask them to highlight. It shows if they can discern
what is interesting or what is factual. Not all reading is the same.”
3. Developmental differences. Developmental differences are important aspects
that influences a reader’s comprehension. These differences include the rates of
development, the order of development, and the time that the development takes
place.
Although developmental differences are related to the child’s age, they are
also crucially influenced by amount and quality of instruction. In its publication,
Literacy Development in Early Childhood (Preschool through Grade 3), the
International Reading Association (1995) lists the following basic premises of a
sound reading program:
• Reading and writing at school should permit children to build upon their
existing knowledge of oral and written language;
• Learning should take place in a supportive environment where children
can build a positive attitude toward themselves and toward language and
literacy;
• For optimal learning, teachers should involve children actively in many
meaningful, functional language experiences, including speaking,
listening, writing, and reading (International Reading Association, 1995).
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Rice (1989) advises that all teachers could enrich student’s language
environment by focusing not just on correct or incorrect usage, but also on the
idea expressed. They should also probe and extend students’ ideas. In this way,
the teacher maintains the students’ interest and at the same time expands the
complexity of the statement and recasts the language in a more mature form.
Focusing on reading and writing at school, creating a conducive learning
environment, and employing meaningful activities can be seen in the following
interview excerpts:
Teacher #3: “You talk about what you’re going to be doing. What are
some of the things we are going to be looking at? You go back and see
what you’ve done. Working in groups, or having the kids think of
questions. For non-motivated students, sometimes I team them up with a
motivated student.”
Teacher #4: “It is important to try to connect [reading] to something that
gives them both a sense of success and a sense of enthusiasm regarding
their success so they might try again. So specifically you help them find
the text that helps them bridge the gap and at a level that they can feel
successful in so doing.”
Teacher #9: “I think it is enthusiasm. My love for learning about people
is through books. If you seem excited about what you’re doing, the kids
will be. I have a map of what I’m going to teach and how I’m going to do
it. I plan ahead. I can tell the kids what we’re going to do and how they
can look ahead to be prepared for what they’re going to have to
write—compare and contrast—I look at what needs to be exposed
to—what they need to do. Then, I try to find ways to do it with the
literature.”
Teacher #3: “Every day we do silent-sustained reading and every day we
write in a reading log where they make their comments. Every week, they
have reading journals. Every day, they must read at home.”
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Teacher #6: “I have to connect the kids to themselves. So when I can
connect self to self, it makes all the rest easier. You have to love yourself.
That’s goal #1. When I come in [to the classroom], I don’t have any
preconceived ideas.”
Teacher #5: “You have to be flexible with these students. You cannot
just summarize it. I also go through a book with the vocabulary words, as
they are reading, I tell them to underline those words. I follow a
guideline. We constantly talk about things. When they make a connection
that they have a friend that some thing has happened to, we talk about it.
They share with me and we talk about it. You don’t just give it to them.
You have to talk about it. When things come out in a book, we talk about
it. The delivery, the teacher’s attitude towards her students and how she
incorporates everything that she has to help each one of her students. She
can’t say she will only be concerned about the middle student. She has to
do something that incorporates the whole range and makes them feel loved
and that she really cares about each one of them.”
Teacher #1: “I do a lot of assessment and that drives my curriculum or
any period. So I get into the learning modalities. I believe in trying to
reach the different morning modalities within my classroom, whether
visually or auditory. My lessons or my units encompass a lot of hands-on
activities. I believe in using a lot of hands-on activities so just reaching the
different mentalities and senses. One way or the other they’re going to get
it.”
Teacher #10: “What makes me a successful reading teacher is
understanding the reading process, how kids read, what students need to
understand to be better readers or being able to give them those tools. I
think second comes the passion... .Because I can take kids through a
process and I can teach them what to do to be better readers. And the fact
that I love to do it makes it fun and helps me make it fun in the classroom
for them. Having the passion makes it fun for the kids. I think you can be
a teacher who knows all the strategies and attempts to teach these
strategies to kids, but if you don’t have that passion there and can’t make
it enjoyable, the kids aren’t going to get much out of it.”
Findings from the interviews of have proven that although the socio
cultural context effects students’ acquisition of the reading components, impact of
these context variables may be lessened by the pedagogical knowledge, content
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knowledge, teaching skills, passion, and motivation of the teachers who employ
strategies and activities that promote task success, “hands-on” activities,
autonomy support, personal or cultural relevance, and teacher or peer
characteristics.
The data for each research question, with accompanying analysis and
findings, has been presented in Chapter Four. Three major themes were
developed and discussed. The study is summarized in Chapter Five with
conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions for further study.
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CHAPTER FIVE
Summary, Conclusions and Implications of the Findings
Summary
The Problem
Since the first administration of the National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) in 1971, 17 year olds in the U.S. have not improved their level
of reading. In 1998, only 40% of them read well enough to comfortably manage
standard high school texts and only 6% read at an advance level in which they
could synthesize and learn from specialized material. As one study noted, the
level of reading skills has remained stagnant (RAND, 2001). This poor
performance is more problematic when U.S. students are compared against
international standards or the standards of the workplace. For instance, in
international comparisons of performance on reading assessments, United States
11th graders perform very close to the bottom, behind students from The
Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and other Third World nations. In the workplace,
the demand for literacy skills is high and increasing.
More than ever in the history of The United States, economic demands
require a higher level of universal literacy achievement than ever before, and it is
reasonable to believe that literacy demands will increase in the future (Clifford,
1984; Kaestle, 1985; Resnick & Resnick, 1977). Therefore, if schools maintain
the same level of reading instruction, their students will fall further behind in the
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workplace as society increases in complexity (Compaine, 1987; Harker, 1985;
Venezky, Kaestle, & Sum, 1987; Willingsky, 1987). The large and persistent gap
in reading achievement in the later elementary and secondary grades also relates
to differences in achievement in other content areas. Thus, problems in reading
impact performance in other subjects and generally compound problems of poor
academic performance.
Why is reading instruction so ineffective? One reason is that instruction
on comprehension skills is minimal at the secondary level (RAND, 2001). Many
teachers assume that good readers use strategies in reading to learn new concepts,
get deeply involved in the topic, critically evaluate what they read, and apply their
new knowledge to solve practical as well as intellectual problems. However,
many students fail to develop these strategies without specific instruction in their
nature and use. Furthermore, few secondary teachers have any education or
experience in reading-instruction. Together, these factors suggest that secondary
student reading skills will not improve unless something changes drastically.
Purpose o f the Study
The purpose of the study was to detail instances of key elements of
effective reading strategies and to examine how they can be implemented at the
secondary level with identified “model” practices that exist among LBUSD-
English/Language Arts teachers whose students achieved high scores in reading
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on their SAT-9 from 2000-2001 as recorded in Normal Curve Equivalent Gains
Report. Three research questions were developed to guide the study:
1. How do teachers help their students coordinate prior knowledge with texts
and generate relevant inferences?
2. How does the lack of appropriate comprehension strategies influence
reading comprehension?
3. How is reading motivation influenced by context variables such as task
success, “hands-on” activities, autonomy support, personal or cultural
relevance, and what can teachers do to facilitate this relationship?
Methodology
Qualitative, descriptive-analytic case-study research methods were used to
conduct an in-depth study and analysis of a district and secondary teachers
currently implementing research-based reading comprehension practices.
Interviews, classroom visits, teaching materials, student work and portfolios were
used to collect data. These instruments were created expressly for this study,
based on the study’s conceptual framework, in order to identify how the elements
of effective reading strategies can be implemented at the secondary level to
answer the study’s research questions. The case-study method was utilized in
order to provide explanations for the phenomena studied, research-based best
practices and site implementation, in order to describe their relational patterns
(Gall, Borg & Borg, 1996).
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The sample consisted of ten high school English/Language Arts teachers.
They consist of: one ninth-grade English/Language Arts teacher, one tenth-grade
English Honor teacher, one Special Education-English/Language Arts teacher,
three ELD English/Language Arts teachers, and four tenth-grade regular
English/Language Arts teachers. These stakeholders were employed through
Long Beach Unified School District.
The sites for this study were six typical urban California public high
schools with diverse student bodies in Long Beach, Southern California. Long
Beach Unified School District was the third largest district after Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD) and the San Diego School District that had the
largest diverse population. Long Beach Unified School District has a total
enrollment of 93,694 students with a very diverse population. For example, the
ethnicity breakdown consists of 45.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.7% African
American, 17.8% White (not Hispanic), 11.5% Asian, 3.1% Filipino, 2.1% Pacific
Islander, and .3% American Indian or Alaska Native. Among these students,
68.9% are eligible for free meals and 36.9% are English Language earners
(LBUSD, 2001). The researcher had selected a typical, rather than an “exclusive”
district because the researcher wanted to learn how individual teachers could
make a difference to students in average schools, under typical circumstances.
The researcher chose high schools as the sites for the research because the focus
of this study is to identify the elements of implementing effective comprehension
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strategies at the secondary level. The insights on teaching strategies of these
secondary teachers might have implications for supporting other teachers in ways
that would lead to the same end result.
Findings
Conceptual framework and data collection instruments were developed for
each research question. The three conceptual frameworks were developed, based
on the body of literature in the field, to conceptualize the research questions
addressed in this study. The framework for each research question was examined
as follows:
Framework for research question one
The first research question asked, “How do teachers help their students
coordinate prior knowledge with texts and generate relevant inferences?”
Conceptual Framework One found in appendix A, Interview Questions #3, #4,
and #8, were developed to provide the basis to examine how the research-based
elements of effective reading strategies were implemented. For each interview
question, there were sub-questions used for probing for in-depth information.
Elements sought included the extent to which the teachers investigate students’
knowledge as the base upon which new ideas and networks of ideas will be
connected. It also emphasized the activities which teachers employ to allow
students to construct personal meaning of new material by translating it into their
own verbal, visual, or concrete representations.
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Findings fo r research question one
Research question one sought to describe the techniques teachers used to
help student coordinate prior knowledge with texts in order to understand and
remember what they read. There is evidence in the interviews that the
interviewed teachers provided their students with bridges and scaffolds between
the given and the new-clarifying unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts, and
provided them with the means to preview and anticipate the text. To accomplish
this task, Jacobs (1999) suggests the following: brainstorming, graphically
organizing information, directed writing or interactive discussion. These ten
teachers did not only employ these strategies, but also elaborated on them with
more authentic strategies to meet the needs of their diverse student population in
Long Beach Unified School District.
Framework for research question two
The second research question asked, “How does the lack of appropriate
comprehension strategies influence reading comprehension?” Conceptual
framework two, the importance of meta-cognitive strategies, was developed in
Appendix A, Interview Question #3, #6, and #8. This framework consisted of the
examining of the practices in teaching students meta-cognitive skills necessary for
comprehension in three stages of the reading process: pre-reading, guided-
reading, and post-reading, which derived from the Schemata Theory.
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Findings fo r research question two
Research question two sought the importance of appropriate
comprehension strategies on the student’s reading comprehension. There is
evidence from the data gathered from the interviews to show that by assessing
what students bring to their reading, teachers can provide them with bridges or
scaffolds, between the given and the unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts, and
provide them with means to preview and anticipate the text. Such preparatory
activity is critical for comprehension to occur (Jacobs, 1999).
At the guided-reading stage, these interviewed teachers engaged their
students in activities (e.g., Reader Theater, reciprocal teaching, semantic maps,
graphic organizer, etc.) that helped them to probe the text beyond its literal
meaning for deeper understanding. At the post-reading stage, the interviewed
teachers gave students ways to articulate their understanding verbally (discussion)
or in writing (journals, essays, reflective writing) about what they have read, and
then to test its validity, apply it to a novel situation (life situation), or argue it
against an opposing assertion.
In short, by engaging students in pre-, guided-, and post-reading activities,
the ten interviewed teachers not only support students’ understanding of content,
but also provided them with opportunities to hone their comprehension,
vocabulary, and study skills without interrupting content learning. Indeed, these
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teachers facilitated a meta-cognitive classroom environment using the following
approaches as suggested by Ernestine Riggs and Ana Gil-Garcia (2001).
• Modeling and discussing the teacher’s own reading processes;
• Asking students to make and test predictions;
• Setting aside time for reflection on what has been read;
• Helping students to practice using contextual analysis for unfamiliar
terms;
• Assisting students’ comprehension by identifying the organization and
structure of text;
• Asking for a summary of major ideas in a selection that has been read.
Frameworkfor research question three
The third research question asked, “How is reading motivation influenced
by context variables such as task success, “hands-on “ activities, autonomy
support, personal or cultural relevance, and what can teachers do to facilitate this
relationship?” The conceptual framework for this question can be found in
Appendix A, Interview Questions #1, # 2, #5, and #10. This framework is to
examine the influence of context variables on students’ reading comprehension.
Table 2, below, shows the relationship between data collection instruments and
research questions.
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Findings for research question three
Research question three sought the influence of context variables on the
student’s reading comprehension. There is evidence from the data gathered from
the interviews showing that the interviewed teachers acknowledged that context
variables had a great influence on the student’ motivation to read. To facilitate
this relationship, these teachers employed the following activities:
• Focus on task success of the students;
• Facilitate the reading process with hands-on activities such as drawings,
songs writing, poetry, dressing up like the main character in the reading,
collages making;
• Integrate cultural relevance via media, novel readings, celebration,
artifacts, guest speakers, movies, and discussion;
• Teach decoding and basic literacy skills such as phonology, understand
prints, fluency, among others;
• Teach vocabulary, text structures, prediction, summarization, reflection
(verbally and in writing);
• Use different types of questioning to elicit student’s comprehension.
Conclusions and Implications o f the Findings
This study focused on the implementation of the research-based key
elements of effective reading strategies that successful secondary teachers used in
a naturalistic setting. Instead of proposing a monolithic change in practice, it
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looked to the field to find evidence of effectiveness and congruence of that
practice to research-based reading instruction. Through the use of interview and
observation, the study sought indicators of key elements of the interviewed
teachers’ practices that helped them succeed in implementing the research-based
reading strategies in the English/Language Arts area. The key elements for the
success of the Long Beach Unified School District English/Language Arts
teachers lead to the following implications:
1. Teachers need to provide their students activities to bridge or scaffold
between the given and the unfamiliar vocabulary and concept to
coordinate student’s prior knowledge with texts to generate relevant
inferences of what he/she reads. This is an integral aspect of
comprehension since the essence of learning is linking new information to
prior knowledge about the topic, the text structure or genre, and strategies
for learning. When the knowledge that readers bring to the reading of a
text is untapped, comprehension is limited.
2. To be able to provide students with appropriate activities to scaffold or
bridge their prior knowledge with texts and generate relevant inferences,
teachers must be prepared with pedagogical and content knowledge as
well as classroom management skills to help their students become
strategic readers. Having these knowledge and skills, teachers will be able
to teach their students how to activate their background knowledge before
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106
reading, make connections to text, world, and self during reading,
synthesize information from a variety of sources to develop an
understanding and thinking about next steps, and finally to interpret data
after reading.
3. To lessen the context variables (intra & interpersonal differences, social
class, cultural and language differences, and developmental differences),
teachers need to employ their teaching skills and knowledge of pedagogy,
content along with their passion and motivation for teaching, and most
important of all their sensitivity, and appreciation of the differences of
their students’ backgrounds and environments. Teachers need to be
aware that the differences in intra & interpersonal, social class, cultural
and language, and development have major implications for students’
reading comprehension development, especially when teachers do not
acknowledge or understand the different ways in which these students
communicate. These variables will greatly influence their ability to
comprehend increasing levels of text difficulty (RAND, 2001).
In this study, the researcher found that LBUSD English/Language Arts
teachers presented a strong pedagogical foundation for the use of curriculum-
embedded and student-driven reading program. Across a variety of indicators,
Long Beach Unified School District secondary English/Language Arts teachers
served as “leading educators” in regards to reading comprehension; their
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1 0 7
implementation was demonstrated to be a close match to the suggestions of many
cognitive scientists and, especially, recommendations made by the RAND
Reading Study of 2001.
Recommendations
The findings and conclusions of the study have led to the following
recommendations:
1 Since the Long Beach Unified School District has developed a strong
pedagogical staff development of comprehension skills for
English/Language Arts teachers, the same staff development program
should be extended to all content area teachers;
2. Even with a sound reading curriculum in place that is well known to the
stakeholders, there is a continuous need for both pre-service/teacher
education and continuous in-service on comprehension skills for newly
hired and veteran teachers of all content areas to ensure high academic
performance in all subjects in the Long Beach Unified School District;
3. The selected interviewed teachers from six secondary schools articulated
different strategies/activities that they employed in their individual
classrooms. None of these teachers had mentioned the collaborative efforts
to network or share with other teachers. As Fullan (1994) provided in the
eight lessons of change, in which every one must be an agent of change to
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108
make the difference in improving student achievement through
comprehension, it is recommended that Long Beach Unified School
District management promote teachers’ networking and sharing of their
effective strategies/practices.
Suggestions for Further Research
Within the context of the research questions, an analysis of the
data, findings and conclusions suggests some areas for further research:
1. The current study examined the implementation of the elements of
effective comprehension strategies of ten successful secondary
English/Language Arts teachers in the Long Beach Unified School
District which espoused a desire for assisting other content
teachers to teach comprehension skills to help improve student
achievement. Further research should be conducted to examine the
effect that a district’s support for other content areas (e.g., NEC
reports for Math, Science, History and other content areas) as it is
for English/Language Arts on the academic performance of the
students;
2. Research indicated that many students who read well in primary
grades confront difficulties with reading in secondary grades.
Findings of this study indicated that primary grade curriculum
focuses on “learning to read” and secondary curriculum focuses on
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109
“reading to learn”. There is a need for further research on a
transitional curriculum to bridge this gap;
3. Content area teachers feel that they need to know how to teach
reading in order to teach students to read in their content area.
Findings of the current study indicated that it is possible for
content teachers to teach their students to read using their content
texts. Further research should be conducted to examine what
teacher-education curriculum should be developed to provide all
teachers with proper tools in teaching comprehension skills in then-
respective content areas.
Conclusion o f the Study and its Relation to Theory and Literature
This country cannot afford, ethically, academically, or economically, to
fail to educate another generation of young American students. While many
factors outside the control of teachers may contribute to the underachievement of
students at the secondary level, evidence abounds that teachers can make a
difference, although many teachers question their ability to do so. In this study
the researcher explored what constitutes successful teachers’ perspectives on
effective reading strategies and their perspectives on the influence that they have
on their students’ learning. It is this researcher’s hope that teachers who are
actively seeking ways to support the achievement of their students will find, in
reading this study, useful ideas that will support them in their important work. It
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is equally the researcher’s hope that teachers, who have doubted their ability to
make a difference in their students’ achievement, may reconsider their thinking
and pedagogy upon contemplating this research.
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I l l
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APPENDICES
Appendix A: Interview Questions
1. What do you think makes you a successful reading teacher?
2. What do you think are the most effective tools/practices for teaching
secondary students to succeed in reading?
3. Content area teachers feel that they need to know how to teach reading in
order to teach students to read in their content area. What is your advice
to these teachers?
4. According to research, many students who read well in primary grades
confront difficulties with reading in secondary grades, what do you think
is the reason? And what do you do to bridge the gap?
5. Recently the RAND (2001) Reading Study mentioned that reading
motivation is influenced by many context variables such as task success,
“hands-on” activities, autonomy support, personal or cultural relevance.
How do these variables may influence your students’ reading motivation?
6. What do you think are the common elements of all effective reading
strategies at the secondary level? And how do you implement them in
your instruction ?
7. When you teach your students to read, do you consider what type of
readers you want your students to be? How do you help motivate your
students to read (e.g., reading goals, outcomes of the reading, etc.)?
8. Research indicates that good readers are strategic readers. How do you
transform your students into strategic readers? What activities do you
practice to help your students coordinate prior knowledge with text to
generate inferences?
9. What curriculum and instruction do you use? Is this the curriculum
promoted by your school and/or district? What elements of this reading
program do you find to be effective? How can they be implemented?
10. How do you think successful high school teachers of reading can transfer
the knowledge of effective reading elements to help their colleagues or
interns?
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120
Appendix B: Strategies Teachers Used in the Reading Process
Teac
hers
Pre-reading Guided-reading Post-reading Ongoing-reading
#1 All students on
the same page,
K W L, V enn
Diagram,
Organizers,
Notes.
Teacher as
Facilitator, Prompt
students’
comprehension
w/questions
Questioning
Techniques: (1)
Textbook (right
there), (2) Authoring,
(3) On your own, (4)
Thinking Search.
Oral Share Out,
Paraphrase,
Essay /Process
Paper, R o le-
Play, write a
R ead in g and
Writing
Connection.
Enthusiasm,
Assessment, Require &
M odel Reading, Test
T a k in g S k ills ,
Sum m arize, Critical
Thinking Skills,
Student B u y-in,
Visuals, Hands-on,
B o d y G estures,
Collaborate w/ Other
Teachers.
#2 Enthusiasm,
Assessment,
Require &
Model Reading,
Test Taking
Skills,
Summarize,
Critical Thinking
Visuals, Hands-
on, Gestures,
Teacher
Collaboration
Popcorn reading,
chorus reading, read
aloud, Read/Analyze
one paragraph to
question text, Story
Map, Character
Organizer.
Discussion,
Journal Writing,
Write about a
character,
Authoring,
Plotting,
Summary,
Reader Theater,
Books on Tape.
Consistency/ Daily
Reading, Make Cultural
Connections, Empower
Students, Immediate
Feedback, Connection
of Personal Experience,
Silent Sustained
Reading, Timed
Reading, Model
Reading Aloud,
Encourage Mistakes.
#3 Prompt
w/background of
text and review.
Use questions, Direct
Teaching,
Cooperation Groups,
Use Realia.
Summarize,
Question the
Author, Discuss
Text.
Relate to personal
Experience, Role-
Model, Teach Writing
Techniques, Peer
Collaboration, Match
Curriculum to Student
Needs.
#4 SQ3R,
Assessment,
Prediction.
Analyze, Discuss,
Question each
passage, Think out
loud.
Discuss,
Reflection Essay,
Paraphrase,
Summarize,
Hands-on
activities (e.g.,
drawings, dress-
up, make a
collage).
Enthusiasm, Rubrics,
Teach Problem Solving,
Create a class spirit,
Identify prior
knowledge, Facts &
Opinions, Present
different genres, Test
strategies, Empower
students.
#5 3 Rs-
Vocabulary
building,
Plotting.
Assessment
Make Connections,
Self-Monitor, Find
Patterns.
Reflective
Writing, Weekly
Journal, Hands
-on Activities.
Teacher Enthusiasm,
Read Daily (20 min.),
Writing, Discussion,
Peer Collaboration.
Make Connections.
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121
Appendix B: Strategies Teachers Used in the Reading Process (continued)
#6 Guest Speakers,
Pre-Think
activities.
Four Types o f
Questions: Pulling
together (Authoring);
Text Identifying
(bring text into the
real world); Right
there (stated
meaning); On My
Own (Inferences);
Discuss, Elicit
Information activity.
Relate to real life,
Write about a
feeling/reflection
that can be shared.
Connect to reality
(career oriented
goals), require
reading, use cassette
tapes, connect
s t u d e n t s to
themselves, take
personal stake in
student success,
m otivate students,
use technology, allow
mistakes, expect
growth, walk students
through steps o f
different strategies,
students take the
lead.
#7 Make reading
relevant, Story
Telling, Oral
Prompting, Do a
lesson using
vocabulary
words, Find
relevancy in
reading.
Graphic Organizers,
Point out cues, Use
vocabulary words
learned, Analyze
reading: a few
paragraphs at a time,
sentence by sentence,
clause by clause.
Reflection,
Synthesizing
Activities, Quiz.
Test Taking
Techniques, Student
Interest, Use multiple
techniques, Provide
Realia, Make a
personal connection
w/student, Allow
Mistakes, Analyze
Patterns, Note
Taking, Analyze
Reading Techniques.
#8 Coordinate Prior
Knowledge by
story telling,
Plotting,
Assessment.
Summarize,
Visualize, Connect
Vocabulary w/Text,
Predict, Find
Patterns.
Hands-on
Activities, Writing
Projects, Poetry,
Reflection.
Teacher Enthusiasm/
Dramatization,
Scaffold/Model,
Cultural Connections,
Main Concepts, Peer
Collaboration.
#9 Text Structure
(bold words),
Focus Questions,
Intro. To
Background
Setting, Predict
& Compare
results, Prompt.
Read between the
lines, Divide story
into small chunks,
Compare text to
background, Identify
Authors Message,
Ask ?s About the
Plot-Plotting, Use
Charts.
Journals/Reflection
Dramatization,
Hands-on
Activities, Identify
concepts,
characters, &
inferences,
Dialogue w/author,
Create tim eline.
Enthusiasm/Passion,
Main Ideas, Reading
Practice, Real Life
Connections,
Discussion,, Peer
Collaboration,
Provide sample
essays, Rubrics.
#10 (DRTA):
predict, confirm,
compare, predict.
Reciprocal
Questions.
Reciprocal
Questioning.
Connect w/author,
Find purpose,
Reflection, Apply
to life of students/
author, Hand-ons .
Show teacher’s
passion. Make
meaning from text,
Realia, School-wide
effort, Moral Reward.
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122
Appendix C: Strategies Teachers Used to Teach Reading
Strategies/
Teachers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Prediction
- + + + + + - + + +
Think Aloud
+ + + + + + + + + +
Text Structure
+ - + + + + + + + +
Visual
Representations
+ + + + + - + + + +
Semantic Maps
+ + - - + - + + + +
Summarization
+ + + + - + + + + +
Questioning
+ + + + + + + + + +
Vocabulary
Development
+ + + + + - + + + +
Self-monitoring
+ + + + + + + + + -
Reciprocal
Teaching
+ + + + - + - + + +
The (+) sign indicate that the teacher uses the strategy. The (-) sign indicates that
the teacher does not mention the strategy.
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123
University o f Southern California
Educational Policy, Planning and Administration
INFORMED CONSENT FOR NON-MEDICAL
CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH
How the Elements o f Effective Reading Strategies Can Be Implemented at the Secondary
Level: A Case Study o f Long Beach Unified School District
You are asked to participate in a research study conducted Lien Truong, doctoral student
from the Educational Policy, Planning and Administration Department at the University
of Southern California. The results will be contributed to her dissertation in education.
You were selected as a possible participant in this study because you were identified by
Long Beach Unified School District as one of the top ten teachers to make the highest
gains in reading on the SAT 9 from 2000 to 2001. This selection was based on the
National Curve Equivalence (NCE) gains report. Your participation is voluntary.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to leam more about your perspectives on the implementation
of elements of effective reading strategies at the secondary level.
PROCEDURES
If you should decide to participate, you will be asked to share in an interview for
approximately 45 minutes at your school site. The interview will be tape-recorded for
future coding of elements of effective reading strategies. You will be asked to meet
twice. The first time will be to introduce you to the nature of the interview and to give
you the opportunity to ask questions. The second time will be to conduct the interview.
POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
The process of interviewing may cause some inconveniences due to the constraints of
school schedules. Therefore, the interviewer will accommodate some interviewees by
having a roving substitute at selected sites where multiple interviews are conducted.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO SUBJECT
This information will contribute to research in education, and may be beneficial to future
educators.
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124
PAYMENT FOR PARTICIPATION
This study is voluntary. Therefore, the participants will not be paid to participate in the
study.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Any information obtained in connection with this study that can be identified with you
will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission. Information
obtained in connection with this study will remain confidential in a locked cabinet and in
a secure location that will then be destroyed upon acceptance of my dissertation. You
will have the right to review/edit the tapes. The only people having access to my data
will be Long Beach Unified School District Office of Research, Planning and Evaluation,
and University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. It will not be
disseminated further. Only elements of effective reading strategies will be reported in
any publication. In addition, only two trained coders associated with the university will
listen to the tapes and none will be able to identify you by name. Your decision as to
whether or not to participate will not prejudice your relations with the Rossier School of
Education at the University of Southern California.
PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
You can choose whether to be in this study or not. If you volunteer to be in this study,
you may withdraw at any time without consequences of any kind. You may also refuse
to answer any questions you do not want to answer and still remain in the study. The
investigator may withdraw you from this research if circumstances arise which warrant
doing so.
IDENTIFICATION OF INVESTIGATORS
If you have any additional questions, please contact the researcher, Lien Truong at (562)
803-6640; Truong Lien(a)lacoe.edu.
RIGHTS OF RESEARCH SUBJECTS
You may withdraw your consent at any time and discontinue participation without
penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies because of your
participation in this research study. If you have questions regarding your rights as a
research subject, contact the University Park IRB, Office of the Vice Provost for
Research, Bovard Administration Building, Room 300, Los Angeles, CA 90089-4019,
(213) 740-6709 or uvirb(a),vsc.edu.
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125
SIGNATURE OF INVESTIGATOR
I have explained the research to the subject or his/her legal representative and answered all of
his/her questions. I believe that he/she understands the information described in this document
and freely consents to participate.
Name of Investigator
Signature of Investigator Date
I understand the procedures described above. My questions have been answered to my
satisfaction. I have been given a copy o f this form.
Name of Subject
Signature of Subject
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Asset Metadata

Creator Truong, Lien Thi (author)

Core Title A case study of Long Beach Unified School District: How elements of effective reading strategies can be implemented at the secondary level

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, reading,Education, Secondary,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Gothold, Stuart (committee chair), Cohn, Carl (committee member), Ferris, Robert (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-264093

Unique identifier UC11339239

Identifier 3093930.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-264093 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3093930.pdf

Dmrecord 264093

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Truong, Lien Thi

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA