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Guided Reading: The Romance and the Reality
Abstract
The authors examine the growth and impact of guided reading, small group teaching for differentiated instruction in reading that was stimulated by their early publications. Many changes in literacy education have been observed as a result—almost as if educators had a “romance” with guided reading and leveled books. While changes have been positive, the “reality” is that there is much more work to be done to bring guided reading to its full potential for helping children become effective and joyful users of literacy. The authors call for a deeper understanding of the reading process and of the text characteristics of leveled books. They discuss misconceptions regarding fluency and describe the strategic use of assessment and the role of facilitative talk. Regarding guided reading instruction, we are at the end of the beginning and need to forge new understandings for the future.
... However, looking internationally, the research base informing guided reading practice is limited (Denton, Fletcher, Taylor, Barth & Vaughn, 2014), and the empirical evidence is mixed, showing both benefits and weaknesses (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012;Hanke, 2014;Swain, 2010). Also, the term "guided reading" is diffuse, often encompassing a rather large set of potential practices. ...
... Altogether, within the philosophy of guided reading, working within these three stages includes both developing students' ability to read, their reading comprehension and the teachers' instructional support. While the ability to read involves, for example, decoding words and correcting errors, reading comprehension involves, for example, text talk and making connections between the text and personal experiences (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). The instructional support offered may include teachers' questions and prompts (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012;Iaquinta, 2006). ...
... While the ability to read involves, for example, decoding words and correcting errors, reading comprehension involves, for example, text talk and making connections between the text and personal experiences (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). The instructional support offered may include teachers' questions and prompts (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012;Iaquinta, 2006). Fountas & Pinnell (2012) have illustrated how all these phases can include a network of twelve different strategic actions to make students think about, within, and beyond the text and stimulate literacy development. ...
This paper documents how teachers use guided reading practices in Norwegian second-grade classrooms. In a two-part study consisting of teachers’ self-reports (Study 1) and video-observations of guided reading sessions (Study 2), we analyzed the frequency and characteristics of guided reading practices. Findings from Study 1 indicate that guided reading is a common practice of Norwegian second-grade teachers and that discussing word meaning, text, and pictures are the most frequently addressed literacy components. Findings from Study 2 illustrate that the teachers regularly make optimal use of the before-reading phase, while the after-reading phase is relatively lacking. The observational data also indicate that teachers are more likely to simply check students’ understanding of word meaning rather than to work in-depth with vocabulary. Likewise, teachers were more likely to supply help in the decoding process rather than scaf-fold students’ decoding with strategies. In sum, the data indicate that teachers may not fully use the ben-efits that guided reading instruction can afford. We discuss how to help educators use more of the poten-tial of guided reading, arguing that the benefits of guided reading can be strengthened by (1) more in-depth planning, (2) greater use of strategies, and (3) routines for observing and assessing.
... Ce programme comprend de 156 livres gradués, allant de livres simples, à des livres plus complexes en lecture. Les livres sont répartis en 15 niveauxsoit de A à O -qui suivent les niveaux tels qu'établis par Fountas et Pinnell (2012). Chaque livre contient alors des critères précis qui correspondent aux niveaux auxquels ils sont attribués ainsi que des statistiques relatives aux mots et à la complexité du texte. ...
... Il est donc important de savoir si les livres sont classés au niveau scolaire qui correspond aux habiletés des élèves en Ontario. Avant de procéder à une validation des livres auprès des élèves en Ontario français, il importe de vérifier si les livres de la série Escalire, qui a été étalonnée en fonction des niveaux établis par Fountas et Pinnell (2012), soit de A à O, respectent la progression proposée par SATO. L'étude cherche alors à répondre aux questions de recherche suivantes : ...
... Les niveaux scolaires tels qu'identifiés par Chenelière (2014) correspondent au même groupe d'âge que les élèves soient en Ontario ou au Québec (un élève en 1 re année doit avoir 6 ans avant le 31 décembre de l'année en cours). Aucune étude n'a tenté de vérifier si les niveaux attribués par Fountas et Pinnell (2012) correspondent à l'échelle employée par SATO. ...
Une série de livres gradués a été créée pour permettre aux élèves d’accéder à des livres correspondant à leurs habiletés en lecture (Éditions Passe-Temps, 2014). Cette série, nommée Escalire, contient 156 livres au total, qui sont répartis en 15 niveaux, soit de A à O. Cette échelle correspond aux niveaux établis par Fountas et Pinnell (2012). Cette série de livres gradués consiste en un programme d’intervention en lecture ciblant les élèves de la première à la quatrième année du cycle primaire. De tels programmes d’intervention en lecture peuvent mener l’élève vers l’acquisition et l’amélioration de la lecture en fonction de ses habiletés et son niveau scolaire. L’objectif de cette étude était de déterminer s’il y a corrélation entre les niveaux de lecture attribués aux livres de la série Escalire et le niveau de complexité indiqué par le système d’analyse de texte par ordinateur (SATO), pour ces mêmes livres. Les résultats ont démontré une corrélation modérée (r = 0.668, p < 0,001) et un pourcentage d’accord de 35,26 %. Somme toute, 95,51% des livres de la série Escalire se sont trouvés soit au niveau correspondant à l'échelle SATO ou à un niveau près (soit un niveau supérieur ou inférieur à ce qui a été proposé par SATO).
Mots Clés : Escalire, livres gradués, échelle de lecture Fountas et Pinnell, niveau de complexité, SATO
... Thinking beyond the text and about the text address critical thinking skills, such as making predictions, making connections, synthesizing information across texts, inferring, analyzing, and critiquing the text. Teachers use this system of strategic processes to assess students' use of these strategies within traditional texts through close observation of students' reading behaviors, discussions about the text, and writing about the text (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). To a degree, the thinking processes represented in the system of strategic actions mirror the strategic thinking also required by online inquiries (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). ...
... Teachers use this system of strategic processes to assess students' use of these strategies within traditional texts through close observation of students' reading behaviors, discussions about the text, and writing about the text (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). To a degree, the thinking processes represented in the system of strategic actions mirror the strategic thinking also required by online inquiries (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). However, strategic actions required for online research and comprehension are extended to account for the unique, complex reading environment of the Internet. ...
... The design of the guided reading framework lends itself to guiding and supporting students' use of strategic actions, whether in traditional printed text or through newer modes of text on the Internet (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). Explicit modeling and strategic prompting provided by the teacher through the guided reading framework are essential elements of teaching online research and comprehension skills (Leu et al., 2008). ...
... In the second author's role as a teacher educator, she noticed that many preservice and inservice teachers alike struggled to transform their lesson plans to fit the integration of digital devices and applications into literacy teaching and student learning. As an instructional context, guided reading is meant to support and nurture students' literacy skills (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012) and is often a mandated instructional component in many schools and districts. Therefore, we began to explore how teachers might adapt this instructional framework that already exists in many elementary classrooms to foster students' development of online research and comprehension skills. ...
... In fact, the essential components of guided reading date back to Betts' Directed Reading Activity (as cited in Ford & Opitz, 2011), which provided students with directed guidance as they applied reading strategies to unfamiliar text. The most recent conceptualization popular in classrooms today is the guided reading framework proposed by Fountas and Pinnell (2012). Essential elements of Fountas and Pinnell's guided reading framework require teachers to work with small groups of students who have similar reading abilities, introduce texts and provide support in developing students' reading strategies to independently read increasingly more complex texts over time, and use a dynamic, flexible process to group and regroup students based on observation and assessment data (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001). ...
... A typical guided reading lesson consists of three structured portions, before reading, during reading, and after reading (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001). Before reading a teacher carefully matches a text to readers' abilities, choosing an instructional level text just beyond the readers' independent reading level and carefully introduces the text to the students to provide some support, but also leave some problem-solving for the readers to do (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). During reading, the teacher allows all students to read the text on their own while briefly interacting with individual students to prompt for strategic reading actions. ...
Employees in the twenty-first century must be equipped to effectively process information from print and online sources; yet, many students struggle with online research and comprehension skills, making them ill-prepared in college and careers. Utilizing a qualitative exploratory case study design, this study describes how a fourth-grade teacher developed her students’ online research and comprehension skills in small groups using the guided reading framework to frame her instruction. Key findings suggest that the teacher adapted many components of the guided reading framework to develop students’ online inquiry skills. Both the teacher and students experienced role changes and challenges related to the experience, yet students demonstrated high rates of engagement and collaboration. This paper provides a situated example of how a teacher adapted an existing instructional context in her classroom and implications for adapting other popular instructional context, frameworks, and models for supporting teachers in developing students’ digital literacy skills.
... For this purpose, they announced the National Reading Law in 2016 (Radan, 2016). Many strategies help increase reading habits among children, such as emergent reading, shared reading, reading aloud, and guided reading by parents, teachers, and significant others (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). ...
... This initiative creates performance responsibility among teachers as it is a challenging goal for them to increase their students' learning. Teachers' qualifications, experience, and training play an essential role in providing reading classes to children with reading difficulties (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). ...
An insufficient number of studies investigated the criteria for Arabic letter teaching in schools. Teachers play an integral role in understanding Arabic letters among young children, as it is essential for acquiring reading in the Arabic language early in life. The criteria for teaching letters in a current study include ease of pronunciation, long vowels, short vowels, ease of pronunciation, sound, shape, and letter names. It is important to consider letter teaching as it helps in the early recognition and identification of the language and in performing better academically. The focus of the current study is to explore the orthographic attributes of Arabic letters, how teachers teach these letters, the order and criteria they follow, and the relative difficulty of letter knowledge items within the Arabic alphabet framework. Arabic letter teaching criteria tests were conducted among 80 teachers from Arabic-speaking countries in UAE. These teachers taught Kindergarten, grade 1, and special needs children. The current study’s findings revealed that Arabic letter teaching efforts are dynamic as chi-square results are non-significant, reflecting that teachers’ criteria and order adopted do not depend on teachers’ level of education or their specific area of expertise. Findings show that most teachers who adopt ease of pronunciation of letters in teaching students start with long vowels. Furthermore, results indicated that most teachers introduce Arabic letters, sounds, and shapes when teaching young learners.
... Several theoretical frameworks informed this study including New Literacies Theory, particularly lowercase new literacies theory surrounding online research and comprehension (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek, & Henry, 2017), the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Model (TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006), and the guided reading framework (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). While the guided reading framework served as our curriculum structure, New Literacies Theory provided the target online research and reading comprehension skills to be taught and the TPACK model supported our understanding of the teaching decisions and challenges the teacher and students faced. ...
... Teachers may also extend the lesson for word work or writing instructional opportunities (Fountas & Pinnell, 2017). Fountas and Pinnell (2012) note that when guided reading is used as part of a comprehensive, balanced literacy curriculum, readers build more effective processing systems over time. However, others argue that using a supported approach with instructional level texts does not provide students with enough opportunity to grapple with frustrational level texts and falls short of preparing students to sufficiently meet the rigorous standards proposed in the Common Core State Standards (Shanahan, 2013). ...
Supporting students in acquiring flexible skills for a fast-paced technological world is a challenge. Teachers need access to high-quality training and resources that shape teachers' beliefs, improve self-efficacy, and build pedagogical knowledge surrounding technology integration. This qualitative exploratory case study explored the implementation and challenges one teacher faced when using small groups to develop upper elementary grade students' online research and comprehension skills. Using the challenges the teacher discovered, including technology issues, instructional challenges, and students' lack of computer knowledge, the authors propose several implications for implementing an instructional framework to teach online research and comprehension skills and provide educative curriculum examples for supporting teacher education efforts.
... The sociocultural and multilingual turn in literacy and language learning have contributed much to changing this deficit narrative, promoting asset-based perspectives toward EBs that draw upon EBs' linguistic and cultural knowledge during learning (e.g., García & Wei, 2014;Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Yet, reading comprehension approaches (Aukerman, 2013;Fairbanks, Cooper, Webb, & Masterson, 2017), particularly those in elementary schools (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012), still appear to privilege monoglossic ways of teaching and assessing this critical goal of reading. E-mail address: shepa090@umn.edu ...
... Yet, such studies on students' creative use of technology and multimodal resources in literacy learning, though valuable, do not often occur at the nexus of a core component of literacy curricula in elementary settings: small-group reading. During small-group reading, a teacher reads with learners and explicitly teaches reading skills and strategies with texts at students' reading levels (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). Given its nature and prevalence in the elementary grades, the small-group reading context presents tremendous possibility for using multimodality as a frame to examine the reading comprehension of EBs in the elementary classroom. ...
Despite the rise in multiliteracies and multilingual orientations to literacy learning, there has been little attention to multimodality in how younger emergent bilinguals demonstrate and respond to reading comprehension practices and pedagogies. This study, which took place in the midwestern United States, examines how Marian (pseudonym), a second-grade emergent bilingual (eight years old) made sense of texts using a variety of semiotic resources. The study also focuses on how her use of such resources demonstrated her engagement with texts and reading comprehension pedagogies during small-group reading in her classroom. Findings show that Marian used a variety of semiotic resources to convey her understanding of texts, some of which aligned with and resisted typical reading comprehension pedagogies in classrooms. Additionally, analysis demonstrates that reading comprehension pedagogies may have inhibited her sensemaking. Implications include further attention to how teachers, policy-makers, and researchers can recognize and make space for the multimodal and dynamic ways in which emergent bilinguals make sense of texts.
... Guided reading is one small group teaching approach. In guided reading, the teacher selects text that challenges children's reading levels and then the teacher supports the children as they use their reading skills to negotiate the text and further develop their abilities as readers (Fountas and Pinnell, 2012). As such, the findings offered by Griffith et al. (2015) support not only the need for consistent guided reading opportunities for children but also the need for teachers to have well-developed PCK in the domain of reading in order to utilise adaptive expertise when supporting children's development, as this occurs at the moment of need. ...
... Knowledge of subject, children and routines allows teachers to carefully construct learning opportunities (Vaughn et al., 2016) in order to "… decide what to be explicit about for which students, and when to be explicit about it" (Johnston, 2004, p. 8). Experts employ facilitative talk, or choice words, to explicitly and responsively scaffold children's learning (Johnston, 2004;Fountas and Pinnell, 2012). These scaffolds involve an interaction between a more knowledgeable other (Vygotsky, 1978) and a learner with the goal being that children do the cognitive work. ...
This paper explores how job‐embedded professional development supported a Year 1 teacher as he enacted his growing expertise in the teaching of guided reading. By analysing coaching conversations focussed on the teacher's guided reading practices, we studied the way his teaching developed over a 7‐month period. Our findings suggest the teacher gained deeper understandings in the domain of reading, which allowed him to be more responsive to children during guided reading. We discuss the factors that enhanced or inhibited his ability to implement what he learned and offer suggestions for supporting teachers through job‐embedded professional development.
... Over the four weeks, the teachers unevenly applied the innovation configuration and overlooked some of the components. For teachers to maximize the impact of a guided reading program, they need to attend to all aspects of it (Burkins & Croft, 2017;Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). ...
As part of a mixed-methods reconnaissance action research study, I assessed the impressions teachers had of using an innovation configuration for vocabulary instruction at an English education center in China. The quantitative data strand consisted of lesson artifacts and documents. The qualitative data strand consisted of semi-structured interviews with two teachers of English as a foreign language. Integrating both the quantitative and qualitative strands of data provided the following insights: (1) teachers had a positive impression of using the innovation configuration to address what they should cover for vocabulary instruction, (2) they used the innovation configurations to identify strengths and areas for improvement, and (3) they rethought how to structure their lessons to better engage students. These findings will be used to inform subsequent cycles of this action research project. These initial results, though, indicate that providing appropriate resources to stimulate teachers may prove beneficial in expanding their pedagogical knowledge.
... While reading aloud has been a traditional language reading method, numerous researchers have started reevaluating reading aloud as an important learning skill and a learning process for EFL learners; moreover, they have further studied the relationship between reading aloud and other language skills (Bygate, 2001;Celce-Murcia, Brinton, Goodwin, & Griner 2010;Chol & Lewis, 2018;Fountas & Pinnell, 2012;Gabrielatos, 2002;Gibson, 2008;Griffin, 1992;Huang, 2010;Jacobs, 2016;Johnston, 2015;Lane & Wright, 2007;Nation, 2013;Senawati, Suwastini, Jayantini, Adnyani, & Artini, 2021;Trelease, 1995). Gabrielatos (2002) valued reading aloud as a skill that can be used to raise awareness of and practice in phonological language aspects. ...
This study attempts to develop an EFL learning output activity by integrating reading aloud, writing, and assessment through voice recording. 62 college students participated in the activities for 15 weeks. Surveys, self-evaluations, and teacher evaluations were conducted and analyzed using the SPSS t-test to examine the students’ reactions to the activities. The survey results for the psychological questionnaires on confidence, anxiety, and attitude toward English were not statistically significant except with regard to willingness to practice English. The students became familiar with the activities and this might have led them to feel that they could improve their English skills through this repetitive integrated activity. Additionally, while students’ self-evaluation results in the competence for listening, reading, speaking, grammar, and vocabulary were statistically significant ( p < .05), the competences for writing and pronunciation were not. Writing fatigue and pronunciation mistakes encountered during the activities might have contributed to students’ negative reactions in the confidence, anxiety, and attitude questionnaires. Nevertheless, it can be surmised that the integrated activities could help activate the English knowledge possessed by students. The methodology can also be recommended for use in EFL classes to make students become active participants and be aware of their English competence.
... The success of reading with subsequent discussion (experimental condition 2) can also be explained by the fact that children encounter stories in the form of books at home or in school and then talk about them, either among themselves or with adults. It is normal for them to have a parent or a teacher ask them questions about a story and focus on their feelings, understanding, or knowledge (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). In our discussion, we talked about the characters and situations from the story that had implicit connections to real life. ...
The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention using indirect intergroup contact for improving intergroup attitudes in schools, in particular anti-Roma prejudice. Vicarious contact—a form of indirect intergroup contact—can be experienced through fictional book characters, who can serve as positive role models in terms of intergroup attitude improvement. A vicarious contact experiment was conducted with sixth grade students (N = 177) from three Slovak elementary schools, using passages from the Harry Potter series. A three-group pretest-posttest design was adopted; experimental condition 1 involved reading passages without subsequent discussion, experimental condition 2 involved reading the same passages followed by a discussion, while the control group was not involved in any activities. There was a significant improvement of intergroup attitudes in experimental condition 2 compared to the control group, while condition 1 did not show any such improvement. The first contribution of the study is in tackling conceptually distinct mediators of the intervention’s effect – perspective taking and narrative transportation. The second contribution is in demonstrating the added value of discussion in interventions focused on prejudice reduction in schools.
... A Flexible Use of Technology Enabled Literacy Instruction (Mary, personal communication, July 30, 2020). Guided reading (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012) was enabled by Raz-Kids Plus materials and read alouds (Wright, 2019) were conducted via Google Meet and Storyline Online (Cindy, personal communication, August 3, 2020;Philip, personal communication July 30, 2020;Mary, personal communication July 30, 2020;Nicole, personal communication August 3, 2020). To clarify just how a comprehensive literacy environment was maintained online, a typical day for Cindy and her student Liam was compiled from her notes that helps to demonstrate how she would run her sessions online and maintain the highest level of literacy learning. ...
The theme of this year is Educate to Liberate. A reminder to faculty in the field that education and literacy extends beyond the content and courses we teach. As Freire puts it, “Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people—they manipulate them.” Instead, as literacy educators we should strive to work along with our students, to co-create with them, to learn from them. Freire reminds us too that “the (literacy) teacher is of course an artist...What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for students to become themselves.” Therefore, as literacy educators and researchers, it is our duty to provide access and opportunities for students of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds as they navigate their way in our classrooms.
All the articles within this 43rd Yearbook represent a portion of the ses- sions presented at the conference. After a peer-review process for conference acceptance, the ensuing articles underwent an additional two rounds of double- blind peer review before acceptance in the Yearbook. It is our sincere hope that the articles reflect the theme and embolden our practice to Educate to Liberate.
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—JA, AB, KD, & NC
... Yet, some teachers misunderstand this fact and try to measure students' comprehension by reading a specific text within a specific time. Consequently, such activities turn reading into a race and as a result, students read a written passage without understanding it (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). In order to stimulate left hemisphere and increase the comprehension level, RWP technique allows students to pace on their own speed. ...
In this article a recently developed method, Reading Writing and Presentation (RWP) is introduced and compared with Subject Jigsaw Method (JG) and Control Group (CG). Research was carried out with 68 6th grade elementary school students. Number of students included in RWP group was 26, in JG was 20 and in CG was 22. Pretest, posttest and semi-experimental design used in this research. Before the experimental practice all the students were given pretests. Pretest results revealed that RWP group had statistically significant academic achievement than CG. After implementing the practice, students were given posttests and, both RWP and JG group statistically had better achievement than CG. Students also were given a technique view form. Results revealed that RWP is a useful method in developing social and cognitive skills. It is also concluded by the study that constructivist designed curriculums supported with Cooperative Learning Methods increase academic achievement and students gain positive social skills.
... This helps in decoding strategies determining the child's reading ability and also teaching strategies using the child's reading level. Fountas and Pinnell (2012) supported this method of balanced literacy framework and suggested to use similar strategies to select the text books as a mark of differentiation. Frey et al. (2005), suggested a few balanced literacy components such as reading aloud, independent reading, shared reading, guided reading, and like. ...
Balanced Literacy framework is designed to increase positive outcomes of teaching and enable the teachers to initiate a modeled instruction. This research attempted to create a balanced literacy classroom in UAE kindergarten to test its effects on students’ early reading skills. The objective was to investigate the effects of the balanced literacy approach on the emergent reading skills of kindergarten students, ages 4-6, in the United Arab Emirates through a comparative study between students (Group-A), who received the balanced literacy intervention, and students (Group-B), who were taught using the traditional method of teaching literacy. Mixed methods research design was followed to analyze the effects of the balanced literacy approach. The concepts of print checklist, letter-sound identification checklist, reading log and artifacts were utilized and collected to measure students’ vocabulary growth, ability to recognize names and sound of uppercase and lowercase letters, record and track students’ reading activities, and monitor growing linguistic abilities. Results show that the learners in Group-A outperformed learners who received literacy instruction in the traditional methods. The findings from the concepts of print checklist showed dramatic growth in print awareness skills of students in Group-A. Vocabulary checklists showed steady growth in students' vocabulary after the balanced literacy approach intervention. Results from the letter-sound identification assessment exhibited a substantial increase in their ability to identify names and sounds of letters. Implications from this study indicate the positive effects of the balanced literacy approach on mixed-ability students. Therefore, this study could serve as an impetus for further exploration of balanced literacy to support the reading achievement of students with dyslexia.
... If children are properly motivated and scaffolded, they can actively "learn" through observation in any context (Bandura 1986(Bandura , 2001. In addition, with the presence of adults' help (i.e. through discussions about the book) during picture book reading, children can understand and become more attentive to seemingly complex contents and messages that may seem to be beyond their level (Zevenbergen and Whitehurst 2003;Fountas and Pinnell 2012). ...
This study is based on the perspective that picture books about forests can facilitate children’s knowledge and emotions about the forests, functioning as a triggering source to make children act sustainably toward forests. This study used content analysis to explore the presence and association between environmental themes and forest ecosystem services (FES) categories in 169 picture books about forests. The analysis revealed that behavioral themes (e.g. daily environmentally friendly behaviors) and the regulating services (e.g. local climate and air quality control) were less frequently presented in the picture books than other environmental themes and FES. Furthermore, several associations were identified between environmental themes and FES categories. We discuss some implications of the findings for research and practice in using picture books about forests for sustainability education.
... Second, schools can continue to require a guided reading block. Guided reading is an essential component of a balanced literacy framework that provides small group explicit instruction rooted in the individual needs of students (Fawson & Reutzel, 2000;Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). Guided reading time is beneficial for students to practice a variety of reading-related skills daily with text on their instructional level. ...
This article explored the reading instructional needs of 187 non-proficient students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. This mixed methods study used a heavy quantitative focus to determine the unique instructional needs of the students including patterns of strengths and weaknesses with respect to their reading skills. The quantitative component was followed with an interview analysis to provide a deeper understanding of the reading dispositions representing four focus students. An important finding from the study was the students’ beliefs in the skill of word recognition as the essential component of reading, which the quantitative data validated with the students comprehending at least one grade level below their word recognition level. The discussion focuses on the key characteristics of non-proficient readers which are vital for designing interventions to help this group of students achieve success.
... As Thai Gen Z students require cooperative learning by focusing on lecturer-student and student-student interaction during reading activities and reading instructions by emphasizing reading strategies, guided reading is therefore suggested. Guide reading is an important contemporary reading instructional practice (Iaquinta, 2006) that allows the teacher to, first, model strategic and fluent reading to students; then observe students as they process new text; and, finally provide supportive opportunities and constructive comments to help students develop skills and strategies they require to become independent readers (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). Firstly, the teacher teaches elaborately about reading strategies required for each session; then let students make a group of 3-4 people; after that, students in a guided reading group read the text softly to themselves while the teacher listens and provides guidance as required. ...
It is recognized that reading ability is essential for Thai EFL students and English reading is perceived as a difficult task among them. To understand the difficulty experienced by the students while reading English text, this study hence aimed at investigating problems of using English reading strategies perceived by Thai EFL students as well as providing suggested reading instructions for Thai lecturers to cope with the emerging problems. This study employed a mixed-method design. The participants of the study were 412 Thai EFL students who, in this study, were also considered as Gen Z students at a large-size university in Bangkok, Thailand. The participants were asked to complete an online questionnaire on 4-point Likert’s scale, which was adapted from Aebersold and Field (1997). Moreover, 10 students were recruited for two focus group interviews. The results revealed that Thai EFL students experience difficulties in using English reading strategies when they have to skip unknown words during the first reading (mean = 2.67, SD = 1.01) followed by varying reading speed rates according to the type of the reading passage (mean = 2.66, SD = 0.97), and guessing the meanings of unknown words by using the context clues (mean = 2.59, SD = 0.92) respectively. Based on both quantitative and qualitative results and personality traits of Thai Gen Z, suggested reading instructions including guided reading, improving student’s vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, technology-blended classroom and critical reading were purposed.
... (2012) point out the importance of DI and give detailed examples of differentiated reading instruction. Fountas and Pinnell (2012) highlight the key role of DI in guided reading lessons and suggest a deeper study and understanding of the reading process and text features. ...
Differentiated Instruction (DI) is a hot topic in educational research. Keeping abreast of its latest developments and frontiers can provide new perspectives for future study. Using CiteSpace software, 1086 publications included in the Web of Science core collection from 2000 to 2020 were analysed to create knowledge maps of DI research. The findings show that, firstly, the number of DI-related publications is fluctuating upwards. Secondly, The United States is a world leader in DI research. Thirdly, the core group of authors has not yet formed. Fourthly, the main research hotspots are Universal Design for Learning, Behaviour, Assessment, Text Features, Science Education and Concept Inventory. Fifthly, the development of DI research can be divided into three phases: 2000–2007, 2008–2014, and 2015–2020. On this basis, the future direction of DI research is discussed and suggestions are given accordingly.
... RfA was implemented in three schools in which the SLPs provided services. At the time of implementation, the reading curriculum used by the schools was based on leveled reading (Fountas and Pinnell, 2012). In order to inform decisions regarding implementation of RfA, a program evaluation was conducted by the program authors. ...
There is growing recognition of the need to end the debate regarding reading instruction in favor of an approach that provides a solid foundation in phonics and other underlying language skills to become expert readers. We advance this agenda by providing evidence of specific effects of instruction focused primarily on the written code or on developing knowledge. In a grade 1 program evaluation study, an inclusive and comprehensive program with a greater code-based focus called Reading for All (RfA) was compared to a knowledge-focused program involving Dialogic Reading. Phonological awareness, letter word recognition, nonsense word decoding, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, written expression and vocabulary were measured at the beginning and end of the school year, and one year after in one school only. Results revealed improvements in all measures except listening comprehension and vocabulary for the RfA program at the end of the first school year. These gains were maintained for all measures one year later with the exception of an improvement in written expression. The Dialogic Reading group was associated with a specific improvement in vocabulary in schools from lower socioeconomic contexts. Higher scores were observed for RfA than Dialogic Reading groups at the end of the first year on nonsense word decoding, phonological awareness and written expression, with the differences in the latter two remaining significant one year later. The results provide evidence of the need for interventions to support both word recognition and linguistic comprehension to better reading comprehension.
... Small groups of children gathered around a table reading with their teacher is not a novel idea and can most likely be seen in thousands of elementary school classrooms on any given day. However, Fountas and Pinnell (2012) warned that guided reading is not always synonymous with small-group instruction, and while it may appear simple, much thought goes into a guided reading lesson. In any given classroom, an instructor can have students reading at a wide array of instructional levels as well as varying needs within each of those levels. ...
This discussion focused on navigating the layers of text complexity to determine the embedded text supports provided by authors. Quantitative dimensions of the texts were examined, such as word count, number of sentences, sentence length, unique words, most used words and phrases, sentence variety, Flesch-Kincaid grade levels, and Flesch-Kincaid reading ease. Also examined were qualitative dimensions, including text structure, text arrangement, clarity, and levels of meaning. Findings concluded that authors may intentionally or unintentionally assist young readers by embedding the following into their texts: repeated words and phrases, simplified syntax, dialogue boxes, embedded
definitions, special fonts, and predictable text structures. Selected children's literature featured on the International Literacy Association’s 2015 and 2016 Children’s Choice and Teachers’ Choice reading lists were provided to illustrate the identified embedded text supports. Lastly, semantic gradients were described as one research-based activity that can bridge the gap between the author’s embedded supports and the complex texts students will encounter in later years.
... Concerns have been expressed about leveling's possible detrimental effects on reading motivation and reader identity (e.g., Koch, 2020;Parrott, 2017). Fountas & Pinnell (2012), themselves, state, "We have never recommended that the school or classroom libraries be leveled" (p. 281). ...
Four time-saving systems to organize an elementary classroom library for successful inquiry instruction are shared alongside examples for classroom use. These systems include Topic, Genre, Author, and Craft.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/VZANZRMGFZHI4VKCGSUT?target=10.1002/trtr.2007
... With thoughtful selection, a text can serve as an instructional scaffold for readers (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012a;Hiebert, 2013;Mesmer, 2010) and provide the teacher with opportunities to accelerate student learning (Clay, 1991). Instructional level texts provide opportunities for fluent and accurate reading with good comprehension. ...
This manuscript describes the current debate about the use of leveled readers during literacy instruction. Some experts claim that leveled readers are overused in classrooms, at the expense of more complex texts. As a result, students may lack exposure to sophisticated vocabulary and varied text structures. In contrast, other experts assert that leveled readers are needed to ensure that students are taught in developmentally appropriate ways, and that optimal learning occurs when these texts are used during reading instruction. The purpose of this manuscript is to shed light on both sides of the debate, and to ultimately help teachers integrate diverse instructional materials into their teaching repertoire.
... Instead of "teaching" children to read, the teacher facilitates reading development by providing rich and authentic reading experiences through immersion in age-appropriate literature. Phonics instruction, if provided at all, should be minimal and incidental depending on children's needs as they encounter text (Fountas andPinnel 2012-2013). Although some balanced literacy programs are shifting, they do not clearly embrace explicit phonics instruction (Student Achievement Partners 2020). ...
Bowers (Educational Psychology Review, 32, 681-705, 2020) reviewed 12 meta-analytic syntheses addressing the effects of phonics instruction, concluding that the evidence is weak to nonexistent in supporting the superiority of systematic phonics to alternative reading methods. We identify five issues that limit Bowers’ conclusions: (1) definition issues; (2) what is the right question?; (3) the assumption of “phonics first”; and (4) simplification of issues around systematic versus explicit phonics. We then go on to consider (5) empirical issues in the data from meta-analyses, where Bowers misconstrues the positive effects of explicit phonics instruction. We conclude that there is consistent evidence in support of explicitly teaching phonics as part of a comprehensive approach to reading instruction that should be differentiated to individual learner needs. The appropriate question to ask of a twenty-first century science of teaching is not the superiority of phonics versus alternative reading methods, including whole language and balanced literacy, but how best to combine different components of evidence-based reading instruction into an integrated and customized approach that addresses the learning needs of each child.
... Lots of leveling systems exist for texts, though they are not all freely available for classroom teachers. I used Fountas and Pinnell's text gradient system (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012). ...
Find the original publication here: https://methods.sagepub.com/case/researching-elementary-reading-with-small-scale-mixed-methods
... A guided reading lesson typically includes text introduction, reading, discussion, teaching points, word work, and extensions (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). Fountas and Pinnell (2012) EXPOSITORY TEXT DIFFICULTY FOR EMERGING BILINGUALS 6 explained that "teachers have learned to avoid the daily struggle with very difficult material that will not permit smooth, proficient processing-no matter how expert the teaching" (p. 270). ...
The author explored text difficulty for third-grade bilingual students reading below grade level. In six small-group discussions, students read and discussed informational texts matched to their reading levels, and in six other sessions they read and discussed texts one year ahead of their reading levels. The alternating treatment design and qualitative analysis of transcripts revealed different text levels have both advantages and drawbacks. Findings included the following: Group 1 had more inferential or interpretive responses with matched texts and Group 2 had more inferential or interpretive responses with difficult texts. Most students participated evenly regardless of text difficulty. However, two students talked more when discussing matched texts. Text difficulty did not affect comprehension for anyone except one student, and for him it only had an effect on three of 12 days. Half of the students’ fluency scores benefited from matched texts. The other half read difficult texts with similar fluency to matched texts.
... The camp guided reading intervention was thematic in that texts centered on the subject of worms and/or composting. Furthermore, sessions consistently incorporated the three core guiding reading steps (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012): (a) The teacher provides a book introduction that includes previewing key vocabulary and setting a purpose for reading, (b) the teacher supports students' simultaneous independent reading of appropriately challenging text, and (c) the teacher facilitates comprehensionbuilding activities during and/or after independent reading (e.g., comprehension questions, graphic organizers, written response to text). ...
Reading motivation declines across elementary school. Although a substantive body of empirical work exists specific to the reading motivation of older children, researchers have paid less attention to younger readers. Given that children’s perceptions of school experiences shape motivation, and motivation impacts achievement, it is imperative that experts address this gap. This qualitative case study probed 3 primary-age boys’ perceptions of the benefits and costs associated with involvement in a school-sponsored camp guided reading intervention. I considered students’ perceptions alongside adult reports of behavioral engagement to infer how the intervention influenced each camper’s developing reading motivation. Despite sharing perceived benefits of involvement in the intervention, 2 boys indicated that the cost of boredom due to teacher-selected texts would heavily influence their future decisions to participate in similar activities. Findings suggest that educators and researchers should sincerely consider students’ perceived benefits and costs of program involvement when designing and modifying reading interventions.
... Each vignette (mean length = 42 words, SD = 8.3; Flesch-Kincaid reading level = grade 4.5) exemplified theory and empirically tested teaching practices that might be encountered in a grade 5 setting. The situations revolved around the following concepts but were not referred to by name: reading for pleasure (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997;Ivey & Johnston, 2013), guided reading (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012;Iaquinta, 2006), identifying the implications of Matthew effects (Stanovich, 1986), watching films (reverse scored; Stanovich & Cunningham, 1993), teacher read-alouds (Meyer, Wardrop, Stahl, & Linn, 1994), and round-robin reading (reverse scored; Ash, Kuhn, & Walpole, 2008). The vignettes were vetted by six inservice teachers who deemed the situations to be appropriate for teachers planning for a grade 5 class (mean years in service = 7.20, SD = 3.49). ...
Teachers who are knowledgeable about the basic structure of the English language incorporate this knowledge into their instruction. In this study, the authors explored a similar relation between knowledge of print exposure and planning for a grade 5 classroom. The personal reading experience (print exposure) of 106 preservice teachers was measured for three genres: storybooks, children's and young adult literature, and adult fiction. Teacher knowledge was measured by two tasks: defining terms and evaluating instructional practices. Planning for instruction was measured by asking participants to plan for a week of grade 5 language arts instruction. Correlational analyses revealed that print exposure, teacher knowledge, and time allocated for student reading in a grade 5 classroom were positively related. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that familiarity with authors of children's and young adult literature accounted for significant variance on both knowledge tasks even after controlling for other forms of print exposure (storybooks and adult fiction). The data suggest that knowledge about print exposure and personal reading experience, especially of children's and young adult literature, are both associated with planning for instruction in the upper elementary grades. The results are discussed in relation to teacher training.
... Guided reading lessons, including preparation, consist of the following components: (1) Selection of appropriate text, (2) Introduction of the text to students (understanding the problem and plot), (3) Prompting students to interpret illustrations, (4) Reading the text (out loud or silently), (5) Discussion of text, (6) Teaching points -explaining how punctuating conveys meaning, and (7) Word workproviding information about word meaning (Fountas & Pinnell, 2012;Laquinta, 2006). Walking students through these steps provides them with strategies to use while reading that will support their becoming fluent readers who comprehend as much information as possible from the text. ...
In this article, the authors review promising practices
and strategies that have been demonstrated to support and
promote inclusive education in the U.S. at school, in classrooms,
in small groups, and at individual levels. Selected strategies that
promote instructional, social, and psychological inclusion (e.g.,
response to intervention, inclusive service learning, guided
reading, and incremental rehearsal) are discussed in detail.
Potential adaptions and adoption of these strategies are
suggested in order to assist in promoting inclusion within the
Czech education system.
In the April 2022 issue of the Journal of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Jim Cummins responded to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (2022a, 2022b) report on the Right to Read: Public Inquiry into Human Rights Issues Affecting Students with Reading Disabilities. He expressed several views on literacy education that are moderate and consistent with research. However, his very critical appraisal of the report is misdirected. The first section of the present article documents several recommendations and positions that Cummins attributes to the report but that it does not actually contain. The second section identifies five ways in which this report will bring Ontario’s special education policy into the 21st century, which Cummins has missed. The Right to Read report provides a paradigm for special education that Ontario should now apply to additional domains such as mathematics and social and emotional learning.
Reading levels and levelled reading have been tried and true teaching tools used for assessment and to guide the teaching of reading in classrooms for decades. However, identifying students' reading levels does not necessarily lead to success in reading for students. In strictly adhering to an instructional routine based on reading levels and choosing books based on those levels, we miss valuable opportunities to identify and celebrate children's current and learned reading practices, and importantly adhere to students' reading interests. In this article, we draw on self‐determination theory from the field of motivation to rethink how we are framing our students as readers, and further urge educators to look critically at their use of reading levels and levelled reading. As opposed to solely relying on the tried and tested ways of working with readers, we instead offer an opportunity for teachers to bolster students' well‐being by focusing on their motivational needs and their efficacy as readers. In designing reading instruction and activities around students' interests, choice, abilities, and interactions in the class community, we can empower students, foster their lifelong love of reading, and support their development as strong and strategic readers.
Adolescent students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) are a unique subgroup of English learners (ELs) who arrive with rich cultural heritage and an abundance of assets that include real-world life experiences and skills. Their needs are challenging and complex as a result of limited or interrupted formal schooling opportunities in their native countries. Adolescent SLIFE are vulnerable and more likely to drop out of school as they are frequently misunderstood and lack access to high-quality, equitable educational opportunities. In the United States, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandates schools to provide free education to ELs until age 21. For the most part, adolescent SLIFE are placed in general education English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) classes designed for ELs with formal educational experiences. Consequently, their literacy and language needs are not being met. This chapter will provide an insight of best practices for teaching adolescent SLIFE before they age out from public education, focusing on their personal background, histories, literacy, and language needs. Research findings indicate that high school ESOL teachers lack literacy training to support SLIFE. As such, in-service teachers who serve this population need specialized professional development focused on early reading instruction to meet the literacy needs of SLIFE. Additionally, teacher preparation programs must also consider preparing pre-service teachers to successfully support SLIFE. We also propose in this chapter that effective school programs must incorporate emergent literacy instruction and competency-based training as frameworks for the development of a meaningful curriculum.KeywordsAdolescent SLIFEEmergent literacy instructionCompetency-based trainingPostsecondaryTeacher training
In vielen bildungspolitischen Reformvorhaben wird die Unterstützung und Beratung von Schulen durch Schulentwicklungsberatung (SEB) mitkonzipiert, weil sie als ein wichtiges Instrument zur Sicherung und Weiterentwicklung der Qualität des Schulwesens angesehen wird. Dies drückt sich nicht zuletzt im aktuellen Entwicklungsplan für die Pädagogischen Hochschulen aus, der die „Stärkung der Schulentwicklungsberatung“ als ein strategisches Ziel nennt (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung [BMBWF], 2019a, S. 18). Aufgabe dieses Kapitels ist es, SEB im Kontext verschiedener Unterstützungsleistungen für Schulentwicklung konzeptuell und in ihrer Bedeutung für die entwicklungsbezogene Steuerung des Schulsystems zu erfassen. Dabei werden zunächst Entwicklung und aktuelle Ausgestaltung von SEB im österreichischen Schulsystem sowie alternative Organisationsformen schulentwicklungsbezogener Unterstützungsleistungen in anderen Ländern beschrieben. Danach werden Ergebnisse und Vorgangsweisen der deutsch- und englischsprachigen Forschung zusammengefasst. Abschließend werden Forschungsdesiderate und Ansatzpunkte für die weitere Erforschung aufgezeigt sowie Vorschläge für den institutionellen Rahmen von SEB formuliert.
Guided reading (GR) approach has been shown to have positive effect on reading fluency and comprehension. However, most studies on GR have focused on primary schools, specifically the Foundation Phase. Therefore, this study employed the GR approach to examine its possible effects on the reading proficiencies of Grade 9 English Second Language (ESL) learners in Gauteng province. Social and cognitive constructivism underpinned the study, which employed action research to determine the possible effects of implementing GR on the reading proficiencies of a sample of eight Grade 9 ESL learners who were purposively selected to participate in this study. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and reflection cards, oral and written reading tests. Results indicated that GR approach had caused a significant improvement in these learners’ reading fluency and comprehension because of collaborative learning and scaffolding. In addition, GR also developed a sense of ownership in their learning, a sense of community and innovative and inquisitive minds. The study recommends that learners who struggle with reading be identified early, and GR intervention strategies be implemented and monitored. Every school needs to have a reading policy and the Education Department should ensure that it is implemented and monitored. Keywords: guided reading, reading proficiencies, reading fluency, reading comprehension, second language
Rehberli okuma, öğrencilerin bir rehber eşliğinde okuma becerilerini geliştirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Rehberli okuma ile öğrencilerin doğru ve etkili okuma becerilerinin geliştirilmesi sağlanır. Rehberli okuma, yurtdışı literatürde genellikle ilk okuma ve yazma eğitiminde kullanılan öğrencilerin akıcı ve anlaşılır bir şekilde okumalarına olanak sağlayan bir tekniktir. Bu araştırmada ise ortaokul öğrencilerinin seviyelerine göre uyarlanmış ve onların konuşma becerilerinin geliştirilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Araştırmanın amacı rehberli okuma tekniğinin ortaokul 8. sınıf öğrencilerinin konuşma becerilerine yönelik etkisini ortaya çıkarmaktır.
Responding to recent challenges to Clay’s Running Records (2019) and their analysis using a three‐cueing system, I examine this reading assessment from an additive perspective of both bottom‐up and top‐down orientations of reading instruction. Endorsing their inclusion among classroom reading assessments, I navigate the tension between the two orientations by examining signposts of both that can be found in Running Records. In the discussion, I includes a corresponding framework to assist teachers’ interpretation and instructional planning for strategic actions, including searching for, using, and cross‐checking various sources of information; solving words; monitoring; self‐correcting; and maintaining fluency. When applied formatively, Running Records may be an assistive component in classroom reading assessment, yielding instruction targeting automaticity decoding and deeper comprehension.
Educators consider guided reading one of the most powerful instructional tools in a reading teacher’s arsenal. Yet, when it comes to emergent bilinguals in both monolingual English and bilingual settings, guided reading is implemented monolingually, or in one language at a time. As the field of reading instruction has moved toward a more asset‐based take on students’ bilingualism, integrating a bilingual approach to guided reading is necessary. The authors offer educators a lens to understand how emergent bilinguals’ resources and bilingualism can be incorporated into guided reading, along with concrete examples that can assist teachers in enacting these practices in their classrooms.
Elementary students' critical thinking skills are one of the components developed in 21st Century learning. However, these critical thinking skills are still very shallow and far from expectations. It was proven by the results of international surveys that show low average scores. Likewise, the results of the pretest critical thinking skills of fifth-grade students in 2 elementary schools in Sukabumi Regency showed a low average value. This study aims to determine the increase in students' critical thinking skills in learning to read comprehension through the use of the FIVES Model and Guided Reading Model in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0. The research method uses quasi-experimental with Static Group Pretest-Postest Design. The subject of the research was fifth-grade elementary school students. SDN 4 Cicurug implements the FIVES Model, and SDN 2 Purwasari implements the Guided Reading Model. The results showed that the use of these two models could improve the critical thinking skills of elementary students. However, the increase in students' critical thinking skills through the FIVES Model compared to the Guided Reading Model in reading comprehension in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0.
Reading romance novels is one of the leisure activities among female readers across the globe. However, studies on female readers of Hausa romance novels remain unexplored. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand how the female readers in Nigeria conceptualise romance novels in shaping their identities. This study was guided by Transactional Reader-Response Theory. This qualitative research approach used face-to-face interviews to collect the data. A total of eight female readers were interviewed and their responses were recorded and then transcribed. Four themes emerged from the data: Aesthetics Reading Stances, Associating Oneself with the Events From the Story, Personal Understanding of the Story, and Happily Ever After. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on romance novels and Transactional Reader-Response Theory.
A book introduction during small‐group instruction may seem like a simple task, but it actually involves multiple layers of decision making. The authors examine the why, how, and what of book introductions as a means of supporting students’ growth as readers.
The purpose of this descriptive multi-case study was to explore teacher candidates’ book
introductions during their field-based studies in elementary classrooms. The participants were 11 undergraduate students (also teacher candidates) enrolled in a field-based reading course at a South Texas regional university. The lessons occurred in the teacher candidates’ cooperating teachers’ elementary classrooms. Five sources of data were analyzed using both a priori and open coding to determine themes. The book introductions included information related to the meaning of the text and helping students make connections to text; however, little to no syntactical or visual cue information was included. The findings have implications for reading course instructors to ensure that teacher candidates have many opportunities to see and practice the delivery of book introductions during guided reading instruction.
While there is consensus that self-corrections (SCs) ought to be coded as part of oral reading assessments, less agreement exists as to what, if any, role self-correcting plays in reading development. The purpose of this study was to address limitations of prior research and provide a more statistically accurate estimate of the role of SC in early reading progress. A dataset that included running records (n = 3184) and baseline and posttest literacy achievement data for first-grade struggling readers (n = 140) was used. Baseline achievement, errors, and total words served as covariates. To investigate the potential moderating effects of errors and words, we interacted SC with errors and with total words. We then conducted hierarchical linear modeling to examine the role of SC in beginning reading. Our findings indicate that SC significantly and positively predicted early reading progress for struggling readers. Further, SC was found to have additional predictive power for students who were at the earliest period of literacy development. Results suggest that early reading instruction ought to pay careful attention to self-correcting behavior during oral reading and that oral reading assessments may be enhanced with specific instructions about what to do with SCs.
This study examined the impact of explicit comprehension strategy instruction supported by guided reading and partner reading on at-risk students’ strategy knowledge and reading comprehension. Participants were 47 first graders (25 in the treatment group; 22 in the control group) and 44 second graders (19 in the treatment group; 25 in the control group). Treatment group participants developed more specific knowledge of strategies, were more likely to apply those strategies during reading, and demonstrated statistically significant growth in reading comprehension. Strong correlations appeared between students’ strategic knowledge and overall comprehension. Implications are addressed at length following the discussion of results.
Elementary school students are often placed into groups with peers of similar reading ability in a practice called within-class ability grouping for guided reading instruction. Through this practice, students are differentially exposed to reading skills, strategies, and texts that are presumed to match their current level of ability. This widespread practice is particularly problematic given that (1) current notions of matching early readers to texts for reading instruction are based on traditional instructional practice rather than empirical evidence, (2) poor, minority students are overrepresented in the lowest ranked groups, (3) students in higher ranked groups make greater academic gains than those in lower ranked groups, and (4) teacher perceptions of students’ abilities are often inaccurate. Conversely, several studies have shown that when students are presented with texts of increased difficulty and given appropriate instructional support, they are able to make accelerated reading progress. The purpose of this design-based research study was to develop innovative classroom practices and theoretical insights on the use of heterogeneous grouping for guided reading instruction to increase the reading achievement of all students. Qualitative data, in the form of fieldnotes, semi-structured interviews, and documents, were collected. Data analysis included structural and process coding to result in the explication of five design principles to assist in the application of this design in other contexts. In addition, student progress was monitored using comprehensive reading assessments. On average, students made the equivalent of one year’s worth of literacy growth in two and a half months of design implementation. This dissertation is concluded with specific attention to the technical, normative, and political aspects inherent in the dissemination and sustainability of the proposed design. Advisor: Guy Trainin
The fourth edition of this comprehensive resource helps future and practicing teachers recognize and assess literacy problems, while providing practical, effective intervention strategies to help every student succeed. The author thoroughly explores the major components of literacy, providing an overview of pertinent research, suggested methods and tools for diagnosis and assessment, intervention strategies and activities, and technology applications to increase students' skills. Discussions throughout focus on the needs of English learners, offering appropriate instructional strategies and tailored teaching ideas to help both teachers and their students. Several valuable appendices include assessment tools, instructions and visuals for creating and implementing the book's more than 150 instructional strategies and activities, and other resources. © 2015, 2011, 2008, 2004 by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
This year-long telling case study followed a pre-service teacher into the field as a novice kindergarten teacher. We sought theoretical explanation for the development of the participant's reflective stance in both settings. Four scenarios revealed that variation in the participant's depth of reflection can be explained by how foci, scaffolds, and stimuli for reflection mediated the participant's experience of perplexity. Analysis of each scenario revealed factors that impacted how mediational tools supported reflective growth. These factors can inform the choices of teacher educators, mentors, and pre-service and novice teachers about mediation in an apprenticeship.
While development of a range of cognitive skills and strategies is integral to the literacy process and strong attainment, students' motivation, engagement and self‐confidence also exert a powerful influence on academic achievement. In recent times in the field of literacy there has been renewed interest in motivation, engagement and sense of self‐efficacy as it relates to literacy achievement. This paper reports on findings from Write to Read, a longitudinal collaborative university and school literacy intervention project in disadvantaged schools. Drawing on questionnaire data from teachers, interview data from children, teachers and principals and data from audio and video recordings of literature discussions, this paper presents findings in relation to developments in children's motivation and engagement in literacy in a subset of classrooms and schools involved in the intervention. Practices associated with increasing engagement included time, choice, dialogic mixed‐ability reading groups, building self‐efficacy and explicit teaching of vocabulary and comprehension skills.
Highlights
What is already known about this topic
• Many definitions of motivation and engagement are found in the literature; the terms are often used interchangeably, and research has not yet empirically established the directionality of the constructs (linear, bidirectional or multidirectional).
What this paper adds
• Findings in the current study suggest that engagement is a multidirectional construct: as children's engagement in the mixed‐ability groupings within a socially stimulating dialogic environment motivated children to read and participate in the group. Motivation did not precede engagement.
• A dual emphasis on motivation/engagement and cognitive skills for literacy development within a balanced literacy framework are effective in building children's motivation and engagement and are particularly important for children in high‐poverty contexts.
Implications for theory, policy or practice
• A dual emphasis on affective dimensions of literacy and on developmentally appropriate cognitive skills and strategies is required to address the literacy achievement gap between children in high‐poverty contexts and their more advantaged peers.
This qualitative inquiry examined second graders' literacy learning by observing acts of processing on continuous text. Specifically, this study explored the variety, complexity, and change in second graders'on-the-runreading behaviors at three points in time across an academic year. Systematic observation and the analysis of more than 2,500 text reading behaviors from running records of 21 proficient readers revealed more than 100 unique behaviors in six major categories (substitution, overt solving, repetition, omission, insertion, and other). Substitutions occurred most frequently and reflected students' attention to multiple sources of information concurrently. Second graders demonstrated more than 60 different ways to overtly solve words, usually working with large, sub-word level units. They never appealed for help without initiating attempts to work out difficulty and never articulated words phoneme-by-phoneme. Findings revealed general patterns of change and constancy across time as well as a variety of idiosyncratic behaviors particular to individual children. Discussion highlights readers' flexible control of a broad range of literacy processing behaviors and their vast repertoire of ways to problem solve new and unknown words.
Looking at literacy teaching across classrooms at the urban Mill City Charter School provides an opportunity to explore the importance of coherence within a school. This work was informed by teachers' voices and classroom observations over several months. Findings suggest that when teachers and school leaders share a common theory and vision for literacy education and work in the context of a professional learning community, teachers' opportunities to act as knowledgeable professionals, and children's opportunities for success and empowerment through literacy may be enhanced.
Exploring all the essential components of a quality upper elementary literacy program, this book is a resource for fostering success that will enable students to enjoy a future filled with literacy journeys. Sections of the book address: special help for struggling readers and writers; a basic structure of the literacy program within a framework that encompasses the building of community; independent reading; guided reading; literature study; teaching for comprehension and word analysis; and the reading and writing connection. Chapters in the book are: (1) Becoming Lifelong Readers and Writers: The Goal of the Intermediate Literacy Program; (2) Achieving Literacy with a Three-Block Framework: Language and Word Study, Reading, and Writing; (3) Investigating and Using Language: The Language and Word Study Block; (4) Becoming Joyful Readers: The Reading Workshop; (5) Developing Accomplished Writers: The Writing Workshop; (6) Making It Work: Organizing and Managing Time, Space, and Resources; (7) Encouraging Independent Reading; (8) Planning Effective Mini lessons and Conferences; (9) Getting Started: The First Twenty Days of Independent Reading; (10) Writing to Explore Meaning: Response Journals; (11) Understanding Guided Reading; (12) Planning for Guided Reading; (13) Dynamic Grouping for Effective Teaching in Guided Reading; (14) Selecting, Introducing, and Using Leveled Texts; (15) Discovering Literature Study: The Essential Elements; (16) Putting Literature Study in Action; (17) Responding to Literature: Multiple Paths to Meaning; (18) Understanding the Reading Process; (19) Teaching for Comprehending Written Text: Across the Language and Literacy Framework; (20) Teaching for Sustaining Strategies in Guided Reading; (21) Teaching for Connecting and Expanding Strategies in Guided Reading; (22) Teaching for Word-Solving: Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary; (23) Teaching Genre and Content Literacy: Explore Fiction and Nonfiction Texts; (24) Creating the Poetry Workshop: Reading, Writing, and the Arts; (25) Exploring the Writing Terrain: Writer Talks, Writer's Notebooks, and Investigations; (26) Supporting Readers and Writers: Tools That Make a Difference in Comprehending and Constructing Texts; (27) Understanding the "Testing Genre": Preparing Students for High Quality Performance; and (28) Making Teaching Decisions Using Continuous Assessment. The book concludes with a comprehensive book list containing 1,000 books organized by title and level. Appendixes contain reading and writing workshop forms; graphic organizers; a list of the 500 most frequently used words and spelling demons, writer Web sites, and magazines for kids; bibliographies of picture books for use with intermediate students; a bibliography of poetry anthologies; and other practical tools. (RS)
Innovations in learning: New environments for education
- A.L. Brown
- J.C. Campione
Measuring change in the instructional practices of literacy teachers
- A. Bryk
- D. Kerbow
- G.S. Pinnell
- E. Rodgers
- C. Hung
- P.L. Scharer
The continuum of literacy learning, grades preK-8: A guide to teaching
- G.S. Pinnell
- I.C. Fountas
Theoretical models and processes of reading
- L.M. Rosenblatt
Assessing the value-added effects of coaching on student learning
- G. Biancarosa
- H. Hough
- E. Dexter
- A. Bryk
Foundations of literacy
- D. Holdaway
Fluency: Why it is “Not Hot”
- Rasinski