The Efficacy of a Dialogic Learning Environment in Fostering Literacy

This comparative study examines the role of contextual features embedded in a dialogic environment in fostering literacy. The study, implemented by language arts teachers in a middle school setting, investigates the effectiveness of an instructional program designed to create a collaborative dialogic learning environment that imparts literacy. The program is compared to a traditional learning environment in which reading and writing are imparted through direct teacher instruction. Results indicate that embedding literacy instruction in communities of discourse is superior to traditional methods in fostering reading comprehension and writing competence. Findings suggest that a dialogic environment creates the context within which students develop cognitive tools to achieve literacy.     

Effects of variation in teacher organization on classroom functioning

This study examined effects of variation in teacher organization on how time is spent in classrooms, focusing on time spent in transitions and instruction, including child skill by teacher organization interactions. Forty-four first-grade classrooms were observed three times over the school year. Timed narratives of each activity were recorded. “Orient-organize” referred to time teachers spent orienting students to classroom procedures or organizing the class for specific assignments, and included instructional clarity, where teachers described objectives of activities to students. Using hierarchical linear modeling, substantial variation across teachers in orient-organize was observed. Overall, classrooms spent less time in organization as the school year progressed. In addition, spending more time in organization was related to less time spent in transition. Students in classrooms that spent more time in organization in the fall also experienced greater amounts of time in child-managed activities in the spring. There was also an interaction between child vocabulary and amount of orient-organize in the winter. Students with lower vocabulary scores were more likely to be in classrooms that spent more time in spring child-managed activities if they continued to receive substantial amounts of orient-organize in the winter. The opposite was the case for students with high vocabulary skills.     

CONNECTING THEORETICAL CONCEPTIONS OF READING TO PRACTICE: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

The purpose of this study was to examine the vocabulary teaching of primary-grade teachers (K-3) in low-income schools. A total of 337 observations were conducted during language arts blocks over a three-year period. A coding scheme was developed to analyze teachers’ vocabulary instruction. Results indicated that teachers spent less than 5% of their language arts block on vocabulary instruction (7.55 minutes). Most of that time was spent on teaching individual word meanings with less time spent on word-learning strategies. As well, the majority of time was spent on teacher-student interactions using both oral and written forms of communication.     

CONFRONTING ASSUMPTIONS: PRESERVICE TEACHERS' BELIEFS ABOUT READING AND LITERATURE

This article describes one group of preservice teachers' beliefs about reading and literature. What teachers think of these subjects affects how they implement literature-based reading instruction and influences their students' views of reading and literature. During one part of a language arts education course, 39 students read about and discussed major assumptions of reader response, engaged in self-selected novel studies, and designed literature-based learning units. Students reflected on what they learned at the end of these activities. Through qualitative analysis of students' reflective writings, I identified eight beliefs students had formulated. More than three-quarters of the class gained insights into the reading process, the interpretative nature of reading, and pleasure reading. Half the students came to view writing as a means of identifying, shaping, and enriching readers' responses to literature. Finally, more than half the class described features of quality literature and one-third wrote about using literature outside the language arts. This study documents ways teacher educators can help preservice teachers examine assumptions about reading and literature that will influence how they deliver instruction.     

Providing grade one students with multiple spelling strategies: Comparisons between strategy instruction,strategy instruction with metacognitive information,and traditional language arts

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether providing first-grade students with multiple strategy instruction plus metacognitive information would improve their spelling performances relative to providing them with strategy instruction or traditional language arts activities alone. Students in the strategy conditions received explicit instruction in the use of phonetics, imagery, and analogy. Students in the strategy condition with metacognitive information were also provided with information about when and where to use each spelling strategy. The remaining students completed traditional language arts activities. Students' spelling performances were assessed prior to, immediately after and 14 days after instruction using a dictation test, the Developmental Spelling Test, and a writing sample. For the dictation test, students who received multiple strategy instruction with metacognitive information out-performed those who received strategy instruction alone or completed language arts activities, with no differences between students' performances in the latter conditions. All students' performances improved on the Developmental Spelling Test and writing samples as a function of time. The authors concluded that even young students are able to acquire a repertoire of effective spelling strategies if they are provided with explicit instruction that includes metacognitive information.     

Designing Translingual Pedagogies: Exploring Pedagogical Translation through a Classroom Teaching Experiment

This study examined how middle-grades language arts teachers learned to integrate a small-group collaborative translation activity into their teaching practice. We discuss what we call pedagogical translation as an emergent social practice, in which translation routines that are familiar to multilingual students may be leveraged toward instructional goals in a mainstream language arts class. The data were drawn from a classroom teaching experiment iteration of a larger design-based research study, whose goal is to create a fully developed instructional protocol useful to all teachers in linguistically diverse language arts classrooms, but especially teachers with limited or emerging proficiencies in languages other than English. We position pedagogical translation as a paradigm case of translingual pedagogy—instructional approaches designed to leverage the full range of emerging bilinguals’ linguistic resources—and we focus our analysis on the agentive participation of teachers as they integrate new translingual routines into their instructional practice. Using a conjecture mapping procedure, we describe the evolution of an instructional theory for how pedagogical translation can be leveraged toward literacy learning objectives. We present qualitative narratives describing how participating teachers made locally situated design choices that meshed new routines with existing instructional practice, documenting trajectories of teacher participation as agentive designers of translingual pedagogy.     

The Teacher of Reading: The First Twenty-Five Years Are the Most Challenging

This study investigated approaches to reading acquisition used in four first grades of a suburban elementary school. Individual teacher interviews established the differences in program emphases. Group A used the basal reader program; Group B, the basal reader and an additional phonics program; Group C, the basal reader and the language experience approach; Group D, the language experience approach and a wide range of supplementary readers and trade books. All groups participated in supportive language arts activities. Nine randomly selected subjects from each class participated‐‐three from each high, middle, and low reading group. Informal reading inventories were individually administered and scored for levels of word recognition in context and reading comprehension. Results support the use of a language experience approach as a viable alternative to the basal reader approach for teaching reading and writing.     

The Writing Process: Three First Grade Teachers and Their Students Reflect on What was Learned

The purpose of this study was to describe what three first grade teachers and their students in a Midwestern school learned when engaged in the writing process. The teachers and their students were observed for one year while engaged in the writing process via a workshop environment. Different data sources were collected over time, i.e., individual interviews (teacher and student), student writing samples and anecdotal observational notes. From an analysis of the data, three categories emerged that described what the teachers and students learned: (a) First grade children can and do want to write; (b) Learning is a messy process that takes time; and (c) Empowerment is important for all. This study supported what is known about the importance of professional development that allows for individual learning over time. The teachers had time to reflect on their learning in a collaborative teaching environment. Their successes greatly affected the students' interest and engagement in their writing programs.     

Language Enrichment Teacher Preparation and Practice Predicts Third Grade Reading Comprehension

First and second grade public school teachers were trained through interactive video-conferencing to implement Language Enrichment, an Orton-Gillingham-based literacy instruction. The effectiveness of the linguistically informed training was demonstrated by documenting the longitudinal third grade reading comprehension achievement of their students. Student achievement was measured on the state-mandated achievement test, Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) showed that students whose teachers were trained in Language Enrichment instruction had higher third grade reading comprehension achievement than students whose teachers were not trained. Additionally, a significant effect of the length of Language Enrichment teaching experience of the second grade teacher on third grade reading comprehension was found. Earlier occurring second grade teacher training was associated with higher reading scores than later training. Based on these findings it is suggested that teachers who have content-rich knowledge known to support literacy acquisition can provide reading instruction that results in a level of reading comprehension that is significantly higher than that resulting from teachers who do not have a well-developed domain of knowledge concerning the reading process. This study also indicates that teacher competence was enhanced through practice because student reading achievement of the more-experienced Language Enrichment teachers was higher than that of the less-experienced Language Enrichment teachers.     

HOW ELEMENTARY STUDENTS REFERRED FOR COMPENSATORY READING INSTRUCTION PERFORM ON SCHOOL‐BASED MEASURES OF WORD RECOGNITION,FLUENCY, AND COMPREHENSION

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine how elementary students referred for compensatory remedial reading services performed on several key reading process variables: total word recognition errors while reading brief passages, significant or meaning‐changing errors, comprehension, and reading rate. In order to maximize ecological validity, the students were assessed by the school‐based reading specialist/teacher using assessment materials normally used in diagnostic evaluations of students referred for compensatory reading instruction. Although performance across all variables was below instructional levels for students’ assigned grades, both word recognition variables and comprehension approached instructional levels. Reading rate alone was consistently and significantly below several previously identified standards of performance. We feel that poor performance in rate may be an indicator of fluency problems (including automaticity in word recognition and text phrasing). Suggestions for instruction to overcome difficulties in fluency were presented.     

STRUCTURED STRATEGY INSTRUCTION: INVESTIGATING AN INTERVENTION FOR IMPROVING SIXTH-GRADERS' READING COMPREHENSION

ABSTRACT

The author assesses students’ understanding of several print‐related concepts toward the conclusion of one year of formal reading instruction. There may be some need for teachers to alter their language of instruction so as to eliminate specialized terms that create confusion among beginning readers.     

Reading Specialists

ABSTRACT

Students in special education programs often have serious reading problems, requiring the diagnostic and instructional expertise of reading specialists. Having reading specialists work cooperatively with members of multidisciplinary teams can benefit students, teachers, team members, and parents. In many instances, particular skills of reading specialists can be employed to assess student eligibility for special education and to develop individualized instructional programs. This article illustrates how the inclusion of reading specialists can enhance both diagnosis and instruction and provides guidelines for involving reading specialists.     

Do the benefits from autonomy-supportive PE teacher training programs endure?: A one-year follow-up investigation

ObjectiveAn earlier study (Cheon, Reeve, & Moon, 2012) showed wide-ranging benefits from a training program designed to help teachers be more autonomy-supportive toward students during PE instruction. The present study collected a follow-up data set to determine whether those earlier-observed benefits endured one year later.DesignWe used an experimentally-based 3-wave longitudinal design. The experimental group consisted of 8 PE teachers from the original teacher training study and their 470 middle- and high-school students; the control group consisted of 9 matched PE teachers and their 483 students. Dependent measures included 3 manipulation checks, 3 measures of student motivation, and 6 course-specific outcomes.MethodTrained raters scored teachers' instructional behaviors at mid-semester, while students reported perceptions of their teachers' motivating style and their own course-related motivation and outcomes at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. We tested our hypotheses using hierarchical linear modeling to account for the hierarchical structure of data in which repeated measures were nested within students who were nested within teachers.ResultsCompared to teachers in the control group, teachers in the experimental group were scored by raters and perceived by students as more autonomy supportive and less controlling. Their students consistently reported greater motivation and more positive outcomes than did the students of teachers in the control group. All 8 teachers in the experimental group reported being significantly more autonomy supportive than a year earlier.ConclusionTeacher- and student-related benefits from the earlier autonomy-supportive training program endured.     

THE DILEMMA OF ERROR AND ACCURACY: AN EXPLORATION

This paper reports on the research on error and accuracy within the realms of constructivism, reading, and writing, and describes an exploratory study of teacher perceptions of approaches to addressing error and accuracy in literacy instruction. Findings demonstrate that teachers who self-reported that they were developing constructivist approaches to classroom instructional practices had contradictory beliefs about dealing with reading and writing errors. There were also contradictory beliefs about addressing reading and writing errors with more- and less-able readers and writers. The teachers were solid in their conviction that students' inaccurate constructions of knowledge should be corrected through inquiry, but were unable to provide examples of instances in which they had done so.     

Introducing educators to a psychodynamically informed teaching practice

Abstract

Prompted by the observation that many recently trained teachers find themselves unprepared to cope with many aspects of classroom life despite considerable subject matter competence and technical proficiency, this paper proposes and describes a brief instructional programme designed to enhance teachers' understanding of classroom interactions from a psychodynamic perspective. Published autobiographical accounts of gifted teachers serve as texts for reading and discussion. These personal narratives are conceptualized within psychodynamic frameworks illuminating in meaningful fashion mundane as well dramatic moments in classroom interaction. The course is intended to enhance teacher competence and morale, to stimulate further reflection and to facilitate professional discourse about children and teaching.     

Mathematics instruction in Head Start: Nature,extent, and contributions to children's learning

This study employed the most recent (2006) cohort of the nationally representative Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) to explore the nature of mathematics instruction in Head Start and the child, family, and teacher factors that contribute to children's mathematics learning over the preschool year. In total, 2501 preschoolers and their families, as well as their teachers (n = 335), participated in the study from fall 2006 to spring 2007. Results showed that teachers reported frequent mathematics instruction, although direct observations did not entirely confirm this frequency. A variety of factors predicted children's mathematics knowledge at Head Start entry, and several – including instructional quality – were linked to learning over time. No thresholds in instructional quality emerged. Overall, this study provides new information about classroom mathematics instruction and child learning among the nation's most vulnerable early learners.     

Student’s Self-Efficacy in Reading – Connecting Theory to Practice

Abstract

Literacy learning has focused on skills over affective dimensions, such as self-efficacy, since the beginning of the 21^st century. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s abilities to accomplish desired outcomes. What is less well known is how teachers provide effective literacy instruction linked to the affective dimension of development. How can we nurture students’ self-efficacy while bolstering their reading skills? This article highlights Bandura’s seminal research and related scholarly findings on the critical tenets of self-efficacy within literacy teaching and learning. Contextualized in today’s diverse educational environments, practical implementations connecting elements of self-efficacy to literacy instructional practices serve as a resource for K-12 teachers, specialists, and administrators alike.     

An investigation of high school social studies teachers' understandings of vocabulary teaching and learning

This qualitative study focused on high school social studies teachers' understandings of and perspectives about vocabulary acquisition and instruction. The research questions were the following: (1) What do high school social studies teachers understand about vocabulary instruction? and (2) How do high school social studies teachers support vocabulary learning? Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 25 high school social studies teachers. Findings indicate that external factors shaped instructional decision-making for teaching vocabulary, teachers' belief systems guided instructional choices, and the diverse needs of students called for differentiated instruction not only for English language learners but also for all students given the unique nature of the language of social studies.