Ciara`s - Reading Association of Ireland

RAI Spring Seminar
Cork 2011
Ciara Bowe
Background
 Received Pre-service training AFTER introduction of
1999 English Curriculum
 Comprehension received little / no attention
 Dissatisfied with reading lessons
 Approach similar to own schooling: Teacher / Text
generated questions AFTER reading
 Testing not teaching comprehension
Definition
 Comprehension is a process in which readers construct
meaning by interacting with text through the
combination of prior knowledge and previous
experience, information in the text and the stance the
reader takes in relationship to the text.
Pardo (2004)
Meaning
Study – Aims
 Main purpose: to explore children’s reading motivation
and perceptions of themselves as readers, following
twelve weeks of explicit CSI.
 If CSI had an effect on children’s perceptions of
themselves as readers and their motivation to read?
 If a CSI programme impacted on children’s desire to
read and their participation in reading lessons?
 If certain groups of children (e.g. children with SEN;
children from disadvantaged backgrounds etc.) were
more or indeed less affected by a CSI programme than
their peers?
International Research
 Three waves (Pressley, 1998)
 1. Single comprehension strategies assessed
 2. Short-term programmes using a few strategies.
Children were taught to co-ordinated the strategies as
they read.
 3. TSI (Transactional Strategies Instruction): a longterm classroom based approach, involving explicit and
direct teaching of the cognitive processes involved in
understanding a text.
Comprehension Strategies
 Durkin (1978/9): first brought attention to fact that
comprehension was been tested rather than taught.
 Variety of strategies appeared since
 Some approaches: Up to 45 in a single year
 Shift to a more thorough teaching of fewer strategies
 Block and Duffy (2008) – 9 validated strategies
Prediction
Synthesis
Monitoring
Comprehension
Re-reading
Evaluating
Strategies
Summarising
Inference
Questioning
Generating
mental images
Motivation
Behaviourism
(Extrinsic)
Humanism
(Intrinsic)
Social-Cognitive
(Intrinsic & Extrinsic)
“Expectancy
–Value”
Self-efficacy
Selfperception
Motivation & CSI: Research
 Lack of international research with regards to
motivation and CSI
 Under umbrella of literacy usually
Motivation & CSI: Research
 Recent findings:
 Importance of being strategic to ensure success
 Reading and motivation are complementary
 Importance of emphasising notion of ‘play’ rather than
work = reading becomes self-fulfilling activity
 Importance of sharing learning intention / benefits of
CSI with children increases motivation to participate
 Self-efficacy invigorates motivation
 “Highly-engaged, self-determining readers, who are
architects of their own learning”
CSI: Ireland
1971 Curriculum
• ‘Bottom-Up’ Model of Reading
1999 Curriculum
• Development of higher comprehension skills
from middle classes on.
• Only Prediction from Junior Infants – 2nd Class
• “Skills” not strategies – only 5 correspond with
validated international research
• Scarcity of information
Irish Documents
Learning Support Guidelines, 2000
• Most research based information
• Limited information on instruction
• 14 strategies
PPDS
• One article at time of research
• “Skills” not strategies
Study: Sample
 Convenience sample: Researcher = Class Teacher
 Single Sex (Boys); Deis Band 2
7 pupils with SEN
25 Pupils
ADHD
DCD
Behavioural
3 pupils attend
LearningSupport
2 “high-risk”
(SCP)
Language Disorder
Sensory Impairment
Intervention
Consent
Base-line
Questionnaire
12-week
explicit CSI
Results &
Findings
Postintervention
Questionnaire
Research
Diary
Building Bridges of Understanding,
Mary Immaculate College
 Building Bridges V First Steps: Reading
 Based on current international research
 All strategies were internationally recognised
 Based on “Wave 3” research
 School-wide programme
 Very teacher-friendly: Recommends
literature, supplies anchor charts
Intervention
 3 read-aloud sessions per week,
across 12 weeks
 Minimum 30 mins per session
 Recommended Picture books
 Small scale-study across a short
duration
Prediction
Clarifyin
g
Declunking
Inferring
Making
Connections
Strategies
Questioning
Visualisation
Results: Reader Self-Perception
Scale (RSPS)
 Information provided by
children: Low, Average, High
Self-perception
 4-factor scale:
 Progress
 Observational Comparison
 Social Feedback
 Physiological States
Progress
Class Progress Profile
Observational Comparison
Class Observational Comparison Profile
Social Feedback
Class Social Feedback Profile
Physiological States
Class Physiological States Profile
Overall analysis of RSPS results
 Despite short term nature of intervention small
positive changes occurred
 Changes mostly for those with lower initial self-
perceptions
 “Progress” saw most change
 More Intrinsic motivation?
Questionnaires
 Showed improvement in understanding of
characteristics of good readers
 Showed an increased range of strategies to deal with
words they did not know (No-one was strategy-less
post-intervention)
 Supported RSPS findings: overall subtle change in
attitude and self-perception
 Indications of more intrinsically motivated readers
Enjoyment of CSI
 “You learn and you find words you never saw before”
 It “made me a better reader”.
 More open-minded to books
 “makes reading easier”
 “Very interesting”
 Only negative commented mentioned:
 “I like it ‘cos it wastes time”
 Didn’t see it as work!
Enjoyment of CSI
 Should other children learn strategies?
 “They [other children] can think aswell as we do”
 “People who don’t like reading might start to like it”
 15 children used strategies at home
 “They are handy”
 “I stop to think more than I used to”.
 All would like to learn more strategies
Research Diary / Observations
 Children assumed more responsibility and authority in
classroom discourse
 The most active and involved children changed:
“Good readers” – “Shy but strong” – “Weaker readers” – All
 Initial Concerns:
 “Strong readers” becoming less vocal. Not challenged
enough? “Already doing them [strategies]”
 CPMs
 Shy children
 Balance
Strategies in Action
 Prediction:
 Basic: “I predict her name is Jessie”
 Schema on Anne Frank so “This will be hard”
 “I think the cats will be involved in rescuing the people
from the camp or the train”
 Predictions cannot be wrong: “I predict the step-mom
will pretend to look for the buttons from the memory
string, but when she finds them she doesn’t tell the girl
because she wants to hurt her”.
 Different genres: “Did you notice, teacher, the way it is
really hard to make predictions in this book, because
there isn’t a lot going on really, BUT there is a lot of
pictures in my head”
Strategies in Action
 Making Connections:
 Text-to-Text: “Friend or Foe is kinda like Narnia cos the
boys are send away from the city cos of bombs and stuff”.
 Text-to-Self (Basic): “My aunt’s name is Jessie”.
 Text-to-World: “That is like with Martin Luther-King”
 Questioning:
 “I wonder why the thermometer was broken? Was it
broken when the doctor left the house?”
 “I wonder why Ms. Bowe has us reading so many books
about World War 2”!
Strategies in Action
 Visualisation:
 “I can hear birds chirping in the distance as they are
flying back to their nests”
 “It’s not raining, but it’s early in the morning and the
grass is wet under my feet”
 “I can see the stranger staring at the soup confused. He
eats it and he burns his tongue. He gets a shock. He
blows on it and then he can eat it”.
 Challenging strategy:
“Not much happens, just lots of
descriptions. It’s a bit weird like that”
 “Different but boring”
Strategies in Action
 Clarification:
 Help each other. Every one asks, everyone helps
 “The farmer is definitely a man, its says ‘he’”
 “I think we all need clarification on who the stranger is,
but I don’t think we can clarify it yet. I think we need to
read on”.
 Inference:
 Easily confused with prediction: “I’m inferring the
stranger is superman”.
 “I am inferring that the Grandad is dead, beacuase they
told us they can’t bring him to Boston and the picture
shows them standing at a grave”
Strategies in Action
 De-clunking:
 “What’s a neckerchief?” “Look at the rest of the word –
it’s like a handkerchief but around your neck”
 A strategy used a lot during other reading activities
 Other comments:
 “Yesterday when I was reading I used predicting and it
actually was easy and helped me”
 “I can’t wait to find out who the stranger really is!”
 “Ever since we started learning about prediction and
stuff I didn’t really like reading that much before and
now I love it”.
Children with SEN
 Contributed with increased confidence
 “Excellent and regular” use of strategies
 RSPS results reflect this
 Why?
 Developing strategies along-side fluency, de-coding etc.
As recommended in research
 See their contributions as valid
 Emphasis not on technical elements of reading
 Can enjoy story, but contribute also
 Experiencing success
Case Study: Shy child
 Frequency of involvement did not increase over 12-
weeks
 Intervention too short?
 Approached teacher after session
 “I have a prediction”
 More comfortable on one-to-one basis
 Shyness? Indifference? Lack of understanding?
 Seemed to have good understanding – intervention
period too short?
Case Study: “At Risk” Child
 Identified by SCP
 Pre-questionnaire: Did not like reading: “Boring”
 RSPS results: Low in all four-sources pre-intervention
 Post-Intervention: Average – improvement in all 4
categories
 Increasingly more involved in read-aloud sessions
 Asked for books from class library to bring home
 “I like it, like it’s fun”.
Teacher’s Perspective
 Overall positive experience
 Enjoyed teaching CSI lessons
 Saw rewards on daily basis
 Clear improvement in reading comprehension
 Improvement in motivation to read
 Social benefits
 Challenges:
 Balancing contributions
 Time-scale
 Resources
 Putting faith in a new programme
 Shy children
 Visualisation
Social Benefits
 Class with history of social problems
 Many unsuccessful programmes – Circle Time
 Despite initial over-dominance took no extra measures
 Saw a gradual improvement in communication skills,
listening skills, and patience levels.
 Responding to each other: “While I think that is a really
interesting point you have made, I think a little
differently about it”.
Conclusions
 Understanding and internalising the cognitive process
of reading can have a positive effect on motivation to
read.
 Generally: positive effect on children’s perceptions of
themselves as readers
 Many like reading more and felt they were making
more progress
 More confidence in dealing with texts. Universal
Improvement in comprehension
Conclusions
 Most positive changes occurred with:
 “Weaker” readers,
 Children with SEN
 Children from disadvantaged backgrounds
 Communication and social skills improved.
The Future?
 Long-term programme
 All strategies, including TSI
 Whole school approach / policy needed
 All ages / class-levels
 All abilities
 Professional Development: Train-the-Trainer
 Resources: picture books
CSI: Ireland
 Larger-scale studies needed in Ireland
 Teachers need more information / professional
development in quality programmes
 Better Numeracy and Literacy for Children and Young
People
Final Thought….
“I now like reading”