Materials, activities, and talk: Interconnections between academic and social dimensions of first-grade reading groups.
Item
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Title
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Materials, activities, and talk: Interconnections between academic and social dimensions of first-grade reading groups.
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Identifier
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AAI9618109
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identifier
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9618109
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Creator
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Ticke, Lynne A.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Katherine Nelson
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Education, Educational Psychology | Education, Reading | Education, Elementary | Psychology, Social | Psychology, Developmental
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Abstract
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This study examines the interrelationships between academic and social dimensions of the learning environments constituting ability-based reading groups in a first-grade classroom. The research questions address how variation in particular features of reading groups, such as the materials used and the reading activities in which students and their teacher engage, relate to changes in the patterns of the discourse that is constructed and how this impacts on students' participation.;This study draws on theoretical constructs from Vygotsky and the sociohistorical school of cognitive development, sociolinguistics, and education in its underlying premises and analytical methods. A variety of methods were employed to collect data for a period of eight months. These included classroom observations, interviews, and videotape recordings. Data analysis involved macro descriptions of the instructional contexts as well as a discourse analysis of a select sample of high and low ability group reading events. Features of the discourse that were examined include: (1) teacher turn-allocation procedures, (2) student initiations, (3) student interrupting behaviors, and (4) teacher management acts.;Findings indicate that the high group members had more opportunities to display their knowledge verbally and to engage in discussions of meaningful storybooks compared to their low group peers. The teacher used more open bid process elicitations which encouraged group participation. Consequently, high group members engaged in more initiating and interrupting behaviors across the school year. In contrast, the low group members primarily worked with reading materials that focused on isolated units of print. Their interactions with the teacher provided few opportunities for them to express their knowledge verbally. The teacher primarily used a more teacher-controlled turn allocation strategy compared to the high group events. Consequently low group members' initiating and interrupting behaviors remained relatively stable over time. When the activity was changed to storybook reading, the low group members' initiations increased dramatically.;It is concluded that the types of reading processes emphasized during high and low group instruction reflect complementary aspects of the reading process. Students need learning opportunities that foster the development of skills as well as rich communication around meaningful texts.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
