Dennis S. Davis

The relationship between students' reading orientations and their strategic activity during a collaborative reading task

This study examined the connection between middle school students’ beliefs about reading and their use of comprehension strategies during a collaborative reading activity. Seventy-one fifth- and sixth-grade students were videotaped while they worked in small groups to read and discuss short texts describing the reading habits and abilities of four fictitious readers. Students’ conceptions of successful reading were determined based on their rankings of these fictitious readers, and their strategic activity was indexed by coding their use of strategies and the participation roles they assumed while working together. The analyses revealed a strong relationship between students’ conceptions of reading and their patterns of interaction during the collaborative activity. The findings enrich our understanding of this relationship and raise important questions for future investigations.

A dialogic account of reader–text interactions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptualization of reading comprehension that extends beyond the traditional cognitive viewpoint on comprehension common in the field. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on literature and theory from various perspectives (cognitive, sociocultural and critical), the authors propose a conceptual heuristic that can inform future scholarship. Findings – Using four foundational principles of reader–text interactions as a starting point (non-neutrality, tethered polysemy, variable agency and unruliness), the authors describe reader–text interactions in terms of the tethers/resources that are brought into the interaction, the moment-to-moment improvisation that occurs when readers meet a text and the changes at the intra- and interpersonal levels that result from and influence future reader–text interactions. Originality/value – The conceptualization can inform future research and practice in literacy by situating meaning making within a broader understand...

What Teachers Want: A Statewide Survey of Reading and English Language Arts Teachers' Instructional Materials, Preferences, and Practices.

ABSTRACT This study reports the results of a survey of a representative sample of 1,206 elementary reading and English Language Arts teachers in Oregon to learn (1) what materials are currently being used, (2) what materials teachers would prefer, and (3) what instructional practices teachers use. Qualitative data included 365 comments and 34 interviews with participants. Results indicated that in grades K–6 core reading programs were the predominant material, but that these teachers also preferred to use trade books. The majority of grade 7–12 teachers reported mainly using trade books. Teachers reported using promising literacy practices, but data indicated that packaged programs are associated with reduced opportunities for students to engage in these practices. Teachers wanted to use their professional judgment to make decisions about materials.

Invoking Quantum Physics: Fifty Volumes of Methodological Complexity in Literacy Research:

Quantum physics concerns the physical theories that explain the nuclear world, specifically nature at its smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles. Although it may appear perplexing as to why we invoke quantum physics in our editorial statement, the work of Karen Barad (feminist theorist with roots in theoretical physics) is influencing the field of literacy research. Her influence is evident in recent publications of Journal of Literacy Research (JLR; see for example, Ehret, Hollett, & Jocius, 2016; Muth, 2016; Tanner, 2017) and several sessions at the 2017 annual meeting of the Literacy Research Association, including a study group titled “Knotty Articulations: Wrestling With Posthumanism, Intersectionality, and Justice in Literacy Research.” In celebration of the 50th volume of the JLR, we engaged in a re-view of the previous editorial statements (Volumes 1 49). We carefully read and discussed each statement, analyzing how the editors re-presented complexity in literacy research. For this editorial statement, we focused on the methodological complexities raised by past editors. We summarize our findings in the following sections using several concepts from the work of Barad to frame JLR editorial statements since its inception in 1969 as the Journal of Reading Behavior (JRB).

How Teachers Mobilize and Transform Their Conceptualizations of Reading Comprehension into Representations of Instructional Practice.

This research examines the specialized knowledge of reading comprehension articulated by 12 middle school English language arts teachers sampled from three different regions of the United States and representing various levels of teaching experience. Using detailed interviews, concept mapping, and think aloud methods, we identified salient touchstones that characterize the teachers’ understandings of how and why readers interact with texts to construct meanings and change as readers. In this article, we present examples that illustrate the many ways that these understandings of comprehension were mobilized and transformed in their explanations of instructional practices.

Instructional Tendencies in the Teaching of Reading Comprehension A Portrait of Practice in the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Database

Using videos from 63 teachers in grades 4–8 who were part of the Measures of Effective Teaching study, we identified five tendencies in the teaching of reading comprehension that can inform future work on the design and implementation of reading instruction. The five tendencies are: (1) Instruction is generally text-centric, but dominated by instructional vignettes; (2) Text talk is common, but is dominated by teacher-facilitated questioning; (3) Instruction is intentional and explicit, but at a cost; (4) Instruction is strategy-centric, but not necessarily strategic; and (5) Knowledge-building is underemphasized during classroom textual interactions. This study addresses the need for more current understanding of the state of instructional practices in reading comprehension.