Wanda B. Hedrick

Motivation: Going beyond Testing to a Lifetime of Reading

otivating children to read on their own has been less of a priority than improving reading achievement in recent years, but many teachers are still asking, “How do I get my students to want to read?” The omission of motivation as a major component of reading instruction by the National Reading Panel (2000) was interpreted by many schools as a lack of endorsement of its importance. In the past, principals creatively coaxed children into collectively reading large quantities of books on their own by using motivational antics, such as shaving heads or kissing pigs. These antics have gone by the wayside in recent years. While we are not advocating returning to these types of extreme measures to get children to read, we do believe the desire behind these behaviors still has merit. Unfortunately, promoting independent reading has become secondary to activities more directly aligned with high-stakes testing performance, such as matching children’s reading levels with appropriate reading material, practicing fluency, and guided reading. We are concerned that many children are not choosing to read on their own and that independent reading opportunities during the school day appear to be diminishing. If intrinsically motivated to read on their own, children will sustain interest in reading and improve their reading abilities. Some research suggests if children do not read on their own, they may even lose some reading abilities (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988) gained through reading instruction. This article provides readers with principles of motivation and equips administrators and teachers with tools to motivate children to read independently.

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF WIDE READING ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Previous research on the relationship between wide reading and listening comprehension provided indirect evidence that wide reading may be impacting childrens listening comprehension. In the present study we looked at growth in listening comprehension of 146 children from third grade to fifth grade and their fifth-grade estimate of accumulated wide reading as measured by an instrument using a checklist-with-foils logic, the Title Recognition Test. Employing hierarchical multiple regression, we isolated the relationship between wide reading and listening comprehension. The results indicated that individual differences in growth of listening comprehension from third grade to fifth grade were significantly related to wide reading. These findings imply that reading a lot may influence listening comprehension, thus adding support to the educational practice of providing time for children to read independently and encouraging more and varied reading outside of school.

An Investigation of Teachers' Concerns About Vocabulary and the Representation of These Concerns in Content Literacy Methodology Textbooks

The purpose of this study was twofold: to (a) find out what questions currently practicing middle grade teachers have about vocabulary instruction and (b) determine what current undergraduate content area textbooks include that provide answers to these vocabulary questions. As researchers and practitioners directly responsible for teaching preservice middle grades teachers, this was a beginning step in examining whether our own teacher preparation programs are meeting the needs of new teachers as they encounter the demands of teaching vocabulary in their content areas. Teacher concerns about vocabulary instruction were determined by a survey instrument administered to 390 middle school teachers to ascertain questions they have about teaching vocabulary. A content analysis of the three leading content area textbooks was then undertaken to determine to what degree the top five concerns of middle grades teachers were addressed in these texts. Though direct information on how to teach vocabulary was provided, the researchers found that twice as much information was presented indirectly, embedded under subheadings where it was mentioned. In other words, only half the time did the texts explain how to teach the principles advocated.

“Pick a Word—Not Just Any Word”: Using Vocabulary Self-Selection with Expository Texts

Students, for the past few days we have been brainstorming and discussing what we know about the Holocaust. Today we will start our readings for this study. From this point on, you will be the educational directors for the learning that goes on in this unit. Your first task as directors is to pick words for the passages you will read. But not just any words—you must decide what words or phrases are critical to understanding the passages. You will then use these words and phrases as guides for the learning tasks that will follow. This description does not represent a typical introduction to an academic learning unit for middle school learners. We are so accustomed to being in control of our students’ learning, and we usually decide what words and phrases need to be addressed to support content area reading comprehension and learning. Having students make these decisions may create some uneasiness and doubts in our minds about the quality of the learning that can result from such endeavors. Nonetheless, we do know that the more control students have over their own learning, the more likely they are to learn (Kohn, 1993). Student-centered tasks, such as having students select vocabulary to be learned, offer one way of “Pick a Word—Not Just Any ord”: Using Vocabulary Self-Selection with Expository Texts

Prominent Content Vocabulary Strategies and What Secondary Preservice Teachers Think About Them

This investigation focused on two research questions. The first question examined what specific instructional strategies for teaching vocabulary appear most frequently in current content area textbooks. The second question built on the first and used that information to develop a survey that was administered to secondary-level preservice teachers to examine their familiarity with the particular strategy, to rate the strategys usability within their content area, and to rate whether they would use the strategy in their future teaching. The top-five most prominent strategies found across the textbooks were morphemic analysis, contextual analysis, semantic feature analysis grid, semantic mapping, and vocabulary self-collection. The student survey revealed the most familiarity with contextual analysis and semantic mapping. These two strategies also were favored in the usability and the intention to use in future teaching promptings. Using a chi-square statistical procedure we found that seven statements were differentially affected by the reported content area of the teacher.

Recommendations from Research for Teaching Vocabulary to Diverse Learners

Any middle school teacher can attest to the research-based fact that vocabulary knowledge is closely linked to the difficul ties many students experience in handling the demands of their content area textbooks (Alvermann & Swafford, 1989; Armbruster & Nagy, 1992). We recently reviewed the research on vocabulary knowledge in the content areas and have provided a summary of the major find ings in the context of our recommendations for helping diverse learners, and students of all ability levels, develop a broader knowledge of vocabulary and concepts (Harmon, Hedrick & Wood, in press). Accompanying these recom mendations are some vocabulary strategies and sample lessons applied to various subject areas.