William McGinley

Traversing the Topical Landscape: Reading and Writing as Ways of Knowing.

In light of recent theoretical and empirical developments in the areas of reading, writing, and learning, this article proposes a view of literacy learning in which various forms of reading and writing are conceptualized as unique ways of thinking about and exploring a topic of study en route to acquiring knowledge. Throughout this article, we take the theoretical position that a topic of study is analogous to a conceptual “landscape” about which knowledge is best acquired by “traversing” it from a variety of perspectives. In this system, different forms of reading and writing represent the “traversal routes” through which an individual can explore a given content domain. Specifically, we wish to argue that more complex or diverse combinations of different forms of reading and writing provide a learner with the means to conduct a more critical inquiry of a topic by virtue of the multiple perspectives or ways of “seeing” and thinking that these reading and writing exchanges permit. Finally, in light of this theoretical orientation, we contend that the ability to direct dynamically ones own reading and writing engagements en route to learning is central to conducting an inquiry of this nature. This perspective suggests a reexamination of a line of research that has pursued the question of how writing in combination with reading influences thinking and learning.

Effects of Story Impressions as a Prereading/Writing Activity on Story Comprehension.

AbstractIn this investigation we examined the usefulness of story impressions as a new prereading/writing activity for improving story comprehension. Story impressions are story fragments that enable students to compose an anticipatory model of a yet-to-be-read passage, by giving them clues concerning how characters and events interact within the story. After reading the set of clues, we asked Grade 2 students to compose a story of their own (called a story guess) before reading the author’s actual tale. The results indicated that students in the story impressions group, whether above-or below-average readers, answered more of the postreading test questions correctly than did students who read only the story. In addition, the story impressions preview had an equal effect on both impressions-related and impressions-unrelated test items. The beneficial effects of the story impressions, therefore, were not limited to increased recall of clue-related information. Examination of the “match” (several measures) ...

Effects of Prereading Activities on Junior High Students' Recall.

Abstract This study examined the use of story impressions as a prereading writing activity for seventh and eighth-grade students. Subjects in the experimental group were given a set of story impressions (clue words and telegraphic phrases extracted from the authors story) before reading a story, and they were asked to write a story of their own (called a story guess) based on the provided set of clues. Students in a second treatment condition were given the same set of story impressions and asked to list their predictions about the story without composing a story of their own. A third group (the control group) read the story without any preview activity. The story impressions, when paired with composing a story guess, produced the highest level of story recall for both above and below-average readers. The pattern of results supported the composing aspect of the story impressions technique as important to its overall effectiveness.