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S This descriptive study examined the manner in which more and less proficient peer discussion groups managed topics and group process across time. This exploration permitted an ontogenetic and microgenetic perspective on student and teacher development over a four month period. Videotapes and transcripts from the beginning, middle, and end of the investigation were selected for analysis. Analysis proceeded at two levels: macroanalytic and microanalytic. The goal of the macroanalysis was to identify levels of proficiency among six peer discussion groups. After identifying the group that was most proficient and that which was least proficient, microanalyses were conducted to determine how each group managed topics and group interaction. The microanalyses consisted of taxonomic analysis and contextual analysis of discourse and patterns of interaction. Results indicated that coherence is a key to conversational competence. Proficient peer discussion groups were able to sustain topics of conversation by revisiting old topics, making linkages between topics, and embedding topics within one another. These factors increase and develop gradually over time. Less proficient groups had substantially fewer linkages and embedded topics primarily because teachers and students initiated large amounts of metatalk. These findings suggest that large amounts of metatalk and teacher intrusion cause disjuncture to peer discussion and impair the group's ability to maintain topics. Este estudio descriptivo examinó la manera en la que se manejaron los tópicos y el proceso grupal en el tiempo en discusiones más y menos expertas entre grupos de pares. La exploración permitió obtener una perspectiva ontogenética y microgenética del desarrollo de los estudiantes y los docentes en un período de cuatro meses. Para el análisis se seleccionaron cintas de video y transcripciones del comienzo, el medio y el final de la investigación. El análisis procedió en dos niveles: macroanalítico y microanalítico. El propósito del macroanálisis fue identificar niveles de habilidad en seis grupos de discusión entre pares. Una vez que se identificaron el grupo más experto y el menos experto, se llevaron a cabo microanálisis para determinar cómo manejaba cada grupo los tópicos y la interacción. Los microanálisis consistieron en análisis taxonómicos y análisis contextuales del discurso y los patrones de interacción. Los resultados indicaron que la coherencia es una clave de la competencia conversacional. Los grupos de discusión expertos fueron capaces de mantener los tópicos de la conversación, revisando tópicos viejos, estableciendo vínculos entre tópicos e incluyendo unos tópicos en otros. Estos factores aumentan y se desarrollan gradualmente en el tiempo. Los grupos menos expertos contaron con una cantidad sustancialmente menor de tópicos vinculados entre sí e incluídos unos dentro de otros porque los docentes y estudiantes iniciaban gran cantidad de metaconversaciones. Estos hallazgos sugieren que gran cantidad de metaconversación e intervención del ...

The goal of this investigation was to gain an understanding of engagement as fourth graders and their teachers attempted to construct meaningful interpretations during classroom discussions of literature. Data from videotaped discussion, field notes, and interviews with students and teachers were analyzed inductively. Engagement occurred when students and teachers used interpretive tools to select, connect, and organize information in the text to construct meaningful interpretations. The context of the literary act and the culture of the classroom influenced engaged reading. There were cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational components to the engagement observed.

This study examines the impact of the Learning Strategies Curriculum (LSC), an adolescent reading intervention program, on 6th-and 9th-grade students' reading comprehension and strategy use. Using a randomized treatment-control group design, the study compared student outcomes for these constructs for 365 students who received daily instruction in 6 LSC strategies and 290 students who did not receive intervention instruction. After 1 school year, 6th-grade students who received intervention instruction significantly outperformed students in the control group on a standardized measure of reading comprehension and reported using problem-solving strategies in reading to a greater extent than students in the control group. There were no significant differences between 9th grade intervention and control groups in reading comprehension or strategy use.