Properties of attention during reading lessons.

Abstract

A study investigated the attention of 116 children in six second-and third-grade classrooms while they participated in four lessons involving progressively more difficult stories. Analysis of videotapes of the lessons revealed that the likelihood of a lapse of attention was highest during the first 15 seconds of attention episodes. Lapses in attention were more likely among second graders than among third graders, among boys than among girls, in low groups than in middle groups, and in middle groups than in high groups. The more difficult the story, the more likely were lapses in attention, especially among younger and less able students. Reading-group membership was more strongly related to attention than were reliable measures of children's individual comprehension and fluency. A leading hypothesis to explain this finding is that reading groups have subcultures that differentially support paying attention. The most newsworthy finding of the study was the sharp drop in attention following oral reading errors. This drop was observed in all reading groups in both second and third grades. Imai, Anderson, Wilkinson, & Yi PROPERTIES OF ATTENTION DURING READING LESSONSOur premise is that attention in classrooms is inherently a dynamic process that unfolds over time. No doubt the attention being displayed at any moment is the result of many forces--the traits of students and teachers, classroom organization, routines that govern conduct and work. However, beyond factors that for any limited episode can be considered to be fixed, our working hypothesis of this paper is that attention changes moment by moment in response to classroom events. This is the sense in which we say that attention is dynamic.Attention is a construct with a checkered history in psychology. The term was not even admissible during the behaviorist era. Over the past two decades, however, the term attention has been readmitted to the psychologist's lexicon. The major accomplishment during this period has been the refinement of the concept of automaticity, the theory that frequently repeated mental processes require little attention (cf. Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977). Research in this area is fascinating, but as far as we can see, it is largely irrelevant to attention in classrooms. Classroom research is better served by concepts about attention with origins in another era. According to William James (1890, p. 453), attention is "taking possession by the mind, in most clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought." In other words, James emphasized that attention is selective, and this is the feature we shall emphasize as well. We shall attempt to build a partial model of the network of factors that determine students' selective attention.

Situated Actions During Reading Lessons: A Microanalysis of Oral Reading Error Episodes

“…That group level was not a factor is a startling result in the light of the powerful influence of group that has appeared in a whole series of studies dating back to Weinstein (1976;see also, e.g., Anderson et al, 1991). Indeed, in the companion study involving the same lessons as the present study, Imai et al (1992) found that group level had a very strong influence on the likelihood that children would become inattentive. Evidently, decisions about feedback are primarily an individual matter whereas attention is sensitive to aspects of group culture.…”

“…Imai et al (1992) have shown, analyzing data from the same 72 lessons analyzed in this study, that the low groups were more inattentive than high groups and that an increase in story difficulty caused a decline in students' attentiveness. 1 The strongest finding from the Imai et al study was the precipitous decline in attention immediately following reading errors.…”

“…Our purpose is to identify the factors that converge moment by moment to influence what happens at each step of the oral reading error episode. The study is one in a series of microanalyses investigating a number of aspects of smallgroup reading lessons (Anderson, Mason, & Shirey, 1984;Anderson, Wilkinson, & Mason, 1991;Imai, Anderson, Wilkinson, & Yi, 1992).…”

Situated Actions during Reading Lessons: A Microanalysis of Oral Reading Error Episodes

“…Thus, altogether there were 72 lessons examined in the study (6 classrooms x 3 reading groups x 4 stories). Imai et al (1992) have analyzed the dynamics of attention during the same 72 lessons.…”

“…The details of the process of estimating the factor scores can be found in Imai et al (1992). The comprehension factor was allowed to load on the MAT, IGAP, and teacher rating measure, as well as on the measure of passage reading time.…”