What Classroom Observations Reveal About Reading Comprehension Instruction

Abstract

A considerable, though not entirely adequate body of facts has been assembled about decoding but much less is known about the process of understanding written text. Researchers and practitioners, accordingly, have strongly urged the NIE to focus its attention and that of the field upon the problems of reading comprehension.(p.2)The RFP outlined application responsibilities this way:Application -The Center will identify and implement means by which knowledge gained from research relevant to reading can be utilized in developing and improving practices for informal and formal reading instruction. The Center will also be involved in identifying means by which basic research on reading and linguistic communication can be made more relevant to practical problems in improving the level of reading comprehension. (p. 5) Apparent in the RFP were three assumptions that are especially pertinent for teacher education:1. Reading comprehension can be taught.2. Reading comprehension is being taught.3. What is done to teach it is not as effective as comprehension instruction needs to be if reading problems are to be reduced.As a veteran observer of elementary school classrooms, I was especially struck by the second assumption because frequent visits to schools have revealed almost no comprehension instruction. However, two facts could account for this. First, comprehension instruction never was the preselected focus for an observation and, second, the bulk of the observing was in primary grades.In one four-year study in which grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 were observed, comparisons of the last two grades with the first two prompted such conclusions as these:Classroom observations during the third grade year revealed a few other changes--none of a kind that would foster greater progress in reading. To cite an example, the amount of time given to reading instruction appeared to decrease, whereas the amount of time spent on written assignments increased. This was especially true for the best readers, who were now being given lengthy assignments. (Durkin, 1974-75, pp. 34-35) In summary, it could be said that the fourth-grade reading program continued to have basal readers, workbooks, and worksheets as its core. In addition, instruction continued to be deemphasized in the sense that less time was spent on teacherdirected lessons, whereas written assignments continued to grow longer and to become more numerous. (Durkin, 1974-75, p. 42) When the NIE contract for the Center for the Study of Reading was awarded to the University of Illinois, I decided to see what conclusions would be reached if middle-and upper-grade classrooms were observed for the purpose of finding, describing, and timing comprehension instruction.Such a study seemed central to the mission of the Center since it is impossible to improve instruction until what goes on now, and with what frequency, is known. Pilot StudyWhat was uncovered in earlier classroom observations suggested categories for describing what teachers might do in the time scheduled for reading inst...

A solution to Plato's problem: The latent semantic analysis theory of acquisition, induction, and representation of knowledge.

“…Most schools devote very little time to it, and it produces meager results. Authorities guess that at best 100 words a year could come from this source (Durkin, 1979).…”

“…Second, the LSA analysis treats text segments as mere ' 'bags of words,'' ignoring all information present in the order of the words, thus making no use of syntax or of the logical, grammatical, discursive, or siluational relations it caries. Experts on reading instruction (e.g., Drum & Konopak, 1987;Durkin, 1979) mental abilities (e.g., Sternberg, 1987) and psycholinguistics (e.g., Kintsch & Vipond, 1979;Miller, 1978) have stressed the obvious importance of these factors to the reader's ability to infer word meanings from text. Indeed, Durkin (1983, p. 139) asserts that scrambled sentences would be worthless context for vocabulary instruction (which may well have some validity for human students who have learned some grammar, but clearly is not for LSA).…”

Memory Development Between 2 and 20

“…In fact, that is the case. There is little evidence of classroom teaching of reading strategies (e.g., Durkin, 1979), writing strategies (e.g., Applebee, 1984Applebee, , 1986, mathematical strategies (e.g., Thompson, 1985), and particularly relevant here, memory strategies .…”

“…A nurober of special issues of professional journals have been published (e.g., April1986 Educational Leadership), detailing how strategy instruction can be implemented in classrooms. Also, given the dependency of teachers on teacher's guides that accompany textbooks (e.g., Clark & Elmore, 1979;Durkin, 1979), there are opportunities to modify teacher's behaviors on a !arge scale by modifying the content of these guides. In short, there is plenty of reason to believe that even if teachers do not understand information-processing now, they are more likely to understand it in the future with substantial support from professional sources for implementing cognitive strategy instruction including the teaching of strategies aimed at improving memory.…”

Understanding Classroom Events: A Critique of Durkin, with an Alternative

“…Instead we shall address attention to an important study of recent years which used an Interaction Analysis type of observation system. That study, by Dolores Durkin (1979), was titled "What classroom observations reveal about reading comprehension instruction." The finding of a ratio of 25 to 1 of time spent on comprehension assessment to time spent on comprehension instruction has important curriculum and policy implications.…”