Teaching Figurative Language

Annotated Research

Question: What effect did instruction in figurative language have on comprehension of figurative language?

Answer: “Found that special instruction in figurative language and participation in creative verbal games were associated with improved figurative language comprehension.” A Octony, et al. 1985. P. 417.

Comment: If you teach it, they might learn it. RayS.

 Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English, (December 1985), 405-424.

Note: Taking a week or so off. Will rejoin you on Monday, January 2, 2012 for more research reviews that have something to say about teaching English. RayS.

Retelling and Comprehension

Annotated Research

Question: What effect did practice in retelling have on recall and comprehension?

Answer: “Found significant differences on measures of comprehension and recall among 8^th-graders who had received practice in retelling.” L Gambrell, et al. 19985. Pp. 416-417.

Comment: An interesting finding. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English, (December 1985), 405-424.

Discourse Types

Annotated Research

Question: What are five discourse types in writing?

Answer: Description, narration, exposition, persuasion, and poetry. J Harned. 1985. 415.

Comment: In my experience, narration is found in both exposition and persuasion, and I applied instruction in narrative to exposition and persuasion accordingly. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English, (December 1985), 405-424.

Audience

Annotated Research

Question: What are the effects of knowledge of audience on writing?

Answer: “When more information about audience was given,  proficient writers took advantage of it.” BA Rafoth. 1984. 413.

Comment: More evidence that knowledge and use of audience improves writing effectiveness. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English, (December 1985), 405-424.

Prior Knowledge and Writing

Annotated Research

Question: What are the effects of extensive prior knowledge of the topic on students’ writing?

Answer: “High school juniors who wrote with a high level of prior knowledge wrote more, wrote better and were more involved in their writing.” JA Chesky. 1984. 412.

Comment: The more you know about a topic, the better you write and read on a topic. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English, (December 1985), 405-424.

Pre-writing

Annotated Research

Question: What are the effects of pre-writing activities on students who are preparing to write?

Answer: “Concludes that pre-writing discussion can be a useful activity for stimulating invention and relieving anxiety in 12^th-graders as they prepare to write.” FJ Barry. 1984. 408.

Comment: Another study revealing the value of pre-writing activities in preparing student to write. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English, (December 1985), 405-424.

Elementary School Writing

Annotated Research

 Question: What types of writing occur in elementary school classrooms?

 Answer: “Found that writing in elementary classrooms concentrates on imaginative writing and responses to literature with relatively little exposition.” P. Perrin. 19984. 407.

Comment; The same was true of reading at that time, i.e., mostly narratives with little reading of expository materials. Has the situation changed (2011)? RayS. 

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English, (December 1985), 405-424.

Interpretation of Literary Characters

Research

Question: How does the complexity of the reader affect interpreting literary characters?

Answer/Quote: “In the past, studies of complex perceivers have shown that they are more able than noncomplex perceivers to take social perspectives, to empathize, to account for multiple dimensions of people, to avoid stereotyping ,simplifying, or projecting their own idiosyncrasies into their perceptions of others. For years, it has been suggested that literature is the great educator, capable of expanding horizons and transporting readers to strange and distant places. The reading of literature, then, demands a flexibility, an openness, and a willingness to perceive strange people and novel events in all their multiplicity and dimensionality.” P. 390.

Comment: I’m not sure what this finding means. It can mean that teachers urge students to deal with complex characters in literature in an open-minded way. And that could lead to dealing with people in an open-minded way. That might be a stretch. RayS.

Title: “Interpersonal Cognitive Complexity and the Literary Response Processes of Adolescent Readers.” SD Hynds. Research in the Teaching of English (December 19985), 386-402,

Writing Groups

Research

Question: What can we learn from studying writing groups?

Answer: Writing groups consist of students reading their writing to the members of the group who respond to the writing. One conclusion drawn by the authors of this study is that students in writing groups reveal a great deal about their own writing processes.

Comment: It would seem that using writing groups to respond to students’ writing results in their becoming conscious of themselves as writers, and more conscious of their writing processes. I think that is a valuable insight. RayS.

Title: “Talking about Writing: The Language of Writing Groups.” AR Gere and RD Abbott. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1985), 362-385.

Learning Defined

Question: What is the meaning of the following sentence?

Answer/Quote: Judith A. Langer, co-editor of Research in the Teaching of English, often “muses” in putting together the quarterly publication. Her musings are often quite thought-provoking. In this particular “musing,” she suggests a definition for language learning. What does it mean?

“Thus I am led to a sociocognitive view of language learning that asserts that all learning is socially based, that teaching is ultimately an interactive process, that cognitive behaviors are influenced by context, and that such behaviors, in turn, affect the meanings that learners produce.” P. 327.

Comment: Ideas to think about. RayS.

Title: “Musings…A Sociocognitive View of Language Learning.” Judith A. Langer, Co-editor of Research in the Teaching of English (December 1985), 325-327.

Reading and Science

Research

Question: What types of science lend itself to reading?

Answer: While reading and science have been replaced by hands-on science for many years, a new approach to reading and science is suggesting refutation texts to change one’s preconceived notions about the natural world. “As evidenced by the recent publication of the first International Handbook of Conceptual Change (Vosniadou, 2008), it has been well established that learning in science is a matter of changing one’s preconceived notions about the natural world.” P. 374. The world might look flat, but it isn’t. Here’s why.

Comment: This approach to reading science is win-win-win for science and literacy and critical thinking. I don’t know much about this approach to science, but it sounds fascinating. I’ll keep my eyes open for more information on this intriguing approach to reading science. RayS.

Title: “Bridging Reading Comprehension and Conceptual Change in Science Education: the Promise of Refutation Text.” GM Sinatra and SM Broughton. Reading Research Quarterly (October/ November/ December 2011), 374-393.

Vocabulary and Morphology [Word Roots]

Research

Question: Can students identify meanings of unfamiliar words because of their roots?

Answer: 88 fifth-grade students and 74 eight-grade students. Suggests that student can use morphological analysis to infer word meanings. Sample item: The verbose teacher made us late for recess: a. disorganized b. talkative* c. stern. *= correct choice.

Comment: IF the students pause long enough to analyze the unfamiliar word, they can apparently use the word root to infer the meaning of the word when three possible meanings are given. I’m not sure how helpful this finding is. A test in which the sentences are presented in isolation and not in a running text is not the same thing as reading normal pages in which students might pass over the unfamiliar word. Still, if students are taught to try to unlock the unfamiliar word when reading, they might do so. That’s what this finding would mean to me: teach the students to analyze an unfamiliar word, looking for a clue in the word’s root. RayS.

Title: “Inside Incidental Word Learning: Children’s Strategic Use of Morphological Information to Infer Word Meanings.” D McCutchen and B Logan. Reading Research Quarterly (October/ November/ December, 2011), pp. 334-349.

Obstacles to Integration of Technology

Research

Question: What are perceived obstacles to teachers’ integrating technologies into the curriculum?

Answer:

> Lack of time within a class period (Bauer & Kenton, 2005).

> Lack of access to technology (Bauer & Kenton, 2005; Honan, 2008; Stolle, 2008; Zhao et al., 2002).

> Lack of technical support (Bauer & Kenton, 2005; Ertmer et al, 1999); Stolle, 2008; Zhao et al, 2002).

> Lack of time to plan for integrating ICTs into instruction (Ertner et al., 1999).

> Lack of time to teach basic computing skills (Bauer & Kenton, 2005); Warschauer et al., 2004).

 > Lack of incentives to integrate technology (Zhao et al., 2002).

Two other problems in integrating technology into the classroom: professional development on how to integrate technology and lack of time to integrate ICTs because of high stakes testing.

Comment: The latter two problems are especially important. RayS.

Title: “Teachers’ Perceptions of Integrating Information and Communication Technologies [ICTs], into Literacy Instruction: A National Survey in the United States;.” A Hutchison and D Reinking. Reading Research Quarterly (October/November/December 2011), 312-33.

Technology and the Classroom

Research

Question: How well are teachers integrating technology into the classroom?

Answer: A national survey. Introducing a new abbreviation to the jargon of edu-speak: ICTs or “information communication technologies. “Results reveal relatively low levels of curricular integration, consistent perceptions about obstacles to integration and technological rather than curricular definitions of ICTs and of integration.” P. 312. [Comment: I take it that the latter means a focus on technology rather than integration of the technologies in the classroom. RayS.]

Note: “The International Reading Association (IRA) has adopted a position statement on the matter that takes the following stance: To become fully literate in today’s world students must become proficient in the new literacies of 21^st century technologies. As a result, literacy educators have a responsibility to effectively integrate these new technologies into the curriculum, preparing students for the literacy future they deserve (IFA, 2009, n.p.).”

Comment: This study suggests that there is relatively little integration of technologies into the curriculum. RayS.

Title: “Teachers’ Perceptions of Integrating Information and Communication Technologies [ICTs], into Literacy Instruction: A National Survey in the United States;.” A Hutchison and D Reinking. Reading Research Quarterly (October/November/December 2011), 312-33.

Reading Aloud and Third-Graders' Writing

Research

Question: What do third-graders learn about writing from teachers’ read-alouds of children’s literature?

Answer: The authors become “mentors” for the children. They  absorb the structure of the book and the learning is enhanced by judicious questioning by the teacher.

Comment: My wife, a first-grade teacher, used to provide paperback books for the children to write in by folding several pages length-wise and stapling them. The children, writing the books, used their own experiences, wrote text on one-half of each page and drew pictures on the other half. They wrote in pencil and my wife took the time with each finished book to have them correct the spelling. The results were amazing. The children wrote and published their own books, “mentored” by the authors of children’s books she had read to them. She encouraged this writing in the 1980s. RayS.

 Title: “The Social Construction of Intertextuality and Literary Understanding: The Impact of Interactive Read-alouds on the Writing of Third-Graders During Writing Workshop.” J Manak. Reading Research Quarterly (October/November/December 2011), pp. 309-311.

Author Visits to Schools

Annotated Research

Question: What are the effects of children’s authors’ visits to schools?

Answer: “Visits stimulate interest in creative writing as well as in reading.” GI Staas. 1987. P. 226.

Comment: FYI. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” JD Marshall and RK Durst. Research in the Teaching of English (May 1988), 213-227.

Literature As Active Reading

Annotated Research

Question: How is literature in British elementary schools responded to?

Answer: “In British elementary schools, reading literature is often presented as undemanding or relaxing rather than as an activity that may offer an opportunity for active teaching and learning.” R Poole. 1987. P. 226.

Comment: Is the attitude much different in American elementary schools where children’s literature is viewed as an opportunity for enjoyment and fun? RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” JD Marshall and RK Durst. Research in the Teaching of English (May 1988), 213-227.