What reading strategies make sense to content area teachers?

Reading World ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas P. Criscuolo ◽  
Richard T. Vacca ◽  
Joseph J. LaVorgna
2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionisio M. Uychoco

The study described the academic reading proficiency level of incoming college freshmen which served as an input to the design of learning modules. It used a validated 50-item researchermade test and two sets of questionnaires to determine the adequacy of learning activities and the extent of utilization of academic reading strategies by content area teachers. The research found the studentrespondents unprepared for college work given the moderate academic reading proficiency index. Concerned language and content area teachers failed to provide enough learning activities and sufficient opportunity and training in the use of academic reading strategies that will enhance students’ level of proficiency in content area reading. It is recommended that topics designed to develop academic reading skills of senior high school students be included in the course content in secondary schools; that English teachers provide more learning activities and experiences expected in content area reading; and that content area teachers become active reading teachers by facilitating comprehension through the use of time-tested academic reading strategies. Keywords - academic reading strategies, proficiency test, content area reading, instructional materials


2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Pappamihiel

In the United States and Canada, as in many other countries, it has become common for teachers not specifically trained in English as a second language (ESL) to have immigrant and minority language students in their classrooms. These students, who are generally learning English along with the culture of their new countries, present many challenges for their teachers, who are often not appropriately trained to meet their needs. Often teachers of mathematics, science, and other content-area courses feel less than prepared for these students and lack the skills needed to accommodate instruction to their unique needs. In addition, these same teachers often harbor attitudes and beliefs about immigrant students that are not conducive to the development of a safe learning environment and are difficult to alter. This article describes how a community-based service-learning project (CBSL) was used to begin to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of preservice content-area teachers toward English language learners (ELLs). In this study many participants exhibited some level of change in their attitudes about working with ELLs.


2008 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY SHANAHAN ◽  
CYNTHIA SHANAHAN

In this article, Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan argue that "disciplinary literacy" — advanced literacy instruction embedded within content-area classes such as math, science, and social studies — should be a focus of middle and secondary school settings. Moving beyond the oft-cited "every teacher a teacher of reading" philosophy that has historically frustrated secondary content-area teachers, the Shanahans present data collected during the first two years of a study on disciplinary literacy that reveal how content experts and secondary content teachers read disciplinary texts, make use of comprehension strategies, and subsequently teach those strategies to adolescent readers. Preliminary findings suggest that experts from math, chemistry, and history read their respective texts quite differently; consequently, both the content-area experts and secondary teachers in this study recommend different comprehension strategies for work with adolescents. This study not only has implications for which comprehension strategies might best fit particular disciplinary reading tasks, but also suggests how students may be best prepared for the reading, writing, and thinking required by advanced disciplinary coursework.


Author(s):  
Fernando Naiditch ◽  
Larry Selinker

Abstract This paper reports work-to-date on a particular practical context, applying one approach to interlanguage, the discourse domains approach, merged with the rhetorical-grammatical approach, involving both language and content. The context is an MA course for teacher residents placed in urban schools, and their English language learners (ELLs) in math and science classes, providing content area teachers the linguistic support they need to teach the language of their content, and thus the content itself. We were interested in how exactly learners’ interlanguage creation interacts with their understanding of scientific concepts. We primarily look at the rhetorical function “definition,” with discourse level semantic choices, and attendant grammar, with ELL data gathered by the teacher residents. Correct definitions in expected grammatical form point to an understanding of the scientific concept within the discourse domain, providing evidence that the science or mathematics content has been understood by the student. In our data analysis, we concentrated on the semantics and grammar of this rhetorical function, but other functions kept intruding, especially “classification”. Cross-language transfer appears not to be a factor, but cross-domain transfer is. Finally, we discuss how the marriage of this view of interlanguage with safe rule rhetorical/grammatical functions can better support teacher preparation, especially given how challenging teaching ELLs is for content area teachers.


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