What textbooks offer and what teachers teach: an analysis of the Dutch reading comprehension curriculum

In the Netherlands, the quality of the reading curriculum is currently under debate because of disappointing results on national and international assessments of students’ reading skills and motivation. In a mixed-method study, we analyzed the content of Dutch textbooks for reading comprehension instruction (i.e., the implemented curriculum) and teachers’ evaluation and use of these books (i.e., the enacted curriculum). A materials analysis of reading comprehension lessons (N = 80) in eight textbooks for grades 4 and 5 was complemented with semi-structured teacher interviews (N = 29) and lesson observations (N = 11), with a focus on the quality of reading strategy and text structure instruction in the curriculum. Main findings are (1) a lack of alignment between lesson goals, theory, and assignments, (2) a strong focus on practicing strategies, (3) limited declarative knowledge about strategies and text structure, (4) little opportunities for self-regulated strategy application. The teachers that were interviewed mention similar problems, but still hardly deviate from the textbook’s content and pedagogical guidelines. We make recommendations to improve the quality of the curriculum.

Coupling text structure and self-regulated strategy instruction for ESL primary school students’ writing outcomes

Enlightened by the implied potential of coupling text structure knowledge and self-regulated strategies to enhance writing, this study explored the possible effects of a onemonth multicomponent intervention combining text structure with self-regulation training on writing. Target participants consisted of 178 primary school sixth-grade students learning English as a second language (ESL). Among them, 45 students received text structure instruction plus self-regulation strategy development (TSI+SRSD), 45 received text structure instruction only (TSI), 45 received SRSD only, and 43 were in a control group. Dependent variables were learners’ abilities to summarize main ideas and write essays. As expected, TSI instruction or SRSD instruction resulted in better writing outcomes (i.e., summarizing main ideas and writing essays). This study contributes to research on self-regulated writing development by providing evidence that the TSI+SRSD intervention was particularly effective in enhancing primary school ESL students’ abilities to summarize main ideas and write essays. This instructional approach seems promising in ameliorating ESL young learners’ writing ability and minimizing struggling writers’ compositional difficulties. Relevant implications for language education are also discussed.

Newspaper Reading Comprehension Development through Vocabulary or Structure Instruction

The purpose of this study is investigating the effect of specific vocabularies and structures instruction on the upper intermediate EFL learners’ newspaper reading comprehension development. For this purpose, fifty four female upper intermediate EFL learners were selected and randomly assigned in three groups each consisting of eighteen learners, two experimental and one control. At the first session,a researcher-made newspaper reading comprehension test was applied as the pretest. The learners of one experimental group received instruction of newspaper structures and the other one received related vocabularies instruction and the control one received just translation of newspaper content by the teacher. In the last session, another researcher-made comprehension test was administered for three groups as the post test. The findings indicate thatstructure instruction is significantly the most beneficial one and the mere translation of newspaper content is the least beneficial in developing learner's newspaper reading comprehension.The results of interviews confirmed the study findings as well.

Explicit Text Structure Instruction Supports Expository Text Comprehension for Adolescents With Learning Disabilities: A Systematic Review

This systematic review article summarizes the effects of explicit text structure instruction on expository text comprehension for adolescents with learning disabilities or at risk for reading failure. A thorough literature search with four databases and backward citation search identified nine studies published in the past 22 years for inclusion in the review. The findings revealed medium to large effect sizes on expository reading comprehension outcome measures, providing moderately strong evidence in support of text structure intervention for adolescents with a diagnosis or risk of reading disabilities. Text structure instruction was more effective than standard instruction or business as usual conditions on students’ comprehension of a variety of expository text types and content area texts. Directions for further research, limitations, and educational implications are discussed.

Digital Literacies and Text Structure Instruction

In considering the intersection of digital texts and reading comprehension, teachers now need strategies and instructional tools that promote deep, critical thinking of multimedia text. One area of literacy instruction that can increase students' reading comprehension of multimedia texts comes with understanding, analyzing, and evaluating text structures. As a first step to understanding what research says about integrating text structures with digital literacies, the researchers conducted a systematic literature review of articles published between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2017. While new literacies, visual literacies, and other digital media show increased prominence in education, the researchers identified only eight studies focusing on how text structures are unique to digital content. In the present chapter, the researchers analyze benefits and new language demands presented by these studies. Additionally, the researchers discuss implications for teacher practice and pedagogy when intersecting text structure instruction with digital literacies.