Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

Literature Review- Creating Lifelong Readers Stacy Godin Small EDU 740 Supporting Students Literacy Development University of New England 9/19/2010

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

Abstract The majority of my students are in the Within Word Patterns Stage. These students are transitional readers who need a multitude of reading and writing experiences to help them become independent readers. They need to read at both their independent reading level and instructional reading levels. They also need to read both at school and at home to become better readers. However there is growing concern that with the pressures of high-stakes testing, independent reading activities that allow students to engage for lengths of time with books are becoming secondary to activities that align more directly with test expectations. There is also growing concern that children are not choosing to read on their own and many do not appear to be developing in intrinsic motivation to read. Intrinsic motivation to read or a love of reading is the key to reading success. Students intrinsically motivated to read maintain an interest in reading throughout their education and improve their reading abilities while students who do not read on their own may even lose some of the reading abilities they have gained through reading instruction. (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988) In this paper I will look at ways to develop a childs intrinsic motivation to read.

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

Students in the Within Word Pattern Stage are transitional readers. When reading these students are able to read silently and read with improving fluency. They are beginning to read with some expression as

well, with the focus being changing expression at the end of a sentence. Students in the Within Word Patterns Stage can read many books independently and without teacher support. This includes books of different genres as well as informational texts. Transitional readers are beginning to discuss what they read in greater depth with a teacher or in small groups with peers. As the authors in Words Their Way state Lots of experience in reading and writing is crucial during this stage. The authors go on to say that students must read for at least thirty minutes a day in both instructional and independent level reading materials and that this practice is critical to propel students into the next stage of literacy development. (Bear, Invernizi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008,

p. 174)
Well, as educators, we all know that in order to become better readers students need to read. In school, teachers provide meaningful and engaging reading opportunities, but reading in school is not enough. In fact

research has shown that if students spend just 15 minutes a day outside of school independently reading it can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year. (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988) Research also shows that Americans are spending less time reading at all age levels.
According to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll 1 in 4 adults read no books last year. That is 25% of the

American population-the parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles who are the literacy role models of our students. Faced with these statistics it is clear that for many students the motivation to read must come from within. This paper will explore how to increase intrinsic motivation in transitional readers. One of the first steps to increasing student motivation is to understand your students as readers. In the article What motivates students to read? Four literacy personalities, the author Jill E. Cole spends the year exploring the self-efficacy, attitude, and values of four distinct learners in her classroom. What she finds is that each child in her study was motivated to read by totally different factors and that each student had their own literacy personality. She goes on to say that to foster

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

student motivation in reading a teacher needs to get to know the literacy personalities of his or her students and create a classroom culture that encourages their strengths, respects their voices, and meets their needs. To do this she gave the following suggestions: y Provide a rich literature environment with an array of books that represent a variety of topics, genres, and levels. y Use a wide variety of reading experiences like independent reading, buddy reading, choral reading, teacher lead guided reading, read alouds, literature groups, etc. to foster engaged reading. y Provide many opportunities for students to express their thoughts, opinions, and ideas about literature and books. y y Share thematic units, genre and author studies to broaden students reading horizons. Arrange opportunities for students to engage in social interactions as many students need the support of peers and talk to learn and achieve. The next article I read Facilitating Engagement by Differentiating Independent Reading by Michelle Kelley and Nicki Clausen-Grace created a continuum of engagement that highlighted student habits and teaching suggestions to help motivate these readers. I found the profiles of the students presented to be very realistic and the teaching suggestions to be very useful. The profiles are as follows from the least engaged to the most engaged: DISENGAGED y Fake Readers- This groups universal characteristic is that they rarely ever read. They may avoid reading or pretend to read. They are apathetic toward reading, have rarely enjoyed a book, and believe they never will. Teaching implications for these readers are to provide a lot of support and to monitor these readers closely with teacher checkins and conferring. They need to know that you care about their development as readers and that you will not settle for anything less than reading engagement. To help these

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

readers develop their engagement you must get to know their interests both as people and as readers. They also need a structured reading block with accountability tasks like peer discussions, reading logs, etc. y Challenged Readers- The common trait for this group is that reading is hard for them and they read below grade level. These students may want to be engaged readers who have challenges that have gotten in their way like cognitive limitations, socioeconomic challenges, etc. They may also be students who have struggled with reading for so long that they have given up. When working with these students remember to provide a specific purpose for reading and also provide consistent feedback on their progress. Allow opportunities for peer discussion. These students need close monitoring and coaching on book choices. An interest inventory and knowledge of the students reading level will help a teacher select a text that a Challenged Reader will stick with and hopefully enjoy. y Unrealistic or Wannabe Readers- These readers can decode text but have comprehension issues because they continually choose inappropriate books. They often choose books that are too difficult for them and abandon them due to frustration. They are commonly known as book switchers. They review reading as finishing the book and they rarely enjoy the reading of a book probably due to the text being to challenging for them to truly engage. These students need instruction on how to choose a book and support to stick with a text to completion. Use the students interest inventory to find appropriate books at that students reading level. Highlight these books in class during book talks to entice these students to read them. During independent reading time monitor their progress with a text by taking a Status of the Class and or conferring with the reader.

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review y

Compliant Readers- The universal characteristic for these readers is that they read because they have to. They choose books randomly, rarely read for pleasure, do not read outside of class assignments, and do not like reading. Teachers working with these students need to find a book, genre, or topic to hook these readers. They need to be a part of a classroom that celebrates and values books through book talks and other social interactions with text. They have the skills to be engaged readers but need to find the desire.

ENGAGED READERS y Does Nonfiction Count? Readers- These readers, usually boys and gamers crave information and almost always read nonfiction books to get it. They have difficulty with narrative storylines and may not see themselves as readers because they only read nonfiction books. These students need to learn that nonfiction reading is reading and by having nonfiction texts in your library, highlighting nonfiction books in book talks, and reading nonfiction text as read alouds you can show these students that nonfiction reading is a valued and acceptable form of reading. Use biographies, the Magic School bus series, historical fiction, etc to help a nonfiction reader explore the fiction genre. y I Can, but I Dont Want to (Even Though I Enjoy It) Reader- These students are able to choose a book they enjoy, but like the Compliant Reader they usually only read when told even though they usually enjoy the book while they are reading. It takes them a long time to finish a book because when given the opportunity to do something else besides reading they take it. Once again just like the Compliant Reader they have the skills to read, but not the true zeal for reading. Teachers can keep track of these students by using a Status of the Class and probing reasons for any reading increases. Helping them find the right book is crucial to getting these students to read more and

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

increasing their engagement in reading. Finding a good series, the right author, or genre is key to drawing these readers in. y Stuck in a Genre (or Series) Readers- These students reading willingly in their chosen genre or series. They know what they like and do not like to deviate from the known. Because we as educators want to help broaden our students reading horizons, it is important to help them add to their reading choices. Uses peer discussion, status checkins, teacher conferences and book talks to help them find new books and authors. Encourage them to read their favorites at home and try new things here at school. Use their interest inventory and your knowledge of their reading habits to suggest something new. Be prepared with several choices if the first suggestion doesnt grab their attention. y Bookworms- These readers have an internal motivation to read. They are avid readers with developed reading tastes although they are willing to try new genres and authors. These students would read all day if you could let them. When working with these students be sure to provide many opportunities to pause and reflect on their reading and thinking. Once you understand your students as readers it is time to reflect on what motivates children to read independently. Williams, Hedrick and Tuchinski found that there are eight motivation principles that must be considered when attempting to motivate students to read. These are: choice and control, social interaction, novelty or newness of the experience, feedback/response, attainable success or how successful a child feels he or she will be at a given task, interest, real-world experiences/relevancy, and positive learning atmosphere. Out of these eight principles the authors focused on three as tools to motivate students to read independently. These three were Choice and Control, Social Interaction, and Interest.

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

They found that when students were given control over the books that they read and were shown how to select books that were appropriate for them reading engagement increased. Therefore independent reading time must be included in a classroom daily schedule because it allows for choice and control. Reading is a social activity and it is motivating for students to be given opportunities to discuss books, opinions, thoughts and ideas with others. Lastly, it is crucial for educators to build up an organized library of interesting, diversely leveled books that entice students to read. Teachers can also encourage the exploration of these books by giving tantalizing book talks and allowing students to select books that interest them from a book order to be added to the class library. To become better at something a person must practice. Transitional readers need time within and without of the classroom to read and engage with text. They need teachers who understand that each reader is unique and has his or her own literacy needs. They need teachers who understand where they are on the motivational continuum and how to encourage their strengths and cheer on their accomplishments as they journey along the continuum to become engaged readers. Lastly, they need teachers that understand the ultimate goal should be developing intrinsically motivated, lifelong readers. Developing students motivation to read for pleasure not only helps to ensure that students improve their reading abilities, but according to the Department of education frequency of reading for pleasure correlates strongly with better test scores in reading and writing. Frequent readers are thus more likely than infrequent or non-readers to demonstrate academic achievement in those subjects.

Running head: Supporting Students Literacy Development-Literature Review

References Bear, Donald R., Invernizi, Marcia, Templeton, Shane, Johnston, Francine (4th edition)(2008). Words Their Way Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Cole. (December 2002/January 2003). What motivates students to read? Four literacy personalities. The Reading Teacher. Iyengar, S., Bauerlein, M., Sullivan, S., Nichols, B., & Bradshaw, T. (2007). To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence. Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts. Kelly, M., & Clausen-Grace. (December 2009/January 2010). Facilitating Engagement by Differentiating Independent Reading. The Reading Teacher. Williams, H., & Tuschinski. (2008, Spring). Motivation: Going Beyond Testing to a Lifetime of Reading. Childhood Education.