How to Help Kids Read Hard Texts: Evidence for Motivational Scaffolding

• In Event: Innovative Approaches to Supporting Literacy Across Contexts: Reconfiguring Relationships Among Readers, Writers, Teachers, and Texts

Abstract

Rationale/Objective
Though English teachers have always taught challenging text, little research has investigated moment-to-moment scaffolding during such instruction. This is especially relevant with the advent of the Common Core, which explicitly calls for “scaffolding as needed” for increasingly complex texts (Appendix A, NGABP, 2010). However, some researchers caution that increasing text complexity may decrease motivation and engagement in young readers, especially those already struggling (Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013; Sanden, 2014). This study investigates the following question: During reading instruction of complex frustration-level texts, what kinds of moment-to-moment scaffolding best support student comprehension?

Theoretical Framework
Vygotsky (1978) wrote that “All the higher [psychological] functions [i.e. reading comprehension] originate as actual relations between human individuals” (p. 57). This study uses his approach and the idea of the zone of proximal development to examine how the more-experienced tutors used responsive moment-to-moment scaffolding (Clark & Graves, 2005; Pressley, 2006) to meet the needs of their less-experienced students, many of whom were struggling readers and would find complex texts challenging.

Research (i.e. National Reading Panel, 2000) has established the importance of vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Additional research suggests that effective reading instruction also attends to motivational and social support (i.e. McRae & Guthrie, 2009). Thus, these five categories for scaffolds were chosen to investigate their efficacy in predicting comprehension growth.

Data and Method
Thirteen tutors taught a four-lesson, two-hour, guided-reading curriculum of informational texts to 54 small groups of middle schoolers (N=215, average group size 3.7). Tutors used the same texts and scripted lesson plans and had been trained to implement the curriculum with fidelity.

To support students during reading, a list of scaffolds was developed. These were categorized as vocabulary (i.e. helping students understand individual words), fluency (i.e. helping students’ oral reading), comprehension (i.e. practicing comprehension strategies), motivational (i.e. creating mini-competitions and games while reading), or social (i.e. encouraging students to help each other read) scaffolds. Tutors were trained to reliably identify the scaffolds used in their own instruction. After teaching, tutors recorded their scaffolds on a common document. Observation of 30% of the sessions by another tutor independently coding scaffold occurrence confirmed that tutors’ self-reports were trustworthy (80-90% agreement, Cohen’s κ>0.6 for each scaffold category).
Due to data nesting, HLM modeling was used to investigate which scaffolds predicted growth on the standardized Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and Comprehension (TOSREC).

Results/Significance
Results show that of the five groups of scaffolds, only motivational scaffolding was a significant predictor (p<0.01) of improvement. Each additional motivation scaffold a student received predicted a 0.76 increase in the standard TOSREC score (μ=88.5). In a challenging textual environment, it appears that that explicit attention to motivation was more supportive than cognitive reading strategies or peer supports. Within a sound reading curriculum, this evidence suggests that students do not need additional cognitive scaffolds, but do need motivational support. These results underscore the importance of attending to motivation when students read complex texts.

Authors

• Dan Reynolds, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Amanda P. Goodwin, Vanderbilt University