Domain Explorations of the Model of Domain Learning: Reading

• In Event: The Model of Domain Learning: Understanding the Development of Expertise

Abstract

Objectives

Our poster addresses the complex, dual position of reading as an academic domain within the larger developmental story traced by the Model of Domain Learning (MDL). Reading is central to learning in academic domains, but reading is also an academic domain in its own right, with its own bodies of domain and topic knowledge, its own form of individual interest, and its own trajectory of development over the lifespan. However, taking reading as an academic domain is not a straightforward matter, and its developmental path has discontinuities, as well as multiple branches. Our aim is to spell out this complex story of reading development within the MDL, bringing together both theory and empirical data.

Theoretical Issues

According to the MDL, development as a learner in the domain of reading, as in other academic domains, is a long-term process that unfolds in particular stages (acclimation, competence, and proficiency) in which interest, knowledge, and strategy use play interacting, evolving roles (Alexander, 2005). However, reading is not like other academic domains. For one thing, students do not receive dedicated instruction in reading after elementary school; study of reading only re-emerges as a possible academic field in college or graduate school. For another thing, the necessary knowledge and interest that readers develop appear to be both reading-specific and also to be related to the topics of the texts being read. Furthermore, although reading competence involves cross-situational success in reading—being able to read well even when texts are unfamiliar or uninteresting, it also (according to the MDL) means the development of targeted, domain-specific knowledge about and interest in reading.

Empirical Data Sources

Nine studies are overviewed. All were MDL-based (measuring knowledge, interest, and strategic processing in some forms, and explicitly presenting the MDL as the theoretical framework for the study), and looked primarily at development as a reader or status as a reader, rather than development as a learner or status as a learner in another academic domain.

Results, Scholarly Significance, Future Directions

One conclusion from this body of work is that readers bring with them a tendency to approach text in a certain way. Their success depends upon the interaction of this initial tendency and the specifics of the reading situation. Another is that support for applying the MDL to reading as an academic domain is mixed; sifting out the contributions of knowledge and interest in reading and in the topic of the text is particularly challenging. Other methodological issues include the scarcity of published studies, and measurement challenges related to capturing readers’ relevant knowledge, interest, and reading outcomes. The use of think-alouds to track strategic processing and the importance of observing the reader's cross-situational behaviors are also highlighted. Directions for future research include more consideration of reader beliefs, more attention to systematic reader profiling, and investigation of the unique situation of those who are learning to become teachers of reading.

Authors

• Emily W. Fox, Unaffiliated

• Meghan Margaret Parkinson, University of North Florida