Coping With Text Complexity in the Disciplines: Vulnerable Readers' Close Reading Practices

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 7
  In Poster Session: Innovations in Literacy Research, Theory, and Practice: Poster Session 2

Abstract

Early reactions suggest that secondary teachers need support implementing the Common Core State Standards, specifically when teaching close reading strategies with complex disciplinary texts to vulnerable readers. This study conducted in a formative experiment paradigm aimed to provide explanatory theories generated by applying a grounded theory approach to data analysis. Teacher surveys, teacher interviews, student interviews, student surveys, student work, reading assessments, classroom observations, and teacher planning sessions provided evidence about how readers in two classrooms make sense of text and the strategies that support their comprehension and engagement during two curricular units. Results indicate that the two focal teachers asked predominantly open-ended questions that expected students to include textual evidence in their responses.

Author

• Leslie Buffen