Challenging the Merits of Close Reading for Students With Learning Disability

• In Event: 29.090 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.090-10 - Problematizing Literacy Practices

Abstract

Using sociocultural concepts of authoritative and dialogic discourse, I sought to examine how fifth grade teachers’ questioning practices indexed close reading (Brown & Kappes, 2012). Qualitative observations, video and audio transcripts, and teacher interviews were used for my analyses of questions. Findings reveal how teacher questioning practices can be imbued with tensions when questions are designed to transfer responsibility of thought to the students but work to maintain the location of knowledge within the teacher. These tensions are situated within broader tensions of the activity, including the model of reading comprehension employed, teachers’ conceptualizations of dis/ability, and global problems within systems of accountability that have led to high-stakes systems of evaluation, what counts as learning, and whose knowledge is privileged.

Author

• Amy Lynn Boele, University of Colorado - Denver