This study proposes that students and teachers make use of various social, intellectual, and material tools or resources in order to engage in classroom reading and writing. Furthermore, how resources are used for instruction defines and teaches students about reading. This study examines second grade students' perspectives about resources for classroom reading instruction. Theoretical constructs supporting this study were derived from ethnography of communication, social semiotics, and social interaction theory. Data were collected during twice-weekly classroom visits beginning with the first day of school in August of 1994 and ending in February of 1995. The data collection includes: (1) participant observation notes, (2) interviews, (3) students' interpretations of statements made by other students about reading instruction, (4) video and audio tape recordings of classroom interactions and interviews, and (5) photocopies of students' written book reviews. There are four principal findings about resources for reading. First, the term "reading" serves as a resource which students and their teacher draw from in order to (a) indicate what readers should do and (b) indicate who readers are. Second, students use time as a resource to tell what activities are considered reading and to mark changes in the ways they use reading resources. Third, learning what to do with reading resources leads to a unique series of interactions between students and teachers which define reading for them. Fourth, students use resources to evaluate their progress with reading. Implications are drawn for teachers' roles in the classroom, ways that reading lessons are planned, and ways that reading is evaluated. Suggestions are made for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-6552 |
| Date | 01 January 1995 |
| Creators | Landis, David Brian |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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