Engagement Model of Reading
Development
John T. Guthrie,
Professor Emeritus
University of Maryland
Reading in South Africa
• Education Progress - Standards of 2005
• Reading and Writing Journal
• PIRLS* Survey with 70 Nations
*Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, 2012
• NEEDU^ report - literacy recommendations
^National Education Evaluation and Development Unit.
Report, 2012
Needs Assessment
Reading in South Africa—2013
• Achievement grade 4—PIRLS survey
• SA average below international mean
▫ Similar to Qatar and Botswana
• SA distribution was wider than most
▫ Standard error = 7.3; typical was 3.0
▫ Top fifth in SA similar to top 10 countries
▫ Bottom 40% had few books at home; parents
not beyond secondary education; many home
language is not the language of test
Pathways to reading achievement:
NEEDU report recommendations -- 2012
• Increase learning time in classrooms
• Emphasize higher reading comprehension (how
and why questions) in grades 2-3
• Use graded sets of reading materials
• Increase quantity of books available (each
student reads 1 book per week)
Pathways to reading achievement:
motivational needs
Engagement and motivation grade 4 PIRLS 2011
SA Other* Concl.
Student confidence
26% vs. 45% low
Students liking reading
22% vs. 27% low
Students highly disruptive 21 % vs. 11% high
*Other = High scoring Western countries
Pathways to reading achievement:
balancing motivational and cognitive needs
Reading Instruction-PIRLS 2011- in High scoring
countries—(Hong Kong; Finland)
Skill and strategy teaching
Use textbook— 90% of teachers
Use workbook—60% of teachers
Engagement and motivation support
Moderate use – 60% of teachers
Moderate experience—60% of students
Pathways to reading achievement:
conclusions
Achievement can improved through increasing
reading engagement.
Teachers may weave engagement and motivation
support into instruction for reading skills and
strategies at all grades.
Theoretical Foundation for Reading
Engagement
• Engagement model of reading achievement
• International research on educational
framework for increasing achievement.
• Classroom supports for reading engagement,
cognition and motivation.
• Guthrie, J. & Klauda, S. (in press). Engagement and
motivational processes in reading. In P. Afflerbach.
Handbook of Individual Differences in Reading. New
York. Routledge publisher. www.corilearning.com
Engagement Model of Reading
Development
Reading
Achievement
Components:
Reasoning
Literal
Fluency
Vocabulary
Engagement Model of Reading
Development
Reading
Engagement
Components:
Effort
Enthusiasm
Persistence
Self-regulation
Reading
Achievement
Components:
Reasoning
Literal
Fluency
Vocabulary
Engagement Model of Reading
Development
Motivation
in
Reading
Components:
Intrinsic
Efficacy
Value
Social
Cognition
in
Reading
Components:
Word rec.
Fluency
Literal
Reasoning
Reading
Engagement
Components:
Effort
Enthusiasm
Persistence
Self-regulation
Reading
Achievement
Components:
Reasoning
Literal
Fluency
Vocabulary
Engagement Model of Reading
Development
Classroom
Instruction
and
Teaching
Components:
Relevance/choice
Success
Importance
Collaboration
Volume
Motivation
in
Reading
Components:
Intrinsic
Efficacy
Value
Social
Cognition
in
Reading
Components:
Word rec.
Fluency
Literal
Reasoning
Reading
Engagement
Components:
Effort
Enthusiasm
Persistence
Self-regulation
Reading
Achievement
Components:
Reasoning
Literal
Fluency
Vocabulary
Research Evidence for Model
• Correlations---across all factors
• Unique effects of motivation on engagement;
and cognition on engagement.
• Growth benefits of motivation on engagement
and achievement
• Experimental effects of classroom instruction on
motivation, engagement and achievement.
General-CORI; Specific-experiments.
Community and School
Preconditions of Reading Engagement
•
•
•
•
•
Students in school, in class
Books available—students read 1 book per week
Students speak language of the books
Teachers focus on reading for understanding
Progress beyond ‘teacher-centered’ classroom
(Nigeria study reported teacher read-aloud
as prevailing motivation approach)
Community and School
Preconditions of Reading Engagement
• Attend school and class----Community
brainstorm, transportation, parent
involvement
• Books at home and school---Funding for school
and community libraries Home language and
English
• Language of classroom---- Bilingual education
transition to English by end of year 2.
• Promote reading for enjoyment at home and
school---Reading campaigns, celebrations.
Classroom instruction and teaching:
5 engagement principles
1. Help students read together
2. Provide choices in reading
3. Show immediate benefits of
reading
4. Match texts to student abilities
5. Enable students to read a lot
Guthrie, J. T. (2013). South African Reading: Teaching
practices K-12 for engagement and expertise.
Unpublished manuscript. www.corilearning.com
Engagement principle #1
Help students read together
Grades K-2
• Partners rhyme words; partners alternate reading pages
of a story book;
Grades 3-5
• Partners read same pages silently, and write a summary
together
Grades 6-12
• Partners separately identify 3 main points of a text and
compare them and reasons for choosing them. Teams of
4 develop an opinion about a topic, write a persuasive
essay and present to another team.
Engagement principle #2
Provide choices in reading
Grades K-2
• Students choose a book for the teacher to read aloud
Grades 3-5
• Students select one section of a history book to learn
and teach to team
Grades 6-12
• Students identify topic and select several texts to
learn from and then write an integrative statement.
Engagement principle #3
Show immediate benefits of
reading
Grades K-2
• Teacher reads a story aloud; students state one thing they
enjoyed. Students read page in an information book; report 1
amazing fact to a partner.
Grades 3-5
• Have students state what they learned from a picture in
comparison to a page of text on the same topic.
Grades 6-12
• Have students write a statement explaining how what they
read in a text connects to their observations or experiences
outside of school.
Engagement principle #4
Match texts to student abilities
Grades K-2
• 90 percent accuracy word recognition
Grades 3-5
• 90 percent accuracy read aloud fluency
Grades 6-12
• 90 percent accuracy in brief summaries of a page
of text
Engagement principle #5
Empower students to read a lot
Grades K-2: Expectations: On grade reader: Home = 30 min; School =
30 min. Total = 1.0 hr.
Grades 3-5 : Expectations: On grade reader: Home = 30 min; School =
60 min. Total = 1.5 hr.
Grades 6-12: Expectations: On grade reader: Home = 90 min; School
= 90 min. Total = 3.0 hr.
• Diverse books, magazines, internet for enjoyment, knowledge,
usefulness
Teacher support
• Teachers provide time daily for independent reading, based on
interest and curriculum. Teachers assign home reading daily.
Ben Carson: Youngster
Ben Carson
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Age 10 Baltimore school
Lowest in class
Mother—TV 1 hour per day; Book 1 per week
Teacher – Rock, Obsidian
Class smartest
Harvard graduate
Neurosurgeon: Johns Hopkins University
Ben Carson: Neurosurgeon
Engagement principle– balancing
motivational and cognitive instruction
Cognitive instruction—
• Word recognition, fluency, literal
comprehension, reasoning with texts
• Reasoning = inferencing, searching, structuring,
integrating complex information
Balance = Direct instruction in cognitive strategies
is linked to five motivation practices
Lowest achieving primary students (40%) benefit
MOST from engagement principles (Pianta)
Cognitive processes of content literacy
Reasoning--general
• Identify text structure from cues
• Form relations among concepts in text
• Self-explain meanings
• Identify text structure from cues
• Diverse knowledge of genre and language
Disciplinary reading—specific
• History—author perspective, purpose
• Science---myriad document and prose types
Strategy instruction in content literacy
from Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction
Direct instruction to enable students to:
• Generate inferences between sentences.
• Summarize (with Brown and Day procedure)
• Concept map with pyramid and webs
• Formulate questions
• Search systematically for answers
Implementation plan
for engagement practices
Educational
practices
Skill/strategy Instruction*
Guided reading and
Writing**
1. Read Together as Partners
2. Choice of Books or Texts
3. Importance: Pictures, Videos
Hands On Activities
4. Match Books to Student
Reading Abilities
5. Empower students to read a lot,
Goals and Charts
6. Integrate: All Engagement
Practices
Month
1
XX
Month Month Month
2
3
4
XX
XX
XX
Month Month
5
6
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX
Professional Development
1. Professional development—provide teachers
brief experiences as students with each
engagement support
2. Educational leaders write unit of instruction
with engagement support
3. Teachers plan in school teams to implement,
slowly with coaching
4. Assessment: observers rate classrooms for
reading engagement and expertise
Closing Summary
• South African children and teachers have
progressed in literacy.
• Improvements in reading achievement and
engagement are possible.
• Theory and evidence reveal an approach to
improvement.
• Teachers can learn and apply five classroom
principles of teaching for engagement.
• Schools can create policies for further progress.
One engaged reader.
Closing thoughts
• “Not a day goes by when I don’t read every
newspaper I can lay my hands on, wherever I
am.”
• “Discussion sharpens one’s interest in any
subject and accordingly inspires reading and
corrects errors.”
• “A bright future beckons. The onus is on us,
through hard work, honesty and integrity, to
reach for the stars.”
-----Nelson Mandela