Action Research: Purpose, Problem Statement, Question(s), and Literature Review

Garrett Kennedy

American College of Education

Action Research: Purpose, Problem Statement, Question(s), and Literature Review

Purpose, Problem Statement and Research Questions

Introduction:

            When I sit down next to my fourth graders, many of them sigh after my request to hear them read aloud.  Their sighs transport me back to when I was their age and I hated to read in front of my classmates, or anyone.  My students get red in the face, their voices quiver and lack expression.  This feels so familiar to me.  Now as a teacher, when I see children struggling to read, I want to help them in ways I wasn't helped.  To this day, I still dislike reading in front of peers, and it's not simplified as me just being shy, and the consequences are greater than me just not wanting to read aloud.  As a teacher, I am more curious about the world we live in and understand how important reading is to learning about the world.  I do read, but not nearly as much, or at the pace, as I would like to.  In grade school during silent reading, I would glance to see my classmates turning pages, finishing the assigned chapter way before me.  Of course now, I know it's not a race, but as a kid reading slowly made me not like to read.  I would often stop reading.  It is possible that an intervention, or adapted instructional methods, could have changed my perspective of my own reading.  The focus of this action research is to find instructional methods, or interventions, that will help students described above gain confidence in their reading so they can not only meet the grade level standards, but to gain a love of reading, which can open up the world to them. 

Problem Statement:

            The following is based on my prediction that I will encounter more students whose reading comprehension abilities are below grade level expectations.  According to Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Shanahan (2008), adolescents today aren’t reading any better than the previous generation.  In fact, there are fewer students reading at proficient levels (Shanahan, 2008, p. 42).  If adolescents aren't meeting expectations, then all teachers, including elementary school teachers, have a responsibility to work together to find ways to improve reading skills.  Ideally this would happen before children enter middle school and high school.  This action research is my attempt at playing a role in improving the above problem.  This can be viewed on two different levels.  First, each child deserves the opportunity to develop skills to not only read at grade level, but as stated above, to gain a love for reading that can improve their quality of life and their ability to educate themselves.  And two, it is of national interest that we make improving reading skills a priority.  According to The Programme for International Assessment (PISA), American 15-year-olds do not perform as well in reading as peers in fourteen other countries (Shanahan, 2008, p. 42).  Next year, it is my intention to use the knowledge I obtain from this action research to help my fourth grade students improve their reading skills.  In turn, this is me playing my part in helping our nation become more equipped to compete in today's global economy. 

            After reading Kelly Gallagher's Teaching Adolescent Writers, I find it essential to state his "Reasons to Read", which I would share with my students as a way to ignite the above:

Reading is rewarding.

Reading builds a mature vocabulary.

Reading makes you a better writer.

Reading is hard and "hard" is necessary.

Reading makes you smarter.

Reading prepares you for the world of work.

Reading well is financially rewarding. 

Reading opens the door to college and beyond.

Reading arms you against oppression (Gallagher, 2006, p. 15).

Research Questions:

1.  Will focusing on "what a student does well" first, increase confidence in their reading ability?  Many young writers and readers don't know exactly what they do well or are doing correctly, so eventually they stop doing that something and their reading and writing becomes worse.  In Teaching Adolescent Writers, Kelly Gallagher argues that teachers should focus on what young writers/readers do well first before bringing up ever little mistake.  I would like to further research this above question and Gallagher's theory.

2.  In addition, are there benefits to using  KWL charts (What I Know, What I Want to Know, What I learned)?  Do they help a student’s confidence, ultimately increasing their reading abilities?

3.  How does giving a student a choice of what they read impact their reading abilities?

First Literature Review

Cary, J. L., Howard, C. C., & Leftwich, R.J. (2013, May 1).  Improving Elementary Students' Engagement

           

            during Independent Reading through Teacher Conferencing, Teacher Modeling, and Student Choice. 

           

            Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED541338.pdf

Kelly, Gallagher (2006).  Teaching Adolescent Writers.  Stenhouse Publishers.

Ogle, D. (2009).  Creating Contexts For Inquiry: From KWL to PRC2.  Knowledge Quest, 38(1), 56-61.

Methodology:

The first source I will analyze will help me answer the following question: How does giving a student a choice of what they read impact their reading abilities?  The source, a Saint Xavier University action research paper, is entitled Improving Elementary Students' Engagement During Independent Reading Through Teacher Conferencing, Teacher Modeling, and Student Choice.  The data I plan to collect is evidence that supports the argument that students comprehend what they read better when they have an interest in what they read.  What I hope to also find within this action research paper is concrete examples of how this has been successful and how it can be implemented into a classroom.  The data in this source I believe will be qualitative to support the sociology of a person emerging themselves in something more when they are truly interested in something.  The data will also need to be qualitative to provide concrete examples of how teachers can help students pick books that interest them and that are appropriate for their reading levels.

The second source I will analyze will help me answer the following question: Are the benefits to using KWL charts, and do they help a student’s confidence, ultimately increasing their reading abilities?  The source is entitled Creating Contexts For Inquiry: From KWL to PRC2.  The data I plan to collect, first, is how a KWL is used in a variety of subject matters with the idea that it can engage students and increase their reading comprehension.  What I hope to also find in this article is specific evidence that KWL charts engage students, increase their confidence, for example, by showing students their process of learning.  Lastly, I hope to discover specific lessons where KWL charts work well.  The data in this source I believe will be qualitative to support the theory that if a student sees that they have learned and understands their learning process then their confidence can strengthen and KWL charts can play a role in this.  The data will also need to be quantitative to provide specific activities a teacher can use a KWL in their classroom.    

The third source I will analyze will help me answer the following question: Will focusing on "what a student does well" first, increase confidence in their reading ability?  The source is entitled Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher.  The data I plan to collect is evidence that supports Gallagher’s theory that focusing on what students do well first is essential, and then teachers can tackle what students are specifically making mistakes on.  I hope the data can provide answers to why this is true, and how a teacher can implement doing this in their classroom.  The data in this source I believe will be qualitative to support the sociology of how a student becomes overwhelmed when a teacher tells them primarily what they are doing wrong, for example, using a red pen to edit a student’s writing.  The data will also need to be qualitative to provide concrete examples of how teachers can go about focusing on what students do well so they keep doing them, and how a teacher can transition into discussing with students what they aren’t doing well.

Data Collection:

Since this action research paper is being conducted during the summer, I have analyzed the above sources.  Below I will provide strategies to improve reading comprehension that were found from these sources.  I will implement the strategies and record data during the upcoming school year. 

            The first source is Improving Elementary Students' Engagement During Independent Reading Through Teacher Conferencing, Teacher Modeling, and Student Choice.  This source was another action research paper that provided useful ways to increase comprehension levels with a specific focus on student engagement and motivation.  Cary (2013) states, “Efficient silent reading implies a strong correlation between a rapid reading rate and high level of comprehension” (32).  Neither of these can be achieved without a student engaging in what they read, and engagement can’t be achieved without proper motivation to do so.  Students are more engaged when they are given a choice of what to read, so they can pick the topics they’re interested in reading about or something that connects personally to their life.  This above action research paper found that most students could not pick out books appropriate to their reading level though, so book choices need to be guided by teachers.  The teachers involved in this research used student and parent questionnaires to learn what students were interested in reading, and what their attitudes of their own reading are (14-15).  I plan to use these questionnaires as a way to learn about my students’ interest to help they make appropriate book choices for silent reading periods.  Appropriate book choices can get students more engaged in what they’re reading, and can keep them on task, which will be discussed more in the following paragraph.   

            Beyond the questionnaires, the above research conveys the importance of teachers modeling for students how to silent read appropriately.  As stated above, in order for students to comprehend what they read, they have to be engaged in what they’re reading.  The teachers in this research used “Reading Disengagement Checklists” to note off-task behavior of each student during independent reading.  The behaviors included: changing reading material, taking bathroom breaks, browsing bookshelves, staring at books, flipping pages, fidgeting, talking, and looking around the room (19).  Modeling for students appropriate reading behavior can help diminished these off-task behaviors.  What is also a useful way of keeping kids on task and engaged in what they’re reading is modeling reading strategies.  The following strategies are used by good readers automatically and can help a student focus: predicting, questioning, summarizing, prior knowledge, making connections (43).  I plan to model each of these throughout next year, and students will practice one or two during each silent reading period.  Lastly, a great way to keep students motivated and engaged in what they’re reading is by conferencing, or reading one-on-one with them during silent reading periods.  This is another way to model for students by occasionally reading to them, or by complementing them on what they’re doing well.  This can keep their motivation and confidence going, which will be discussed in further detail when I go over the third source.

            Next, let’s focus on the second source, which is Creating Contexts For Inquiry: From KWL to PRC2.  This source conveys the importance of students’ background knowledge.  As stated above, a student engages in what they’re reading when they can make a connection to the text.  A great way to do this is by tapping into their background knowledge by using a KWL-chart.  The “K” asks student what they know about a topic while the teacher notes what students contribute (57).  The “W” asks students what they want to know about a topic and focuses the reading they’re about to do.  The “L” ask students what they learned about a topic after they’ve read, and this is a great way for students to self-evaluate.  KWL-charts can help frame a whole unit, and has shown to help students speak more freely, expressing their own points of view (58).  I see this as a great way to tap into my students’ prior knowledge, and plan to use these often next year to jumpstart a unit.

The third source is Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher.  There is much to learn from Gallagher’s book; however, I would like to focus on what knowledge links to the above discussion.  Gallagher (2006) states, “We need to give students reasons to read before diving into specific reading strategies.  In the first source above, I discussed the importance of motivation, and Gallagher does too in his book, providing specific and interesting ways to motivate children to read by explaining the importance of reading and its role in our lives.  Here are his reasons to read: Reading is rewarding; reading builds a mature vocabulary; reading makes you a better writer; reading is hard and "hard" is necessary; reading makes you smarter; reading prepares you for the world of work; reading well is financially rewarding; reading opens the door to college and beyond; reading arms you against oppression (Gallagher, 2006, p. 15).  Gallagher says, “Reading is a ticket in or out” (Gallagher, 2006, p. 23).  I plan to reveal these reasons to read next year to my students, and post them in the classroom as a reminder to how important reading is. 

Second Literature Review: Due to this action research paper being created during the summer, I can't implement the above ideas into a classroom setting.  Therefore, I have chosen to conduct another literature review to dive deeper into my proposed issue, and to enhance the validity of this research.  The first of three sources for this literature review was a source provided by What Works Clearinghouse (2013), which discusses the program Read Naturally, a program that focuses on improving reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension (Read Naturally, 2013, p. 1).  There are three core reading strategies in this program that are applicable to my research.  The first strategy is "modeling story reading".  Students read a story while listening to audio of a fluent reader that conveys proper word pronunciation, reading rate, and expression (Read Naturally, 2013, p. 3).  The second strategy is "repeated reading of text".  A student does a one-minute reading of a passage and then repeats this until they feel a comfortable reading it.  Then, the teacher evaluates the student based on: whether the student achieves their reading rate goal, makes three or fewer errors, reads with appropriate phrasing, and answers comprehension questions correctly.  If a student does not pass this evaluation, they keep practicing the passage until they master it.  The third strategy is "progress monitoring".  Students graph their scores on evaluations to track their progress from the start to end of a story (Read Naturally, 2013, p. 3).  Studies confirmed that the program had positive effects on student fluency, and on general reading achievement (Read Naturally, 2013, p. 5-7).

The second source for this literature review, Peer-Assisted Learning/Literacy Strategies (2013), which was also a source provided by What Works Clearinghouse.  This source discussed a reading program focusing on "peer-tutoring".  This means that students were given a partner to read with during various reading activities.  Partners would alternate the role of tutor and tutee.  They would read aloud, listen, and then provide immediate feedback.  The teacher modeled how to do this.  Specifically, the teacher would model for the students: how to read a passage with a partner, how to describe the main idea, and how to make predictions (Peer-Assisted Learning/Literacy Strategies, 2013, p. 1). 

The third source for this literature review is Extensive Reading Intervention for Struggling Readers in Grades 4 Through 12: Implications from Research (2013).  This source discussions how it is still important to have reading interventions beyond third grade for older students.  The focus of the interventions used in this study were: comprehension, word reading, fluency, and spelling (Wanzek, 2013, para. 1).  The study calls for extensive early reading interventions; however, when that fails there needs to be something in place for older students (Wanzek, 2013, para. 3).  The most useful information from this source pertaining to my research includes the evidence that supports a call for the following: providing explicit vocabulary instruction, direct comprehension strategy instruction, intense and individualized interventions by a specialist, and exteneded discussion of texts (Wanzek, 2013, para. 9).  These strategies of intervention will be useful for the upcoming school year, which I will be teaching fourth graders.

Future Actions:

After analyzing the above sources, I have found many useful strategies and intervention methods that I can implement in the upcoming school year.  First, my next step is to share my findings with colleagues whom could provide additional knowledge about improving reading comprehension of struggling readers.  Then, I will create a plan for implementing these strategies before school begins.  I feel the information I found in the above sources answered my proposed questions for this action research paper.  However, the one question that was not answered was: Will focusing on "what a student does well" first, increase confidence in their reading ability?  In Teaching Adolescent Writers, Kelly Gallagher argues that teachers should focus on what young writers/readers do well first before bringing up ever little mistake.  In his book, he does not fully address why this is so important.  I would like to further research this above question and Gallagher's theory, and that will be the focus of my next action research paper that builds upon this one.