Academic Research

Share three pieces of academic or professional reading and explain how they and other sources helped you form hypotheses about aspects of teaching that might contribute to current patterns of learning. 

In order to form a deeper understanding of my overall inquiry I have located some academic and professional reading to help with my forming of a hypothesis. Along with these readings I have also been lucky enough to have extended discussions with my colleagues which has lead me to my hypothesis and my next steps and what I should implement. Below I have outlined some of the readings that I have looked at in order to strengthen my hypothesis. 

One piece of research I looked at was "Reading to Learn from the Start" by Tanya S. Wright. In this article it outlined "Successful and engaged readers comprehend, learn from and enjoy what they read." Wright outlined the importance of background knowledge and vocabulary. This article discussed how this is possible through read alouds which I will break down in a bit more detail below. The article suggests that interactive read alouds enhance extra-textual talk (talking around the text) can allow student to learn about and understand key concepts around text features. These read alouds share critical learning about the world as students learn related knowledge through explanations from the teacher. Another key aspect was vocabulary knowledge and how students are able to understand and remember vocabulary better when it is read aloud and explained in detail by the teacher. 

My take aways from this article are that reading aloud is important at any age even with our students in year 5 and it is a valuable part of teaching. My class still love to listening to picture books so I will try and make sure that I incorporate topic specific picture books with the class in order to enrich vocabulary. I will include my spelling words for the week to relate to the texts that my students are reading so that they are exposed to this in a number of different ways.  

Another piece of research I looked at was "The influence of student engagement on the effects of inferential reading comprehension intervention for struggling middle school readers" by Amanda Martinez-Lincoln, Marcia A. Barnes and Nathan H. Clemens. This research discusses the move from elementary school to middle school and how reading comprehension becomes central to academic achievement. This research suggests that in order to excel in middle school reading there are many factors that need to be taken into account including: "attention and working memory, motivations and skills and knowledge including word reading, vocabulary, word knowledge, inference making and comprehension monitoring" (Martinez-Lincoln, Barnes & Clemens 2021). Research suggests that readers who are struggling tent to show difficulty in one or more areas. This research also describes interventions that can have an impact on chaining reading achievement. 

My take aways from this article reinforce the importance of vocabulary in being able to read and understand more complex texts. This has added extra value to the previous reading that I have done around the importance of vocabulary. So this is why I will change the focus of our spelling words to be around to the words we are coming across in the text and exposing the students to topic specific language and vocabulary through the overall research presentations will be important. 

Another key focus of my inquiry this year is student wellbeing and the links this has to student achievement. I chose to use a New Zealand report to look at focusing on the first part of the report. This report was called "Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Schools." Part one discusses wellbeing and achievement as was titled "Part 1: The impact on student wellbeing, engagement and learning." The report suggests that wellbeing and achievement are linked to each other and with the last few years of school it is really important to see these two linked. I really learnt a lot from this report it also made me feel much better not just focusing on a subject area but an area of student well being. This links in really well with Mitey: Sir John Kirwan Foundation that we are looking at at school this year. 

This and other research and articles I have read have helped in shaping my next steps and what I will implement into the classroom. It was really great to see that some of the things I am doing will help make the changes that I wish to see, so I will continue on with these implementations with a little bit of tweaking along the way. 

References: 

Goldstein, H., Ziolkowski, R. A., Bojczyk, K. E., Marty, A., Schneider, N., Harpring, J., & Haring, C. D. (2017). Academic vocabulary learning in first through third grade in low-income schools: Effects of automated supplemental instruction. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60(11), 3237-3258.

ERO (Education Review Office) (January 2021) Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Schools. Retrieved on 25 May 2022 from https://ero.govt.nz/our-research/learning-in-a-covid-19-world-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-schools.

Kuhn, K. E., Rausch, C. M., McCarty, T. G., Montgomery, S. E., & Rule, A. C. (2017). Utilizing nonfiction texts to enhance reading comprehension and vocabulary in primary grades. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(2), 285-296.

Lai, M. K., McNaughton, S., Amituanai‐Toloa, M., Turner, R., & Hsiao, S. (2009). Sustained acceleration of achievement in reading comprehension: The New Zealand experience. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(1), 30-56.

Wright, T. S. (2019). Reading to learn from the start: The power of interactive read-alouds. American Educator, 42(4), 4.

Zhou, N., & Yadav, A. (2017). Effects of multimedia story reading and questioning on preschoolers’ vocabulary learning, story comprehension and reading engagement. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65(6), 1523-1545.