A reading textbook and balanced reading instruction: a (im)possible match?
Submitted by:
Jesper Bremholm
Abstract:
This paper is based on a mixed methods study about textbooks and other learning materials for L1 teaching in Denmark (primary and lower secondary). Other participants in the project submitting papers are Simon Skov Fougt, Anna Skyggebjerg and Helle Rørbech.
According to the quantitative part of this study (Bundsgaard, Buch & Fougt, forthcoming) the single most commonly used learning material among L1-teachers is Den første læsning (Borstrøm & Petersen, 1999), a reading textbook for the primary grades. Den første læsning (Dfl) is presented by its authors and publisher as a learning material that covers all aspects of reading instruction, and that is based on recent research knowledge about reading instruction and reading development.
It follows from these results that for a large proportion of Danish children Dfl forms the basis of their early encounter with in-school literacy learning and literacy practices. It is therefore highly relevant to ask if this basis is actually research based and thus recommendable as claimed by the material itself. This paper presents a qualitative study of Dfl with the purpose of answering this question.
The study is conducted as a criterion-based in-depth analysis of Dfl. The criteria are generated from an overview of recent research studies on reading development and effective reading instruction (e.g. Foorman & Connor, 2011).
The most important finding in the overview is that a balanced approach to reading instruction seems to be the most successful (i.e. instruction that balances code- and meaning-oriented elements).
The analysis shows that Dfl complies with several, both code- and meaning-oriented, criteria for balanced instruction, but that the meanings-oriented elements are only so on a surface level – more closely examined they turn out to be overridingly drill- and skill-based.
In the light of these results, the paper discusses the challenges the balanced approach presents to (authors of) reading textbooks and to teachers striving to integrate the use of reading textbooks and the balanced approach, and it proposes a trifocal model of literacy as heuristic for dealing with these challenges.
References
Borstrøm, I., & Petersen, D. K. (1999). Den første læsning, Læsebogen. København: Alinea.
Bundsgaard, J. Buch, B. and Fougt, S.S. (forthcoming). Danskfagets læremidler. En karakteristik af anvendte læremidler og deres indhold, didaktik og pædagogik. In: Bremholm, J., Bundsgaard, J., Skyggebjerg, A.K. & Fougt, S.S. (red.): Læremidler i dansk. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Foorman, B. R., & Connor, C. M. (2011). Primary Grade Reading. In M. L. Kamil, D. P. Pearson, E. B. Moje, & P. P. Afflerbach (ed.), Handbook of Reading Research IV. New York: Routledge.