An assessment of current practices in reading comprehension instruction

The purpose of this study was to assess the current practices in reading instruction in relation to a cognitive psychology model of reading. This investigation evaluated the state of reading comprehension instruction since Dolores Durkin's landmark study of 1978. It identified any changes that have occurred given the most recent models of reading instruction as developed by cognitive psychologists. This study examined the extent to which those changes and trends have impacted the classroom teacher as well as the student. It investigated the amount of comprehension instruction occurring today in classrooms in grades 3 through 6 and the amount of direct strategy training and comprehension instruction currently taking place in those classrooms. In addition, this study assessed the level of understanding and the amount of training teachers have been given in the area of reading comprehension instruction in the last three years. The study also investigated the students' awareness and level of understanding of current comprehension monitoring strategies. Finally, an attempt was made to identify the resources available to teachers in teacher materials and resource guides.; Five different protocols were used for collecting and obtaining data for this study. The first one, the Classroom Observation Summary Sheet, was used to observe teacher behavior during reading and social studies classes. The Reading Comprehension Instruction Teacher Survey assessed the teacher's level of understanding and use of comprehension strategies and their use in direct instruction. The Reading Comprehension Interview was used with students in grades 3 through 6. The Administrator/Staff Developer Survey represents a set of questions for school administrators. The Textbook Review Summary was used by the investigator to review materials from the reading and social studies texts in use at each school.; Results indicated that there has been little change shown in the amount of reading comprehension instruction that teachers provide for students at the intermediate grade levels. Teachers were observed to be assessing comprehension for a small percentage of their instructional time, however, they were not observed providing comprehension instruction to their students. Surveys and interviews with teachers, administrators and students indicated a fair amount of knowledge and understanding among current models of reading, strategies to apply and the area of metacognition. However, these results did not match up with what was observed in classrooms. A review of textbooks indicated that the manuals and texts are providing teachers with a sufficient amount of information on strategies and comprehension instruction. This study concluded that teachers may have a cursory understanding of this topic or may assume that their students are familiar with strategies for comprehension, but are paying little attention to this topic during instructional time.