| The purpose of this study was to describe the nature of reading instruction in a program using children's trade books instead of basal readers and to identify patterns resulting in hypotheses regarding the nature of instruction. Using a qualitative, case study approach, the researcher became a participant observer during the scheduled reading period in a third-grade classroom for three and a half months, taking and coding field notes, audiotaping and transcribing class sessions, conducting formal and informal interviews and member checks, collecting documents, taking photographs, and analyzing the incoming data by writing daily contact summaries and memos, looking for recurring patterns. Grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was developed as pieces of evidence were gathered and grouped together.;The results of analysis show that, in this literature-based reading program, instruction has three major dimensions: the academic domain, characterized by recurring patterns of instruction in constructing meaning, understanding vocabulary, understanding literary elements, and developing strategies for word recognition; the social domain, characterized by recurring patterns of student control of learning, cooperation with peers, and the creation of a positive, risk-free classroom environment; and the affective domain, characterized by the repeated theme of developing positive student attitudes toward reading. The primary focus of instruction was helping students make sense of what was read.;The study informs practitioners by providing descriptions of actual instruction, enabling readers to envision how reading instruction is accomplished using children's trade books, and it informs the research community by developing grounded theory concerning the nature of instruction in one literature-based reading program. The study can help bridge the polarization between traditionalists and whole language advocates through the descriptions of how traditionally accepted academic domains of reading instruction were accomplished. Also, it provides a model of a successful way to structure instructional time so that students spend more time actually reading, and it documents the social dimensions of instruction as an important domain of reading instruction. |
