This classroom narrative proposes a process for reinventing academic research and writing in seco... more This classroom narrative proposes a process for reinventing academic research and writing in secondary schools for the 21st Century. We build on Macrorie's (1988) I-Search paper, drawing on affordances of Web 2.0 technologies and culture, to initiate the iSearch 2.0 process. iSearch 2.0 consists of four phases: 1) messing about and trying on questions; 2) exploring and expanding the edge of knowledge; 3) publication; and 4) reflection and self-assessment. This new academic research and writing process makes it possible for students to investigate and try out possible research topics, actively participate in the social construction of knowledge, trace sources efficiently, create meaningful products, and distribute information (regarding both the process and products of research) widely. iSearch 2.0 allows students to receive feedback from broad publics during the process of research and also to utilise multiple methods and compositional modes for self-reflection. Assessment strategies for iSearch 2.0 can incorporate interest communities outside the school and should consider the process and products of inquiry.
Word processing offers promising support far students with learning disabilities (LD). We compare... more Word processing offers promising support far students with learning disabilities (LD). We compared fourth‐grade students' writing quality over a 7‐month period in computer‐supported versus paper‐and‐pencil writing‐process classrooms. LD and non‐ID students improved the quality of their imaginative stories over time, regardless of the writing tool, with one exception. Students who carried out long‐term writing assignments with paper and pencil demonstrated a negative growth rate in writing quality. LD students in particular may be impeded by paper‐and‐pencil tools during extended writing assignments that call for sustained engagement and revision.
This study examined the relative contribution of reading comprehension strategies and interactive... more This study examined the relative contribution of reading comprehension strategies and interactive vocabulary in Improving Comprehension Online (ICON), a universally designed web-based scaffolded text environment designed to improve fifthgrade monolingual English and bilingual students' reading achievement. Seventy-five monolingual English and 31 bilingual students from six classrooms were assigned to one of three ICON conditions: reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary, or a combined version of comprehension strategies and vocabulary. Students read eight multimedia folktales and informational texts within their respective ICON condition and completed embedded activities, researcher measures of comprehension and vocabulary, and pre-and postintervention standardized reading achievement tests. ANCOVA results indicated that after controlling for initial reading achievement, there was a main effect for condition on the researcher measure of vocabulary, with case for expanding current models of reading comprehension to reflect digital texts and information communication technologies. Although there is obvious overlap in the perceptual, cognitive, and affective processes involved in print and digital reading, digital environments and tools potentially alter the dynamic relationship between reader, text, activity, and sociocultural factors in ways that influence reading processes and outcomes for individual learners ). by guest on July 25, 2016 jlr.sagepub.com Downloaded from
This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of an Internet-delivered universally desig... more This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of an Internet-delivered universally designed depth of vocabulary intervention that targeted both English-speaking and Spanish–English-speaking students. Two hundred forty students, 49% of whom were Spanish–English bilinguals, participated in the 16-week intervention. Intervention students read eight multimedia texts with embedded instruction on 40 words and reading strategy support. Students could access all texts and activities in Spanish and English. In comparison to a control group, there were significant intervention effects on a standardized measure of vocabulary knowledge, but effects were non-significant for comprehension. Similarly, significant effects on researcher-developed measures of vocabulary depth were detected, but not for a researcher-developed measure of breadth.
As interest and concern rise in U.S. educational circles around the reading achievement of Englis... more As interest and concern rise in U.S. educational circles around the reading achievement of English language learners (ELLs) and struggling readers, researchers and practitioners alike are calling for the increased use of technology as a means to decrease achievement gaps in reading . In this article, we report results from a 4-week study of the English reading comprehension of struggling readers, including Spanish-speaking ELLs. Thirty 4th-grade students read several narrative and informational hypertexts that provided embedded vocabulary and comprehension strategy supports, along with text-to-speech readaloud functionality. Correlation analyses of pre-post standardized reading vocabulary gain scores revealed that vocabulary gain was associated, although not significantly, with the frequency of access of hyperlinked glossary items throughout the intervention, and that lower pretest vocabulary knowledge was associated with positive vocabulary gains. A similar pattern was detected for comprehension gains, JOURNAL OF LITERACY RESEARCH, 39(1), 71-93 which were significantly associated with the frequency of access of coaching avatars that provided support around the productive use of reading comprehension strategies. The results reported here suggest that struggling readers and Spanish-speaking ELLs made use of the digitally embedded features in such a way as to promote both learning novel lexical items and effectively applying reading comprehension strategies.
This classroom narrative proposes a process for reinventing academic research and writing in seco... more This classroom narrative proposes a process for reinventing academic research and writing in secondary schools for the 21st Century. We build on Macrorie's (1988) I-Search paper, drawing on affordances of Web 2.0 technologies and culture, to initiate the iSearch 2.0 process. iSearch 2.0 consists of four phases: 1) messing about and trying on questions; 2) exploring and expanding the edge of knowledge; 3) publication; and 4) reflection and self-assessment. This new academic research and writing process makes it possible for students to investigate and try out possible research topics, actively participate in the social construction of knowledge, trace sources efficiently, create meaningful products, and distribute information (regarding both the process and products of research) widely. iSearch 2.0 allows students to receive feedback from broad publics during the process of research and also to utilise multiple methods and compositional modes for self-reflection. Assessment strategies for iSearch 2.0 can incorporate interest communities outside the school and should consider the process and products of inquiry.
Word processing offers promising support far students with learning disabilities (LD). We compare... more Word processing offers promising support far students with learning disabilities (LD). We compared fourth‐grade students' writing quality over a 7‐month period in computer‐supported versus paper‐and‐pencil writing‐process classrooms. LD and non‐ID students improved the quality of their imaginative stories over time, regardless of the writing tool, with one exception. Students who carried out long‐term writing assignments with paper and pencil demonstrated a negative growth rate in writing quality. LD students in particular may be impeded by paper‐and‐pencil tools during extended writing assignments that call for sustained engagement and revision.
This study examined the relative contribution of reading comprehension strategies and interactive... more This study examined the relative contribution of reading comprehension strategies and interactive vocabulary in Improving Comprehension Online (ICON), a universally designed web-based scaffolded text environment designed to improve fifthgrade monolingual English and bilingual students' reading achievement. Seventy-five monolingual English and 31 bilingual students from six classrooms were assigned to one of three ICON conditions: reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary, or a combined version of comprehension strategies and vocabulary. Students read eight multimedia folktales and informational texts within their respective ICON condition and completed embedded activities, researcher measures of comprehension and vocabulary, and pre-and postintervention standardized reading achievement tests. ANCOVA results indicated that after controlling for initial reading achievement, there was a main effect for condition on the researcher measure of vocabulary, with case for expanding current models of reading comprehension to reflect digital texts and information communication technologies. Although there is obvious overlap in the perceptual, cognitive, and affective processes involved in print and digital reading, digital environments and tools potentially alter the dynamic relationship between reader, text, activity, and sociocultural factors in ways that influence reading processes and outcomes for individual learners ). by guest on July 25, 2016 jlr.sagepub.com Downloaded from
This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of an Internet-delivered universally desig... more This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of an Internet-delivered universally designed depth of vocabulary intervention that targeted both English-speaking and Spanish–English-speaking students. Two hundred forty students, 49% of whom were Spanish–English bilinguals, participated in the 16-week intervention. Intervention students read eight multimedia texts with embedded instruction on 40 words and reading strategy support. Students could access all texts and activities in Spanish and English. In comparison to a control group, there were significant intervention effects on a standardized measure of vocabulary knowledge, but effects were non-significant for comprehension. Similarly, significant effects on researcher-developed measures of vocabulary depth were detected, but not for a researcher-developed measure of breadth.
As interest and concern rise in U.S. educational circles around the reading achievement of Englis... more As interest and concern rise in U.S. educational circles around the reading achievement of English language learners (ELLs) and struggling readers, researchers and practitioners alike are calling for the increased use of technology as a means to decrease achievement gaps in reading . In this article, we report results from a 4-week study of the English reading comprehension of struggling readers, including Spanish-speaking ELLs. Thirty 4th-grade students read several narrative and informational hypertexts that provided embedded vocabulary and comprehension strategy supports, along with text-to-speech readaloud functionality. Correlation analyses of pre-post standardized reading vocabulary gain scores revealed that vocabulary gain was associated, although not significantly, with the frequency of access of hyperlinked glossary items throughout the intervention, and that lower pretest vocabulary knowledge was associated with positive vocabulary gains. A similar pattern was detected for comprehension gains, JOURNAL OF LITERACY RESEARCH, 39(1), 71-93 which were significantly associated with the frequency of access of coaching avatars that provided support around the productive use of reading comprehension strategies. The results reported here suggest that struggling readers and Spanish-speaking ELLs made use of the digitally embedded features in such a way as to promote both learning novel lexical items and effectively applying reading comprehension strategies.
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