Rethinking professional development concerning comprehension strategy instruction.

Abstract

The focus of this mixed methods study was to determine if one form of professional development was more effective than another in promoting teacher change in incorporating comprehension strategies to support students learning from text in the content areas. Data from personal interviews, lesson plans, and field notes of on-site observations of classroom comprehension instruction were used to determine change in teachers' beliefs and practices. Specifically, the study asked the following questions: How does an inquiry model of professional development compare with an interactive model for promoting teacher development in incorporating comprehension strategies in content area reading instruction? How does the participation in each of the models support the teachers' use of comprehension strategies? How do the interactions of the teachers in the professional development models support their use of comprehension strategies? Is there a difference in student comprehension strategy usage and the student's ability to answer higher-level questions that depends on whether they are in a classroom of teachers participating in an inquiry group or in a classroom of those participating in an interactive model of professional development?

Student participants included only 6th grade science students of participating teachers. Data sources from students included a survey to determine what comprehension strategies the students said they use and to what extent they use them and a group of informal reading inventory for information regarding the student's ability to answer grade level literal, inferential, evaluative, and vocabulary questions. For the students, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine whether the groups were equal on the pretest measures. No significant differences were found between the two groups on the pretest measures of the two dependent variables, MARSI strategy subtests and RIC questions at the multivariate level. A 2 group x 3 MANOVA with repeated measures was then conducted on the two dependent variables to determine changes of strategy awareness and question answering ability over time. Results of a 2 x 3 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with repeated measures showed significant differences between the two groups, showing that the interactive group was more aware of strategy use at the beginning of the study than the inquiry group students. Univariate analysis showed significant differences between the groups on all three subtests with the interactive group being more aware of using all three different strategy types than the inquiry group. There were no significant differences at the multivariate or univariate level for question answering ability. After further exploring patterns in the means through the use of profile plots, it appeared that both groups of students increased in their awareness of support strategies, which were the ones taught in professional development. However, after the professional development the students' awareness decreased. There were mixed results with the questions, with inquiry group students increasing in the ability to answer literal and inferential questions from pre to post test one, while the interactive groups increased in answering inferential questions from pre to post test one. Both groups decreased from posttest one to posttest two.

This study illustrated the benefits that teachers can gain from a more personalized type of professional development that includes discussion and reflection upon their learning and teaching. In turn, it appears that students in the classrooms of teachers who are supported by an inquiry group environment can make gains in awareness of comprehension strategies that may result in increased understanding of text content.

Two groups of middle school content area teachers participated in six weeks of professional development in the teaching of comprehension strategies. One group of teachers received six 1-hour workshops on five different research tested comprehension teaching strategies. The other group of teachers participated in a comprehension strategy inquiry group where the teachers chose what they wanted to study regarding comprehension instruction. The inquiry group teachers were also given opportunity to reflect on their teaching of the comprehension strategies in subsequent sessions. Results showed that teachers in the inquiry group reported teaching more comprehension strategies than the inquiry group. These teachers were also planning and were observed teaching more comprehension strategies than the workshop group. Inquiry group teachers said that the professional development supported their continued teaching of comprehension strategies by allowing them to discuss in small groups and reflect on their teaching.