Date Approved

1-24-2017

Embargo Period

1-25-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA Reading Education

Department

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Browne, Susan

Committee Member 1

Lee, Valarie

Committee Member 2

Madden, Marjorie

Keywords

Close reading elementary grades, ELL and reading instruction, reading strategies, rereading, text-dependent questioning during reading, writing during reading

Subject(s)

Reading (Elementary); Developmental reading; Reading comprehension

Disciplines

Elementary Education and Teaching

Abstract

The research case study was conducted to explore how Close Reading Strategies support 3rd grade Basic Skills students' comprehension. The purposes of the study were to first determine if utilizing the rereading and text questioning strategies would support students' comprehension while reading complex texts. Secondly, to determine if annotating in the margins of the text would support comprehension as the students reflected on their thinking. The students were of varying abilities of below grade level readers and one student was an ELL below grade level and challenged by language meaning difficulty. The students were reading on an end first grade level with comprehension difficulty. The study revealed that rereading was of a significant support to comprehension as the strategy enabled students to gain additional meaning of the text and vocabulary each time the texts were read. The text questions enabled students to determine a starting point for rereading and used the questions to navigate the texts to provide evidence for responses. Finally, annotations posed a challenge as the students demonstrated significant metacognitive deficits hindering their ability to utilize the strategy. This strategy was determined to be developmental and to be used when appropriate to cognitive ability. Implications for teaching Close Reading strategies to elementary students are discussed.

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