Teachers facilitating literacy processing in two contexts: Reading recovery and guided reading

Abstract

This study highlights the critical role of teacher talk when interacting with young literacy learners. Marie Clay's Literacy Processing theory underpins this study. This theory emphasises the importance of using continuous text to gain meaning and problem-solve unknown words in a flexible and active manner. The study being mainly qualitative involves three teachers from three different schools in Northland, New Zealand, who are participating in Reading Recovery training and also teaching Guided Reading in the classroom. The research questions guiding the study focus on the teachers' ability to facilitate literacy processing in reading lessons. Tools used for data collection included participant questionnaires, classroom and Reading Recovery observations and participant interviews. Centred around changes in teacher practice and possible transfer of practice to the classroom, these questions are theoretically interesting. This particular type of change and possible transfer has not been investigated before. Although there were variations between individual teachers, results indicate that change and transfer is likely for teachers participating in the Reading Recovery in-service course. Teachers associated with the experience of Reading Recovery had a growing awareness of how to strengthen students' literacy processing systems both in Reading Recovery individual tutoring sessions as well as in a classroom group situation. Results are discussed in the context of change being a continuous process of teachers learning how to facilitate literacy learning. This study further endorses the value of the Reading Recovery in-service course and has implications for Reading Recovery tutors and national policy makers.