Effect of Strategy Instruction on Fourth-Grade Dual Language Learners' Ability to Monitor Their Comprehension of Scientific Texts

Abstract

This research work examined the impact of a science-reading instructional sequence (InSciRead) on fourth-grade Spanish-English dual language learners' ability to monitor their comprehension of content-related (erosion, deposition, and transportation) texts. We used a quantitative measure of students' ability to detect incongruities in a related text, complemented with a qualitative analysis of the data. The study included 78 fourth-grade students (including eight with disabilities). The curriculum was generally successful, with significant progress shown in students' ability to monitor their comprehension after the intervention.

Teaching Science to Young Children with Special Needs

“…Students with special needs in the elaborative interrogation group scored signifi cantly higher on immediate and delayed factual recall (i.e., stating a fact about an animal), and immediate and delayed explanation scores (i.e., explaining why that fact makes sense). In another control group comparison design, Martinez-Alvarez et al ( 2012 ) examined the effects of a science curriculum (InSciRead) on reading comprehension outcomes, and found only moderate effects of the intervention.…”

“…Other inquiry based science curricula included Early Childhood Hands-On Science (ECHOS; Greenfi eld et al, 2009 ), Early Science Curriculum (Smith et al, 2013 ), and InSciRead (Martinez-Alvarez et al, 2012 ). InSciRead is a curriculum used for English Language Learners that incorporates a substantial reading comprehension strategy component.…”

“…In terms of instructional arrangement, three of the studies were implemented using large group instruction in a general education classroom (Dalton, Morocco, Tivnan, & Mead, 1997 ;Martinez-Alvarez, Bannan, & Peters-Burton, 2012 ;Mastropieri et al, 1998 ), two were implemented with small groups in a resource room (Aydeniz, Cihak, Graham, & Retinger, 2012 ;Bay, Staver, Bryan, & Hale, 1992 ), two were implemented in small groups within a special education selfcontained classroom (Smith, Spooner, Jimenez, & Browder, 2013 ;Utley et al, 2001 ), two were implemented in small groups within a preschool Head Start program (Gonzalez et al, 2011 ;Greenfi eld et al, 2009 ), two were conducted using one-on-one teaching arrangements (Knight, Smith, Spooner, & Browder, 2011 ;Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Sullivan, 1994 ) and one study used both small group and one-on-one teaching arrangements in a summer remedial program (Nelson, Smith, & Dodd, 1992 ).…”

“…After reading a science passage and writing a summary, the students' summaries were assessed by calculating the percentage of important information included (Nelson et al). Martinez-Alvarez et al ( 2012 ) also used a reading comprehension assessment. This assessment, adapted from Palincsar and Brown ( 1984 ), is called detecting incongruities.…”

Improving reading strategy knowledge in young children: what self-report questionnaires can reveal

“…Furthermore, emergent research is starting to link LLS not only with language outcomes but also with better academic performance in content areas such as language, arts, mathematics or science (Ardasheva & Tretter, 2013;Martinez-Alvarez, Bannan, & Peters-Burton, 2012). Some of the programmes followed in CALLA and these recent studies were the background for our research in a CLIL context.…”