Partnering for Success: Text and Peer Engagement During Paired Reading

Abstract

In this article we report the results and classroom implications of a qualitative study that explored third‐grade students' interactions with each other as they partner read. Participants included 10 students, each of whom engaged in three readings with a partner during recorded observations. All students had been taught structures for partner reading and numerous reading strategies by their classroom teacher. The transcripts of the readings were parsed, annotated with observational notes, and coded using descriptive phrases. Students' interactions with each other during the readings revealed that they are capable of productively using their time to support learning during partner reading and spend relatively little time off task and that their use of strategies varies with context (text interest, text difficulty, turn‐taking patterns). Classroom implications for these findings are discussed.