Students who struggle with literacy in the print culture of high school: exploring strategies for success

Abstract

Why is it that some students who struggle with print literacy manage to succeed at high school while others, given the same opportunities to succeed, fail? Through weaving together and analysing the stories of four actors-a Learning Support teacher, a teacher's aide and two former students-this thesis aims to answer that question. At the start of her research the Learning Support teacher believed that the implementation of her school's explicitly taught reading and comprehension program would be the most obvious contributing factor to student success. Through focussed conversations and subsequent reflection, she discovers that relationships, friendships and connectedness to the school community are the factors most commonly recalled by students as central to their high school journeys to success.