The Strategies Instructional Approach

Abstract

The Strategies Instructional ApproachOVER THE PAST ten years, various efforts to develop and validate instructional programs to train students in strategies and thinking skills have been initiated. These efforts have usually focused on either the benefits of specific strategy training or on the very general parameters of how strategy instruction should be implemented. As a result, the translation from research to practice has often resulted in educational applications that have either been removed from common academic and social tasks required for school success, or the applications have not been sufficiently intensive or specific to have a significant impact on the learning and performance of individuals with handicapping conditions. To be successful, strategies instruction must focus on both the general and specific elements of instruction within the context of a rich strategy environment Well designed strategy environments should promote, model, guide, and prompt efficient and effective learning and performance across settings for all students, not just those with learning disabilities or handicaps. This has been the primary goal of researchers involved in the creation of the Strategies Intervention Model developed at the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities. The authors of this article describe how they define and view the use of strategies for instruction and explain how the basic concepts of strategies instruction have been operationalized for use in educational settings.There is a spectrum of cognitive abilities and levels of information processing that might be considered in a cognitive instructional approach for teaching students who are mildly handicapped or at-risk for school failure. Indeed, a number of information-processing models have been proposed as a means of understanding and thinking about the intervention process (e.g. Brown & ). These models have attempted to explain those aspects of information processing that are fixed or not modifiable in the individual as well as those processes that are Downloaded by [University of Glasgow] at 19:35 17 September 2013 204 Deshler and Lenzalterable or subject to the influence of experience or external feedback and intervention. In addition, these models have also attempted to identify which processes are automatic or unconscious and which processes may be generated, altered, or directed by the individual as part of the purposeful processing of information. Therefore, a major purpose of the development of various models of information processing has been to describe how learning occurs and what are the parameters governing instructional intervention for students who are dysfunctional learners.Another aspect of the work on various information-processing models has been the search for specificity in the nature of individual differences related to good and poor information-processing performance (Stanovich, 1986). That is, researchers want to know if there are specific differences in the information processing systems of indivi...

The Potential To Learn: Pre-Service Teachers Proposed Use Of Instructional Strategies For Students With A Learning Disability

“…As Deshler and Lenz (1989) argue, the support students with LD receive, keeps them afloat in the content curriculum. However, they are not prepared to independently meet demands outside of the support system in the world of adulthood.…”

“…This could be for a number of reasons, such as: the growing number of diverse students in a classroom (Brown, 2003); the belief it is no longer sufficient for teachers to teach content alone (Ellis, 2005); learner-centred approaches are more effective than teacher-centred approaches (Almasi & Gambrell, 1994;Couzijn & Rijlaarsdam, 1996; Garcia-Sanchez & Fidalgo-Redondo, 2006; Sawyer, Graham & Harris, 1992); learner-centred approaches focus on students" experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, talents, interests, capacities, and needs (McCombs & Whistler, 1997); students need to learn how to learn and perform using strategies (Deshler & Lenz, 1989); and students achieve desired educational standards at higher levels and are more likely to develop to their full potential (McCombs & Whistler, 1997).…”

Searching for Validated Inclusive Practices: A Review of the Literature

“…Strategies instruction refers to the process of helping students become self-regulated learners, individuals who have knowledge of how to learn as well as knowledge of how to use effectively what they have learned (Deshler & Lenz, 1989;Palincsar, David, Winn, & Stevens, 1991). In the past decade, a large number of studies have examined how to deliver strategy instruction to students effectively (Pressley et al, 1990).…”

Improving the reading comprehension of primary-school students at frustration-level reading through the paraphrasing strategy training: A multiple-probe design study

“…However, the strategic instruction model should focus on teaching students a set of specific strategies to actively gain knowledge and develop many work skills (Hagaman & Reid, 2008). The strategic instruction model is an approach that focuses on teaching reader how to learn, learn how to apply what he/she learns during reading, and how to overcome reading difficulties and comprehension problems (Deshler & Lenz, 1989;Schumaker, Deshler & Ellis, 1986). A training provided to learners about reading strategies can be an effective way of helping them understand more of what they are reading of using their cognitive strategies during reading and making them aware of difficulties associated with constructing new meanings.…”

“…The purpose of this training is not just to learn a method in a simple way, but also to interpret knowledge that is taught by the proper use of a set of specific cognitive strategies. Therefore, strategic training on reading comprehension should be considered as a useful approach by students as it provides them with an opportunity to better understand and apply the information in the text, store it in memory, and allow them recall it (Deshler & Lenz, 1989;Reid, Lienemann & Hagaman, 2013). However, research on the development of reading comprehension has shown that the strategy training, for instance, causal questioning techniques, enhances children's inferential and comprehension skills ( Van-den Broek, Kendeou, Lousberg & Visser, 2011).…”