Breaking Down Barriers to Student Success in Content Area Text 

Benita G. Bruster
Austin Peay State University

Introduction
     Literacy demands are increasingly complex and more than ever before, students are required to achieve at higher academic levels.  In a world driven by technology, the complexity of literacy skills is increasing, as the format of texts becomes more diverse. Rapidly changing technology and how readers view literacy demands that students learn differently and acquire literacy skills that will be used in different ways. Unfortunately, between the years of 1992 and 2005, there was no significant difference in the percentage of students performing at or above the basic level in literacy (National Assessment Educational Progress, NAEP, 2005).
     Understanding the barriers that hamper students’ reading success is essential in determining how to teach struggling readers.  Approximately eight million students between fourth and twelfth grade struggle to read at grade level. Seventy percent of older readers require some form of remediation in reading, with the most common concern being comprehension skills and strategies. They simply are not able to comprehend as they read. Both dropouts and high school graduates are demonstrating significantly lower reading skills than ten years ago according to the NAEP, 2005.
     The barriers facing student success are staggering, multi-faceted, and increasingly demanding. In order for teachers to help students meet these changing literacy demands, all teachers must change traditional teaching practices to begin breaking down the barriers that students face.  Students must be taught and given the skills that will move them beyond the basic literacy skills of the elementary grades.  This will enabling them to be successful with more challenging and rewarding literacy experiences of the middle and secondary school years. Inevitably, for many of these students, changing the methods of how we teach them is the answer. Older students must be taught how to:  a) to select materials that interest them, b) read required grade level materials c) perform well on standardized tests, and d) use effective strategies to comprehend texts across all content areas. Students must comprehend material that they may or may not have an interest in, content in which they have limited background knowledge, and material that is embedded with complex subject matter content. The research on reading comprehension is extensive, convincing, and strong; however, compared to ten years ago; significantly fewer adults demonstrate the skills necessary to perform complex and challenging literacy activities (NAEP, 2005). When working with struggling readers, it is imperative that the years of conclusive research on reading comprehension be effectively applied.
Reading Comprehension: Research and Theory
     Comprehension is at the heart of the reading process. Much of the research on reading comprehension is grounded in studies of what constitutes good readers. According to the research and reported findings of Duke and Pearson (2002), good readers:

• Remain active and have goals in mind as they read.
• Make predictions before reading and as they read.
• Construct, revise, and question the meanings as they read.
• Read selectively; they know when to read fast or slow, and when to reread.
• Monitor their understanding and make adjustments.
• Integrate prior knowledge with the text.
• Read different texts differently (p., 223).

     Given the fact that we know what good readers do as they read, can we teach struggling readers to emulate these behaviors as they read? Duke and Pearson (2002) suggest the following five components to an effective instructional model for comprehension: 

• An explicit description of the strategy and when it should be used.
• Teacher and student modeling of the strategy in action.
• Collaborative use of the strategy in action.
• Guided practice using the strategy with gradual release of responsibility.
• Independent use of the strategy (p., 234).

     The ultimate goal is for students to become increasingly more independent in using comprehension strategies. There is a gradual release of responsibilities in using comprehending strategies over to the student as proficiency increases.  The strong support provides for the effective components for reading comprehension to be acquired. The theoretical underpinning must be in place for the teacher, before the barriers hampering reading success can be removed. Understanding how students acquire knowledge and the importance of the social environment in the context of learning is crucial in providing the optimal learning outcomes for students. A students’ development appears on two social planes: the interpsychological category, between people, and the intrapsychological category, within the child. At the interpersonal level, the child develops through the medium of language, as well as through action. Between the actual level of development and the level of potential development is the zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal development allows mental development of the child to be understood. “What the child can do with assistance today she will be able to do by herself tomorrow” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 87). The process of generating meaning occurs on three planes: the sociohistorical, the interpersonal, and the intrapersonal.
     A proven instructional technique for increasing comprehension is “think-aloud” (Pressley et al., 1992). Think-aloud is a form of teacher modeling and verbally demonstrating effective thought process while reading, when to use certain strategies and when not to. Student think-aloud has also proven to be effective; one possibility is that students are not as impulsive. They have to slow down and think as they are reading. Kucan and Beck (1996) and Beriter and Bird (1985) found that student think-aloud strategies improved comprehension. Explicit instruction using the think-aloud strategy in teaching students to: a) predict, b) clarify, c) visualize, d) summarize, and e) question will greatly improve comprehension.  Acquiring these strategies, coupled with the monitoring of text complexity by the teacher will develop skilled readers. Teachers will be able to slowly decrease the level of support over time and will begin to break some of the barriers faced by struggling readers.  
Model of Instruction
     This Increase-Decrease Model (I and D Model) of comprehension instruction combines the effective utilization of the research and theory to effectively teach struggling readers to comprehend. The model includes three stages of instruction and the five comprehension process strategies listed above. The I and D Model allows for the gradual release of responsibility through three distinct stages with varying levels of support from the teacher.  Teachers will scaffold students in moving from an “other-regulated” to a “self-regulated” learner while learning effective reading strategies.  In order for the effective transition of higher level cognitive processing to occur, the learner must move from other-regulation to self-regulation (Wertsch, 1979).  The I and D Model of instruction will gradually increase the level and complexity of text and slowly decrease the level of scaffolding that is provided by the teacher until the students are capable of taking on the skill of comprehension alone. The five reading process strategies that are critical to comprehending text are: 1) visualization, 2) questioning, 3) predicting, 4) summarizing, and 5) clarifying.   Each process strategy is taught to struggling readers using the scaffold  think-aloud protocol aligned with the appropriate level and type of text.  Keene and Zimmermann (1997) “We build meaning by doing something with the text” (p.167) and the images created while reading, have little meaning unless associated with other memories in our lives.  There are three specific stages which incorporate specific language and teaching techniques that support each of the five emerging comprehension skills of the struggling reader (Bruster, 2006).
Stage I
     In Stage I, the teacher uses extensive teacher modeling to teach each of the five process strategies to the student. There are extensive scaffolded opportunities in the text that guide and support the understanding of each process strategy.  A study conducted by  Silven and Vauras  (1992) demonstrated that students who were trained to use think-aloud as part of their comprehension training were better at summarizing information than students that did not have the training. The level and the complexity of text are critical to teaching process. The text must provide ample opportunities for the teacher to model each of the five process strategies as well as be on an independent reading level for the student.  Opportunities to clearly model examples in which the think-aloud strategy can be effectively demonstrated must be evident in the texts selected. The student must have extensive opportunities to work with the teacher in independent level texts while learning the five process strategies.
Stage II
     Stage II begins to gradually shift some of the responsibility of the think-aloud strategy and use of the five process strategies over to the student. Gradually, the scaffolds are removed and the teacher and student begin to share the responsibility of comprehending.  The engagement and the support is still an integral part of the interaction, but the student is beginning to effectively use the think-aloud process while reading with very little support from the teacher.  Students are taught to think, question, visualize, clarify, and make reasonable predictions as they read appropriately leveled texts with ample models and examples. The most often used and scientifically based instructional practices involved teaching children how to ask questions when they read, how to monitor their comprehension, and how to provide summaries of text.  Literacy learning is a social process (Bruner, 1973; Vygotsky, 1978). Children’s higher level cognitive skills are developed as a result of social relationships. A supportive learning environment in which the dialogue between student and teacher maintains the principals of modeling, uses supportive strategies, and shares the gradual release of responsibilities of the new learning tasks. This is critical for the student’s cognitive development.
     During Stage II, the teacher and students share conversations about the text, and students are engaged in each of the five process strategies. Students engaged in comprehension monitoring keep track of their comprehension processes and take action when these processes break down (Wray, 1994).  With the gradual release of each comprehension process strategy, the teacher is able to support students with language that will result in self-monitoring and ultimately self-regulation of each comprehension strategy. Duke and Pearson (2002) suggest that there are positive results from asking different types of questions while reading.  Students’ understanding and recall are influenced by the questions and models that are provided by their teacher.  Through interaction with an adult or a more knowledgeable peer, the teacher gradually releases responsibility of the learning task to the student.  The same process occurs in the comprehension process as students are guided through the acquisition of new skills. Extensive teaching and scaffolding, followed by the gradual release of responsibility, the student takes on the self-regulation of effective comprehending as they read. Students learn best through activities that arise from the key social relations in their lives (Damon, 1990). As in cooperative learning and reciprocal teaching, Damon (1990) reports that children’s thinking tends to mirror the procedural language of the social contexts in which they participate. In reciprocal teaching, a scaffolded approach to teaching comprehension strategies is utilized in a small group setting, until students are ultimately able to take on the role of the teacher.
Stage III
     The final and independent stage, Stage III, is the opportunity for independent processing to occur. Each of the five process strategies are independent and the student incorporates each of the five process strategies into comprehending without the support from the teacher.  In order for students to effectively use metacognitive strategies, the reading material and the learning task must be tasks of intermediate difficulty, not too easy and not too difficult (Brown, 1978).  In Stage III, students are able to internally regulate the think-aloud strategy, and the action of comprehending text is independent. The transition from other-regulation to self-regulation behavior is complete when students are able to successfully complete the think-aloud sequences without help and furthermore apply the think-aloud task to other contexts and across other content areas. Supportive instructional environments, which encourage social interactions as a vital component of the instruction, include research on reciprocal teaching (Brown & Palinscar, 1985), cooperative learning and peer tutoring (Bruner, et al., 1966), and self-regulatory behaviors (Brown, 1978). Bruner’s theory of instruction views the teacher as an intricate working model with which the student can interact. Learners have a human need to respond to others and to jointly work toward an objective. The language of the interactions belongs to the student before independent self-regulated behaviors become internalized.
     The ability to THINK should be high on the educators’ list as a goal for all children. Students must learn to structure their own cognitive activities in which learning can occur. Students need to design, monitor, evaluate, and revise their own plans for learning.  Brown (1978) refers to these behaviors as self-regulatory behaviors. “Schools should be places that teach children how to think rather than deluge them with specific content which may soon be outdated (p. 27)”. Constructing shared meaning and communication using dialogue is necessary for society to properly function and for our society to survive (Bohm, 1989, p.17). Students must learn about their own cognitive characteristics and appropriate strategic processes. The careful structure of the learning task by the teacher will enable students to learn from their learning process. Bruner (1966) argues that effective teaching will expose children to a variety of ways of thinking and will train children in cognitive processes that can be generalized across disciplines. The social context of learning is a valuable component of how children view themselves as learners. In order for students to learn from their learning, a variety of instructional settings, models, and strategies must be in place. These carefully structured learning opportunities will improve the reading comprehension for struggling students.
     Comprehension is the active mental processing that students bring to the act of reading. Active comprehension, as a meaning-making process, is at the heart of reading. In fact, some have defined reading as “thinking guided by print” (Perfetti 1985); however, the struggling reader must have the skills, language, and thinking processes in place before they are required to use them independently (Bruster, 2006). Comprehension strategies provide readers with tools to connect and assimilate information from the text to a level of understanding that is purposeful (Stahl 2004).  When instructional principles are embedded in content, subject-area teachers will be able to provide and reinforce instruction in the skills and strategies that are particularly effective in each content area.  Coordinated instruction with the language arts teachers and content specific-teachers, will enable students to become fluent with comprehension across all content areas.  The idea is not that content-area teachers should become literacy teachers, but rather that they emphasize reading and comprehension practices that are specific to their content.  The active use of the I and D Model is important for all subject matter teachers, as they support struggling readers and help them to comprehend the content they are teaching.  Breaking down barriers to student success is complex and no one single program or strategy is the answer. Learning is about connecting, manipulating, and being engaged in the learning process. The utilization of supportive strategies to teach comprehension allows students the opportunity to experience success in a variety of contexts, develop self-confidence, and to try new strategies in an interactive and supportive learning environment.

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