Teaching reading and study skills in the secondary schools

Rose, Melvin Frederick (1984) Teaching reading and study skills in the secondary schools. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Traditionally, teaching can be legitimately described as assumptive teaching, where the teacher simply assumes that students have the requisite skills and abilities to handle their reading and study assignments. Research and experience clearly illustrate that this assumption is quite likely false and that many students are having difficulty reading their assignments independently. Coupled with the fact that students receive most of their information through print and that this trend is not likely to disappear, the technological revolution notwithstanding, the need for a new philosophy of teaching subject matter would seem obvious. -- One mode of content-area teaching that has proved successful is what has been labelled Reading in the Content Areas. The basis of this approach is that teachers must concern themselves with the process of learning as well as with the products of learning. This does not imply that content area teachers are expected to sacrifice content in favour of teaching reading but rather that the content area teacher, utilizing the curriculum material pertinent to his field, incorporates in his teaching style a number of validated learning strategies. These strategies will allow teachers to intervene during the learning process and thus facilitate learning rather than simply being concerned with assessing how well (or how poorly) learning has taken place. -- Some might argue that the foregoing describes teaching as it is rather than suggesting a new trend or philosophy. However, a review of the literature concerning high school reading shows that such is not the case. Historically, reading at the high school level has been mainly remedial in nature and not very successful at that. In addition; various observational studies have concluded that at present in all levels of schooling there is mainly a concern for management instruction, transition and comprehension assessment as opposed to comprehension teaching. -- The literature also shows that the philosophy of content area reading has progressed well beyond the stage of mere rhetoric to a number of carefully delineated, practical teaching strategies. In keeping with a number of recognized authorities in the field this thesis proposes a particular scheme of strategies that will ensure content area teachers become concerned with process rather than product.

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