Jaminet Research

The Future of Reading Home Learn More Standards Inspiration About the Author

Phase I: Research into the impact of voluntary, independent reading on overall reading scores.

My initial driving question during my first semester in the Innovative Learning program was to explore the impact of free, voluntary reading - commonly known as pleasure reading - on reading proficiency in middle school students.

In my teaching context the students receive very little face time with a teacher, so I wondered if increasing the volume of required pleasure reading might be a simple way to increase my students’ reading ability. My literature review of previous research over the decades supported the supposition that the more a person reads, the better they are at reading. Test scores on a national level indicated that students who read more scored higher on reading performance assessments.

Read more here about my original driving question, the background and need, rationale, literature review, and results.

the "take-aways" from my action research at my site

Phase II: Research on Techniques of Transliteracy

If more reading didn't lead to better reading... what is a solution?
My action research results showed that my students knew the importance of reading and felt that they should be reading well, but they didn't see themselves as successful readers. Further, increased reading volume didn't necessarily correspond to better reading comprehension. Put simply, if they don’t like it, they don’t do it. Increasing the amount of unsuccessful reading does not bring successful reading. My students needed their reading to bring them meaning, engagement, confidence, and yes, pleasure. I set out to develop a capstone project that would use 21st century learning innovations and technology to “hook” my students on reading.

Originally my idea was that I could create a “reset” button”. Create that one positive experience with reading that might be a seed. I wanted to bring my readers enjoyment and motivation, especially those who had already experienced frustration and perceived failure. While designing this project I stumbled across the transliteracy theorists.

For several weeks I viewed my ELA instruction through the lens of transliteracy. My lessons exposed the students to "reading" through text, audio, video, and multimedia. The results show that my students have one foot planted in each world - traditional reading and transliterate reading. A majority of my middle school students report that a real book is still their favorite way to read. At the beginning of my eight week exposure to a digital platform for reading and reading instruction, 52% of my students reported hating or disliking the multi-media, online reading program and only 14% liked or loved it. After months of exposure, the results were almost completely reversed: 10% of the students hated/dislike it and 57% like/loved it. Sixty-seven percent of the students reported that they felt they gained the best understanding of their reading when they read the text with audio and/or audio and visual highlighted tracking. Over half the students, 53%, report that the background information and skill videos are helpful or extremely helpful. One student said, "Three things that I like about the digital StudySync program are that I can listen and read to the text in the book other than just reading it wondering how to pronounce it, also it is very accessible because you have the book but if you like reading online you can sign into StudySync. The third thing I like about StudySync is that there are helpful videos that help understand the lesson." Overall, 71% of the middle school prefer a digital platform for Language Arts.

Literature Review from Phase I Research:

Design Process

Support and Next Steps