Students' Perceived and Actual Use of Strategies for Reading and Writing By Monica Sujung Yoo A ...

180 Pages·2010·1.93 MB·English

by  Monica Yoo

Students’ Perceived and Actual Use of Strategies for Reading and Writing

By

Monica Sujung Yoo

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

Requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

Education

in the

Graduate Division

of the

University of California, Berkeley

Committee in charge:

Professor, Sarah W. Freedman, Co-chair
Professor, P. David Pearson, Co-chair
Professor, Susan I. Stone

Spring 2010
Students’ Perceived and Actual Use of Strategies for Reading and Writing

© 2010

by

Monica Sujung Yoo
Abstract

Students’ Perceived and Actual Use of Strategies for Reading and Writing

by

Monica Sujung Yoo

Doctor of Philosophy in Education

University of California, Berkeley

Professor Sarah W. Freedman, Co-chair

Professor P. David Pearson, Co-chair

This dissertation examines students’ perceived and actual use of strategies for reading
and writing, through both qualitative and quantitative lenses. It compares and investigates what
students say they do and what they actually do when they read and write about what they have
read. A single quantitative tool, a survey about reading and writing strategy use, was
administered to 75 students in grade 9 English classes. A range of qualitative tools and analyses
were employed with four focal students: (a) reader and writer identity interviews, and (b) a series
of reading-writing tasks for each of three different genres—the literary narrative, persuasive
article, and history text. In each genre, the reading-writing task set consisted of a reading think
aloud protocol on one text, writing in response to the text and a prompt, and participating in a
writing retrospective interview. The study draws upon cognitive and socio-cultural perspectives,
applying genre theory to the literature on strategies for reading, writing, and reading-to-write in
order to frame the ways in which context, identity, and audience affect how students think about
and use strategies for reading and writing.
Reading and writing in different genres entail affordances and constraints that affect
students’ perceptions and enactments of strategies. Furthermore, students’ identities, including
their background experiences and motivations, affect their decisions to prioritize some strategies
over others. Students think differently about strategies for the two interrelated processes: reading
and writing about reading. Students perceive that writing about a text is a more strategic process
than reading alone; but this perception does not necessarily translate into a greater sense of
student ownership and authority over their writing. The public nature of writing in comparison
to the more private nature of reading leads students to prioritize strategies for addressing an
audience over strategies that demonstrate their understanding of content when they write about
what they read.
Students perceived that the most useful strategies for reading were ones that related either
to invoking or to building background knowledge. The genre of the text also influenced the
strategies that the focal students claimed to enact. Students related that strategy use acted as a
motivating factor by making texts more interesting and accessible. They described how the
genre, context, and purpose for reading, affected which strategy they opted to adopt in order to
best fit the reading situation.
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Students’ enactments of reading strategies were full of complexity, and single strategies
were hardly ever used in isolation. Strategies intersected and overlapped as students employed
them together during the process of reading and making inferences, which aided in the
construction of their situation models (Kintsch, 1998). At times, certain strategies played a more
central role than others. Although the focal students tended to use many of the same stock
strategies such as visualizing, rereading to clarify one’s comprehension or understand new
vocabulary, paraphrasing, summarizing, and questioning, how, why, and in what manner they
used the strategies was highly specific and tended to be almost idiosyncratic to the individual’s
background as a reader and his or her purposes and aims for reading. Genre especially
influenced the strategies that students actually used. The focal students’ knowledge and
impressions about how to read a genre impacted which strategies were privileged and how they
were used. Although students used similar strategies across genres, how these strategies were
used differed based on the utility of the strategy in each genre. Students’ knowledge about how
to read and approach a genre helped them choose the best strategies for aiding their
comprehension.
Comparing students’ perceptions about reading to their perceptions about writing about
what they have read, students reported that they were likely to use more strategies for writing
about reading than for reading alone. As students described themselves as writers, they revealed
that their perceptions about audience and genre requirements influenced the strategies they used
when they wrote. Students’ interpretations of the purpose for writing and their ideas about what
a piece of writing in a specific genre should look like influenced the strategies that they thought
were most useful in that genre.
The findings regarding students’ actual use of strategies for writing about reading
indicated that the disciplinary subject matter and genre of each of the readings impacted how
students responded to the texts and prompts. Students’ actual use of strategies revealed their
overarching concerns about audience, genre, and what it means to write in school. These
concerns echoed the findings related to students’ perceptions about writing. Furthermore, how
students approached writing their responses to each of the texts they read for the study (i.e. the
literary narrative, persuasive article, and history text) depended on their identities, which
influenced students’ interest and motivation for writing about what personally mattered.
Regardless of genre, what tended to stand out for students during reading somehow made its way
into students’ written responses.
Students’ perceptions and enactments of strategies differ across genres, purposes, and
contexts. Implications from this study suggest that strategies for reading and writing need to be
taught and learned in relation to disciplinary and genre-specific ways of thinking.

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For:

My parents
Hong and Sun Ae Yoo

and

My grandmother
Junghi Won Yoo

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction and Literature Review 1
Understanding Reading, Writing, and Writing about Texts 2
Drawing upon Strategies 4
Invoking Genres 12
This Dissertation Study 15

Chapter 2: Methods 17
Setting : Magellan High School 17
Participants 20
Data Collection Procedures 22
Data Analysis 28

Chapter 3: Students’ Perceptions about Reading Strategies 33
Strategies that Students Perceive They Use 33
Context and Genre Affect Students’ Perceptions about Reading Strategies 35
Conclusion 48

Chapter 4: Students’ Perceptions about Writing Strategies 50
Writing is a More Strategic Process than Reading 50
Perceptions about Audience and Genre Influence Students’ Writing Strategies 51
Audience and Genre Expectations: The Case of Poetry 65
Conclusion 69

Chapter 5: What Students Actually Do When They Read 71
Reading the Literary Narrative 71
Reading the Persuasive Article 81
Reading the History Text 93
Comparing Perceptions to What Students Actually Do When They Read 104
Conclusion 105

Chapter 6: What Students Actually Do When They Write about What 106
They Have Read
Responding to the Literary Narrative 106
Responding to the History Text 114
Responding to the Persuasive Article 129
Comparing Perceptions to What Students Actually Do When They Write about a Text 140
Conclusion 140

Chapter 7: Conclusion 143
Perceptions about Reading Strategies Are Shaped by Genres 143
Actual Use of Reading Strategies 145
Perceptions of Writing Strategy Use Relate to Audience and Genre 148
Actual Use of Strategies for Writing about Reading 151
Limitations to the Study 153
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Implications for Practice 153
Implications for Future Research 154

References 156

Appendices 162
Appendix A: What I do When I Read Survey 162
Appendix B: Writing about What I’ve Read Survey 163
Appendix C: Survey Follow-Up Interview Questions for Focal Students 164
Appendix D: Reading-Writing Task Set Sample 166
Appendix E: Writing Prompts 170

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List of Tables

Table 1 Results from Reading Strategies Survey: What I do When I Read 33

Table 2.1 Results from Writing Strategies Survey: Writing about What I’ve Read 50

Table 2.2 How Writing Considerations Relate to Students’ Perceived Use 52
of Strategies

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Acknowledgements

Many people had a hand in making this journey possible. First, I’d like to thank my
wonderful and hard-working dissertation committee: Sarah Freedman, P. David Pearson, and
Susan Stone. I am grateful for their support and guidance over the years. All three of them have
been excellent mentors and role models. Sarah has been there for me since I was a
credential/M.A. student in the MUSE program. She supported me as both a teacher and a
scholar. She encouraged me to enroll in the Ph.D. program in order to pursue the questions that I
had as a teacher. She is caring, thoughtful, and tough, when necessary. Sarah always challenges
me to think hard and deeply about my work. David provided me with several opportunities to
collaborate on different research projects. Through these experiences, I was apprenticed into
becoming a scholar. I learn as much, if not more, from who he is and how he does things, as I do
from his direct teaching. David is great at giving positive yet constructive feedback. I always
leave our meetings feeling energized and motivated to take on new challenges. Susan has been
very encouraging and supportive of my work. She asks great questions, which make me
articulate and clarify my thinking in ways that are accessible to others outside the field. As a
young faculty member, she has demonstrated that it is possible to successfully juggle academia
and family life. She deeply cares about all students and their wellbeing. She is understanding,
patient, and generous with her time.

In addition to my dissertation committee, I would like to thank several other faculty
members who have been influential to my growth as a scholar and professional. Ingrid Seyer-
Ochi helps me keep the big picture in mind and reminds me of why I am an educator in the first
place. Her passion for what believes in and what she does is infectious. She prioritizes student
learning and emphasizes the importance of learning by doing. Patricia Baquedano-Lopez
introduced me to qualitative educational research and took me on as a graduate researcher on the
Science Instruction for All (SIFA) project. She taught me to let stories unfold from the data.
Laura Sterponi encouraged me to think outside of the box and to consider how other disciplines
inform educational research. Judith Warren Little took me into her research group and helped
me find a like-minded community during my first few years in the GSE. She is a wonderful
advocate for students. Christine Cziko helps me to stay grounded and focused on the realities
that teachers face on a daily basis. Her humor and spirit brighten my Tuesdays.

I would like to thank all of my classmates in the Pearson, Freedman, and Little research
groups. Their input and encouragement has been invaluable. They are great about bringing up
real concerns and asking thoughtful questions.

A very special thanks goes to my friends in the GSE. My study buddies, Lori Hurwitz,
Wendy Whitney Pierpont, Emily Mintz, Nicola McClung, and Kim Hyunh, have kept me going.
I have treasured their company and their chats. Rose Vilchez has been a great friend to check in
with on a regular basis. She is there to listen whenever I call. Helen Min, Jen Tilson, Susie
Goodin, Kofi Charu Nat Turner, Kathryn Young, Hodari Toure, Liz Boner, Maris Thompson,
Dafney Dabach, Linn Posey, Sharon Merritt, Kate Frankel, Agnes Mazur, and Mary Alice
Callahan have given me great advice over the years. I appreciate all of the care, concern, and
encouragement that my friends have provided.
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I am grateful to Emily F., Noelle, Stacy, Christina, Corrie, Theodore, Tonya, Preeti,
Jennifer, and Carolina for their assistance and support. I would also like to thank Billie Jo, Rosa,
Ilka, and Jenna for being there, answering questions, and assisting in any way that they can.

Last, but not least, I would like to thank my husband Ben. He has been incredibly
patient, loving, generous, and kind during the entire process. Stories from his work as a high
school English teacher help me to remember why I do what I do.

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