Why is reading recovery successful? A Vygotskian critique of an early reading intervention |
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| Authors: | Kathy Sylva Jane Hurry Sandra Peters |
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| Institution: | 1. University of London, U.K.
2. Dept. of Educational Studies, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, OX2 6PY, Oxford, U.K.
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| Abstract: | Reading Recovery is an intensive, one-to-one intervention for children experiencing reading difficulties after one year of primary school. It aims to intervene before “dysfunctional strategies” and feelings of failure take firm hold in young learners. The programme consists of daily half-hour lessons taught by a teacher trained to diagnose and support a problem-solving approach to reading texts. Lessons are planned so that the learner, no matter how inexperienced with print, is enabled to “act like a reader and writer”. Marie Clay, the founder of Reading Recovery, devised the programme on the basis of intensive work with both fluent and poor readers more than twenty years ago in New Zealand. Many years later Clay and Cazden (1990) analysed the programme from a Vygotskian viewpoint and pointed out aspects which embody Vygotskian principles, especially the notion of “scaffolding”. This paper addresses two questions: (l) which features of Reading Recovery embody Vygotskian notions? and (2) how effective is Reading Recovery at improving literacy skills and transforming children into independent problem solvers in literacy? A large national evaluation study in the U.K. showed that Reading Recovery increased reading attainment and that the gains were still apparent more than one year after the intervention. A small scale observation study demonstrated the “scaffolding” by which Reading Recovery teachers encouraged children to greater independence in reading and writing over the course of the programme. The paper ends by suggesting that future research should address the socio-cultural context of Reading Recovery instead of limiting its focus to narrow test outcomes or explicit teaching strategies aimed at skill enhancement. |
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