Theme 4: Concept of reading and the reading process

7KHILQDOWKHPHWKDWHPHUJHGWKURXJKWKHDQDO\VLVUHIHUUHGWRWKHSDUWLFLSDQWV¶ concept of reading and the reading process. Although there are two main sub- WKHPHVµ+ROLVWLFDSSURDFK¶DQGµ5HGXFWLRQLVWPHFKDQLVWLF¶DSSURDFKWKHVXE- themes were further broken down as illustrated by the headings in Figure 9.

As acknowledged through the narratives exploring themes one to three, considerable differences were evident in the responses of individual participants. Therefore, whilst the main sub-themes identify two different approaches, this does not portray a crude assumption that every participant adopted one approach rather than the other. Whilst the responses of some individuals did convey a particular approach, through the analysis, the two sub-themes were considered as a spectrum. Thus, individual participants

ranged from holistic to reductionist/mechanistic with regard to their conceptualisation of reading and the processes involved in reading.

Figure 9: Theme 4

A total of eight participants shared responses that could be considered as reflecting a more reductionist approach to reading. Several children did not readily discuss the use of strategies when reading, nor acknowledge skills related to the reading process. Seven children expressed that the frequency of reading (i.e. practice) or actually having many books indicated competency. Whilst these may indeed be factors associated with individuals regarded as competent readers, it portrays a reductionist perspective.

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³:HOOWKH\JRRGUHDGHUVWHQGWRKDYHORWVRIERRNVDQGUHDGDORW´(Participant 10)

When children in the sample discussed their own experiences of using strategies to facilitate reading, there tended to be a greater focus on the mechanics of the reading process, including phonetic stUDWHJLHVDQGµEUHDNLQJ GRZQ¶ enabling them to decode individual words. A total of twelve children

made reference to using such decoding strategies. Additionally, three children spoke about the importance of pronouncing words or knowing how to say the individual words clearly and accurately.

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(Participant 12)

³0PP ,¶PQRWVXUHWREHKRQHVW,GRQ¶WNQRZKRZ«,¶OOMXVWDVNWKHWHDFKHUXVXDOO\ or spell it out. IWGRHVQ¶WPDWWHUWKDW,GRQ¶WNQRZWKHPHDQLQJRILWDWWKHPRPHQWEXW LW¶VMXVWLPSRUWDQWWKDW,VD\WKHZRUG´3DUWLFLSDQW)

As illustrated by the links between sub-themes in Figure 14, there were some participants who talked about strategies or skills that signified a position between a reductionist and holistic conceptualisation of reading and the reading process. For example, seven participants spoke about using a dictionary or thesaurus to support them in reading. Whilst for two individuals a dictionary would be used in order to spell out or say the word (referring to the syllables), the others showed an awareness that the purpose of using such materials was to establish word meaning. Additionally, participant 2 highlighted that a competent reader used expression whilst reading, giving an example to demonstrate this. As being able to identify the appropriate expression or intonation when reading involves having awareness beyond the individual words (reading within context), this appears to be less mechanistic than decoding strategies and moving toward a more holistic approach.

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Within the sample, a total of nine participants shared responses that could be considered as reflecting a more holistic concept of reading and the reading process. Many of these children also commented upon the use of mechanistic

strategies such as decoding, but they showed an awareness of more holistic approaches in order to derive meaning from text. Four participants explicitly associated the notion of a competent reader with the fundamental ability to understand what they were reading. A more holistic approach also became HYLGHQW WKURXJK WKH FKLOGUHQ¶V H[SODQDWLRQV RI VWUDWHJLHV WKH\ XVHG VXFK DV reading further ahead to gain understanding and being able to identify within the text where they had become confused so they could then remediate misunderstandings and gain clarification.

³,IWKH\FDQXQGHUVWDQGDOORILWRUVD\DOORILWRUUHPHPEHULW7KH\WDNH it all in and MXVWXQGHUVWDQGZKDWWKH\ZDVUHDGLQJ´ (Participant 1)

³,XVXDOO\JREDFN, I go back where I thought it was confusing and I see what I read EHIRUHDQGWKHQ,UHDGLWDJDLQDQGXVXDOO\LWPDNHVVHQVHDIWHUWKDW´3DUWLFLSDQW 4.5 Interim Discussion: Summary of Study One and rationale for Study Two

The initial exploration of reading skills in a sample of children with an ASC allowed a comparison of reading accuracy (decoding) with reading comprehension skills. Analysis of standardised scores highlighted that although the majority of participants achieved scores within the broad average range, a discrepancy between reading accuracy and reading comprehension (higher reading accuracy scores) characterised the sample. These findings will be considered in more detail in the µ*eneral Discussion¶ (see Chapter 7), and with relation to existing research in this field. However, overall, the results support the growing evidence base that has identified a tendency for young SHRSOH ZLWK $6&¶V Wo experience difficulties with reading comprehension. Therefore, this further highlights the necessity for purposefully designed, evidence-based interventions for this group, in order to support them to develop their reading comprehension skills.

After haYLQJLGHQWLILHGWKHUHDGLQJDQGFRJQLWLYHµSURILOHV¶RIWKHFKLOGUHQLQWKH sample (discussed in Chapter 7), an exploration of a number of component comprehension skills was carried out. These discourse level skills have been identified within the research literature as being involved within the complex process of comprehending written text. An analysis of the performance of the individual children in the sample on the component tasks enabled general patterns of competence and difficulty to be identified. This was of particular relevance in the development of the Reading Comprehension Intervention, as outlined in detail in Chapter 5 and accompanying appendices. Namely, those areas where participants demonstrated difficulties were identified as key skills to be targeted through the individual intervention sessions. Specifically, scores on the component tasks highlighted that the participants experienced difficulties with comprehension monitoring (both at the sentence level and to gain a holistic understanding of the main ideas in the text), resolving global coherence inferences (i.e. drawing upon and integrating their own background knowledge in order to achieve a full understanding) and making predictions about future events. Therefore, the analysis undertaken in Study One LQIRUPHG WKH UHVHDUFKHU¶V VHOHFWLRQ RI DSSURDFKHV DQG VWUDWHJLHV WR EH incorporated within the intervention: they must directly target or facilitate the development of these skills. Additionally, the development of the intervention was further informed through the insights gained via a thematic analysis of the individual semi-structured interviews. The responses indicated that many of the children required support in order to develop a more holistic understanding of the reading process (i.e. to read in order to achieve meaning), to develop their awareness of their own reading abilities and the thought processes involved in reading (metacognition), together with the need to develop their knowledge and awareness of strategies to support reading comprehension.

As described in the following chapter, the researcher ensured that the approaches used within the intervention and both the structure and content of the sessions, would provide opportunities to develop the aforementioned skills. Considerable attention was also directed to the development of

strategies and materials that were particularly appropriate for learners with an ASC (for example, designing visual aids to support verbal explanations and discussions).

Chapter 5

Study Two: Methodology

This chapter describes in detail the development of the reading comprehension intervention. Firstly, the rationale for the use of a multiple- case study design is explained. This is followed by details of how participants from Study One were selected for involvement, and how the component comprehension data was analysed to inform the planning of the individually tailored intervention. The rationale for the use of particular approaches within the intervention is outlined, together with the quantitative and qualitative measures used in order to evaluate the intervention.