NAME: Nicole Nikonetz

DATE: Feb. 6, 2018

Professional Journal Article Analysis

ED 3601- Curriculum and Instruction for English Majors

DESCRIPTION:
You will conduct a search for related contemporary research in the journals:

Language Arts (elementary)

Voices from the Middle (middle school)
The Reading Teacher (elementary and middle school)
English Journal (high school)
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (high school)

You may only use articles which appear in these five journals: these are the top practitioner journals
in the world, and as such the content is by definition high quality. These articles must be contemporary,
meaning they may not be published before 2000 (no exceptions).
You will write a précis of the article in your own words, and a bullet-pointed list of ‘classroom take-
aways’: what insight does this article provide on your chosen topic, and what can you do in your classroom
after having read it?

ARTICLE TITLE: Inviting Reluctant Adolescent Readers into the Literacy Club: Some Comprehension
Strategies to Tutor Individuals or Small Groups of Reluctant Readers
AUTHOR: Elizabeth B. Ambe
JOURNAL: Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy
YEAR: 2007
ISSUE/VOLUME: Issue 50/Volume 8
PAGES: 623-639

TOPIC OF SEARCH: Motivation

SEARCH TERMS: all(Motivation) AND all(reading) AND pub(Voices from the Middle) OR pub(English
Journal) OR pub(journal of adolescent adult literacy)

Ambe, E. B. (2007). Inviting reluctant adolescent readers into the literacy club: Some comprehension
strategies to tutor individuals or small groups of reluctant readers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 50(8), 632-639. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.uleth.ca/docview/216917409?accountid=12063
PRECIS
In no less than 250 words, discuss how this article illuminates the topic for which you went searching. What
is the article about, what are the contours of its argument, and how does it shed light on your topic of
interest?

Elizabeth B. Ambe’s article “Inviting Reluctant Adolescent Readers into the Literacy Club: Some
Comprehension Strategies to Tutor Individuals or Small Groups of Reluctant Readers” is an interesting and
practical article that focuses on strategies to increase reading motivation. Ambe implicitly angles towards
comprehension as the largest factor in creating reluctant readers, claiming that poor comprehension
“begin[s] a negative cycle of slow and laborious reading, poor interaction with text. . . lack of motivation to
engage in reading, and slow progress in reading achievement.”
While improved comprehension is Ambe’s overreaching goal within this article, she breaks this topic
down further, discussing strategies specifically for prior knowledge, specialized vocabulary, and motivation.
I found this perspective on readers’ motivation especially interesting because it distances itself from the idea
that motivation is an intangible and mysterious concept, and instead makes it into a more concrete issue that
can be manipulated by removing the difficulties that result in poor motivation (in this case, reading).
Each strategy Ambe provides aims to construct meaning from a text and to develop positive
attitudes. This ranges from broadly known advice, such as choosing materials that interest students and
providing a variety of genres in a wide range of content areas, to more advanced methods such as the DRTA
(Direct Reading Thinking Activity) and context clues (read further below for details on both). I especially
valued the use of pre-reading activities specifically to activate prior knowledge and prepare students to
engage with the texts.
I found this shed light on my search topic because of the prevalence of reluctant readers – especially
further into middle and high school. Motivation is something that I am especially curious and concerned
about, and it was helpful to see specific things I can do to potentially increase motivation. I think it is
important to recognize that unmotivated students often have a reason for feeling that way. These areas of
difficulty preventing students from enjoying reading (or any task, really) are opportunities to actively
develop a growth mindset within students and to demonstrate handling challenges in an appropriate and
healthy way.

CLASSROOM TAKE-AWAYS

Using bullet points, list no fewer than 5 take-aways from this article for your future classroom. What will
you do now that you might not have done before?

 Context clues: an intervention tool aimed at increasing students’ sight-word recognition of

vocabulary words. Using synonyms, antonyms, comparison, and other methods teachers introduce
new vocabulary words that are crucial for comprehension of the material and likely to be
encountered in the future. Students use these teacher-created sentences to infer meaning of the word
and then create their own sentences.
What I like: By increasing sight-word recognition, there is a greater chance of activating
student knowledge before reading the materials. Using pre-reading activities such as these
would increase student comprehension and meaning within the text, as well as give them
practice for contextually inferring meaning.
Why it can be beneficial in my classroom: I am especially interested in using these strategies
in guided reading groups, and I think that this one could be used to facilitate conversation at
the end of each discussion. This way, students can be kept at the appropriate reading level but
all have the chance to practice context clues.
 The DRTA (Directed Reading Thinking Activity) strategy to increase student comprehension. This
features three main questions aimed at prompting responses through interpretation, clarification, and
application: (1) What do you think or what do you think will happen next? (2) Why do you think so?
and (3) Can you prove it?
What I like: I like that it creates a dialogue between the student and teacher, or between
students (if used in small groupwork). The way it combines prediction, questioning, and
setting the purpose for reading makes it very adaptable to any text.
Why it can be beneficial in my classroom: Using it explicitly with students and making them
aware of the steps and prompts is a great way to promote executive functioning and give
students easy-to-use tools for further readings. Having a strategy that students can ultimately
use on their own = increased comprehension = increased enjoyment of reading = increased
motivation to read

 Using DRTA techniques for post-reading journaling

What I like: Using DRTA questioning in combination with creative activities such as
journaling creates opportunities for students to reflect on their comprehension and further
make personal connections and give readers a sense of ownership over what they read.
Why it can be beneficial in my classroom: The goal in using comprehension strategies is so
that students will eventually be able to use the strategies independently with their own
reading. To facilitate student independence and success with these strategies, it would be
important to have more exposure to it and to get used to working with these strategies. Using
it for post-reading DRTA would provide this exposure.

 Setting a purpose for reading

What I like: Setting a purpose for reading gives students the opportunity to comprehend and
process information through a specific lens. By knowing which information they will need
after reading the text, the processing method for the text will alter to give students a goal.
Why it can be beneficial in my classroom: This actually linked to the way I taught reading in
PSI. The focus was on making connections, and I found that giving students this general
purpose affected their reading strategies greatly. Because the purpose was very general, they
came up with a multitude of reading strategies catered to each of them.

 Activating prior knowledge through brainstorming

What I like: I like that this tactic is open-ended and easily transferrable between topics and
units. The versatility through content areas gives students a large range of directions to
pursue when brainstorming and can clarify where potential miscommunications can occur
before they happen.
Why it can be beneficial in my classroom: It encourages personal engagement with the text
from the text’s very introduction. By brainstorming ideas or topics related to the title, the
cover, or even the back cover, students are searching for applications to their own life, skills,
and knowledge without being explicitly asked to do this.