The effect of a dialogically oriented intervention program on the reading abilities of struggling readers in second grade

Gilad Brandes*, Naama Evanhaim, Shani Dalal-Zarotski, Ronit Levie, Smadar Patael, Anat Hora, Amalia Bar-On

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies have shown that dialogic instruction can promote reading comprehension, but its contribution to lower-level skills like reading fluency is not as well understood. The paper reports on a dialogically oriented small group intervention for struggling second-grade Hebrew readers, targeting both comprehension and fluency. Rather than top-down instruction, the program focused on providing ample opportunities for students to engage with literacy in enriching and meaningful ways. Nine schools from the same Israeli city were randomly assigned to the intervention or business-as-usual control conditions. Sixty students from the five intervention schools were selected as participants based on RTI Tier 2 criteria. The control group comprised 39 students from the remaining four schools. The groups were matched on measures of reading and reading comprehension. The intervention was administered by participants’ teachers, each working with five children twice weekly for a total of 18–20 sessions. Teachers followed specially designed lesson plans while receiving guidance from the research team. Post-intervention assessments showed that the groups did not differ in reading comprehension, but the intervention group had a significantly higher average reading rate coupled with lower accuracy. Considering the well-known phenomenon in Hebrew reading development, where transitioning from piecemeal decoding to higher-order strategies results in a phase of faster but less accurate reading, these results point to an improvement in participants’ reading fluency. The intervention’s effect on reading fluency and lack of effect on reading comprehension are discussed, as well as the implications of dialogic instruction for broader aspects of literacy and student well-being.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2221-2249
Number of pages29
JournalReading and Writing
Volume36
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2023

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