Embedding comprehension within reading acquisition processes

Contemporary understandings of reading development acknowledge the compilation and coordination of a range of skills and strategies (Paris, 2005). The development of both decoding and comprehension, integrated into reading acquisition processes, reflects this building of complementary reading skills. Hence, the research reported here aimed to examine early reading instruction to gain insight into how skilled teachers incorporate this duality of purposes into instructional practices. In order to closely examine students at the beginning stages of reading instruction 16 Reading Recovery teacher/student dyads were observed, with book reading interactions coded and analysed to detail teacher attention. The results reveal how teachers guide students towards the co-construction of text meanings and highlights teachers’ and students’ active engagement in talk interactions, as central to the instructional process.