A pedagogical exploration of guided reading in three primary classrooms

Abstract

The focus of this study is what Alexander (2000) refers to as the ‘heart of pedagogy’: the moment-by-moment transactions between a teacher and a small group of learners, viewed through a socio-cultural lens. I explore how three primary teachers enact a small-group pedagogic approach termed ‘guided reading’; the beliefs and values underpinning and informing their discursive behaviours; and how they have arrived at their current understandings as they have travelled through a changing pedagogic landscape. My research took the form of a multiple case study, drawing on rich qualitative data from observation, interviews and ‘video-stimulated reflective dialogue’. By bringing different data layers into dialogue, I was able to identify patterns and themes, and to reconstruct the teachers’ pedagogies in theoretical terms. The theoretical framework is most substantially derived from the work of Basil Bernstein. Although each lesson was readily identifiable as guided reading, the teachers’ approaches varied substantially, reflecting alternative views of self as teacher-of reading and of children as learners. Certain elements of their pedagogies were identified which appeared likely to support children’s learning, although the high level of teacher control restricted children’s opportunities to engage more actively in their own learning. The children viewed school reading and home reading as distinct cultural practices. The study explores the under-researched area of guided reading, but is also unusual in its attempt to apply a Bernsteinian framework to an aspect of English primary education. It illustrates how fine nuances of teacher behaviour can expand or constrain possibilities for pupil learning, and demonstrates the potential of small-group contexts for pupil learning.

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