[xmca] Critiques of strategy instruction in comprehension.

[Greg Mcverry <jgregmcverry@gmail.com>]

Hello everyone,

I have been following XMCA for awhile and have enjoyed the conversation as a
lurker. Many of you have assisted me on the LRA/NRC listserv as I tried to
establish an online Vygotsky study group (that was before I knew about XMCA
and all of the wonderful resources within).

 I am wondering if anyone might be able to point me in the direction of a
few studies.

I am looking for critiques of comprehension research that cast strategy
instruction as  cognitive processes rather than a set of social tool that
begins externally and then through social interactions becomes abstract and
internal.

My own thinking, while our lab works from a more cognitive perspective, is
currently heading in this direction. I have come closer to this precipice
for a variety of reasons.

   - In our efforts to teach meaning making while students read online I am
   finding that most of our efforts need to be placed in creating the contexts
   that maximize strategy exchange.
   - Any observable differences seem to be around procedural tool use (cut
   and paste, how to add bullets in a wiki). I rarely see students engage in
   activities that lead to exchanging strategies for making meaning with
   multiple texts.
   - In my teaching of future teachers, students often cite Vygotsky and
   ZoPeD as the cornerstone of their philosophy without paying any credence to
   the larger cultural mediating factors.

I don't disregard strategy instruction. The legacy of Vygotsky, even in a
limited incarnation, has helped to reshape literacy instruction. Thus I am
trying to find research that looks at strategy instruction from a variety of
theoretical perspectives.

Thanks,
Greg

-- 
J. Gregory McVerry
Neag Fellow
University of Connecticut
New Literacies Research Lab
http://newliteracies.uconn.edu
twitter: jgmac1106


" [Champions] have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be
stronger than the skill." -Ali
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