- Volume 7, Issue 1, 1998

Introduces three articles that explore teachers’ and children’s talk in a program for struggling readers; describes how Vygotskian perspectives, along with structure and directness, form their teaching frame; examines three learning settings that have traditionally failed struggling readers; and pays attention to the social nature of learning, showing that struggling readers can succeed in each social setting.

Shares examples of explicit teacher talk to demonstrate its influence on learners: encouraging positive reading behaviors, thinking metacognitively, and using meaning as well as sounding out words. Describes teacher talk that (1) promotes struggling readers’ understandings and control in reading; and (2) that empowers novice teachers and thus their students. Demonstrates that clear instruction enables children to influence learning in peers.

Describes Book Sharing Sessions, in which struggling readers are immersed in peer discussions about books they have read. Discusses how, through this immersion and through modeling and explicit instruction, children learn to think about what is important in a book; how to convey its meaning; and how to ask questions, listen, and lead discussions.

Uses excerpts from children’s conversations to illustrate talk that occurs in three regular contexts in which struggling readers can work: weekly visits to a day care center where they read to younger children, daily partner reading, and daily inquiry project time. Suggests ways to promote talk in each context that will empower these learners.

Argues that talk is a critical variable in work with struggling readers, contributing to their problem solving and engagement in reading tasks. Speculates about factors that contribute to children’s failure: child and family factors, constraints within which teachers and schools operate, and the adversarial nature of the discourse surrounding reading instruction.