An early reader two decades later:

a follow-up case study on the Metacognitive

reading strategies of Jan
Beverley A. Brenna
Abstract
This is a follow-up study regarding one of the early
readers whose metacognitive reading strategies were
explored in my 1991 qualitative case study research,
published in Reading, 29 (2), 3033. Unique factors in the
original study involve the inclusion of young children as
informants related to self, task and text. Six-year-old
Jan is now almost 26, and a semi-structured interview
method was used to examine effects the previous study
may have had on her development as well as her current
preferences regarding reading strategies, comparing her
prole to that of her past reading self. In addition, the
contemporary qualitative study explores conclusions
regarding the reading process that might assist educa-
tors in the teaching of reading as well as facilitate further
research with young children. Results of this follow-up
study support involving young children as informants
regarding their literacy events and imply the need for
further research regarding adult readers, related to
further understandings of the reading process and best
educational practice.
Key words: metacognitive reading strategies, child as
informant, follow-up study, parental literacy histories,
uent readers, avid readers, early readers
Introduction
It was winter, 2010, and I was pondering my previous
masters work with early readers, a case study of the
metacognitive reading strategies of ve children who
were uently decoding and comprehending texts
before direct instruction in Grade 1 (Brenna, 1991).
Many questions related to the original research
remained intriguingly unanswered. Over the years, I
had often wondered about the future steps these
children took towards literacy, and considered long-
itudinal studies that had followed participants longer
than the timeline my work offered (Crago and Crago,
1983). I also wondered what effect, if any, the label of
early reader might have had on the ve young
participants, and whether my work inuenced these
children and their families in the long term a question
many researchers ask when working with children
whose consent to research often reects a caregivers
perspective rather than a childs own.
In the midst of reections related to my original study,
a surprising e-mail from one of my participants, Jan,
who would be 26 later this year, appeared in my inbox.
My name is Jan, and I was one of the children you
studied while researching for your thesis. I have yet to
track down this document at the University Library, but
intend to do so as soon as possible.
. . .I would also be interested in discussing any of your
memories/thoughts from your time with me as a child. . .
it would be interesting to hear what you might have to
say. Please let me know if you would be interested in
assisting me in my research. . .
(Jan, personal communication, 2010).
I immediately contacted Jan and we set up a time to
meet for coffee at a local bookstore. Our avid
discussion skirted the 1991 study, focusing on Jans
current life and some of her reading interests. Thinking
of other studies that had followed up on work with
young children (Fine, 2003) I asked Jan whether she
might be interested in engaging in a further study on
her reading prole. She readily agreed. After complet-
ing an ethics application and designing the framework
of the study, I contacted Jan again and we met three
times in the spring and summer of 2010. In combina-
tion with the preliminary visit in January, the time we
spent together roughly equated with the time I worked
with Jan when she was 6-years-old about 6 h in total.
The original study
My methodology for the 1991 study involved semi-
structured interviews and role playing as primary
methods of data collection with ve young children
who were reading uently before instruction in Grade 1.
The ve children who engaged with the research were
treatedas informants (Hubbard, 1989) andtheir answers
to direct questions added to data obtained through
observation. As play is the childs natural medium of
self-expression (Amster, 1964), I adapted the use of
stuffed animals (Mason et al., 1986), introducing puppet
characters to elicit metacognitive information from
children regarding their reading processes. Not only
did the puppets ask questions through me and listen to
Literacy Volume 45 Number 2 July 2011 55
Copyright r2011 UKLA. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
childrens responses, they were sometimes recipients of
the childrens attempts to teach reading. Caregivers
were also interviewed to attempt to triangulate data
regarding reading strategies used and described by the
children. The caregivers provided additional insight as I
sought to acknowledge home elements that may have
supported the development of metacognitive reading
strategies in children who had not yet received formal
instruction in Grade 1.
The ndings of the study indicated that all ve early
readers treated reading as a problem-solving process
and employed a variety of metacognitive strategies to
ensure successful reading, implying that even very
young uent readers independently manipulate vari-
ables concerning self, task and text (Brenna, 1995b,
p. 61) for the purpose of meaningful reading. In
addition to the exibility and functionality observed
in the childrens reading strategy repertoires, the role
of caregivers in direct teaching as well as modelling
seemed key in terms of the childrens philosophies
about reading as problem solving, although families
had distinct preferences regarding preferred strategies.
Sound it out, Jan was advised by her father and
grandmother when she ran into difculties with a
word, and this strategy appeared to be dominant in
Jans reading strategy tool kit.
Emphasis on problem solving in these homes was
apparent in aspects of daily life where parents encour-
aged their children to solve problems by thinking and
reasoning. I observed Jan doing a puzzle, reminding
herself to look for a piece that has a little bit of
blue. . .to match the other one (Brenna, 1995a, p. 32). I
surmised that condence in problem-solving spilled
from one area of function to another, with particular
strategies such as good-natured trial and error appear-
ing in a number of thinking contexts in addition to
reading. Implications of the study included the idea
that consideration of the value of problem solving as a
personal response to a task necessitates that educators
and parents consider problem solving as a key piece of
the reading process as well as a stance that may be
facilitated before, during and after reading.
The reading puzzle
Since the early 1970s, worldwide debates have
occurred setting traditional, skills-based approaches
to reading against methods that promote reading
instruction in contexts meaningful to children. Borst
(2003) summarises this controversy as symbolic of
democracy at a time when the teaching of reading has
had supporters in opposite camps. Differences related
to philosophies about teaching reading have been
apparent within as well as between countries. One
outcome of these resonant conversations has been
reading research that explores what uent readers
seem to be doing as well as what struggling readers do
not demonstrate in their practice, attempting to get at
the heart of what capable readers do that might be
taught to others.
As educators consider what belongs in current class-
rooms to support childrens reading development,
contemporary thinking inCanada combines anemphasis
on decoding skills with aspects of syntax and semantics
reminiscent of a denition of reading as a psycholinguis-
tic guessing game (Goodman, 1967). Asselin (1999)
discusses the term balanced literacy and indicates that
while it once meant offering an equal number of skills-
based and meaning-based components within a reading
programme, it is evolving to reect a multidimensional
view that includes multiple tiers, each a facet of literacy
instruction. Asselin (2000) describes literacy researchers
infour contexts: those who dene what counts as literacy,
those who investigate whose purposes literacy serves,
those who identify what counts as literate texts and those
who identify what literacy instruction looks like.
In current and evolving practice, literacy instruction will
be project-based rather than subject-based, inquiry-
driven, involve much social collaboration, emphasize
higher-level thinking, include explicit metacognitive
instruction, and use information technologies as pri-
mary tools of learning (Asselin, 2000, p. 61). Recent
work with magnetic resonance imaging techniques
continues to ne-tune our understanding of pieces such
as phonemic awareness in the literacy puzzle. A
potentially causal connection appearing between pho-
nemic awareness and early reading skills, for example,
emerges from data that depicts activity in the language
centre in the brain during uent reading as well as
increased activity in the language centre following
instruction in phonemic awareness (Rosati, 2005).
As time goes on we may be subscribing to a broader
denition of uent reading, referencing a set of
strategies, used successfully, but specic to the indivi-
dual as well as the situation, rather than a set of
strategies all readers must learn and demonstrate. This
view of reading as individual and personal rather than
universal is one supported by my current work with Jan.
Just as literacy canbe seen as part of the broader study of
language (Barton and Hamilton, 2001), my work with
early readers hints that literacy can also be viewed as
part of a wider study of thinking. The current study also
hints that parents own literacy histories are an
important part of the family environment surrounding
the early literacy practices of children.
I approached the current study with an open lens that
focused on aspects of Jans life beyond reading in
addition to three predetermined questions that I hoped
to answer in relationship to the 1991 study. What
effects might the early study have had on Jans
development? What differences and similarities might
I nd in Jans reading prole, past and present? What
insights could be applied to conclusions regarding the
reading process that might assist educators as well as
support further research?
56 An early reader two decades later
Copyright r2011 UKLA
The contemporary Jan
The sketch I devised of 26-year-old Jan is a partial one,
inuenced by the limited time we had together as well
as the informal nature of our dialogue. When we began
our discussions, I considered that some of what Jan
could divulge might not be easy to hear. How had my
study affected her and her family? What path had her
life taken since I left her as a happy, eager child?
Prepared for surprises, I attempted to devise a picture
of Jan as an adult reader, and my questions for her
utilised a three dimensional narrative inquiry space
(Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), moving backwards
and forwards, inwards and outwards, often nudging at
elements of place in order to reassemble the past.
Jan is nowmarried, an accomplished pianist living in a
comfortable bungalow and working as a secretary to
support a husband nearing the end of his university
degree. Jan and her partner have a baby due next
winter, and after some difculties with morning
sickness and fatigue, Jan feels generally quite well.
Jans father, a single parent in the original study, has
remarried, and Jan reports a good relationship with her
stepmother. She also has some connection to her birth
mother, although her stepmother is truly Mom.
In terms of Jans educational career, she has very
successfully completed 1 year of Arts & Science at
University, and plans for more courses when she has
the opportunity; funding is an issue until her husband
completes his studies. Jan is considering careers such
as teaching and copy-editing, choices that allow
exibility as well as capitalise on her changing
interests. I tend to focus really hardcore into some-
thing for a little while, and then four months later I will
be really sick of it and switch off. Ive done that with
painting and drawing . . . calligraphy writing . . . stuff
like that, and Ive jumped back and forth.
I noted that the adult Jan appears to demonstrate
problem-solving abilities similar to those she dis-
played as a young child. Within the context of her
artwork, she consciously applies strategies on a trial
and error basis, a process she labels play. I admired
the brilliant paintings on Jans walls. I dont think I
have. . .skill. I just kind of play. Ive never taken a class
or anything like that. I asked her how, without formal
training, she gures out colours. Just playing with it,
she responded. Ill take a picture of something, and
then you can kind of see . . . She reported using a
colour wheel on the advice of a friend whos taken an
art class. And I buy books, she added.
Effects of the earlystudyonJans development
Questions about ethical practice abound regarding
research with vulnerable populations such as young
children, and studies that include young children as
informants are still unique (Critchley et al., 2007).
Children under 6 years-of-age have been widely
regarded as developmentally unable to serve as valid
reporters of their own mental state (Luby et al., 2007).
It has been suggested that approaches which give
children control over the research process as well as
utilising methods that parallel childrens ways of
seeing and relating to the world, are conducive to
ethical acceptability of research with children (Thomas
and OKane, 1998). My interview tools in the 1991
study appeared to be appropriate, yet at that time I had
no way of knowing what the children really thought of
the experience, and had to rely on their caregivers
assertions as well as my own evaluation of the
childrens responses.
During our recent interviews, Jan described retaining no
direct recollections of me or the work we did together.
The only memory she had of that brief period during the
fall and winter of 19901991 is a moment when she
spotted the embroidered hem of my coat at the Sundog
Faire when strolling with her father looking at crafts.
While she attendedto the coat, her father noticedme and
said to Jan, Theres that lady. . . remember when that
lady came to talk to you about your reading? This may
have been the rst of many reminders from Jans father
in regard to the study, nudges that kept intact some
signicance of our brief relationship.
Memory is an intriguing basket, sometimes holding
real visions of past events, sometimes scraps of
imagined events, and sometimes depictions of events
that others have dropped in and that masquerade as
rst-person recollections. Jan spoke about this as she
considered our study: I only have the kind of
memories, in regards to the research, that people have
after they have been told things . . . My dad talked
about what Id written on that doll bed that I had . . . he
said that I was showing that to you the sign and telling
you what it said. So I have a picture of doing that but
I dont remember actually doing it.
I queried why, if Jan did not remember working with
me, it was important for her to contact me and resume a
connection. Jan talked about how her father, a single
parent at the time of our rst meeting, would mention
the study every once in awhile. I think he was probably
quite proud of it. The study thus became a part of Jans
early life, and curiosity inspired a reconnection.
On more than one occasion during our interviews, Jan
candidly discussed her lack of a university degree, and
how her father has been disappointed by this. Life
circumstances have prevented her from completing an
academic programme, although she has secretarial
credentials and has been supporting her husband
through his undergraduate degree. Dreams of the
future abound and Jan spoke strongly of a desire to
continue her academic career beyond the successful
year of classes in which she excelled. It is possible that
the study inuenced Jans father to have particular
goals for his daughter, stemming from a positive
Literacy Volume 45 Number 2 July 2011 57
Copyright r2011 UKLA
interpretation of her precocious reading abilities,
which is why hed mention it every once in awhile,
and quite possibly her fathers reaction has made Jan
more dissatised than she might have been at her
current level of education. Alternatively, the self-story
of ability that Jan carries may make her more resilient
to challenges regarding scholarly pursuits, and assist
her in nding ways to accomplish what she and her
father have dreamed of in this regard.
Such a positive self-story appears to have emerged on
the basis of a variety of narratives, not merely Jans
inclusion in the original study. I have friends who
remember that the teacher would ask me to come up
and read stories to the class, she said, adding, My
aunt, who was probably 19 at the time, said that there
was this phase when I was four or ve and would carry
around this dictionary. She said it got really obnoxious
because I would know these words that she didnt
even know. I think thats when they put me in
preschool, deciding that I needed friends my own
age . . . I dont remember feeling that I was ahead, or
feeling that I was at all different.
Jan did, however, conde: Im a little bit afraid of
puppets. I recall that my visits with Jan were pleasant
and that she responded comfortably to me and to the
puppet characters. Transcripts included in the thesis itself
corroborate this conclusion: During one role-play, Jan
hugs a tearful puppet who is sadabout her lack of reading
knowledge, advising her to practice her reading. When
the puppet tells her that she feels like crying when she
comes to a word she cant sound out, Jan says candidly, I
dont do that. I just keep going (Brenna, 1991, p. 73).
I probed into her contemporary fear. She indicated
that I think theres a lot of people who have
this . . . this kind of fear . . . of puppets, of clowns. You
know. . . its awkward. I think its a sort of general fear
of them talking to me and I dont know why. . . Im
really uncomfortable with things, like electronics, that
speak to you. I dont like it. She laughed. But it does
not stem from that study. Although somewhat
reassured, I was interested in how my use of puppets
with Jan might have inuenced her in a negative
manner. Had she experienced any sense of loss,
perhaps enjoying the attention of the puppets, and
then missing them as one would miss inconsistent
friends? Should I have given each of my ve young
participants a puppet to keep after the study was over?
Would it have been better if I had scheduled a follow-
up visit with families, long after the study was
completed, to ease any difculties with closure? Were
I to conduct the study again, I would consider these
questions quite seriously.
Family context revisited
Jan and I discussed her father Bens prole as a
dyslexic reader details of which I had previously
been unaware and we talked about the reasons Ben
might have specically encouraged Jans reading at a
young age. He wanted to make sure that I didnt have
the same problems as he did, Jan stated. I dont
remember any of this, but he has told me that he had an
alphabet poster up on the wall and hed go through
each letter, one at a time, and have me say what the
letter was and what sound it made.
The alphabet poster was indeed part of Bens parenting
repertoire, according to my original study. At that time,
Ben reported thinking of reading as problem solving,
as did the other caregivers interviewed, but in Bens
case he considered the following to be the most
important in reading: sounding out words and reading
each word in order: I encourage her to . . . sound it out
for herself and work out the problem . . . I want her to
do that on her own rather than telling her to (Brenna,
1991, pp. 119120). To this end, Ben used the alphabet
poster to teach and then reinforce Jans knowledge of
letters and sounds. Jans grandmother also reported
advising Jan to sound it out (p. 120) when Jan
encountered an unfamiliar word, although Jan cur-
rently does not remember this, recalling only how her
grandmother read aloud to her. In my summary of
their support for young Jan, the familys conceptuali-
sation of reading emphasised decoding skills. Ben
believed that when Jan made mistakes, she was not
relying closely enough on the letters. When she
reversed letters, such as b and d, he would calmly
tell her, No, try that again (p. 120).
When the adult Jan related details of her fathers
learning disability, I wondered how much the dis-
ability may have factored in Bens support for his
daughters literacy development. It was my (step)
mom who told me he was dyslexic. That kind of put a
lot of pieces together for me. He had trouble with
school. He probably wished he could have . . . gone to
university maybe . . . I know Im a little bit of a
disappointment to him now because I dont have a
degree. It seems possible that Ben did not initially
have a name for his difculties, but with the help of his
new wife, who had training in education, he became
more self-aware. Throughout our discussion, Jan
described her father as an avid reader who often picks
up a book to help himself with projects such as
building his own guitar. From Ben, Jan reported
identifying that, You can learn anything from books.
Dad has to read very slowly and word by word and
he sometimes will use a ruler underneath. He even got
a ruler that has a gap in it so you can see one line at a
time, and he was using that for awhile. I cant see what
he sees, so Im not sure how serious his dyslexia is.
Dad didnt read to me. I dont ever remember Dad
reading to me. He just taught me how to read really
young and made me read to him, she smiled. I dont
know if there are . . . levels of dyslexia, but I know that
frequently I reverse things. I actually have an issue
58 An early reader two decades later
Copyright r2011 UKLA
with 7s and 4s. I get mixed up all the time, she
conded. Ill read things into a paragraph and then
Ill get really frustrated because Ill be sitting there and
looking, not nding it, but when I was just sticking a
bunch of words together I know I saw it. So I dont
know if thats a genetic thing . . . or if its something
that everybody does.
Jans current reading prole
Jan describedherself as anavidreader, andit is clear that
she very competently makes her way through literary
ction and non-ction. I love books, she said. A
knowledge of self, task and text combine to assist Jan in
pleasure reading, and the following strategies emerged
from our discussion of her selection of reading material.
Jan reported that when she was younger, she would
always get twelve to fteen books out of the library and
then readone chapter of each as a way of making a nal
selection. If she was bored with one book, shed try the
next. She had discovered through experience that by
borrowing this many books and applying a read the
rst chapter strategy, it would result in two or three
books that worked. In later years she seemed better
able to judge what reading material would be positive,
possibly through the recommendation of friends or
encountering a summary in the media, and she would
typically read four books concurrently. One was more
literary or educational reading, and then there was a
uff book that I could read if I didnt want to think,
and . . . a couple of others . . . they had to be very
different books. At the time of our follow-up study,
Jan had two books that she was actively reading, along
with a few others on the shelf that she had set aside for
later, including ATale of Two Cities. She andher husband
were also reading a book together in the evenings.
Jan stated that she appreciates books that are some-
what educational and enjoys well-crafted historical
ction, citing work about Elizabeth I and the Romonov
family as examples. I love it when they t in the
emotional, human side of things, because I think thats
what Im most interested in. . .the human stories, the
people stories . . . but also the actual history. Jan
reported seeing a movie on a historical gure, then
researching facts about the persons life: I have an
easier time with a book . . . if Ive seen the movie. If Ive
heard a ctional account, I have an easier time reading
a textbook because then I can put it into a more
personal perspective. She summarised, With some
things, if I can sort of put it in a bigger context I have an
easier time keeping it together and following.
Jan reported relying heavily on graphophonemic cues
to decode text, a choice identical to her dominant
reading strategy as a young child: I dont miss a word
at all, she said, elaborating that I read every word in
my head, sometimes with an accent or something,
depending on the type of book it is. She indicated that
this type of close reading doesnt seem to affect her
speed, acknowledging that I dont read any slower
than anybody else that I know of. . .I typically read
faster. . .I always did read a lot. She identied that in
the past there were times when I read with a dictionary
next to me. . .but I dont usually. . .it doesnt happen
very often now that I come to a word I dont know. In
the context of this discussion on knowledge about
phonics, Jan reported enjoying the pronunciation of
unfamiliar names in her work environment and, as an
example, mentionedaninstance of being complimented
about correctly managing a long Middle Eastern
name. She also discussed brief attempts at skimming
and scanning, but conded that I missed things that I
didnt want to miss. Details, and so these strategies are
not part of her current repertoire.
Jan also reported being a capable editor of her own
work: I get really offended if someone notices a typo
in something Ive written . . . because it doesnt happen
very often. Its not uncommon that I pick up errors in
novels . . . I nd them quite frequently. I notice awk-
ward sentences, too. She also reected on her ability
to edit the work of others. If something doesnt make
sense, shell consider what letters or numbers she
herself sometimes switches, and try those, often
successful in guessing the writers intent.
As we discussed textual forms, Jan admitted to
disliking graphic novels: I did pick up a graphic
novel at a place I was working. . .I couldnt get into it. I
couldnt follow it. It is possible that when a person
subvocalises or hears the text internally, this doesnt
allow enough accommodation for places in graphic
novels where the action is carried by the pictures,
making Jans prole particularly agreeable to some
textual forms and not others. As a recommendation,
Jan stated that its important to learn not to need
pictures in books.
When Jan encounters something that doesnt make
sense in her reading, she acknowledged that she stops
and tries it again: I will insert things that Im hearing
sometimes. . .or take the beginning of this word and
then the end of that word, skipping a line in between.
Reading word by word does not always come easily:
Theres certain trigger words and if I see them down
the page, I have a really hard time staying in my place
in the text. I want to jump down. Her philosophy
about reading as sequential decoding thus supports
her in a process that does not always come naturally.
Much of what Jan told me established further my
picture of her as a reader who consciously solves
problems related to reading endeavours. Using strate-
gies applied to book selection, she skillfully procures
suitable texts for pleasure reading. I inquired about
non-ction, as in reading for school or work. If it came
to an assignment in a book. . .I think Id often skip the
actual chapter and then go to the example and just do
Literacy Volume 45 Number 2 July 2011 59
Copyright r2011 UKLA
it . . . Im much more of a hands-on learner . . . I always
look at the pictures, she added, referring to manuals,
when it comes to setting up stuff.
I asked Jan about whether she experiences during
pleasure reading what Sturm (2001) describes as an
altered state of consciousness. I dont think so, she
reported. I dont lose myself. Yet in Jans life there is
a time and space for imagination: Depending on what
Imreading, and particularly if theres a character that I
can at all relate to, Ill nd myself imagining myself as
that character for a while. . .after reading. This
connects to the shadow life of reading (Birkerts,
1994, p. 98), where memories resonate long after a book
has been shelved.
Jan also discussed her ability to learn new words in
different languages. Ive never had an issue translat-
ing, she stated, and has travelled successfully in
China. Yet while vocabulary comes easily, Jan de-
scribed difculties in the grammar of other languages,
because I really dont know how our grammar
works. She intuitively knows English grammar
because of her experiences with it, but without names
or rules for conventions, seems not to have a way of
thinking about alternatives.
Summary and implications
It appears as if the original study had no particular
inuence on Jans development, other than to empha-
sise early literacy skills that her family had already
begun to appreciate. Perhaps it encouraged her
fathers diligence in suggesting further education,
and has fed Jans strong desire to continue scholarly
studies for her fathers sake as well as her own, but
such conjecture is merely circumstantial and not
necessarily supported by Jans interpretation of the
relationship between the early study and her ongoing
journey as a literacy practitioner.
The recent study has served to further triangulate
aspects of the original study that rely on information
the children and their families provided, and makes
me conscious of the value of listening to children, as
well as observing them. In terms of differences and
similarities in Jans reading prole past and present, I
was surprised to nd an adult reader whose prefer-
ences were so clearly reminiscent of her childhood
prole. At age 6, Jan was a very determined problem
solver who approached reading situations equipped
with a desire to consecutively sound out words, thus
unlocking the meaning of texts in a word-by-word
manner for her own pleasure. It appears that this
description still applies, reinforcing an idea that
perhaps strategies from early childhood persist if the
young person interprets them as successful, even if
these strategies do not parallel teacher or researcher
expectations of what uent reading entails.
I see Jan as a complex and avid adult reader who has
made good use of a preferred early strategy that has
underpinned successful reading and writing ventures,
a strategy that I had initially assessed as singularly
insufcient for long-term success. While I anticipated
that Jan would develop more exibility in regard to
the use of phonics, I see how this strategy works with
her personality and the reading contexts she estab-
lishes in particular her text-selection strategies. At the
same time, I wonder whether other uent readers
would as easily follow Jans path. How much of a role
did determination play in the hours she spent using a
dictionary, learning unfamiliar words through con-
sultation rather than context? I also wonder whether
her experience with letter reversals rewarded reliance
on careful, word by word attention.
Rather than reading skills and strategies being an all
inclusive list for each reader to master, I begin to
contemplate the reverse how particular readers may
invite skills and strategies that work for them, and,
with positive results and support, rene a personal
reading tool kit into a successful adult prole that is
distinct and unique. Teachers who allow for and
encourage a variety of strategies may be offering
students optimum opportunities to develop personal
reading repertoires that match other unique person-
ality characteristics. Further studies are needed to
explore adult reading behaviours, attempting to
connect choices to positive early experiences, varied
as they may be. In addition, research is required
regarding classroom environments that match what
adults describe as important aspects of their regular
reading routines. In Jans case, this might mean time to
process reading after initial decoding work, allowing a
space for the imagination.
Jans consistency and success in applying a word-
based approach to reading, within a prole that
included other very different strategies such as careful
book selection, suggests an individualistic take on
literacy development. Her success with a strategy that
initially seemed weaker than that of her peers implies
the importance of motivation and perseverance.
Abilities as an independent problem solver seem to
be resonant in Jans life, and it is this problem-solving
stance that educators might consider when developing
a framework for all classroom topics, literacy activities
included.
An amiable stance on problem solving emerges as the
most consistent trait from the families and children
involved in my original study, and remains in the
repertoire of a reader I had guessed might not continue
to be successful in a phonics-based approach and yet
whose contemporary prole as an avid, capable reader
has proven me wrong. In response, I suggest that
further studies with adult readers might assist us in
working backwards, connecting the dots to childhood
patterns and trends, and opening classrooms in
support of all things necessary to build successful,
60 An early reader two decades later
Copyright r2011 UKLA
lifelong readers among the population of diverse
students with whom we have the privilege to work.
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CONTACT THE AUTHOR
Beverley A. Brenna, PhD, Assistant Professor,
Curriculum Studies College of Education,
3350 28 Campus Drive, University of
Saskatchewan, S7N OX1.
e-mail: bev.brenna@usask.ca7
NE W CD ROM RE S OU R C E
KL U A
This CDrom is available from
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www.ukla.org
This CDRom offers support for professional development focused upon planning and
organising Writers in Schools programmes, both in English and across the curriculum.
The resource is designed for primary and secondary teachers, Local Authority person-
nel, student teachers and ITE lecturers to increase awareness of the value of Writers in
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Price: 5.00
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Writers in Schools
Teresa Cremin, David Reedy,
Jean Sprackland and Ian Starling
Literacy Volume 45 Number 2 July 2011 61
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