Reading expertise: identification of factors that either enhance or inhibit the development and generalisation of reading expertise

The current study was designed to gain insights into the multiple interacting aspects of reading expertise development and generalisation, heretofore positioned in unmapped territory (Clay, personal communication, 1999). The study evolved from classroom and Reading Recovery teachers' concerns about children's disparate reading performances across contexts. Trained Reading Recovery and classroom teachers in eighty-seven schools (deemed to be representative of the diversity of schools and school populations) across fifteen school districts in Queensland were invited to participate in an Opinion Poll by way of an open-ended questionnaire.

Additionally, a single-subject case study and three replication single-subject case studies involving two Reading Recovery teachers, 50% of each teacher's clientele (total, four children) and associated classroom teachers were conducted at five weekly intervals over a period of fifteen weeks. A variety of data collection methods including focused discussions, field observations and the collection of extant artifacts was used to formulate comprehensive descriptions of children's reading behaviours in real life reading environments. Comparative analysis, incorporating coding and patterning of data, was used to ascertain which factors either enhanced or inhibited children's reading expertise development and generalisation.

Comparison between the theoretical and research literature, and the current study's findings revealed that children's reading development and generalisation are enhanced by interactions between numerous child, social, cultural, environmental, engagement and team approach factors. Through substantiation and refinement, these findings were represented within a conceptual framework, An Interactive Framework of Reading Expertise Development and Generalisation, which may be used to inform decision making when children in Reading Recovery are perceived to have disparate reading performances across contexts. This study's results and implications are discussed in relation to Reading Recovery and wider literacy knowledge bases and practices.