Motivating Reading Comprehension : Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction

Concept Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) is a unique, classroom-tested model of reading instruction that breaks new ground by explicitly showing how content knowledge, reading strategies, and motivational support all merge in successful reading instruction. A theoretical perspective (engagement in reading) frames the book and provides a backdrop for its linkage between hands-on science activities and reading comprehension. Currently funded by the Interagency Educational Research Initiative (IERI), this model has been extensively class tested and is receiving national attention that includes being featured on a PBS special on the teaching of reading. Key features of this outstanding new volume include: * Theoretical Focus--CORI's teaching framework revolves around the engagement perspective of reading: how engaged reading develops and the classroom contexts and motivational supports that promote it. * Content-Area Focus--Although science is the content area around which CORI has been developed, its basic framework is applicable to other content areas. * Focus on Strategy Instruction--CORI revolves around a specific set of reading strategies that the National Reading Panel (2000) found to be effective. In some current CORI classrooms collaborating teachers implement all aspects of CORI and in other classrooms teachers implement just the strategy instruction component. * Illustrative Vignettes and Cases--Throughout the book vignettes and mini-case studies convey a situated view of instructional practices for reading comprehension and engagement. A detailed case study of one teacher and of the reading progress of her students is featured in one chapter. This book is appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in education and psychology, for practicing teachers, and for researchers in reading comprehension and motivation.

John T. Guthrie is a professor of human development at the University of Maryland-College Park. He is also the director of the Maryland Literacy Research Center and the Principal Investigator on a 5-year IERI grant to study the increase of reading comprehension, motivation, and science knowledge using Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction in grades 3-5. His studies of motivational and strategic development in reading and the instructional contexts that increase long-term reading engagement have been published in the Reading Research Quarterly, the Journal of Educational Psychology, and the Elementary School Journal. Guthrie is a recipient of the Oscar Causey Award for Outstanding Reading Research and is a member of the International Reading Association Hall of Fame.
Allan Wigfield is Professor of Human Development and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher at the University of Maryland-College Park. His research focuses on the development of children's motivation. He has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on children's motivation, and has also edited three books and four special issues of journals. Included in his publications are chapters on motivation in the Handbook of Educational Psychology, Handbook of Child Psychology (5th ed.), and Annual Review of Psychology. Wigfield was also Associate Editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology from 2000 to 2002 and currently is Associate Editor of Child Development, leading journals in the fields of educational and developmental psychology. He is a Fellow of Division 15 (Educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, and has won several awards for his research and teaching.
Kathleen C. Perencevich is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland-College Park. Her current research explores how various classroom contexts support students' reading engagement. Specifically, her work examines the influence of autonomy-support and conceptual instruction on student motivation and learning. Her work has been published in several journals and edited books and she is a former classroom teacher.