What’s HOT for 2010?
The 14th annual survey by the International Reading Association (IRA) outlines some interesting perspectives.
Each year the IRA conduct a survey to identify the perceived trends in literacy. The “What’s hot?” survey results for 2010 were released in the December/January issue of Reading Today. It must be noted that the term “hot” does not reflect what respondents view as important, but simply what is perceived as in vogue.
Who completes the survey?
Twenty-five respondents are selected using one or more of the following criteria:
- demonstrated national or international interest in literacy, i.e. may hold board positions in prominent organizations such as the IRA, the National Reading Conference or the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers
- connection to industry publishing, i.e. may be editors of one of the major literacy journals including The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy and Reading Research Quarterly
- geographical location and percentage of IRA individual membership
- diversity of job/position.
Using these criteria, researchers aim to capture data from a range of ethnically diverse teachers, college professors and administrators.
Defining what’s hot and cold…
- Very hot or cold topics are those viewed by 75% of respondents as ‘hot’ or ‘cold’
- Extremely hot or cold topics are viewed by 100% of respondents as ‘hot’ or ‘cold’
The results for 2010…
What’s hot, what’s not?
The hottest of the hot… Response to Intervention (RTI)
Other hot topics…
- Adolescent literacy
- Comprehension
- Early intervention
- English as a second language/English-language learners
- High-stakes assessment
- Literacy coaches/reading coaches, Struggling/striving readers (Grade 4+)
The coldest of the cold… Adult literacy
Which topics are hotter in 2010 than they were in 2009?
- Comprehension
- Early intervention
- New literacies/digital literacies
- Preschool literacy instruction/experiences
- Struggling/striving readers (Grade 4 +)
- Teacher education for reading (pre service)
- Writing
The biggest surprise…
- the cooling of topics such as scientific evidence-based reading research and instruction and fluency.
To read more on the survey… The article, “Adolescent & Adult Literacy: What’s Hot, What’s Not” is due for release in the March issue of the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.
It would be interesting to compare how Australian educators would respond to such a survey, given recent national and state initiatives in literacy. Would High Stakes Assessment rate higher given the overwhelming response to the My School website? Will this direct the focus for Literacy Coaches/Literacy Leaders?
What are your thoughts on the impact of My School on teaching and learning? What changes do you think may occur as a direct result?
Certainly can understand why Comprehension and Early Intervention are up there at the top. This year we also have Parent Tutors for our struggling Yr 2 students not the lowest readers as they receive Learning Support but the next group who n ;eed one-to one reading every day before Val in May. Last year we picked up 4 that did not get caught in the Net. This year hoping for at least 8.
Fluency and comprehension I believe go hand-in-hand as the children’s reading becomes more fluent, the child can get more meaning from the text as they are not having to do so much problem-solving, comprehension in the four levels should improve. Remember the value of familiar reading it was the biggest lesson I learnt when I did my Reading Recovery training. Always have those books available for the
students.
Anne