Literacy Matters Winter 2022

Think-Aloud Reading Instruction Through a Culturally Responsive Teaching Lens

by Sarah Sharpe

Introduction Teaching children to read and comprehend can be a tedious, complex process. Students should be taught how to think and use strategies while they read. When teachers model their thinking while reading, this provides students access to expert thinking and reading (Fisher, Frey, & Lapp, 2011). This type of modeling through think-aloud instruction is paramount in students’ acquisition of reading comprehension skills and understanding of how to become active agents in their comprehension. Additionally, effective reading comprehension instruction requires teachers to be responsive to and knowledgeable about their students. Reading instruction should be culturally responsive, explicit, and strategic to support students’ reading comprehension (Hammond, 2015; Pilonieta, 2017). Teachers’ care, teaching ability, and attentiveness are essential, above any reading program, to students’ success in reading (Callins, 2006; Knipper, 2003; Willis & Harris, 2000). As readers, we bring knowledge to our comprehension process, and that knowledge has a strong influence on how we comprehend text (Duke et al., 2011). Not only is it recommended to implement teacher led think-aloud instruction during reading instruction but incorporating components of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) (including aspects of students’ cultural backgrounds) can draw connections between students and text and raise student motivation, which can enhance students’ learning.

Figure 1 is a visual I created that illustrates the framework of think-aloud instruction through a CRT lens and how it encompasses reading instruction. The framework has three dimensions: reading instruction (the core), metacognitive instruction, and culturally responsive teaching. The arrows in the second and third dimensions of the illustration represent the multi-directionality between metacognition, cognition, and self-regulation level and within the aspects of CRT (care, communication, curriculum, and instruction). One component within each level is not more important than another component. Furthermore, all components within this framework are necessary for highly effective and responsive think-aloud reading instruction (Woods, 2020). This article explains think aloud instruction and the four critical aspects of CRT (care, communication, curriculum, and instruction; Gay, 2018) more in-depth and ways to incorporate them into reading instruction. Think-Aloud Instruction Direct, explicit instruction leaves minimal space for student misconceptions (Duffy, 1988; Reutzel et al., 2014). This direct instruction conveys new information to students through meaningful interactions and teacher guidance of student learning (Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009). Think-aloud instruction is an explicit instructional method teachers use to model the mental processes of proficient readers to students (Duffy et al., 1986; Ness & Kenny, 2016; Reutzel et al., 2014). When teachers implement think-aloud instruction, they read the text to students aloud and periodically stop, verbalizing their mental discourse and strategy use as they comprehend the text. Teachers who have implemented think-aloud instruction reported changes in their students’ reading behaviors, such as implementing think alouds themselves, questioning more while reading, using more strategies to enhance comprehension, and overall increasing their performance in reading comprehension (Cardelle-Elawar, 1995; Pilonieta, 2017; Pratt & Martin, 2017; Woods, 2020). Our background knowledge shapes how we approach and comprehend text (Duke et al., 2011). Reading is a cognitive process, where readers must be cognizant of their thinking and the knowledge they bring, and their actions and strategies as they read. Students are more successful with reading when they serve as active agents in their comprehension and use of reading strategies (Seipel et al., 2017; Smith, Black, & Hooper, 2020). To provide an example of what a think-aloud may sound like during a read aloud, below is an excerpt from the first chapter of the novel, Wonder (Palacio, 2021) and what a teacher may say during the read aloud:

Literacy Matters Feature Article

Figure 1 Culturally Responsive Think-Aloud Instructional Model

I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure,

| 32 | Literacy Matters | Volume 22 • Winter 2022

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