Investigating Young Children's Use of Reading Strategies: A Longitudinal Study

In this three-year study, the authors examined the reading strategy use of 16 primary-grade students as they read fiction and expository text. The students (9 boys and 7 girls) represented low, average, and above-average readers. Structured interviews and observational data were collected each year as they progressed from first to third grade. Even though students dropped some strategies while beginning to use others, statistical analyses of the interview data revealed few statistical significant differences in the students' reported strategy use. The data indicated there was alignment between students' reported and observed strategy use. The analyses of the observational data also revealed the students had high accuracy percentages but low retelling scores.