A study of strategies and models of instruction used in teaching informational reading in 8th grade history-social science classrooms in rural Northern California: with teacher interviews

This study identifies effective strategies for teaching informational text reading to middle school students in History-Social Science classrooms. Previous research indicated that many middle school students exhibit difficulties in reading informational and expository text. The study then investigated the reading education challenges encountered and strategies employed by five middle school teachers in a rural county in Northern California while teaching History-Social Science content. Data was collected through teacher interviews. A keyword coding system was developed from reading education and History-Social Science sources to analyze the interview transcripts. Results show that although teachers were successfully using certain strategies, techniques, and models of instruction for teaching middle school to read informational text, as indicated by their students’ scores on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, there is still a need for increasing utilization of effective strategies, techniques, and models of instruction. Recommendations are made for rural teachers professional learning to address the need.