Individual differences in word recognition acquisition: A path from an interactive model of reading to an interactive instructional setting

The present research attempts to demonstrate that it is possible and instructive to combine classroom observational procedures with theoretically guided reading concepts. It explores the application of an interactive processing model to classroom word recognition acquisition, in a longitudinal case-study design. Five first graders were observed four times in an instructional setting where they had to search for words in a reference text. From the various behaviors observed, it was possible to infer five differents types of searching strategies: Context-oriented; Code-oriented; Unmediated; Copying; Passive. The results show a great inter- and intra-individual variability in the use of the different types of strategies. In particuliar, there are different patterns of occurrence of the code-oriented and context-oriented strategies (simultaneous versus alternate). The results also show that word by word planning of the search was difficult for very beginning readers.