Discourse analysis of Retrospective Miscue Analysis sessions: Talking about the reading process with a fourth-grade reader

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the discourse of six selected Retrospective Miscue Analysis (RMA) session transcripts for effective and promising procedures, questions and discussion strategies. Data sources consisted of session transcripts and interviews to determine how the RMA team's discourse accomplished their intended purposes across six RMA sessions with a fourth grade reader. Phases of the analysis included (1) verifying the existing data sets, (2) selecting six RMA sessions from the set of eleven, (3) conducting and analyzing interviews with the RMA team, (4) structural analysis of sessions, (5) speech act analysis of discourse moves, (6) sequential analysis of question cycles, (7) categorization of patterns that emerged in the data. Three broad discourse themes, based on the RMA team's stated purposes for the RMA sessions, guided the categorization of team members' talk: (1) discourse moves providing revaluing, (2) discourse moves providing instruction, and (3) discourse moves encouraging the reader's strategy use. The structural analysis of the RMA sessions generated elements of the instructional sequences and phases that made up each session, and a profile of RMA session procedures. Findings revealed: the RMA team used a wide range of question types to analyze miscues; discourse patterns involved in instruction and revaluing involved a variety of question cycles, position statement and 'you-statements' about the readers' reading strategies; problematic discourse sequences stemmed from problematic questions, responses and belief structures involved in interactions; by analyzing other readers in comparison with his own reading the reader's self-concept increased.