Building strong reading muscles: ableist language in a teacher’s talk about reading

ABSTRACT

Elementary school teachers are expected to teach reading ‘inclusively’ to children with diverse learning needs. Yet, teachers face challenges in enacting inclusive practices that socially support children while academically engaging and challenging them. The purpose of this study was to examine the opportunities for engagement with reading produced through a teacher’s talk in one ‘inclusive’ fourth grade classroom’. The setting for the study was a pre-K-5 public school located in a high-poverty neighbourhood of a northeast city of the United States. This study combined ethnographic methods and D/discourse analysis to explore classroom talk about reading through a sociocultural lens. Findings indicated that the teacher’s talk, which was largely shaped by dominant cultural Discourses circulating through policy, curriculum and the school environment, sometimes promoted an ableist ideology through its focus on each individual’s independent development of ‘strength’ as a reader. Moments when ableist language about reading dominated during the Reading Workshop seemed to limit the possibilities for students’ participation in reading and ideas of what counted as successful reading. The findings suggest the need to engage K-12 students, teachers, and teacher candidates in critical conversations about issues related to reading and learning such as strength, struggle, purposes for reading, and assessment.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusion
• disability studies in education
• ableism
• reading instruction
• classroom discourse

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Mary Coakley-Fields is an assistant professor of Literacy Education in the School of Education at Manhattanville College. She completed her EdD in Curriculum and Instruction at Teachers College, Columbia University with a focus on Literacy Education and Inclusive Education in grades K-12. Her current research interests centre on inclusive education, literacy instruction, critical literacies, teacher inquiry, and university-school partnerships.

Notes

1 Pseudonym.

2 Pseudonym.