Research Activity

Introduction

My SSHRC-Funded Research Project

Context of the Research

Impact of the Research (So Far)

The Grade Three Writing Assessment Project

The Inclusion of School Libraries in Pre-service Programs in Canadian Faculties of Education

A Study of School Libraries in Nova scotia

Research Dissemination

Other Research Activity

Conclusion

Introduction
Four areas dominated my research agenda for the two years covered by this Bi-Annual Report: information technology used in PEI’s school libraries, teaching with information technologies, writing assessment, and the balanced use of fiction and information materials in literacy programs. This past year saw the completion of a major study for which I was Project Manager, the Teaching and Learning with Information Technology Project (TLIT), as well as the completion of a survey of the uses teacher-librarians make of information technology in their teaching. I worked on a project to develop 5 writing assessment tools for grade three children in PEI, while my major focus has been completing the first two years of my SSHRC funded research on children’s choices of fiction and information books in their reading.

My SSHRC-Funded Research Project
In July 1998, my SSHRC research project began and I completed the project in 2002. (See the enclosed Final Productivity Report for SSHRC for a summary of the outcome of that project.)
I fondly referred to this research study as the C.R.I.B. Project, Choosing and Responding to Information Books. It is a project that flows out of my previous research, especially my dissertation work and it also allows me to combine some of my main interests such as the role of the school library, a balanced use of information books and issues of gender and reading.

The objectives of this three-year study were:

• to identify differences in elementary children's choices of trade books for independent reading by grade level, sex and book type.
• to identify the literary qualities and book characteristics that influence elementary children's choice of trade books for independent reading.
• to identify differences in elementary teachers' choices of trade books for literacy instruction by grade level, sex and book type.
• to identify the literary qualities and book characteristics that influence elementary teachers’ choice of trade books used for literacy instruction.
• to compare differences in elementary children's trade book choices for independent reading with elementary teachers' use of fiction and nonfiction trade books for literacy instruction.

Context of the Research
During the past fifteen years, elementary literacy programs have evolved from textbook, skill-based instructional programs into literature-based, process-oriented, whole language programs (Tunnell and Jacobs, 1989).  This has meant that teachers must choose materials that will meet their instructional goals and, at the same time, motivate their students to read and write (McKenzie & Warlow, 1977; Huck et al, 1992). For most teachers, this has led them to develop a repertoire of children's literature that they personally like and that they feel helps them develop thematic units of study for their students.  This repertoire includes fiction and nonfiction trade books that are used in a myriad of roles in their instructional programs. They find these books in their school libraries, their classroom collections of books and within the core materials provided by the school's literacy curriculum (Doiron, 1995). Children are expected to read these books as part of their work in the classroom with their teacher, but they are also given many opportunities to choose books they would like to read during silent reading, reading/writing workshops or other independent reading times. What has not been forthcoming in the literacy research is how well the choices of trade books teachers make for instruction match the choices of trade books students make for independent reading. If teachers are choosing trade books for instruction that are not similar to the reading interests of their students, then they may be undermining the overall goal of literacy instruction which is to develop capable readers who are motivated to read (Krashen, 1993).

As educators, we make curriculum decisions everyday in classrooms and at the district and provincial levels (McKenzie & Warlow, 1977). Yet, we have little documented evidence that students enjoy the projects, themes and units of study centered around existing collections of trade books in our schools. This study builds on several other research studies that have documented the fact that most classroom collections of children's books and most school library collections are weighted heavily in favor of fiction trade books (Doiron, 1995: Doiron & Davies, 1996). However, the evidence from a small pilot project that tracked elementary children's free-choice reading preferences indicated just the opposite --- male and female students preferred nonfiction books and they chose more of them than fiction books. This was particularly evident around grades three and four. What is needed now is more detailed and extensive evidence of the choices of trade books children make when they want something to read independently, as well as documented evidence of the trade books teachers use for literacy instruction. If the study indicates a discrepancy between these two, then educators will have evidence which may lead them to consider at least balancing their use of fiction and nonfiction trade books in their future curriculum plans (Pappas, 1991).

Impact of the Research (So Far)
I have had numerous chances to share the data at research conferences and with papers that have resulted from the analysis.  It has been interesting to me how much general interest from the public there has been around this topic. It seems to have coincided with the press around boys and their apparent lag in literacy development.

Having students hired to work on the C.R.I.B. Project has been one of the great benefits I have enjoyed from this research. You can help them get a sense of how research is done; they get to the schools and make more contacts with teachers and principals; they provide input in to the data input procedures and analysis; and they make a genuine contribution to the overall management and organization of the work. I have had nine students hired from this project for varying lengths of employment and I can honestly say that each one feels part of the overall endeavour. They will often ask me how the project is going and one person was even involved in our AERA presentation 1990.

The Grade Three Writing Assessment Project
While this project has been on hiatus for the past three years, it is about to become activated again with a renewed interest in the Department of Education for Faculty of Education to help them with major research projects. I worked closely with Jeanette Scott, the former Language Arts Consultant at the Department of Education on this  project to develop a set of authentic assessment tools for grade three children in the province. Our goals were to develop these tools as a way of assessing writing at the key stage level 3 and to have these tools emerge from the real classroom experiences of teachers in students in Prince Edward Island.

We developed a set of lesson plans and 5 tasks that students would do. We invited 10 pilot teachers from across PEI to join us and together we refined the lessons and the writing tasks that they would use. Jeanette and I also found or wrote several rubrics that could be used for each task. During April 1999, all students in these 10 classes did several lessons on Plants and completed the tasks.

I was particularly pleased to be involved with this project since it was information writing that would be assessed. Students were asked to write a short report after the few weeks of lesson on plants. They also wrote a response to hearing poems on Plants read aloud and they were asked to paint a picture as another form of response. All tasks were assessed by the teachers and we met with them to revise the rubrics and to identify exemplars.

In the second year of the project, 2000, several other consultants in the Department joined the project and together a full thematic unit on Plants and Us was developed for grade 3 in the province. The rubrics we used last year were again revised to meet these new curriculum goals and the same 10 teachers were asked to use the whole thematic unit and administer the assessment tasks. Again we examined all the students’ work and evaluated the rubrics. What was really exciting this year was that five of my primary pre-service teachers were assigned to these pilot teachers and they actually taught the thematic unit. It was that integrated model in operation again.

The project will go through one more year of pilot before it becomes implemented across the system for PEI students. This is a major innovation for teachers in PEI since it puts them in control of developing the assessment tools that match their students’ learning and that fit our APEF context. It prevents external forces from taking over the assessment role when a fine set of tools is already developed for this population.

I will be involved with this project next year too, and I hope my pre-service students will be too. I like how I can show my pre-service teachers that I am still developing new tools to be used in classrooms. It helps keep my courses on the cutting edge and it shows the links that are there among schools, the Department of Education and the Faculty of Education.

The Inclusion of School Libraries in Pre-service Programs in Canadian Faculties of Education
This study was a joint project with my colleague Marlene Asselin from the University of British Columbia and it was awarded the Canadian Library Association Research and Development Award for 2001. The project title was: An analysis of the inclusion of school library programs and services in the preparation of pre-service teachers in Canadian universities.

Throughout the 1990's, most Faculty of Education programs for preparing new teachers have undergone major changes. Almost all of these programs have started extended programs of 18 to 24 months with more time on campus for new methods courses and more time in schools practising teaching skills. In addition, individual courses within these programs have made revisions to the curriculum-content to include our new understanding of balanced literacy, literacy across the curriculum, technological competence, outcomes-based education and many other innovative and creative teaching methods.

At the same time as the pre-service programs have been going through a general renewal, school library programs within many Faculties of Education across the country have been decimated. There are still some courses offered in isolated spots in the country, but unless the Faculty offers a Diploma Program in School Librarianship, a Masters of Education in librarianship or a few in-service courses for summer students, most new teachers are receiving little training or even exposure to the role that the teacher-librarian plays in developing an information literacy curriculum in partnership with classroom teachers. It is possible that the traditional attention paid to the role of the school library and its instructional program that is spearheaded by a teacher-librarian may have been subsumed under other courses, there is no evidence that this is true. An investigation of school library education within the pre-service programs of Canada’s universities is warranted if new efforts to improve the situation are to be mounted. Without a new generation of teachers knowledgeable about school libraries, how we develop information literacy, how school libraries pass on our cultural heritage, how information technologies help us learn and how school libraries act as community access points for teachers and students, then it will be impossible for schools to have fully integrated school library programs.

To start to counter some of the effects felt from a diminished presence for school librarianship in most pre-service programs in Canadian universities, this study set out with these goals:

• to examine the extent and character of the erosion of school library education in Canadian universities;
• to identify alternatives that Faculties of Education may have found for including the role of the school library in pre-service programs; and
• to identify if and how Faculties of Education prepare pre-service educators for their role of developing information literate citizens.

We conducted a major survey with 17 institutions from across Canada as well as telephone interviews as follow-up. Our results indicated:

1. There is clear evidence from the questionnaire and the interviews of a serious erosion of school library education in the 17 Faculties of Education we examined. In most cases, participants reported that ‘the topic never comes up” and that “everyone assumes someone else is dealing with the matter.”
2. We identified weak or no alternative practice for introducing preservice teachers to the role of the school library in their future teaching career. Preservice teachers receive only cursory reference to the role of a school library and little or no practicum experience with school libraries when they get to the schools.
3. Information literacy is not explicitly developed in these 17 preservice programs and there appears to be no expectations that preservice teachers transfer the learning experiences in methods courses to their actual classroom practice. It is assumed that by completing assignments with a strong connection to information literacy learning outcomes, the preservice teachers will develop similar outcomes with their future students.
4. Respondents to the questionnaires and the interviews repeated over and over that they had not considered the school library in any explicit way in their work with preservice teachers and they considered their participation in the study as “a wake-up call.” They asked repeatedly for copies of the results of this study to share with their Faculty of Education colleagues and they suggested we develop information packages and teaching strategies that could be included in the Faculty’s program.
5. The Staff working the Education Libraries in these Faculties of Education clearly understood the concept of information literacy and its pervasive role in their daily work with students and faculty members. They could identify many areas where the need for information literacy was essential in the teacher education program and they were excited by some of the collaborative program ideas we shared during the interviews. The librarians were actively seeking ways to connect their library programs with preservice teachers’ learning and course instructional goals. In the words of one Education Library librarian, “we need to stop acting like academic libraries and start acting like school libraries.”

This last finding has proved to be the most interesting. Since we have finished the research we have presented the results at several national venues with almost the same reaction – people are glad the issue is being raised and they are shocked so little is happening in this area. We know we have tapped into a serious issue. Dr. Asselin and I have started to work with the Education Resource Centre Coordinator in both of our institutions (Carolyn Ledwell in my case) to try to create some workshops and presentations that will highlight what is happening in our resource centres where the model of the school library is being used with our students. The best example of this so far was the joint presentation we al made at the recent international conference of American Library Association and Canadian Library Association where Carolyn and her counterpart at UBC shared what they do in their programs. The response was tremendous.

This area of how pre-service teachers are being prepared to reach information literacy and to work with their school library is one I will continue to pursue and build from this study.

A Study of School Libraries in Nova Scotia
During my sabbatical (Winter 2002), I was approached to put in a proposal to study school libraries in Nova Scotia. The study was commissioned by the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union and my proposal was accepted with a cost of $18,000. I was able to hire Carolyn Ledwell as the research assistant on this project and she worked collaboratively with me on many of its aspects.

I developed an On-Line Survey with UPEI ITEC that was in French and English and was made available to all school principals and the school library personnel. I interviewed 20 key educators from all areas of the system and I combed previous school library documents to create a paper trail of what has been happening. In addition 2500 classroom teachers completed a survey on how they saw school library services since teacher-librarians had been removed from school libraries in Nova Scotia.

My report, Forging a Future for Nova Scotia School Libraries was accepted by the Executive Council of NSTU and the Board of Governors. I hope now many of the recommendations will be acted upon. I also wrote an article that centred on questions raised by the study and that was distributed to every teacher in Nova Scotia through the NSTU journal, AVISO.

After extensive data analysis and reporting of the findings, I prepared 25 recommendations framed around four Strategic Directions that are essential for the NSTU and its members to undertake over the next few years. The area include, staffing, leadership, professional development and school library collections. A copy of the Executive Summary of the Report is included in this file.

Research Dissemination
I have extracted from my CV the publications and paper presentations I made in the past three years that were directly resulting from my research projects. They can best illustrate the extent of my research productivity over this time.

Published Articles (*indicates peer reviewed)
*Asselin, M. & Doiron, R. (forthcoming 2003). Whither they go: An analysis
     of the inclusion of school library programs and services in the
     preparation of pre-service teachers in Canadian universities.
     Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian,

* Doiron, R. (forthcoming 2003). Motivating the lifelong reading habit
     through a balanced use of children’s information books.
     School Libraries Worldwide, 9(1),

Doiron, R. (2003). Building better school libraries in Nova Scotia.
     AVISO: The journal of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union,

* Doiron, R. (February 2003). Boy books, girl books: Should we reorganize
     our school library collections? Teacher Librarian: The Journal of School
     Library Professionals. 30:3, p. 14-16.

*Doiron, R. (April, 2003). Dejar que los hechos hablen por si mismos:
     Uso de la ficcion en programs de lectura en voz alta.
     Nuevas Hojas de Lectura, 1, p. 16-26.

Paper Presentations and Workshops
*Doiron, R. (2003). The “fun of reading” information books. A paper
     presented at the International Forum on Canadian Children’s Literature,
     June 26-28, Ottawa 2003.
 
*Asselin, M. & Doiron, R. (May 2003). Developing a Canadian research
     agenda for developing information literacy. A joint paper session
     presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education,
     Congress 2003, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS.

* Asselin, M. & Doiron, R. (December, 2002). An analysis of school library
     programs and services in pre-service programs in Canadian
     universities.  A paper presented at the National Reading Conference
     annual convention, Miami, FL.

* Doiron, R. (November 2002). Preparing pre-service teachers to include
     school libraries and information literacy in their future teaching.
     A paper presented at the Conference of Atlantic Educators, University
     of Moncton, Moncton, NB.

* Doiron, R. (July 2002).  Elementary children’s aesthetic and efferent
     responses to reading information books. A paper presented at the
     World Reading Congress, International Reading Association, Edinburgh,
     Scotland.

*Asselin, M. & Doiron, R. (June 2002). School library programs and services
     in pre-service programs in Canadian universities. A paper presented at
     the Canadian School Library Association Research Forum, Canadian
     Library Association, Annual Convention, Halifax, NS.

* Doiron, R. (May 2002). Differences in elementary children’s written
     responses to reading information books. A paper presented at the
     Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Congress 2002, Ontario
     Institute for the Study of Education, Toronto, ON.
 
*Doiron, R. (May 2001).  Elementary children’s aesthetic and efferent
     responses to reading information books. A paper presented at the
     Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Congress 2001, Quebec
     City, Quebec.

*_______. (May, 2000). Differences in the reading choices and written
     responses of grade one and grade four children. A paper presented at
     the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Congress 2000,
     Edmonton, Alberta.

*______. (April 2000). Aesthetic and efferent responses to reading
     information books. A paper presented at the American Educational
     Research Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.

*______. (April 1999). Emergent categories of aesthetic and efferent
     response to reading information books. A paper presented at the
     American Educational Research Association Annual Conference,
     Montreal, Quebec.

*______ . (May 2002).  Using information books for building comprehension
     and for motivating reading. A workshop session International Reading
     Association Annual Conference, San Francisco.

*______. (May 2002). Elementary children’s aesthetic and efferent
     responses to reading information books.  A paper presented at the
     Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Congress 2002, Toronto,
     Ontario.

*______. (August, 2002). Elementary children’s aesthetic and efferent
     responses to reading information books. World Congress of the
     International Reading Association, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 30 -
     August 3, 2002.

Other Research Activity
In addition to these specific research projects, I have also been busy with other research activity:

• I have reviewed three SSHRC proposals.
• I have been invited to join the Advisory Board for Teacher-Librarian: The journal for school library professionals. I review numerous articles and books for this world-wide journal.
• I sit on the International Reading Association Steering Committee for on-line publications form this organization. This is a prestigious organization that invites key people internationally to get involved with their committee work.
• I edited a publication for the Canadian School Library Association entitled The Best of School Libraries in Canada. This was a compilation of the best articles on school librarianship published over the past 20 years in School Libraries in Canada. This was a monumental task that required hours of research in old editions of the journals, making electronic versions of the texts, editing and some revision, as well as layout and production of the book. It has received wide publicity and has completely sold out of the first edition. Enclosed in this file is a cop of one review of the book that was done in Canada.
• I worked my colleague Miles Turnbull to develop a series of research sessions in which various faculty members shared their current research projects. We developed two sessions each term and then we organized the Research Forum 2003 in May where the general educational community was invited to attend sessions where all faculty members and several Masters students presented their recent work. Over 75 people attended the day and much positive feedback was received. Miles and I also launched Mawiomi, a newsletter updating readers on research and publication coming from Faculty of Education members. 9A sample edition of Mawiomi, plus the program from Research Forum 2003 are included later in this file.)
• I have guided two Maters students through the thesis process as well as acting as internal examiner on three theses and second reader on two others.
• My conference work has been enormous. I present on average at four conferences a year and each one represents reporting on current research projects. The C.R.I.B. Project and the study on pre-service education have garnered me several major venues at which to share my work. It culminated in the acceptance to present a paper at the International Reading Association World Congress in Scotland July 2002. I have included my conference badges from the various venues where I have presented over the past few years as a visual representation of my heavy activity in this area.

Conclusion
It is hard in a report like this to give anything more than a brief overview of the major research projects I have going at this time. In ways they seem very different and unrelated but that is not true. In fact, all of them are quite directly connected to my major teaching areas in early literacy and school librarianship and they connect each of these areas in very direct ways. I like that all of them have direct classroom and school library implications and they provide many avenues for conceptual and theoretical musings. The C.R.I.B. Project is yielding some very specific results related to reading choices, but it is opening up an even wider area related to what constitutes literacy instruction, what role is any inherent bias to one trade book choice having on instruction and what are the implications as we continue to struggle with the volatile gender issues around literacy and literacy instruction. This will provide me with many ideas for future writing and a focus for subsequent research studies.