A multicase study in the middle school: Complexities among young adolescent readers

Middle school students' reading behavior is a timely issue given the recent interest in the education of young adolescents. Previous research has prov ided information about middle school readers' strategy use, attitudes towar d reading, and time spent reading. However, this research is limited in sco pe because it does not address the multitude of factors, both from within i ndividual readers and from outside contexts, that influence reading behavio rs. The present study extends the research on young adolescent readers by f ocusing on three individual sixth-grade readers and how they experienced re ading day-to-day in their classrooms over a period of 5 months. Participant s in the case studies included a successful reader, a moderately successful reader, and a struggling reader. Constant comparative analysis of data, in cluding classroom observations, interviews with students, one-on-one readin g periods with individual students, and the researchers' reflective joural, revealed that all three students' reading performance and dispositions tow ard reading varied according to the context of their reading, the materials they read, and the purpose of the reading. Despite the range of success wi th in-school reading among the three students, none could be accurately cat egorized as skilled or unskilled, motivated or unmotivated. Rather, each st udent was quite complex as a reader.