Developing the Historical Literacy Skills of Adolescents Who Struggle with Reading and Writing: Group and Individual Responses to Instruction

Abstract

This investigation examined the effectiveness of two instructional approaches for enhancing historical reading and writing outcomes among 39 students who were identified with specific learning disabilities or at-risk for academic failure. Students participated in three, week-long historical investigations. Experimental groups were taught two historically-related schemes and critical questions, while comparison groups used traditional instructional methods. Results indicated that although the instructional approach did not significantly influence students’ historical knowledge, the experimental model enhanced historical writing skills.

Keywords

• struggling readers and writers
• historical writing