Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 17(3), 201–203Copyright C© 2002, The Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children

Engaging Students with Learning Disabilities in Instructional Discourse:A Commentary on the REACH Papers

C. Addison StoneUniversity of Michigan

The four articles on instructional discourse contributed by the members of the REACH projectoffer rich examples of the learning opportunities for students with learning disabilities (LD)in upper-elementary and middle-school content classrooms. In this commentary, I highlightpossible reasons for variations in instructional engagement within and across the studies, discussthe challenges to engaging students with LD in discipline-based instruction, and stress the valuefor the LD field of greater attention to instructional discourse.

When John Woodward approached me about the possibilityof a special issue of Learning Disabilities Research & Prac-tice devoted to instructional discourse, I jumped at the chance.As I suspected would be the case, the articles John solicitedfrom the four research teams comprising the REACH projectmake a significant contribution to our thinking about the is-sues involved in effective teaching for students with learningdisabilities (LD). These articles add to current discussions(e.g., Speece & Keogh, 1996) in at least three ways. First, theyexamine critically the successes and challenges for studentswith LD in content-rich, discipline-specific learning activi-ties. Second, they examine closely not just the content but alsothe knowledge-building and knowledge-evaluation processeswithin each discipline. Third, they consider the engagementof low achievers and students with LD in these processes,not just in terms of “on-task” behavior, but also in terms ofsubstantive and procedural contributions to group-learningactivities, particularly what Tharp and Gallimore (1988) havecalled “instructional conversations.” As such, these articleshighlight the social nature of learning in classroom settings.Finally, these articles exemplify best practices for preparingteachers to succeed with children with LD in mainstreamcontent classes. In the following paragraphs, I would like tocomment on each of these themes briefly, and to highlightfuture issues for the field that are sparked by these articles.

THE CHALLENGES OF ENGAGING STUDENTSWITH LD IN DISCIPLINARY INSTRUCTION

As a group, the REACH authors place primary emphasis onthe potential for meaningful learning afforded students withLD in upper-elementary or middle-school inclusion class-rooms. They look at what is possible for at-risk and specialeducation students under conditions of thoughtful curricu-lum structure and careful instructional planning. Moroccoand Hindin (this issue), for example, highlight the active,“directive” role played by at-risk students and by students

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identified as LD during discussions of character motives inmiddle-school language arts classrooms. Cutter, Palincsar,and Magnusson (this issue) highlight the substantive contri-butions to group discussions of physical phenomena providedby upper-elementary students identified as LD. MacArthur,Ferretti, and Okolo (this issue) point to the equivalent con-tent learning and engagement in class debates on the part ofstudents with LD and their mainstream peers.

Although the major focus of these articles is on what ispossible, the authors do not shy away from discussing thechallenges they observed for students with LD. Cutter et al.(this issue) note, for example, that although experienced,highly motivated, and successful, the science instructorsin their project needed intensive professional developmentbetween years 1 and 2 of the project in order to recognizethe challenges confronted by students with LD in their class-rooms, and to identify effective strategies for supportingthe engagement and learning of these students. Similarly,Morocco et al. (this issue) state that the success of the targetteacher in their analysis was the result of “many hours ofcollaborative thinking and planning.” Baxter, Woodward,Wong, and Voorhies (this issue) also point to challenges.They contrast the “discussion-enhancing” contributionsof the typical students with those of students with LD,which, although appropriate to the on-going discussionof problem-solution strategies, often failed to move thediscussion forward. In addition, the findings of Baxter et al.,like those from the first year of Cutter et al.’s project, speakto the need for greater attention to professional development.The challenges identified by these research teams wereencountered in classrooms containing project-supportedaides whose efforts were directed at supporting the needs ofthe target children. It appears, therefore, that avoiding suchchallenges involves even richer professional support.

MAKING SENSE OF VARIATIONS ININSTRUCTIONAL ENGAGEMENT

AND LEARNING

It is impossible to make direct comparisons across the fourREACH projects with respect to the successful participation

202 SPECIAL ISSUE

of students with LD in the target instructional activities. How-ever, the data and interpretations presented in these four ar-ticles suggest that the success of students with LD may wellhave varied across the projects. Although such variation wasnot the direct focus of this special series, it is an important is-sue for the LD field to consider. In looking across the articles,it is possible to identify a number of variations in the instruc-tional contexts of potential importance to explanations ofdifferential engagement. In thinking about this issue, the the-oretical framework guiding these studies might suggest thatone look closely at the fact that the instruction takes place indifferent disciplinary domains. It may be no accident, for ex-ample, that students with LD appear to have been more easilyand successfully engaged in the discourses of history and lit-erature than in the discourses of math or science. It may notbe coincidental that the latter disciplines often presupposeready access to a body of foundational concepts and prac-tices. In addition, the type of discourse differs, with a greaterplace for opinion and persuasion in history and literature,and a greater emphasis on evidence-based reasoning in mathand science. It is important to note, however, that MacArthuret al. (this issue) emphasize the importance (as well as thedifficulty) of helping students move from everyday to histori-cal argumentation (which involves a component of evidence-based reasoning). Conversely, the approach to science andmath instruction developed by Cutter et al. (this issue) andBaxter et al. (this issue) included the encouragement of mul-tiple strategies for approaching problems. Thus, the disci-plinary contrast suggested here is one of degree, not kind.However, the contrast points to a potentially interesting issueof relevance to the engagement and learning of students withLD in higher-level instructional contexts.

Other possible explanations for variations in student en-gagement across the four studies are less related to the spe-cific discipline involved but no less important in thinkingabout effective instruction for students with LD. Althoughall four projects involved a combination of small-group ac-tivities and whole-class “reporting out” and discussion, thetarget analyses in the individual articles focused variously ondifferent phases of instructional activities (e.g., small-groupinteractions versus whole-class discussion). Also, the stud-ies themselves varied in terms of the instructional supportprovided to the teachers, either in the form of professionaldevelopment or in the form of in-class instructional support.These variations in instructional grouping or teacher supportare of clear relevance to the successes of complex learningactivities. Finally, I can’t help but wonder how the studentsthemselves varied in terms of the nature of their learningneeds. It is possible, for example, that a significant portion ofthe variation in the success of the target children both withinand across studies relates to language limitations evident inthe students’ profiles (see Stone (2002) for discussion of theimportance of this issue for instruction in discourse-rich en-vironments). This last issue is not addressed in the currentset of articles.

Any or all of the above factors may be crucial in makingsense of variations in instructional engagement and learning.The four research teams have a rich database to explore intheir future work and I hope that they will be able to addressthese possibilities.

THE VALUE FOR THE LD FIELD OF GREATERATTENTION TO INSTRUCTIONAL DISCOURSE

Although all four of the research teams represented in theREACH project share a common sociocultural perspective(Morocco, 2001; Woodward & Morocco, this issue), the arti-cles in this issue differ in terms of approach to discourse anal-ysis. MacArthur et al. (this issue) focus on students’ adher-ence to the argumentation structure of their target discipline.Baxter et al. (this issue) focus on the impact of individualdiscourse contributions on the contributor’s peers. Moroccoand Hindin (this issue) emphasize the teacher’s critical role inscaffolding and revoicing student contributions. Cutter et al.(this issue) emphasize the contribution of intertextuality togroup dynamics. Rather than being a problem, this variationprovides a rich example of the potential of discourse analysisfor the study of teaching and learning. Discourse functionson numerous levels, and it is therefore crucial to explore itfrom complementary perspectives.

One important dimension of variation in discourse analy-sis exists both within and across the articles. This dimensionrepresents a distinction between discourse as a vehicle forinstruction and discourse as a product of such instruction.In highlighting the role of the teacher’s revoicing of studentcontributions to classroom discussion, for example, Moroccoand Hindin (this issue) emphasize how the teacher’s discourse“moves” contribute to student learning. By contrast, in high-lighting the degree of student success in taking on specificdiscourse roles in group discussions, these same authors fo-cus on discourse roles as the desired outcome of effectiveinstruction. In their analyses of shifts in a teacher’s discoursepattern over the course of a math unit, Baxter et al. (this issue)emphasize how the teacher’s increasing focus on promptingmathematical reflections may have contributed to changesin students’ mastery of mathematical discourse. In contrast,MacArthur et al. (this issue) emphasize student use of modesof historical argumentation during a phase of classroom ac-tivity during which the teacher has but a small role. Here, theemphasis is clearly on discourse use as an index of mastery.

In highlighting this variation, my purpose is not to arguefor one approach over the other. Rather, it is to emphasizethat discourse analysis has important contributions to makeboth to our understanding of what students should learn orhave learned and to our understanding of how such learn-ing takes place. It is important to emphasize, however, thatour goal should ultimately be to link these two aspects ofdiscourse analysis. Thus, ultimately, we need analyses thatlink patterns of discourse orchestration to shifts in discourseparticipation over time (e.g., Forman & Larreamendy-Joerns,1998; O’Connor & Michaels, 1996).

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT

There is one final issue cutting across the four REACHprojects that I would like to highlight. This is the issue ofprofessional development. In their discussions of efforts toinclude students with LD in mainstream classrooms, Vaughnand her colleagues (e.g., Vaughn & Schumm, 1996) coined

STONE: ENGAGING STUDENTS IN INSTRUCTIONAL DISCOURSE 203

the phrase “responsible inclusion.” Vaughn’s message wasthat successful inclusion efforts were going to require con-siderable training of and support for classroom teachers. Suchefforts are clearly present in the four REACH projects. Allthe projects included support for the classroom teacher in theform of extra personnel in the classroom and/or professional-development activities during at least part of the interventioneffort. MacArthur et al. (this issue) and Morocco and Hindin(this issue) focused on classrooms containing both a gen-eral and a special educator. Baxter et al. (this issue) includedproject-based aides whose job it was to assist the target stu-dents on an as-needed basis. Cutter et al. (this issue) usedproject-based aides in the classrooms during the first year oftheir intervention.

Also consistent with the concept of “responsible inclu-sion,” all four REACH projects engaged teachers in intensiveworkshops with project staff. In addition, teachers receivedon-going consultation of varying types and intensity. Oneexemplary model for such efforts comes from the project re-ported by Cutter et al. (this issue). These researchers havedeveloped an innovative and seemingly effective approach toengaging teachers in what might be called pedagogical prob-lem solving and reflection. Cutter et al. engaged teachers inconversations about student behaviors and discourse drawnfrom activities in the teachers’ own classrooms. The authors’analyses of these conversations highlight aspects of the com-plex process of teacher change needed to make a differencein inclusion settings.

It is important to consider the successes of the REACHprojects in the context of the additional supports provided toteachers, both those emphasized here as well as others, suchas the intense efforts devoted to curriculum design and lessonplanning evident in all four articles. The clear message hereis that notable successes for students with LD in mainstreamcontent courses, such as those documented in the REACHarticles, do not come easily or cheaply. However, they docome, at least when the necessary supports are in place.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

The challenge for the future is twofold. First, we need toanalyze carefully the potential contributions to successfuldiscipline-based learning for students with LD documentedin studies such as those from the REACH project. Second, weneed to create such successes in more classrooms. Achievingthe latter goal will require attention to the issues raised above,as well as, presumably, other issues. We need to learn moreabout the supports needed by students with varying language

and learning profiles. We need to pay careful attention to therole of instructional groupings in fostering engagement ininstructional discourse. We need to identify both the neces-sary substantive content and the most effective approaches tomeaningful professional development. We need to considerthe instructional-support role(s) required. Finally, we need toconsider how all these issues may vary across disciplines.

The successes of the REACH teams documented here andelsewhere (see the special issue of Learning Disability Quar-terly, Vol. 24, No. 1, devoted to the REACH project) arepromising. However, we should not lose sight of the fact thatthe challenges are real (O’Connor & Jenkins, 1996; Stone,2002; Vaughn & Schumm, 1996). I await eagerly more datafrom the REACH teams regarding student outcomes in therich instructional contexts they are studying, outcomes inboth content mastery and disciplinary engagement. I alsolook forward to learning more about the teams’ efforts atprofessional development and instructional support. Donecorrectly, as it often was in these projects, rich instructioncan work for students with LD. We still have much to learn,however, about how to do it, and these projects have much toteach us about how to do it well.

REFERENCES

Forman, E. A., & Larreamendy-Joerns, J. (1998). Making explicit the im-plicit: Classroom explanations and conversational implicatures. Mind,Culture, and Activity, 5, 105–113.

Morocco, C. (2001). Teaching for understanding with students with disabil-ities: New directions for research on access to the general educationcurriculum. Learning Disabilities Quarterly, 24, 5–14.

O’Connor, R. E., & Jenkins, J. R. (1996). Cooperative learning as an inclusionstrategy: A closer look. Exceptionality, 6, 28–51.

O’Connor, M. C., & Michaels, S. (1996). Shifting participant frameworks:Orchestrating thinking practices in group discussion. In D. Hicks(Ed.), Discourse, learning, and schooling (pp. 63–103). New York:Cambridge University Press.

Speece, D. L., & Keogh, D. K. (Eds.). (1996). Research in classroom ecolo-gies: Implications for inclusion of children with learning disabilities.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Stone, C. A. (2002). Promises and pitfalls of scaffolded instruction forstudents with language learning disabilities. In K. G. Butler & E. R.Silliman (Eds.), Speaking, reading, and writing in children with lan-guage learning disabilities: New paradigms in research and practice(pp. 175–198). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Tharp, R., & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning,and schooling in social context. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Vaughn, S., & Schumm, J. S. (1996). Classroom ecologies: Classroom in-teractions and implications for inclusion of students with learning dis-abilities. In D. L. Speece & D. K. Keogh (Eds.), Research in classroomecologies: Implications for inclusion of children with learning disabil-ities (pp. 107–124). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

About the Author

C. Addison Stone is Professor of Special Education in the Educational Studies Program at the University of Michigan. Heearned his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Chicago. His current research interests center on thesocial context of children with language and learning disabilities. Currently, he serves as co-editor of Learning DisabilitiesResearch & Practice.