"(M)any teachers and administrators who could benefit from converging research evidence do not yet trust the idea that educational research can inform their teaching. When asked why, they typically report that the research lacks authority, is frequently of poor quality, is not easily accessible, is not practical, and is usually communicated in an incomprehensible manner. Further, many teachers and administrators report that "educational research" is frequently used to tout a particular instructional "magic bullet" which typically fails to accomplish what was expected and then is replaced by the next "innovation." Analysis of these "magic bullets" almost always reveals that they are based upon assumptions that have either never been adequately tested or have been assessed using weak research methodology"
"The primary purpose of teacher education research is to inform the effective practice of classroom teachers in order to improve student performance. Rigorous experimental and qualitative research that defines and characterizes effective teaching methodologies that demonstrate improved student performance is limited. This persistent and major gap in the extant knowledge base must be addressed. Efforts should be made to answer the important questions in this critical area."
Reading Comprehension Skills Instruction has been identified by government and academic sources as a research priority [note 1].
We are encouraging researchers to study Textmapping as an enabling technology for classroom instruction in reading comprehension and writing skills, study skills, and text-based course content.
The Textmapping approach is comprised of two elements:
a display-environment (scrolls [http://www.textmapping.org/scrolls.html])
a set of intensive marking techniques (mapping [http://www.textmapping.org/mapping.html]), married to other spatial teaching/learning techniques [note 2]
Textmapping fits nicely under the category of graphic organizers, which includes such well-known techniques as Semantic Mapping, Concept Mapping, and Story Mapping [note 3]. There are, however, three key differences between Textmapping and other graphic organizers.
Textmapping is practiced directly on the text [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html#onText]
Textmapping taps deeply into students' visual, spatial, tactile, and kinaesthetic learning abilities. It has been used with mainstream, ESL, and special needs students at all levels, from elementary through college, and may have applications for deaf learners as well.
Textmapping's display environment (scrolls [http://www.textmapping.org/scrolls.html]) and intensive marking techniques (mapping [http://www.textmapping.org/mapping.html]) can be used to support a wide variety of instructional techniques (for example, Think Aloud, Metacognitive/Questioning, Reciprocal Teaching, SAIL and the like) and key instructional components (for example, explicit description, modeling, collaboration, guided practice, and independent use) [note 5]
For more about Textmapping, read the overview [http://www.textmapping.org/overview.html].
Relation to Existing Research
Researchers have long known that students who are aware of textual cues and text structure demonstrate significantly better comprehension [note 6]. This is especially true in the case of students with learning disabilities [note 7].
We have had some success using Textmapping to teach students how to recognize and use text structure. This is an avenue of inquiry that we would like to see pursued by researchers.
The research also shows that active, intensive marking (such as highlighting, underlining, and margin notes) and graphic/visual organization techniques (such as Semantic Mapping) are very effective for improving comprehension and recall [see note 2 and note 3].
Textmapping offers significant opportunities for teaching and practicing active marking.
It opens new opportunities to take advantage of visual, spatial, tactile, and kinaesthetic learning abilities - i.e., that it expands upon the opportunities first opened by spatial strategies such as Semantic Mapping.
Additional Comments
The benefits [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html] page on this site provides a clear and concise explanation of the instructional benefits of Textmapping. You might find this list helpful when it comes to formulating your research questions.
Please let us know any time you publish an article about Textmapping. You can email us at . We'll put a link to it on our published research page [http://www.textmapping.org/researchPublished.html].
[Back] Note 2: See: Holley, Charles D., & Dansereau, Donald F.; (1984) Spatial Learning Strategies: Techniques, Applications, and Related Issues. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-352620-5. This book is now out of print, but available in many libraries, as well as on line through used book sellers.
[Back] Note 4: There are two relevant points to be made concerning the distinction between Textmapping, which is a true mapping technique, and other visual organizers such as Semantic Mapping, which are actually diagramming techniques:
Semantic Mapping was originally described accurately by it's developers as a diagramming technique [see Chapter 9, "Mapping: Representing Informative Text Diagrammatically" in Holley and Dansereau, cited in note 2, above], but most people only remember that the technique is called Semantic Mapping. Semantic Mapping was so successful that it inspired a string of variations on the theme (e.g., Concept Mapping, Knowledge Mapping, Mind Mapping, and Story Mapping), all of which were labeled "mapping" techniques despite the fact that they are actually diagramming techniques.
What this means to teachers is outlined in the seven key instructional benefits [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html] of Textmapping. In particular, see the fourth benefit [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html#linksComprehension].
Maps and diagrams are closely related. The definitions of the two overlap, and it is not always possible to offer a definitive answer to the question of whether something is a map or a diagram. Nonetheless, there is general agreement among geographers and cartographers that maps are distinguished from diagrams in at least one important respect: Maps are representions of physical or conceptual space. The key word here is "space". Maps are about shapes, dimensions, configuration, and spatial context.
What this means to teachers is outlined in the seven key instructional benefits [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html] of Textmapping. In particular, see the second benefit [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html#wholeView], fourth benefit [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html#linksComprehension], and fifth benefit [http://www.textmapping.org/benefits.html#traceableRecord].
For a sampling of definitions of the term "map", see Bartleby, California State University, and the University of Texas. Also, for an excellent book on how maps and mapping are changing the way we work with information, see Hall, Stephen S., (1992) Mapping the Next Millennium: How Computer-Driven Cartography is Revolutionizing the Face of Science. Random House. ISBN 0-679-74175-5.
[Back] Note 5: For more on these techniques and components, see: Duke, Neil K., and Pearson, P. David; (2002) Effective Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension, in Alan E. Farstrup & S. Jay Samuels (Eds.), What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 3rd. Editon, Newark, DE, International Reading Association. http://www.scholastic.com/dodea/Module_1/resources/dodea_m1_pa_duke.pdf
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Reading Comprehension Skills Instruction has been identified by government and academic sources as a research priority [
The Textmapping approach is comprised of two elements:
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