Adolescent struggling readers' positive student-teacher relationships

Abstract

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to better understand how adolescent struggling readers in Massachusetts made sense of their positive student-teacher relationships. This study addressed the research question: How do adolescent struggling readers experience and make sense of successful student-teacher relationships? The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with six participants who were identified as struggling readers per their scores on the MCAS. However, these students reportedly had a positive relationship with a teacher in whose class they were performing well academically. The students were enrolled in seventh or eighth grade in Massachusetts. After analyzing the transcribed interviews, it was found that adolescent struggling readers experience positive student-teacher relationships when their teachers get to know them as individuals and use that knowledge to effectively address their needs. It was also found that teacher positivity was a key quality to successful relationships and that students feel these positive relationships facilitate learning. Implications include a focus on supports for building relationships such as professional development regarding individualized instruction and supports for teachers' well-being so they can maintain positivity in their classrooms. --Author's abstract