Abstract

This study examined the teachers’ usage of the instructional features for their chosen early reading models and describes the teacher patterns of instructional practices. To a greater extent, the instructional features used by teachers in these classrooms with the varied early reading models determined what was learned and how learning took place. The teachers who used the most formal organizational unit of classroom instructional features, regardless of the model, parallel the direct instruction or skills-emphasis model of instruction for intervention. While, the teachers who used the most supportive organizational unit of classroom instructional features, regardless of the model, allow for the integration of informal assessment with teaching and more interpersonal behaviours with the learners. The case studies developed from the qualitative data of this project provide clear evidence to indicate that, far more than any other factor, teacher expertise can make the difference in what children learn.