UNC School of Education

>> Hall, Leigh A

Leigh A. Hall’s research addresses issues relevant to adolescent literacy, struggling readers, middle school education and teacher education. Her current work considers how students’ identities as readers influence the decisions they make when reading text, and if – and how – teachers can use information about students’ identities to inform their practice and improve their learners’ comprehension of text.

Hall’s research on adolescents and identity has provided information about struggling middle school readers. Her work challenges research and theory suggesting that struggling readers typically avoid text, are unmotivated to read and may not care about learning. Instead, Hall’s research suggests that struggling readers like to read and would like to become better readers. While they may not always be motivated to read, their seeming lack of desire to engage with text is often a reflection of their weaknesses as readers. Even when struggling readers try to avoid reading, Hall has found that they look for ways to learn the information found in the text. She also discovered that struggling middle school readers might express continued interest and excitement in school and learning even though they often have a long and negative history with school.

In addition to conducting research on adolescents, Hall is currently studying how book clubs can help pre-service teachers understand how students’ identities, as well as their social and cultural backgrounds, impact the decisions they make with text. Her goal is to help teachers understand educational theory in this area and the application of these theories to reading instruction. In doing so, Hall hopes that new teachers will begin to think about reading in a broader format and will take multiple factors into account when planning for instruction.

Hall’s research on literacy instruction in teacher education provides much needed information about helping teachers learn. Limited work exists that examines the benefits teachers gain from participating in schools of education. Hall’s study in this area is adding to a growing body of work in this field and helping to improve the education that pre- and in-service teachers receive in school and in colleges of education.