PhD defence Hilde Kooiker-den Boer: Science education as a functional context for text structure instruction

On Friday 18 October, Hilde Kooiker-den Boer will defend her PhD dissertation ‘Door lezen de wereld ontdekken: Natuur & Techniek als functionele context voor tekststructuuronderwijs’.

Reading proficiency and text structure

Subjects such as history, geography, and science require students in upper primary education to have strong reading skills. At the same time, these subjects offer a functional and motivating context in which they can enhance their reading skills.

Understanding expository texts requires students to have particular vocabulary and background knowledge. Additionally, it helps if they understand how texts are structured and can recognise connections such as cause-effect, sequence, or problem-solution. However, Dutch primary education currently does not pay much attention to text structure.

Integration of text structure instruction

In her dissertation, Kooiker-den Boer investigated how text structure instruction can be meaningfully integrated into science education. She demonstrated, among other things, that this integration has potential, but that more structured texts and effective assignments are needed. Additionally, the professional development of teachers is important so that they can gain more knowledge about text structure.