Providing an orientation basis for a young blind reader’s structuring interaction with expository texts

Abstract

The interventional case-study presented in this report was intended to explore how the use of a

conceptual meta-model representing coherent and conceptual relations commonly appearing in

expository texts helped a blind reader to use structuring strategies in reading them. The

instructional approach designed and tested in the study was based on the key elements of the

theory of planned stage-by-stage formation of mental acts and concepts (PSFMAC), introduced by

Galperin, and also drew on contemporary approaches in reading comprehension interventions.

The participant of the study was a 17-year-old, blind man with semantic and syntactic disorders in

his early language development. The results of the study indicate that the use of the developed

conceptual meta-model appeared to considerably affect his strategies in structuring the expository

text content. During the intervention, the participant started more accurately to take account of

some frequent coherent and conceptual, particularly causal, relations that he was previously

prone to ignore. He also started more actively to use external speech while reading. The results

provide evidence that the developed conceptual meta-model can serve as an external organizer

helping a blind reader to actively structure text content.