This zone changes as teachers and students move past their present level of development towards new learning. Vygotsky coined the phrase 'Zone of Proximal Development' to refer to the zone where teachers and students work as children move towards independence. He argued that the most successful learning occurs when children are guided by adults towards learning things that they could not attempt on their own. Vygotsky was particularly interested in the ways children were challenged and extended in their learning by adults. Guided reading allows students to practise and consolidate effective reading strategies.
The practice of guided reading is based on the belief that the optimal learning for a reader occurs when they are assisted by an educator, or expert ‘other’, to read and understand a text with clear but limited guidance. Guided reading is informed by Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development and Bruner’s (1986) notion of scaffolding, informed by Vygotsky’s research. The main goal of guided reading is to help students use reading strategies whilst reading for meaning independently.
Guided reading sessions are made up of three parts: Guided reading is an instructional practice or approach where teachers support a small group of students to read a text independently.
