The Dynamic Relationship Between Students' Talk About Their Learning and Teachers' Reading Instruction.

This article examines how the instructional practices of special education teachers influence the ways upper elementary students with specific learning disabilities (LD) perceive and talk about their reading learning experiences. Using grounded theory and symbolic interactionism, the study analyzed focus group discussions with 20 students and classroom observations of three special educators participating in a professional development program on evidence-based reading instruction. Findings indicate that teachers' explicit explanation, modeling, and structuring of interactive learning opportunities—particularly those promoting peer collaboration and metacognitive questioning—correlate with students' deeper understanding of reading strategies, greater reading confidence, and a stronger sense of agency as readers. The study highlights the value of incorporating students' voices alongside performance data to better understand and improve reading instruction for students with LD and suggests implications for teacher education and future research.