The purpose of this study was to describe a tenth grade English program for reluctant learners and to determine the benefits of the program in achieving improvement in reading, writing, and self-concept. In addition, a general perception of the possible success of the program as ascertained by students and administrators was sought. The population consisted of 43 reluctant learners identified by low achievement scores, poor report cards, teacher recommendation, counselor recommendation, and personal interview.A pretest/posttest comparison of scores on six standardized tests for vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, language mechanics, language expression, and self-concept was utilized to determine improvement. Researcher-created surveys were used to determine perceptions of students and administrators regarding the success of the program.1. Seventy-eight percent of the students improved in vocabulary.2. Sixty-nine percent of the students improved in reading comprehension.3. Sixty-three percent of the students improved inspelling.4. Seventy-eight percent of the students improved in language mechanics.5. Ninety-two percent of the students improved in language expression.6. Fifty-eight percent of the students improved in self-concept.7. Both students and administrators considered the program a success.Conclusions1. Grouping reluctant learners for part of the school day is beneficial to improving reading,' writing, and self-concept in tenth grade English classes.2. A personalizing and individualizing approach to teaching reluctant tenth graders is essential.3. A reluctant learner program is considered valuable by students and administrators in the Menasha Public School System.4. Test scores indicate improvement in reading, writing, and self-concept for students included in the program for reluctant learners.5. Understanding the personal lives of reluctant learners enhances communication, cooperation, and the ability to create individualized instruction.6. Communicating and working with counselors, parents, and administrators is effective in meeting the needs of reluctant learners at the tenth grade level.7. Seeking assistance from special education per nurses, and work experience personnel is necessary in meeting the needs of reluctant learners at the tenth grade level.

The purpose of this study was to determine if students who participated in language arts remediation which was infused with critical thinking activities and metacognition would make greater gains in skills and achievement than those students who were remediated with a regular language arts curriculum. The population for this study was a group of at risk students who were fourteen to sixteen years old and who were participants in the 1987 summer Youth Opportunities Unlimited project at the University of North Texas. Their progress was measured with California Achievement Test and Iowa Test of Basic Skills pretests and posttests. The organization of the study includes a statement of the problem, a review of the literature, the methods and procedures used to collect the data, the analysis of data, and a summary of the findings, conclusions, educational implications, and recommendations tor additional research. Data from the eight hypotheses were treated with an analysis of covariance. The analysis of data revealed the following: 1. The infusion of critical thinking activities and metacognition did not improve students' skills or achievement in the following areas: spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. 2. The infusion of critical thinking activities and metacognition did not improve students' skills in usage and expression as tested with items focusing on subject/verb agreement, verb tense, pronoun case, and pronoun degree. 3. The critical thinking activities and metacognition made a significant difference in students' achievement in language expression. The education implications are that lessons designed with mechanics objectives such as capitalization and punctuation should include independent practice. However, lessons designed with objectives focusing on usage, subject/verb agreement, double negatives, verb tense, and pronoun case and degree should include critical thinking activities and metacognition.

This study seeks to throw light on the language background of fifty-nine primary school children in schools for Indian South Africans in the Durban area of Natal. The schools were all under the control of the Department of Internal Affairs. At some time before February 1982, each child had been referred to the remedial teacher employed at his school, and had subsequently received help in language, specifically reading, for at least the period from February 1982 - November 1983. Even after that time, the children were not considered able to achieve satisfactorily in the "normal" class without further help. Data were initially collected by remedial teachers who interviewed the adult considered most significant in the child's life, using scheduled interviews. In addition they collected information from the child and the school and filled in personal questionnaires. After the first school term of 1984, Diploma in Specialise Education (Remedial Education) students at the University of Durban-Westville visited the homes of twenty children in the study and tape-recorded unstructured interviews with the adults. Three of these tapes are used in this text. The data collected is used to show that despite the poverty many families experience, the reason for the child's language difficulties is caused less by lack of material possessions than by parental ignorance of how best they can encourage language development and help close the gap between the spoken language of home and both the spoken and written language the children meet in school. The inefficiency of questionnaires as research tools became increasingly apparent as the project progressed, and that there is a real need for a thorough qualitative investigation into the language background of pupils-in-need is clear. / Thesis (M.Ed) - University of Durban-Westville, 1984.

No description available.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of discerning the traits of a group of pupils who have low levels of learning and developing for them a more appropriate "differentiated program" of instruction in language arts.

The purpose of this experimental study is to make a comparison of the progress made in reading and language skills by the regular teaching procedure and the remedial teaching procedure to see whether any significant differences would be manifested in pupil progress when taught by the remedial teaching procedure.