The purpose of this study was two-fold. First the researcher set out to determine if phonemic awareness skills improved for first grade students of teachers who used the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS; Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998). Second, an attempt was made to determine if there was a relationship between reading improvement in decoding and teacher level variables (i.e., perception of their knowledge of the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998), and relevant demographic variables).<p>Students scores based on the Learning Disabilities Working Committee Kindergarten screening tool (LDWC, 2005) were compared to their respective scores on the Learning Disabilities Working Committee Grade One screening tool (LDWC, 2002). Comparison of progress for all students were evaluated as well as assessment of progress for students deemed at risk (below the 25th percentile) of reading failure compared to those not at risk (above the 25th percentile). Teachers perceptions of the critical elements of the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998) and demographic information were collected. The teacher level variables gathered from this survey (i.e., teaching experience, formal training, knowledge, or skill level in program delivery) were correlated to students scores on the screening tools.<p>Results revealed that teacher demographics, such as teaching experience, specialized training, and intensity of instructional approach are related to student reading achievement in decoding; however, no clearly defined relationship was found between teachers perceptions of the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998) and student achievement. Paired-sample t-tests were also used to determine if statistically significant differences existed between the means of phonemic identity, phonemic blending, and letter/sound identification between Kindergarten and Grade One. Even though statistically significant results were noted, consideration of the actual change in mean scores and effect size suggested if a practical significance existed. Results indicated that gains were made by students in phonemic awareness and letter/sound correspondence; however, greater gains were noted for students deemed at-risk whose teachers used the LiPS program (Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998).

In this paper a news site’s potential of meeting conflicting needs is considered. Snacking - hencereading news in a quick selective style - is one trend among young readers which seems to be inconflict with assessing the credibility of news, which in turn depends on receiving multipleperspectives or viewpoints among the issues read. As young audiences neither want to beforced to put more effort into news reading, nor want to receive news in a single-layered way,satisfaction with the news is hampered. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate acurrent news site’s potential in complying with both needs: snacking on the one hand andreceiving multiple perspectives on the other. As research case, the German public service newssite tagesschau.de is investigated in two methodological approaches. In a content analysis thepotential of the news site is assessed by analyzing ways of presenting perspectives in snacknews element. In a reception study this potential is reassessed by a young audience sample. Itwas found that perspectives indeed are presented in snack news elements in direct or indirectforms, often represented by different sources than the journalist’s. However, it shows that thesepresentations of perspectives not always reach the audience. Members of the audience leaveout many elements that could be snacked on, and stick to headlines for the main part. Thisimplies that they miss multiple perspectives offered in elements suitable for snacking, such ashyperlinks. In order to offer multiple perspectives to snacking news readers, more controversyshould be indicated in headlines, comparisons of perspectives should be made easier and linksshould be more relevant by leaving out aspects perceived as unnecessary and by representingsources in a better balance.

This study examined a first grade, general education teacher's changing practices related to reading intervention for struggling readers as she worked with a group of university researchers to develop and implement a first grade reading instruction model. This study also investigated the following research questions: What changes in a first grade, general education teacher’s reading instructional practices occurred because of a year long university-teacher collaborative relationship in implementing evidence-based reading instruction for struggling students? What were the facilitators and barriers for implementing evidence-based reading practices for struggling readers? Analyses of classroom observations, teacher interviews, intervention validity checklists (IVC's), observations, support team meeting notes, research team meeting notes, field notes, and other forms of documentation provided a view into the process of change of one teacher. / text

Idioms such as break a leg and piece of cake make up a significant portion of spoken and written discourse. Like other linguistic expressions stemming from conceptual metaphor (e.g., metaphors, similes), idioms serve to provide understanding of one concept in relation to a different concept (e.g., love is a journey). The ability to comprehend figurative expressions has an extended developmental period that begins as young as 5 years and continues into adulthood. The Language Experience Hypothesis attributes figurative language competence to meaningful exposure to figurative expressions. The Global Elaboration Hypothesis, however, proposes that figurative language comprehension depends upon skills needed for general text comprehension (e.g., ability to make inferences, semantic knowledge). Studies with children and adolescents have shown that reading comprehension relates to both idiom familiarity and comprehension. Similar studies have not been conducted with adult struggling readers. This study examined idiom familiarity and comprehension of adult struggling readers (N = 60; M age = 41 years) in relation to their reading skills. The Idiom Familiarity and Idiom Comprehension tasks developed by Nippold and colleagues (1993, 2001) were used, which allowed for comparisons between the performance of adult struggling readers in this study and past research. Participants’ idiom comprehension scores were lower than those of adults studied in previous research, and comparable to those of children reading at similar levels. Their familiarity rankings of individual idioms aligned with the levels established by Nippold and Rudzinski (1993); however, they were less familiar with idioms than the twelfth grade group. Results from a familiarity (high, moderate, low) x context (isolation, story) ANOVA showed story context helped adult struggling readers comprehend more high-familiarity idioms, but hindered comprehension of low-familiarity idioms. Hierarchical regressions revealed that reading comprehension accounted for unique variance over and beyond idiom familiarity and word reading skills for idioms presented in both isolation and story contexts. Findings from this study contribute to the study of figurative language comprehension by examining adults with limited literacy skills. Similarly, these findings contribute to the field of adult literacy by providing initial evidence of adult struggling readers’ familiarity and comprehension of idioms.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1993. / Includes vita and abstract. Order number 9320541. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-186).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-267).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Literatures in English." Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-226).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1988. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 509-526).