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LD2668 .T4 1947 W4 / Master of Science

A single-case research design was used to test the effectiveness of combining three instructional strategies to improve the word recognition, reading comprehension, and reading fluency of one post-primary child with a history of reading difficulty. The strategies selected, phonological decoding, metacognitive thinking, and rehearsal were shown throughout the literature to be effective on their own and in various combinations for supporting children with reading difficulty. The ten-year old female subject was given instruction in using these strategies in an intensive 1 : 1 setting. The subject met with a Research Assistant for three, 1-1 54 hour sessions each week over a ten week period. Prior to collecting baseline data, pre-testing was conducted using standardized instruments, the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test 11 (2002) and the Slosson Oral Reading Test (1 963) and a non-standardized instrument, the Classroom Reading Inventory (Silvaroli, 1982). Graded word lists and passages taken from the Diagnostic Reading Program, an inventory prepared for the Alberta Ministry of Education, Student Evaluation Branch (1 986) were used to assess the subject's skills in word recognition, comprehension, and fluency. During Session #9, the intervention, a combination of phonological decoding, metacognitive thinking, and rehearsal strategies were taught prior to testing and data collection. At Session #15, the intervention was applied to comprehension. Although data was collected for fluency scores throughout the study, the intervention was not directly applied to this variable. Post testing revealed the subject's word recognition and comprehension skills improved after the intervention was introduced, demonstrated by the generally positive trend on the multiple baseline whereas fluency scores actually dropped as she slowed her reading down to use the strategies for decoding unknown words. The quantitative data collected during post-testing with the WIAT I1 indicates an increase in percentile and age level scores that the subject's scores in word recognition (13%, 1 year), comprehension (57%, 4.4 years), and pseudoword decoding (lo%, 1 year) and scores on the SORT demonstrate a grade level equivalent growth of 1.2 years. Qualitative data in form of daily field notes by the Research Assistant signifl an overall positive change in the subject's view of herself as a reader. The strategies gave her more confidence, she abandoned her key strategy of guessing in favor of metacognitive thinking and decoding strategies, and focused on meaning, all of which contributed to higher post-testing scores for word recognition and in particular, comprehension as well as generally positive trends in baselines. After the study was completed, the subject was observed by her classroom teacher to have improved her performance and participation in the reading program and most significantly, was presenting a more positive and enthusiastic attitude toward reading. It is acknowledged by the researcher that although provision of intensive 1 : 1 instruction in the use of reading strategies is not always feasible for schools attempting to provide quality instruction and programming for students with a wide range of abilities, these strategies, when applied, can significantly improve the word recognition and reading comprehension skills of a post-primary student with a history of reading dificulty although they caused a reduction in reading fluency scores.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether good and poor second grade readers differed in their abilities to respond orally with words which were syntactically correct and were semantically equivalent while reading aloud a fifty item oral cloze test. An extreme range in variance on the dependent measure of semantic equivalence prohibited the planned multivariate analysis of the two dependent measures of syntactic correctness and semantic equivalence. A nonorthogonal univariate analysis of variance was conducted on the dependent measure of syntactic correctness, with intelligence and sex controlled.The subjects for the study were second grade students randomly selected from six middle class elementary schools in a middle size midwestern city. Only students who fit the criteria of a second grade reader and a user of language, employed in this study, formed the population from which the sample was selected. In order to control for the effects of sex, four groups of subjects were used -- twenty male good readers; twenty female good readers; twenty male poor readers; and eighteen female poor readers. Level of reading achievement was based on the subject's score on the reading subtest of the Metropolitan Achievement Tests: Reading Tests, Primary II, Form F. Intelligence was controlled in the statistical analysis through use of the stanine scores of the subjects on the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test, Elementary I Level, Form J.The subjects were administered a fifty item cloze test, constructed and piloted by the researcher. Subjects read the cloze test aloud and supplied responses for the deleted items, which were recorded on answer sheets. A trained judge scored the responses. The criterion for syntactic correctness was as follows: A response was considered to be syntactically correct if it belonged to the same grammatical class as the deleted word. The criterion for semantic equivalence was as follows: A response was considered to be semantically equivalent if, when substituted for the deleted word, it did not alter the meaning of the passage up to the point of the deletion and the meaning of the sentence in which it occurred.The three independent variables in the study were intelligence with two levels (high and average), sex with two levels (male and female), and reading achievement with two levels (good and poor.) Intelligence and sex were used as controlling factors. The two dependent measures were syntactic correctness and semantic equivalence. However, the extreme variability within the dependent measure of semantic equivalence prohibited statistical analysis.A nonorthogonal univariate analysis of variance was conducted on the dependent measure of syntactic correctness, with intelligence and sex controlled. The null hypothesis was rejected (F=13.195, with 1 and 70 degrees of freedom p < .0001). Good second grade readers did have significantly higher syntactic correctness scores on the oral cloze test than poor second grade readers. While the difference between the marginal means for good and poor second grade readers was small, it was statistically significant. Although the dependent measure of semantic equivalence was not analyzed, the within-cell correlation between syntactic correctness and semantic equivalence was high (.794).The finding of the study was interpreted to mean that good second grade readers appeared to be more aware of and more able to use the syntactical constraints of the printed text to supply missing words. It was concluded that poor readers may need to be specifically taught to use the syntactical constraints of the printed text, rather than expecting this ability to develop naturally.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of special reading upon academic performance in reading of children in grade one. For this purpose a six months experiment was conducted in three similar schools.Special reading was implemented in one of two settings; one group received special reading in the school reading clinic under the direction of the reading specialist; a second group received instruction from the classroom teacher using the reading specialist as a resource person. Designated control, one group received no aid from the reading specialist.Children in the special reading groups had ranked in the low third on a screening test. Their reading achievement was evaluated as well as that of pupils who ranked in the middle and upper thirds in classrooms where special programs were implemented for the low third in one of two settings.Instruments used in the study were the First Grade Screening Test, The Screening Test for Assigning Remedial Treatment, the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test and a scale calculated to gain information about a dimension of per-called "locus of control". This scale is the StricklandNorwicki Scale.The results of the reading achievement test served as a basis for comparison, using analysis of variance to test four null hypotheses.Data obtained from the Strickland-Norwicki Scale were not subjected to statistical analysis but were described with reference to the groups.Results from the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test revealed that there were no significant differences in reading achievement between the three groups of pupils, those enrolled in either of the two special reading groups or the control group. These groups were comprised of pupils who had scored in the low third on the screening test.Students who ranked in the upper third in classrooms where special reading was implemented for the lower third achieved significantly higher than did top third students whose low third classmates received no aid from the reading specialist. This was also true when the upper and middle thirds were combined. When scores of the middle third alone were analyzed no significant differences resulted.The Strickland-Norwicki Scale revealed that perceptions of environment were nearly equally distributed between feelings of being internally and externally controlled for the total group. When viewing the scores of the three groups individually, the special reading outside classroom group had the more positive orientation, internal control, as evaluated by this scale.It was concluded that special reading is valuable to first-grade pupils although in this study those directly participating in the experimental special reading groups did not show significantly higher achievement than did those who did not receive it. However, students who had been deemed more ready for reading instruction as evaluated by a screening test, (upper third or combined middle and upper third) whose low third classmates were enrolled in a program of special reading, gained some indirect benefits of special reading. They achieved significantly higher reading achievement test scores than did students who also ranked in the upper third, or middle and upper third combined, in classrooms which did not provide special reading for classmates ranking in the low third.

This study investigated the effects of lesson preparation and teaching of reading and the effects of reinforcement inherent in the teaching role on reading comprehension, vocabulary, and attitude toward the concept "reading." Subjects for the study were low reading sixth graders.In this study equivalent groups were used to control for the possible positive social effects inherent in the process of assuming the tutor role. Additionally, the total time involvement with the reading material was controlled to assure equal time involvement for all subjects.In order to determine the most effective use of tutoring as a means of educational intervention for tutors, it was necessary to isolate the critical factors which determine the success of the overall tutoring process. Rigorous experimental control was also necessary in order to determine whether the academic improvement of tutors was actually a function of the tutoring process and not a function of uncontrolled, unknowm factors.The subjects in this study were 71 sixth grade students from 10 classrooms located in the seven elementary schools of a rural Midwestern school system. The subjects included all sixth grade students in the entire school system who scored between one and three years below grade level in reading comprehension, and for whom written parental permission for participation in the study was obtained.A pretest-posttest control group design was used to test data relative to nine hypotheses. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests were used to measure the reading comprehension and vocabulary of all sixth graders. A semantic differential was used to measure the attitudes of subjects toward the concept "reading."Analysis of covariance was the statistical treatment utilized to determine the significance of differences in data relative to the nine hypotheses.Following the pretest, subjects were randomly assigned within each school into one of three groups. Experimental group (ER) tutored fourth grade students in reading for three one-half hour periods a week for 12 weeks. These subjects tutored during part of their regular classroom reading period. Experimental group (EA) tutored fourth grade students in arithmetic for three, one-half hour periods a week for 12 weeks. These tutors remained in their regular sixth grade classroom during reading period. Control group (C) did not tutor nor interact with fourth grade children. These subjects remained in their sixth grade classroom for regular reading instruction.The conclusions of this study are as follows:1. Working as a tutor in reading plus receiving some' regularclassroom instruction was as effective as receiving regularclassroom instruction in reading alone.2. The effects of the reinforcement inherent in playing the role of teacher alone do not appear to produce improved reading achievement skills.3.Actual lesson preparation and teaching of reading plus some regular classroom reading instruction were as effective as regular classroom reading instruction alone.4. The effects of playing the role of teacher did not affect subject attitudes toward reading.