The study is part of the first phase of a broader action research project that focuses on reading at a foundational level among both adults (Levels 1 and Levels 2) and children (Grade R – 4) in both IsiZulu and English, with the purpose of promoting a reading culture among educators, learners and other stakeholders in the learning community of the school. The study focused on the assessment of reading in English among Grade 4 learners at a rural primary school in Kwazulu-Natal. This focus included the methods and techniques used to assess learners reading at Grade 4 level. Also, it focused on the skills that are being assessed in reading. The broad purpose of the study was to investigate, analyse and understand the assessment of reading and the impact it had on Grade 4 learners’ development and growth in reading. The study shared the same objective as the broader project, which was to promote a reading culture. However, in order to create a reading culture, teachers need to use appropriate forms and tools of assessment and need to understand the role of assessment in the development of reading skills among young children. The purpose of reading assessment is to monitor the development of reading skills, to observe each learner’s progression in reading, and to allow teachers to design methods to assist learners in achieving desirable reading strategies. In the light of this, the study’s purpose was to identify the methods and/or forms of assessment that a teacher used to assess reading in her classroom as the basis for an intervention to improve the culture of reading at the school. The study attempted to answer the following questions: · What forms of assessments do teachers use in their reading classroom? · What reading skills are being assessed and developed? · How does the teacher assess reading? What process is used? · What types of texts are being used to assess reading in the reading classroom? In order to answer these questions the researcher used case study as the methodology and collected data using questionnaires, observations and interviews with the Grade 4 English teacher and school principal as well as kept a personal reflective journal. The data was analysed by means of content analysis and was coded according to the themes and patterns that emerged during the transcription process. To briefly sum up the findings that surfaced from the study, it was clear that the participants were aware of the importance of teaching and assessing comprehension of reading however, these were not practised in the classroom. In other words, the teacher focused on assessing decoding, pronunciation, fluency, accuracy and book handling skills; there was no assessment of comprehension. Furthermore, reading was only reading aloud and was repetitive in that learners first listened while the teacher read the text aloud, then they read the same text together as a class aloud, they read it again in groups aloud and finally were called individually to the front of the class to read a few lines from the text aloud for assessment. This reading assessment was a formative form of assessment, however reading was also assessed on a continuous weekly basis but was informally conducted. Lastly, there was a recurrence in the way the participant assessed reading in her classroom and the way in which her teacher assessed her reading while she was at school. These findings were just a few of the many findings that have been discussed in detail in Chapter Four of the dissertation. / Thesis (M.Ed)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

This study compared the effects of two comprehension monitoring strategies on the reading comprehension awareness in expository text read by third and fifth grade students. A secondary purpose was to determine if the comprehension monitoring strategies influenced reading comprehension achievement. The effects of gender were also studied. The participants were 51 third grade students and 57 fifth grade students from six intact classrooms in four elementary schools in a midwestern school district.One third and one fifth grade classroom was randomly assigned to each of the two experimental groups and the one control group. During a 4-week intervention, one experimental group was taught the comprehension monitoring strategy K-W-L; the other the comprehension monitoring strategy Predicting/Evaluating. The control group read the same expository text as the experimental groups during sustained silent reading for the 4-week period with no instruction in a comprehension monitoring strategy. A metacognitive instrument and a standardized norm-referenced test were used as pretest (covariate) and posttest (dependent variable) measures. Two separate analyses of covariance were used to address the four research questions. The following results were suggested.1. Third grade males with no strategy instruction outperformed third grade males with strategy instruction in reading comprehension awareness.2. Fifth graders outperformed third graders in reading comprehension awareness regardless of gender and regardless of strategy taught for comprehension monitoring.3. Females outperformed males in reading comprehension awareness regardless of grade level and regardless of strategy taught for comprehension monitoring.4. Third and fifth graders achieved equally well in reading achievement whether or not they received instruction and practice using a comprehension monitoring strategy.5. Males and females achieved equally well in reading achievement whether or not they received instruction and practice using a comprehension monitoring strategy.6. Third graders outperformed fifth graders in reading achievement regardless of gender and regardless of strategy taught for comprehension monitoring. / Department of Elementary Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive validity of formal and informal measuring instruments as related to reading achievement test scores at the end of first grade, in sixth grade, and in ninth grade. Second, relationships between first grade reading achievement test scores and those at sixth and ninth grades were sought. Third, the relationships between two visual motor coordination subtests and between the scores of two mental maturity tests were examined. Finally, the relationship between reading test scores for boys and girls was determined at each of these intervals.The initial population consisted of 195 first grade students in Mount Pleasant Community School System in Yorktown, Indiana. The first data were compiled in the Fall of 1968; a second collection was April, 1969; the third June, 1977, at which time 113 of the initial population of students were still enrolled.Instruments used included: (1) a teacher opinion rating scale of student reading potential (TRSS); (2) a form for documenting dates students began formal reading (DBRF); (3) Gates-MacGinitie Reading Readiness Test (GMRRT); (4) Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT); (5) Good-enough-Harris Drawing Test (GHDT), Draw-A-Man subtest; (6) Marianne Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception (MFDTVP); (7) Evanston Early Identification Scale (EELS); (8) Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT); (9) Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), Level 12, Form 5, Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension subtests; (10) Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED), Grades 9-12, Form X5, Reading subtest. All of the formal instruments were group-administered to the students by classroom teachers.Variables analyzed included twenty-one scores from the tests and subtests of the above measures. Statistical procedures used to analyze the data were the Pearson product-moment correlations, multiple regression correlations, and the t test. The .05 level was accepted as basis for statistical significance.The variables measured by the readiness test (GMRRT), visual perception test (MFDTVP), intelligence tests (CAT & GH DT), screening test (EELS), and teachers' opinions of students' potential reading abilities (TRSS) were related to reading abilities after eight months in school. The variables designated as listening comprehension, auditory discrimination, visual discrimination, following directions, word recognition, intelligence (CAT), teachers' opinions of students' potential reading abilities, and first grade reading achievement tests were related to reading abilities after five years in school. The variables identified as listening comprehension, auditory discrimination, visual-motor coordination, intelligence (CAT), position in space, teachers' opinions of students' potential reading abilities, and first grade reading achievement tests were related to reading abilities bf students after nine years in school.The intelligence test (CAT) had a high correlation with the sixth grade reading achievement test; the correlation with the first grade achievement test was not as high; the correlation was lowest with the ninth grade achievement test.There was a low, but statistically significant relationship between the two visual, motor coordination subtests (GMRRT & MFDTVP), and between the two inte71lectual measures (CAT & GHDT). Girls scored higher than boys on the first grade reading achievement tests, but the differences were not statistically significant after six and nine years in school.Of the formal and informal instruments administered prior to beginning formal reading only three subtests, Letter Recognition, Word Recognition, and Visual Discrimination, of the GMRRT and the Teacher Rating Scale of Students demonstrated predictive validity as to first grade reading ability. Two subtests, Auditory Blending and Listening Comprehension, of the GMRRT, Cognitive Abilities Test, Figure-Ground subtest of the MFDTVP, and the TRSS demonstrated predictive validity as to reading ability after five years in school. Two subtests, Following Directions and Listening Comprehension, of the GMRRT, TRSS, and DBRF demonstrated predictive validity of reading ability after nine years in school.In predicting first grade reading ability the instruments which were most effective were recommended to be included in a screening procedure. Using the conclusions of this study, the screening procedure should include the Letter Recognition, Word Recognition, and Visual Discrimination subtests of the GMRRT, and the Teacher Rating Scale of Students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to the reading ability of beginning kindergarten children. The study purported to investigate the following major components: One, the relationship between two specified sets of variables. Set I included: (1) letter naming; (2) visual discrimination; (3) auditory discrimination; (4) oral language; (5) chronological age; and (6) mental age. Two, the relationship between reading as measured by word call and comprehension, and sex and socioeconomic status was investigated. Three, the relationships between reading and the environmental and developmental characteristics of beginning kindergarten children were examined through child and parent interviews.A word call and comprehension test was developed and given to 1,858 beginning kindergarten children of thirty-one public schools of Delaware County, Indiana. A stratified random sampling procedure was employed. The strata were determined by a combination of raw scores on word call and comprehension according to the various ranges in scores and the number of children available representing each range. An attempt was made to provide proportional sampling for each sex.The instruments used in the sample were: (1) a self-constructed letter naming test; (2) Gates-MacGinitie Readiness Skills Test (visual discrimination subtest) ; (3) Wepman Auditory Discrimination Zest ; (4) Slosson Intelligence Test for Children and Adults (SIT); (5) The Minnesota Scale for Paternal Occupation; (6) eight puppets to elicit oral language samples measured by the T-unit; (7) Child Interview Questionnaire; and (8) Parent Interview Questionnaire. All tests and instruments were administered individually.The data obtained from the Child Interview Questionnaire included: (1) experiences; (2) interests; (3) responsibilities and behaviors; (4) language-speaking experiences; (5) reading-writing experiences; and (6) parent attitudes. The data obtained from the Parent Questionnaire included: (1) family background; (2) home environment; (3) physical--motor skills; (4) behavioral characteristics; (5) preschool language-speaking experiences; (6) preschool reading experiences; and (7) parental attitudes and opinions. The analysis was made on the total sample; comparisons between the upper and lower quartile of the sample were made where appropriate.The statistical procedure used to analyze the data of this study was the canonical correlation which measures the relationship between two sets of variables and permits assessment of the interrelationships among them. One canonical correlation was significant which yielded a chi squared of 97.997 with twelve degrees of freedom value of (p <.0001).The correlation between Set I and Set II variables in this study was .8730 with 38.11 percentage of explained variance in Set I accounted for by variables in Set IT.Variables letter naming, visual discrimination, and mental age tended to have the highest correlation or greatest weight with variables word call and comprehension with letter naming as the major contributor. This would tend to confirm the use of letter naming as a predictor of reading achievement. The five most influential factors that encouragedchildren to take an interest in reading in this study were: being read to; seeing others read; having reading. materials available; viewing television; and curiosity.Children in the upper quartile of the sample who manifested greater degrees of reading ability than children in the lower quartile of the sample tended to come from higher socioeconomic classes; more reading materials were available; family members were seen reading; spoke in sentences earlier; and had less difficulty with verbal fluency or expression.Parents of children in the upper quartile of the sample encouraged interest in reading most often through incidental. learning situations rather than deliberate attempts to teach reading skills. Most parents indicated that they did not foresee any special school related problems because of their child's reading ability prior to kindergarten; children would continue reading on their own; would gain self-confidence; would become better students; and would experience success.Most parents in this study generally felt capable of helping their children with reading. Parents generally believed that children should learn to read prior to kindergarten provided they are: interested; reading occurs naturally; there is ability and potential; and no force is used.

The purpose of this study was to establish and describe the validity and reliability of an instrument based on a model of teaching behaviors conceived as magnetic lines of force.Content validity was established by reviewing the literature and identifying possible teaching behaviors which researchers felt contributed to increased pupil learning. These behaviors were presented to a panel of judges from faculty in the Teachers College, Ball State University, to ascertain behaviors which they felt increase the likelihood pupils would increase comprehension in reading. After the panel had made their suggestions, the list of behaviors was revised and used with two middle school classes at the Burris Laboratory School. Pupils were asked to identify the behaviors which they felt were associated with their increased learning. A final list of twenty items became the revised instrument for use in the study.A group of practicing teachers critiqued the list of twenty behaviors. This group was directed to identify how strongly they agreed with the placement of each of the behaviors under one of the four scales postulated. Construct validity was established by discussing the research supporting each of the scales, subscales and behaviors listed in the instrument.Each of the twenty items was judged as valid by a minimum of 70 percent of the selected panel members and two classes of selected middle school pupils. Each of the twenty items included was recognized as a valid example of the constructs identified with the exception of those items assumed to reflect firmness.I t was possible to relate each of the twenty items in the instrument to research studies accepted by editors and authors in the field despite inherent weaknesses in definitions, experimental designs, and theoretical orientation. In this sense, the instrument has acceptable construct validity.The instrument was then used to gather data on a group of teacher trainees assigned to a laboratory school at Ball State University. After each teacher trainee had taught a short unit, the pupils taught filled out the instrument which had been devised. Reliability measures consisted of computing coefficient alpha for various major scales and subscales of the instrument. Computations were run by the Ball State University Center using the reliability program from the SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences DEC system -10.The coefficient alpha reliability indexes of .90 for the total scale, .86 for the cognitive scale, and .78 for the affective scale were judged acceptable for use in additional research studies in the field. The coefficient alpha reliability index of .82 for the clarity subscale, .81 for the flexibility subscale, and .78 for the warmth subscale were also judged acceptable for use in additional research studies in the area. The coefficient alpha reliability index of .68 for the firmness subscale suggests questionable reliability for all but the most general research purposes.Recommendations were formulated to encourage further development of the model and refinement of the instrument (particularly the "firmness" subscale).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1933. / Vita. Published also as Teachers college, Columbia university, Contributions to education, no. 556. Bibliography: p. 64.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Educationis (Education) in the Faculty of Education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / The aim of this qualitative study was to assess the influence of a particular form of computer technology on the reading ability of intellectually challenged learners. The study sought to answer the questions: (i) what direction for change does the reading of intellectually impaired learners take when a particular assistive technological device is used as a teaching-learning tool? And, (ii) what can educators of these intellectually impaired learners learn from this change or lack thereof? In order to answer these questions the study was conducted using an Action Research design. An intervention based on assistive technology was used for (i) testing learner abilities; and (ii) measuring performance and possible change(s). A comparison of learners’ performance and effort following testing suggests that the assistive technology used has the potential to positively influence the reading ability of some segments of learners with an intellectual impairment. Furthermore, the findings make it clear that assistive technology does not take away the need for teachers to differentiate where a variety of learner abilities is concerned.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the technical adequacy of two reading Curriculum—Based Measures (CBM5), to examine the relationships of the CBM5 to normreferenced tests, and to compare the strength of relationship of both kinds of measures to school—based indices of reading performance. The two CBMs (a word list sampled from several reading series and a passage reading test composed of ten Ginn 720 passages) were taken from the literature; comprehensive information about their technical adequacy had not been previously available. A review of the literature indicates that CBM, particularly reading CBM, is gaining increased attention in education because of claims regarding its utility in monitoring pupil progress, its ease of administration, and its relationship to local curricula as well as to learning gains. This study examined how reading CBMs and two subtests from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1985) relate to each other and to three school—based indices of reading performance: a school district reading test, program placement status (learning disabled or regular education), and a teacher rating scale of reading skill. Grade four students from one metropolitan Vancouver school district served as subjects (n=105). Of these, 35 were classified as learning disabled and 70 were classified as regular education. Learning disabled status was determined by judgments of a school district screening committee and by examining previous psychoeducational assessments. Reliability indices calculated on the CBMs supported claims for technical adequacy. These estimates were as follows: internal consistency of the word list was .97, internal consistency of the reading passages was .98 and .94 for reading speed and accuracy, test—retest reliability of the reading passages was .89 and .79 for reading speed and accuracy, and inter—rater reliability of the reading passages was .99 and .96 for reading speed and accuracy. Results indicated that the CBMs used in this study have high reliabilities. CBM5, especially the speed score from the- reading passages, demonstrated strong relationships to the two norm—referenced subtests. The pattern of correlations between the measures differed between the learning disabled and normal sample; analyses of variance demonstrated that all measures used in the study discriminated between the learning disabled and the regular education groups. Stepwise multiple regression and canonical analysis indicated that the two norm—referenced subtests, the speed score from the Curriculum—Based Reading Passages, and the accuracy score from the Curriculum—Based Word List were most efficient in “predicting” the three school-based indices of reading performance. Evidence for concurrent validity of curriculum—based and norm—referenced measures was found in this study. When administration time, instructional utility, and technical properties are considered, results indicated that the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement Reading Decoding subtest and the Curriculum—Based Reading Passages speed score are the most efficient of the predictor measures investigated in identifying and programming for Year Four children with significant reading difficulty. Implications for further research and the potential of CBM to accommodate instructional and measurement needs is discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The investigation attempted to differentiate between a deaf population's retarded and non-retarded readers on selected performance tasks. Twenty-seven deaf subjects were divided into three groups for purposes of the investigation. The groups consisted of nine retarded readers with I.Q.s below 90 on the WISC Performance scale, nine retarded readers with I.Q.s above 90 on the WISC Performance scale, and nine non-retarded readers with I.Q.s above 90 on the WISC Performance scale. Subjects were administered the Bender-Gestalt Test, the Graham and Kendall Memory for Designs Test, and the Picture Completion, Picture Arrangement, Block Design, Object Assembly, and Coding sub-tests of the WISC. Statistical treatment of the data did not significantly differentiate between retarded and non-retarded readers. Consideration of the data revealed that the deaf subjects' mean performance levels on visual motor tasks were below the mean performance levels of hearing children. Also, the deaf subjects' performances on Block Designs and Object Assembly were generally superior to their performances on Coding. Coding performance levels of the deaf subjects were below mean performance levels of hearing children. Educational implications were drawn from these observations. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Clinical teaching is a diagnostic/prescriptive model to teach and students with learning problems. It is a teaching cycle which allows the teacher to manipulate variables affecting learning in order to devise appropriate instructional programs. Reading, spelling, and arithmetic tasks were developed to furnish the in-service teacher with a starting point to begin clinical teaching.This creative project has developed the informal diagnostic tasks in clinical teaching for reading, spelling, and arithmetic. The tasks are at the readiness and first grade levels. Learning style has been assessed simultaneously with the skills assessment.Reading skills were obtained from the Barbe Reading Checklist. General reading skills include structural analysis, word analysis, and comprehension. Spelling words were obtained from the Dolch Basic Sight Word List. Arithmetic skills were obtained from the Mann-Suiter Arithmetic Skills Checklist. General arithmetic skills include prenumber skills, numerical operations, money, and fractions.