published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

The focus of this study was to assess the ability to predict performance on the Indiana Statewide Test for Educational Progress (ISTEP) from oral reading fluency scores on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Oral Reading Fluency Test (ORF). The scores of both assessments from 306 Indiana students from four different elementary schools were examined. Results of these students’ end of year (EOY) ORF scores were compared to their ISTEP scores in third grade in 2008-2009. During that school year ISTEP was administered twice, once in the Fall and once in the Spring. Results from both tests were analyzed using linear, multiple, and logistic regression models. The results showed r values between the ORF scores and the English/Language Arts portion of ISTEP to be .76 (Fall) and .72 (Spring). The correlations between ORF and ISTEP Math were .54 (Fall) and .61 (Spring). Regression coefficients ranged from 1.30 – 1.13 indicating a positive linear relationship between the results of the two assessments. The scores from demographic subgroups were also examined and some differences in the strength of the relationships were found among the groups. The oral reading fluency test was a better predictor for students generally considered at-risk (non-white, disabled, and non-English speaking). Logistic regression results showed a moderate to strong ability to predict whether or not students would pass ISTEP based on DIBELS scores. After using Beta values to calculate probabilities, it was found a DIBELS ORF score of 100 would provide a strong probability a student would pass ISTEP, both in English/Language Arts and Math. The results imply the need to monitor students’ oral reading and provide timely interventions when they struggle, and to focus more on helping children learn to read and less on preparing for ISTEP. / Department of Educational Leadership

Scale titled the Metacognitive Reading Measure (MRM) based on Index of Reading Awareness (IRA) by Jacobs and Paris (1987) with adaptations made by the researcher was developed and evaluated for this study to measure metacognitive reading awareness in developmental college students. Procedure for scale development outlined by DeVellis (1991) was followed. The readability, reliability, and validity of the instrument were investigated.MRM scores from 287 undergraduate, developmental college student subjects enrolled in college reading or study skills courses at a medium sized Midwestern university were used. Student reactions from pilot testing, evaluations from reading specialists, and readability estimates were used to assess suitability and content validity.Reliability investigations showed the scale has internal reliability (( = .79) and test-retest correlations demonstrated reliability over time (r = .75).MRM could be read independently by developmental college students because the Homan-Hewitt, Fry, and Raygor methods of estimating readability yielded results within the sixth to eighth grade reading levels.MRM had content validity based on opinions of five reading specialists and links to current literature. MRM had limited concurrent validity with self awareness of study skills of information processing (r = +.38, p =.000) and selecting main ideas (r = +.40, p = .000). MRM had weak concurrent validity with general verbal skills as measured by SAT Verbal test (r = +.26, p= .000), and no concurrent validity with reading comprehension achievement from the Nelson Denny Reading Test (r =+.04, p = .76).Results of exploratory factor analysis indicated a three-factor solution with subscales for beneficial reading behaviors, negative reading behaviors, and text factors effecting reading comprehension, not four categories of metacognition from the Flavell (1978) and Jacobs and Paris (1987) definitions which were used for this study. The arrangement of items into the three factors suggests an alternative direction for the definition of metacognition in simpler terms, understandable to the developmental populations to which metacognitive strategy instruction is aimed.The MRM would be suitable for classroom use and further research into metacognitive reading awareness. / Department of Elementary Education

Denna uppsats belyser oavsiktliga konsekvenser som kan uppstå när skolpersonal rekommenderar läsvänliga böcker som skildrar utanförskap. Uppsatsen ämnar söka svar på om skolans pedagogiska åtgärd att rekommendera läsvänliga böcker kan ses som en oavsiktlig symbolisk våldföring samt undersöka vilka etiska dilemman som kan uppstå på grund av att böckerna skildrar utanförskap. Pierre Bourdieu och Jean-Claude Passerons teori om symboliskt våld och Donald Broadys teori om ”Den dolda läroplanen” visar att det finns en maktutövning mellan elever och lärare. Robert K. Mertons teori om oavsiktliga konsekvenser visar vilka konsekvenser som kan uppstå till följd av målmedvetna sociala handlingar. Den tidigare forskning som presenteras i uppsatsen pekar bland annat på att ungdomar ser ett samband mellan skolmisslyckanden och socialt utanförskap. Efter textanalys av Kim Olins bokserie samt blogginlägg skrivna av lärare och skolbibliotekarier har resultaten visat att tillhandahållandet av denna typ av läsvänlig litteratur kan ses som en form av symbolisk våldföring samt att det finns ett etiskt dilemma i böckernas innehåll i relation till den tänkta läsaren. / The aim of this essay is to seek an answer to if a schools educational measures in their recommendation of reader-friendly books can be seen as an utterance of symbolic violence and to examine what kind of ethical dilemmas can arise from a book that portrays social exclusion. Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron’s theories of symbolic violence and Donald Broady’s theory of the hidden curriculum show that teachers wield and exercise a kind of power against and in relation to their students. Robert K. Merton’s theory about unintended consequences exemplifies the kinds of consequences that purposive social action can have. Previous research presented in this essay show that young people often see a correlation between academic failures and social exclusion. After a textual analysis of Kim Olin’s book series about Simon, and blog posts written by teachers and school librarians, our results show that a provision of this type of reader-friendly literature can be seen as an action of symbolic violence against the reciever, and that there is an ethical dilemma to be found in the books subject matter in relation to the intended reader.

Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2017-01-24T12:08:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 EricaFCOrefice2.pdf: 2092712 bytes, checksum: 153b537653c3457bf7180972a7e86f42 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-24T12:08:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EricaFCOrefice2.pdf: 2092712 bytes, checksum: 153b537653c3457bf7180972a7e86f42 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-31 / This research deals with Art’s role in educational context. Initially It puts the researcher in Art Education environment through self-portrait report presenting their concern with Brazilian education and the Art´s role in this scenario. In its first chapter presents the trajectories of Art Education in Brazil with an historical account of its construction and constitution. In its second chapter, It discusses the Art itself talking about various languages of Art and considering the Art reader competence of verbal and non-verbal. In its last chapter recounts experiences with teaching and learning processes in classroom dealing readings possibilities in Art and interdisciplinary experiences from Art with Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Philosophy, emphasizing the difficulties and richness of these experiences. The main researcher driver was to answer the question: Are teachers that lived formative experiences mediated image, able to rethink the teaching of their expertise areas, proposing to students also different ways to exhibit their knowledge and their feelings in more comprehensive learning perspective? In its final remarks reflects on obtained results in classroom presenting the differential achieved with reinforcement learning experiences through Art, offering a way to answer the asked question and inferring about other issues related to reading capacity through images. This researche acknowledges that much remains to be done in relation to education and that this is an evolving and continuous process, a form of construction. It also shows the possibility of continuing and expanding this work, recognizing that not only the student should be played, but also the Art Educator. / Esta pesquisa trata do papel da Arte no contexto educacional. Inicialmente posiciona a pesquisadora no ambiente da Arte Educação por meio de relato autobibliográfico apresentando sua inquietação com a educação brasileira e o papel que a Arte neste cenário. Em seu primeiro capítulo navega nas trajetórias da Arte Educação no Brasil com o relato histórico de sua construção e constituição. Em seu capítulo segundo, adentra a Arte propriamente dita discutindo suas diversas linguagens e a posiciona como competência leitora do verbal e não verbal. Em seu último capítulo relata experiências com processos de ensino e aprendizagem em sala de aula tratando as possibilidades de leituras em Arte e as experiências interdisciplinares de Arte com Matemática, Química, Física e Filosofia, ressaltando as dificuldades e a riqueza destas experiências. O principal motivador da pesquisadora foi responder à pergunta: será que os professores, vivendo experiências formativas mediadas pela imagem, podem repensar as didáticas de suas áreas de conhecimento, propondo para os alunos também formas diferentes de expor seus saberes e junto deles seus sentimentos numa perspectiva mais integral da aprendizagem? Em suas considerações finais apresenta uma reflexão sobre os resultados obtidos em sala de aula apontando o diferencial conquistado com as experiências de reforço de aprendizagem por meio da Arte, oferecendo condições de responder à questão formulada e ainda inferir sobre outros pontos relacionados à capacidade leitora por meio de imagens. A pesquisa ressalta que ainda há muito por ser feito no que tange à educação e que este é um processo evolutivo e ininterrupto, uma forma de construção. Indica ainda a possibilidade de continuidade e expansão deste trabalho, reconhecendo que não só o educando deve ser tocado, mas também o Arte Educador.

The problem of this study was to investigate how good and poor comprehenders utilize passage structure and task instructions to acquire information from a prose passage. To give a more detailed picture of what type of information processing occurred during reading, both verbatim and paraphrase items were used to assess comprehension.There were two strong but nonsignificant patterns in the data for task instructions. Poor readers were sensitive to both attribute and relation instructions. Good readers, however, were not affected by attribute instructions, but were sensitive to relation instructions. The results for good readers tentatively suggest that they encode attributes as a natural part of reading, but only encode relationships when they are specifically instructed to do so. Based on these results, three observations were made. First, good readers appear not to be easily affected by text organization, but poor readers may be aided in comprehension by slight improvements in the organization of the text. Second, all students need more assistance and practice in drawing inferences from the text. Third, written instructions may be a weak aid for increasing the comprehension of poor readers and may help good readers attend to information they would normally miss.

abstract: Magnocellular-Dorsal pathway’s function had been related to reading ability, and visual perceptual learning can effectively increase the function of this neural pathway. Previous researches training people with a traditional dot motion paradigm and an integrated visual perceptual training “video game” called Ultimeyes pro, all showed improvement with regard to people’s reading performance. This research used 2 paradigms in 2 groups in order to compare the 2 paradigms’ effect on improving people’s reading ability. We also measured participants’ critical flicker fusion threshold (CFFT), which is related to word decoding ability. The result did not show significant improvement of reading performance in each group, but overall the reading speed improved significantly. The result for CFFT in each group only showed significant improvement among people who trained with Ultimeyes pro. This result supports that the beneficial effect of visual perceptual learning training on people’s reading ability, and it suggests that Ultimeyes pro is more efficient than the traditional dot motion paradigm, and might have more application value. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2015

This thesis is a narrative account of how I have transformed my learning and teaching strategies for Grade 9 learners, generating my own living theory of teaching within a social context with the aim of enabling my learners to construct their own knowledge. My value-embedded practice is reflected in the values I attach to equality, inclusivity, social justice and basic human rights. These embodied values are also a reflection of my commitment to my Christian values which encompass my entire existence and have become the living standards by which I judge the quality of my research. My classroom-based action research methodology is a living transformational process which heralds a change for a more just practice and the inclusion and recognition of the individual. My findings about my learners’ and my own learning offer new conceptualisations about the capacity of my learners to learn in their own unique ways and according to their own potential. I am claiming that the significance of my research is grounded in my ability to demonstrate how I can unleash the untapped potential of learners failing to attain the desired outcomes. I show them how to learn confidently and successfully within a social context using prior knowledge, scaffolding and motivation as teaching and learning tools. This has potential inspiration for new forms of practice and theory in aiming to improve learners’ potential. A significant feature of my account is how my Christian values have been translated into my critical epistemological standards of judgement, and the development of a living theory of practice that enables me to account for educational influences in my learners’ and my own learning.

This dissertation examined the effects of academic interventions on the development of reading academic competence in fourth grade students who performed at or below grade level as determined by TAKS reading scale scores. Fifty students in fifth grade were chosen to participate in the study from five elementary schools in the Fort Worth Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas. Only 46 students completed the study. The study was conducted with a control (n = 23) and treatment group (n = 23). The fourth grade students were administered pretests and posttests using the ACES and the fourth grade TAKS reading test. This quantitative study used a quasi-experimental design to answer the research questions. The final data results did not indicate that the implementation of interventions significantly increased TAKS reading scores at the p > .05 level. In addition, there were no significant increases at the p > .05 level between the ACES pretests and posttests. Although there were no significant gains on the TAKS or ACES, there are implications the interventions had a positive effect on teacher perceptions of their students' academic competence and some growth was evident for the treatment groups on both TAKS and ACE.