The present study seeks to explore if the bilingual advantage and disadvantage of children who are natively bilingual in English and Spanish extends to children who gain exposure to and eventually become bilingual in these languages beginning at ages 5 and 6. Specifically, the study compares executive control, vocabulary, and verbal fluency for three groups of children: a) native Spanish-English bilinguals, b) late bilinguals that have completed at least 5 years of a 50-50 dual language immersion program in English and Spanish in school, and c) English monolinguals that have not had second language instruction. The proposed study seeks a better understanding of the unique cognitive skill sets of native and late bilingual and monolingual children, and to inform educational policy related to bilingual students. / text

Precision Teaching (PT) is a data-based educational tool that allows individual changes to be made to educational programs based specifically on the needs of the learner. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of session distribution on the material learned in the context of a PT intervention program. Typical children, ages 3- to 5-years-old, whom were enrolled in a church-based child development program, participated. The goal of this study was to assess if the administration of PT sessions one day-a-week or five days-a-week effected the acquisition, retention, and endurance of material learned. Results indicate that there was minimal difference in the rate of acquisition, retention, and endurance on the material learned between session distributions for four of the five children.

This thesis investigates development and transfer of oral reading fluency among early French immersion students. Using a longitudinal design, students were assessed on phonological awareness, rapid naming, word-level fluency and text-level fluency in English and in French in Grade 2 and Grade 3. In three related studies, this thesis examines transfer both within levels of fluency individually (word-level and text-level) and between levels of fluency (from word-level to text-level). The results indicated that word-level fluency significantly improved over the one-year period in both English and in French. Language status comparing English-as-first-language students (EL1) and English-language-learners (ELLs) did not influence fluency performance in either language. Further, results showed bidirectional transfer of fluency at the word-level and the text-level independently, and unidirectional transfer from word to text fluency from French to English only. These findings provide evidence supporting cross-language transfer of oral reading fluency both within and between levels of the construct.

This thesis investigates development and transfer of oral reading fluency among early French immersion students. Using a longitudinal design, students were assessed on phonological awareness, rapid naming, word-level fluency and text-level fluency in English and in French in Grade 2 and Grade 3. In three related studies, this thesis examines transfer both within levels of fluency individually (word-level and text-level) and between levels of fluency (from word-level to text-level). The results indicated that word-level fluency significantly improved over the one-year period in both English and in French. Language status comparing English-as-first-language students (EL1) and English-language-learners (ELLs) did not influence fluency performance in either language. Further, results showed bidirectional transfer of fluency at the word-level and the text-level independently, and unidirectional transfer from word to text fluency from French to English only. These findings provide evidence supporting cross-language transfer of oral reading fluency both within and between levels of the construct.

Teaching oral reading fluency is an important aspect of effective literacy instruction. Researchers have investigated a number of strategies shown to be effective with beginning readers; however, less empirical evidence is available for older, struggling readers. The secondary curriculum presents adolescent struggling readers with different challenges, including successful completion of higher level comprehension skill activities, high-stakes assessments, and limited classroom time with practice with oral reading fluency exercises. These conditions may lead to academic failure or school drop-out for students who have limited reading ability. An alternating conditions design (Kazdin, 1982) was used to examine the influence of peer-mediated fluency instruction (repeated reading and continuous reading) on the oral reading fluency and comprehension skills of five high school-aged struggling readers from an urban alternative high school setting. The three dependent variables measured were (a) words correct per minute, (b) number of errors, and (c) number of comprehension questions answered correctly. Results of the alternating treatments design indicate that all students increased their correct words per minute with implementation of peer-mediated repeated reading fluency instruction as compared to the peer-mediated continuous reading instruction. However, mixed results were found regarding accuracy of comprehension questions. Limitations were noted with regard to working within an alternative high school setting, variability in student outcomes, and the use of narrative text. Future research suggestions for using peer-mediated oral reading fluency instruction with students with and without disabilities in alternative high school settings are provided.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-77). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2005. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 372-386.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-63).

Thesis (Ed. S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Psychology, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 18-20).

The Simple View of Reading is a well-known lens for understanding the skills that contribute to proficient reading. The Simple View explains reading comprehension as the product of decoding and listening comprehension. There is a gap in the literature regarding the applicability of the Simple View for Spanish-speaking English language learners, and also whether oral reading fluency would be valuable to include in the model as an intermediate variable. In the present study two groups of third grade students, one group comprised of students classified as English language learners and a comparison group of non-ELL students, were assessed on several reading skills. Data were collected on listening comprehension, decoding, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Data were analyzed using generalized least squares estimation for path analysis and partial invariance testing. Findings support the inclusion of oral reading fluency in the Simple View model, highlight the significance of listening comprehension, and suggest the Simple View model applies equally well across ELL and non-ELL groups. Limitations and future directions are addressed.