This researcher investigated the effects of repeated reading, performance feedback, and systematic error correction on the reading fluency of three secondary English language learners (ELLs) with a specific learning disability (SLD) in reading. A multiple baseline reversal design across subjects was used to explore the effects of repeated reading on two dependent variables: reading fluency (words read correctly per minute; wpm) and number of errors per minute (epm). Data were collected and analyzed during baseline, intervention, and maintenance probes.Throughout the baseline phase participants read a passage aloud and during intervention phases, participants read a passage aloud and received error correction feedback. During baseline, reading was followed by fluency assessments. During intervention, reading was followed by three oral repeated readings of the passage. Maintenance sessions occurred 1, 2, and 3 weeks after the intervention ended.The researcher of this study concluded that repeated reading had a positive effect on the reading abilities of ELLs with a SLD in reading. Participants read more wpm and made fewer epm. Additionally, maintenance scores were slightly varied when compared to the last day of intervention; however, maintenance scores were higher than baseline means.The researcher of this study demonstrated that repeated reading improved the reading abilities of ELLs with a SLD in reading. On maintenance probes 1, 2, and 3 weeks following intervention mean reading fluency and errors per minute remained above baseline levels. Future researchers should investigate the use of repeated reading in ELLs with a SLD in reading at various stages of reading acquisition. Further, future researchers may examine how repeated reading can be integrated into classroom instruction and assessments.

One predominant hallmark of older struggling readers is their failure to gain reading fluency on instructional and grade-level texts. Students who fail to achieve reading fluency experience multiple negative consequences that affect their academic and social growth, options, and success. Although considerable amounts of research on reading fluency interventions have been conducted with younger developing and struggling readers, little is known about the effects of such interventions on the reading skills of high school students. A single subject across participants design was employed to measure the effectiveness of two, easy-to-implement, reading fluency interventions on the reading fluency and comprehension of 18 high school students with learning disabilities (LD) who read between the first- and sixth-grade levels. A two-way ANOVA was also used to determine the impact of two interventions and initial reading level on the reading fluency and comprehension as measured by the Gray Oral Reading Test -4, the Test of Word Reading Efficiency, and the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency. Results suggested that participants whose initial reading skills fell between the first- and third-grade levels made fewer gains in reading fluency and comprehension of connected text during intervention than participants who entered intervention reading between the fourth- through sixth-grade levels. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / Students' with moderate special needs learning difficulties often manifest as reading struggles. These students commonly struggle with decoding words because of weak phonics skills, limited automatic recognition of high frequency words and/or limited vocabulary. A further challenge for the struggling readers is to focus on comprehension while decoding. Given that these students reading comprehension and fluency generally do not improve commensurate with reading demands as they move through school, exploring other possibilities such as the use of theatre arts techniques to teach English/Language Arts may identify an alternative intervention that builds comprehension and fluency in academic reading. Through my experience as a teacher I have used theatre in the classroom as a teaching and motivational tool. This study was conducted using a multiple case study design accompanied by the teacher researcher's perspective on the impact of the theatre infused curriculum. This dissertation focuses on the effect of a reading comprehension and fluency curriculum infused with theatre techniques on students' with moderate special needs literacy engagement, fluency, and comprehension. Informing this study is empirical research on teaching reading comprehension and fluency to students with moderate disabilities, as well as empirical research on the use of theatre techniques in curriculum. Data included reading performances and outcomes, observations of students, a teacher reflection journal, and student interviews. Thematic analysis was used to develop codes to inform the study's major themes. The study has four main findings: study participants who put in the most effort increased their comprehension score, all study participants, regardless of their reading levels or reading rates on the pre-test, made improvements on both by the end of the nine week study, writing assignments in the character analysis and skit writing activities require longer periods of exposure for the study participants to master them, and performing builds confidence over time, in a supportive environment. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

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The number of students participating in online-based instruction has grown steadily over the past decade as improvements in Internet availability, speed, and bandwidth have enabled students from around the world to enroll in online courses rather than participate in onsite traditional college courses. Online courses have also provided educational opportunities for language learners that are more convenient and cost effective. With the growth occurring in online instruction, it is critical to ask about the effectiveness of online English language learning. Even though this type of instructional medium has been available for more than a decade, there has been little empirical research documenting the linguistic changes of English language learners as most research has focused on curriculum development or the structure of such courses (Moore and Kearsly, 2005 & Vai & Sosulski, 2011). Moreover, online language courses that have evaluated language development have focused on skills such as reading, writing, and listening (Blake, 2008). In order to investigate the benefits of English language courses taught completely online and the oral fluency gains that learners make within such a course, this study analyzed audio samples produced by intermediate level ESL students during the initial and final speaking tasks of the course. Instruction utilized asynchronous and synchronous interactions between the teacher, tutor, and fellow students. Results showed that fluency features for learners did change over the course of 14 weeks of instruction, and that learners valued the interaction that they had with tutors and faculty during the course.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of the reading component of Ticket to Read®, a computer-based educational program, developed to improve hearing students’ fluency could improve deaf students’ fluency in order to improve comprehension. Fluency, the ability to read text accurately and automatically, forms a bridge from decoding to comprehension. This research is significant because the median reading level of deaf students who graduate high school has remained around a fourth grade level equivalent for the past thirty years, and there is a paucity of research that examines evidence-based practices to improve the reading performance of deaf students. There were 27 subjects in this study from an urban day school for the deaf. A dependent t-test was conducted using the subjects’ scores on a pretreatment and posttreatment reading assessment after nine weeks of treatment. No significant difference from pretreatment to posttreatment assessment was found, t(26) = 1.813, p > .05. In addition, an exploratory analysis using treatment and control groups was conducted using a quasi-experimental design based on mean gain scores from a pretreatment and posttreatment reading assessment. Twenty-seven pairs of subjects were matched on ethnicity, gender, and grade level to determine the main effect of treatment, the interaction effect of treatment and gender, and the interaction effect of treatment and grade level. No significant difference was found for the main effect of treatment, F(1,42) = 1.989, p >.05. Statistical significance was not found for the interaction between treatment and gender, F(1,50) = 1.209, p >.05. Statistical significance was not found for the interaction between treatment and grade level, F(2,48) = .208, p >.05. The results of this study have implications in the field of deaf education and are congruent with the findings of similar studies involving Repeated Readings to influence comprehension. Although significant tests were non-significant regarding students’ improvement on the reading assessment after the intervention, the direction and magnitude of the mean differences effect sizes for students in the treatment group support the need for further research regarding the evaluation of computer-based educational programs that can be used as effective educational strategies to improve deaf students’ reading performance.

This study investigated the effect of repeated reading on the reading achievement of middle school students with visual impairments. Using a matched subject research design, two pairs of students were matched on the following variables: reading level, reading medium and the presence or absence of additional disabilities. One student from each matched pair was randomly selected for the repeated reading intervention. The corresponding student in the pair was assigned to the control group. The repeated reading method used in this study required the student to reread a passage three times. The nonrepetitive method required the student to read a wide variety of young adult literature without any rereading of the text. The amount of time engaged in reading remained equivalent for the students in the matched pairs. The students were administered a preand posttest and the repeated reading intervention was conducted over a five week period. The mean differences in reading rate, correctly read words and comprehension were compared to determine if repeated reading was more effective than wide reading in improving reading fluency and comprehension. In addition, the study investigated if the gains in fluency using repeated reading generalized to new text. The results of the study indicated that there was not a significant difference between repeated reading and wide reading on reading rate, correctly read words or comprehension. In addition, the students who participated in the repeated reading showed a gain in fluency when rereading the same passage; however the gains in fluency were not transferred to new text. Repeated reading was not more effective than an equivalent amount of wide reading for improving fluency.

This dissertation consists of two essays on the influence of affect on consumer intentions and behavioral responses. In the first essay, the influence of negative affect on consumer satiation is investigated. In the second essay, the influence of conceptual fluency, a positive affective response of “feeling right” during advertising evaluations, evoked by the structural properties of memory networks, is identified. In the first essay, how anticipated consumption variety influences consumers’ affective responses to slow satiation in the present is investigated. Prior research has focused on how cognitive appraisals of present variety influence consumers’ satiation rates. However, in addition to cognitively attending to the present, consumers also generate affective information regarding future consumption events (e.g. thinking about dessert while eating an entrée). Results indicate that more anticipated consumption variety reduces the amount of negative affect consumers experience during recurrent consumption, which is found to extend consumers’ present consumption enjoyment (reduced satiation rates). Further, the moderating roles of vice and virtue product perceptions and consumer emotional intelligence are also investigated, providing additional evidence of the proposed affective process mechanism while identifying boundary conditions for the effect. In the second essay, how the structural nature of semantic memory can produce affective responses, in the form of conceptual fluency, to influence consumers’ product behavioral intentions is investigated. Memory activations, generated by key words in advertising, can provide a temporary boost to the perceived desirability of a given product. However, memories are not activated in isolation. Rather, an entire network of interrelated concepts is activated along with the focal memory through various learned associations. Despite a great deal of knowledge detailing the phenomena of memory spreading activations, research has primarily focused on which memories are connected to each other, rather than on how activated memories are connected to their surrounding networks. This essay identifies consumers’ responses to the betweenness centrality (e.g. providing mediated access to other concepts in memory via the shortest path) of a focal word in advertising, rather than the activation of specific associations, as critical for advertising success.

Being able to read at a fluent rate has many advantages to the individual in both educational and wider social contexts throughout life. To be a fluent reader means that the individual can sustain high accuracy while reading at a rate appropriate to the material and the setting, and implies the development of automaticity in the cognitive processes involved in reading. Fluency has not, however, been the focus of much research. In this study an observational learning technique - feedforward video self modelling (FFVSM) - was used to improve children’s reading fluency. Eleven primary school children aged between 72 and 108 months, 4 girls and 7 boys, viewed edited video footage of themselves seemingly reading a difficult text at a fluent rate six times over a two week period. The results showed that the majority of the children improved their reading fluency, comprehension and accuracy, as well as their reader self-perception (a proxy measure of self-efficacy). These positive results suggest that FFVSM could be a rapid, cost effective intervention to be used within educational settings to promote fluent reading.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-82) and index.