In adult populations, it is generally accepted there is an overall male advantage on spatial tasks and an overall female advantage on verbal tasks. These differences are inconsistent in children. The present study examined relations among age, sex, EEG hemispheric activation, and performance on spatial and verbal tasks. Thirty-two eight-year-olds (16 boys) and 32 college students (16 men) had EEG recorded at baseline and while performing a computerized 2-dimensional Gingerbread Man mental rotation task, a computerized 2-dimensional Alphanumeric mental rotation task, a computerized 3-dimensional Basketball Player mental rotation task, and a computerized Lexical Decision-Making task. Additionally, participants completed a paper-and-pencil Water Level task and an oral Verbal Fluency task. On the 2-dimensional Alphanumeric and 3-dimensional Basketball Player mental rotation tasks men performed better than boys, but the performance of women and girls did not differ. On the Lexical Decision-Making and Water level tasks, men performed better than women, while there was no difference between boys and girls. No sex differences were found on the 2-dimensional Gingerbread Man mental rotation task or Verbal Fluency task. Analyses of task-related data also indicate that computer familiarization or computer related task demands might contribute to sex differences on computerized tasks. EEG analyses indicated that, on the 2-dimensional Alphanumeric mental rotation task, men exhibited more left posterior temporal activation than women, while there were no differences between boys and girls. Additionally, there was evidence that simple, or 2-dimensional, mental rotation tasks are associated with left posterior brain activation, while 3-dimensional mental rotation tasks are associated with right posterior brain activation. On the 2-dimensional Gingerbread Man mental rotation task, males exhibited more activation of the left parietal area than females, while on the 2-dimensional Alphanumeric mental rotation task, men exhibited more activation of the left posterior temporal area than women. On the 3-dimensional Basketball player mental rotation task, all participants exhibited greater activation of the right parietal area than the left parietal area. / Ph. D.

Doctor of Education / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / James Teagarden / This study investigated the effectiveness of an early literacy program for first grade students classified as at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, who were nonresponsive to previous schoolwide interventions, and who performed in the bottom one-third of their class on a standardized reading assessment. This study, which consisted of a multiple-probe across intervention groups experimental design aimed to produce literacy and behavior results previously obtained by other well-known researchers. Results indicated growth in oral reading fluency for all five participants, in nonsense word fluency for four out of the five participants, and a decreased display of total disruptive behaviors for all. Findings reaffirm outcomes obtained in previous investigations; specifically, improved early literacy skills are concomitant with ongoing decreases in disruptive classroom behavior. Limitations are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

This present study investigated generative naming in Korean-English bilingual adult speakers. Specific aims were: 1) to compare the total number of named items generated in Korean-English bilingual adults in the categories of Food, Clothes, and Animals, 2) to investigate the relationship between language proficiency and the total number of items named in each category and across categories for each language, and 3) to examine the relationship between language proficiency and the total number of overlapped items (doublets) in each category and across categories. Twenty five Korean-English bilingual adults named as many different items as they could in 60 seconds in the categories of Food, Clothes, and Animals in Korean and English. Results indicated that the participants produced significantly more items in Korean than English in all categories. Participants named fewer items in the category of Clothes than in the categories of Food and Animals, suggesting that generating items for the Clothes category was more difficult than for the other categories. No significant correlations were found between participants’ language proficiency and the total number of items generated and the number of doublets. There is a need to develop more reliable measures of language proficiency for bilingual speakers. / text

The present study firstly aimed to identify children with delayed reading who were missing the component skills of decoding fluency and who also displayed antisocial behaviour in the classroom. It also aimed to replicate with them an intervention designed by Church, Nixon, Zintl and Williams (2005). The study finally aimed to explore the question of whether children who have both a reading delay and a disruptive behaviour disorder require a reinforcement scheme to maintain their engagement in learning activities. Six participants worked with same-age peer tutors on specially-designed practice activities for approximately 20 minutes a day, four times a week, for 8-18 sessions. Improvement in decoding fluency and prose reading fluency was tracked for each child throughout the intervention. Results showed that the six participants gained, on average, sixteen months on their age-equivalent score for reading rate. Decoding fluency scores increased from a pre-test average of 16 correct graphemes per minute to 32 correct graphemes per minute at the post-test measure. Reading accuracy improved by an average of five months and reading comprehension by an average of six months. The gains in reading rate are most likely due to the practice opportunities afforded by the testing procedures as decoding fluency scores did not improve enough to have had a direct impact on the learners’ prose reading ability. Implications for remedial reading interventions with children with behaviour problems are discussed.

xi, 111 p. / Matching reading deficits to appropriate intervention programs is a challenge given the number of treatment options available to educators. The Fast ForWord (FFW) computerized intervention series has been marketed as a way to treat underlying causes of poor reading skill; i.e., substandard levels of basic language skill, phonemic awareness, and/or phonics application. If the programs work as claimed, then completion of Fast ForWord should improve the next reading subskill developed after phonics, oral reading fluency. Part 1 of this study involves a treatment ( n = 72) versus comparison ( n = 84) group two by two ANOVA to evaluate that hypothesis. No effect for FFW is found ( p = .84). Application of decision rules from Response to Intervention (RTI) models classifies positive changes in risk category at a greater rate for the comparison group ( n = 31) than for the FFW group ( n = 20) ( X 2 = 3.81, (1), p = .05). Pre-intervention language scores for the FFW group are compared to assist with intervention placement decisions. Differences in mean language scores are not significant ( p = .85) between the two groups [positive response ( n = 19) versus low response ( n = 57)]. In a binary logistic regression of quartile membership for language scores, no score ranges predict membership ( X 2 = 4.75, (8), p > .05). Measuring treatment effect with ORF is not recommended. The use of pre-intervention language and ORF scores below the 25th percentile as indicators of a positive change in oral reading fluency following FFW treatment also is not recommended. However, future research that considers language scores along with other curriculum-based measures of prereading skill either as pre-intervention indicators or outcome measures is recommended. / Committee in charge: Dr. Paul Yovanoff, Chair; Dr. Keith Hollenbeck, Member; Dr. Joseph Stevens, Member; Dr. Jeffery Sprague, Outside Member

Sammanfattning  Bakgrund Räkning är beroende av den grundläggande aritmetiken, de fyra räknesätten. Forskning har visat att det är viktigt att testa aritmetisk förmåga vid utredning av specifika räknesvårig-heter, dyskalkyli. Testen Fluency addition och Fluency subtraktion undersöker en del av vår räkneförmåga, aritmetiskt flöde. Enligt forskning utvecklas aritmetiskt flöde över tid. I nuläget saknas referensvärden i högre åldrar för testen vilket behövs för att kunna göra till­förlitliga bedömningar i klinisk verksamhet.  Syfte Syftet med studien var att ta fram referensvärden för hur svenska gymnasieelever i årskurs 1 presterar på räknetesten Fluency addition och Fluency subtraktion.  Metod Studien omfattade 144 gymnasieelever från skolor i Västerbottens län och Örnsköldsvik. Testning genomfördes klassvis på respektive skola. Deltagarna som uppgav att de var diagnos­tiserade med neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning exkluderades. Resultat Resultatet visade M=31,1 (SD=10,6) i Fluency addition och M=35,8 (SD=12) i Fluency subtraktion av max 81 poäng på vardera test. Det fanns inga signifikanta skillnader bero­ende på kön eller studieinriktning, men en signifikant skillnad fanns för testordning. Det fanns en signifikant interaktion mellan kön, studieinriktning och testordning i Fluency addition samt mellan studieinriktning och testordning i Fluency subtraktion. Samtliga signifi­kanta värden hade marginell påverkan. Studiens deltagare fick högre resultat än befintliga referens­värden för mellanstadiet.  Slutsatser Eftersom inga signifikanta skillnader framkom gällande kön eller studieinriktning drogs slutsatsen att studiens gymnasieelever kan ses som en gemensam grupp. Resultatet stödjer tidigare forskning som visat att den aritmetiska förmågan utvecklas med ökad ålder. Studiens resultat bedöms kunna användas som referensvärden i bedömning av aritmetisk förmåga.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects, if any, of a supplemental phonics curriculum, Saxon Phonics, on the reading achievement of first-grade students in one mountain-west, semirural, school district. The design was casual-comparative and ex post facto, and answered the questions: (1) Do students taught using a traditional basal program and students taught using both the traditional basal program and a supplemental phonics program (control vs. treatment) differ on selected end-of-year reading achievement scores (i.e., portions of the DIBELS Next assessment—nonsense word fluency [NWF], oral reading fluency [ORF], and accuracy [ACC])? (2) do any possible interactions among selected variables (i.e., instructional program, gender, and beginning-of-year reading level) exist related to performance differences on end-of-year reading achievement scores among students receiving reading instruction with or without a supplemental phonics program? The independent variables were the instructional program Saxon Phonics, a traditional/basal reading curriculum and the reading levels of low, medium, and high. The dependent variables were oral reading fluency, accuracy and nonsense word fluency, measured by the DIBELS Next assessment. The 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 DIBELS Next data were collected from the school district database upon approval from the Institutional Review Board in January of 2017. A mixed effects model was utilized to explore the relationship between use of the selected supplemental phonics curriculum and selected reading achievement scores of first-grade students. Results revealed that there was no significant difference between the control and treatment groups, though there was a statistically significant improvement of low readers in the treatment group over the control group.

This study evaluated how measures of oral reading fluency (ORF) and silent reading fluency (SRF) compare as predictors of reading comprehension and how these predictors vary as a function of proficiency level for fourth- and fifth-grade students. Additionally, the study sought to examine the relationship between measures of oral reading fluency, silent reading fluency, reading comprehension, and the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program (TCAP) with these students. Participants were 175 fourth- and fifth-grade students from two randomly selected schools in Colorado. A correlational predictive design was used. Results indicated that measures of ORF and SRF were predictors of reading comprehension and that the relationship of measures of ORF and SRF with comprehension changes over time. Regression analysis results indicated that 45.0% of the variance in reading comprehension was accounted for by the ORF measure for the sample population, as compared to 53.0% of the variance accounted for by SRF measures. Thus, measures of SRF might be a better predictor for maturing readers to determine reading proficiency, monitor student progress, and guide instructional practices. A structural equation model (SEM) analyzed the relationship of the measure of SRF with reading comprehension as moderated by proficiency level. Analysis for the SRF measure by reading proficiency was conducted at the whole group level. The model accounted for 59.0% of the moderation. Results indicated that reading proficiency level and the SRF measure were both associated with reading comprehension. Reading proficiency level is a significant moderator of the relationship between measures of reading comprehension and SRF. A SEM mediation model was used to analyze the relationship of measures of ORF, SRF, reading comprehension, and TCAP. The direct effects of the ORF and SRF measures on TCAP were both predictive with 66.0% of the variance accounted for with SRF measure and 66.5% of the variance accounted for with ORF measure. Results indicated that as grade level increases, the relationship between measures of ORF, SRF, and reading comprehension changes. Additionally, SRF measures can be a viable alternative to ORF measures for upper elementary students as a predictor of reading comprehension and on the TCAP high-stake assessment.

The aim of this project was to analyse Swedish EFL teachers’ methods and opinions regarding teaching fluency in their classrooms. Furthermore, the project aimed at exploring the attitudes towards the importance of including fluency in their language teaching. Previous research suggests that the usage of so-called task based exercises is something that helps in promoting students’ level of fluency. The previous research further suggests that the teaching of effective vocabulary, as well as linking-words, is beneficial for the developments of individual fluency. The method used in the gathering of data was based on qualitative interviews. The interviews were conducted with six EFL teachers at Swedish upper secondary schools. The questions asked during said interviews were of a semi-structured and open-ended nature. This particular structure was chosen in order to encourage the respondents to talk freely, and to combat the sense of there being right or wrong answers to the questions posed. The theoretical framework of the study is based on Burner’s (Nino & Burner, 1978) theory on scaffolding, and Gibbons’ (2015) approach on how to apply this to the EFL classroom.  The specific genres of fluency that held the focus of this paper were speech and writing. However, as a result of the data generated by the interviews, the two genres were not, to any significant extent, discussed or handled separately throughout the project. The results of the study shows that the interviewed teachers tend to employ small-group discussions in order to promote fluency in their students. Furthermore, the results show that most teachers are inclined to teach their students different kinds of vocabulary in order to further their students’ abilities. Other findings indicate that students seem to benefit from a safe environment in their classrooms when practicing fluency, this as to not feel exposed in a negative way when they are to perform in front of their peers.

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