The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine current concepts of reading comprehension deriving from experimental investigations and theoretical statements, and (2) to establish whether these concepts are represented consistently in currently available secondary professional reading textbooks, instructional materials, and published tests. An extensive search of research and non-research literature pertaining to reading comprehension was undertaken. Current knowledge regarding the nature of reading comprehension was found to derive from three principal sources: experimental investigations, verbal descriptions, and models. Experimental investigations have been of three main types: statistical analyses, studies of the specificity of comprehension, and introspective-retrospective case studies. Statistical analyses, most of which have involved factorial procedures, have been equivocal in their findings. Some indicate comprehension to be a unitary mental ability, while others reveal comprehension as a composite of several specific abilities. Studies of the specificity of comprehension show that the ability to comprehend is to a greater or lesser extent specific to the content area from which the reading material is taken. Introspective-retrospective case studies indicate that the cognitive activity associated with comprehension is characterized by ideational fluency, linguistic fluency, manipulation, variety and flexibility, and objectivity. Verbal definitions of comprehension are of two types, skills-based and cognitive-based. Skills-based definitions conceive comprehension in terms of the specific skills which it is considered a reader must possess in order to understand what he reads. These skills are usually organized hierarchically although some authorities question this organization. When critical and creative reading are discussed as separate types of high-level comprehension, they are described in terms of their associated skills. Cognitive- based definitions have produced widely-diverse explanations of comprehension in terms of the cognitive operations thought to be involved. Various definitions of comprehension have been provided by models. Included are definitions in terms of separate overt skills, hierarchical organizations of educational outcomes, external factors influencing the attainment of comprehension, cognitive operations, and psycholinguistic activity. Concepts of comprehension represented in secondary professional reading textbooks, instructional materials, and published reading tests are generally consistent. The concepts of comprehension represented in secondary professional textbooks are expressed by verbally defined skills-based hierarchies. Instructional materials and published tests generally embody concepts of comprehension represented by verbal non-hierarchical definitions. Many of the difficulties generally associated with verbal definitions of comprehension are apparent in the verbal definitions represented in current secondary professional reading textbooks, instructional materials, and published tests. The conclusion reached by this study was that a basic dichotomy exists between those concepts of comprehension expressed in terms of overt behavior and those described in terms of covert behavior. It is the failure of experimenters and theorists, to establish the relationship between the covert psychological process accounting for comprehension and the overt behaviors by which readers exhibit their understanding of what they read that is responsible for much of the current confusion surrounding comprehension. It would seem that a clearer understanding of comprehension depends on a fuller understanding of its psychological nature. This understanding would, in turn, provide needed precision and consistency in verbal definitions of comprehension. Further research into the psychological nature of comprehension is needed. This research should be coordinated into a program involving the experimental testing of hypotheses suggested by current and future models. The findings of these investigations could then provide the basis for developing materials and procedures for teaching and measuring comprehension. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

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This mixed methods study of an in-school Focused Reading Program employed a quasi experimental pre-posttest design to examine program effectiveness and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory as the theoretical framework. The quantitative research question inquired whether the program resulted in a significant difference in reading performance for participants receiving the instruction based on pre and post measures. Data analysis for this component involved descriptive and inferential statistics. Pre- and posttest scores for the combined groups of seventh and eighth graders were analyzed for significant differences through an independent t- test. The results revealed there was a statistically significant difference between the pre-posttest scores for seventh graders and the scores for eighth graders. Two qualitative questions inquired of the extent to which the Focused Reading Program was implemented with fidelity and teachers’ and intervention tutors' perceptions of the program’s strengths and challenges. Data analysis for the qualitative component followed procedures for content analysis which included identifying themes based on the frequency of similar words and expressions from interviews and open-ended survey questions. The emerging themes of Program Flexibility, Peer-Learner Focused, and Learning and Behavior revealed the program was implemented with fidelity. Leading program strengths were attendance, program schedule, methods for improving performance of struggling readers, and student engagement. Leading challenges included support services, resources, time for extended activities, and professional development. The study is intended to have a social impact in demonstrating ways to promote reading performance. The results will contribute to literacy research illustrating the effectiveness of an intervention that may remedy reading deficiencies among middle school students

MA (English) / Department of English / The purpose of this study was to investigate the English reading strategies utilised by level-one students at the University of Venda. The respondents in this study were three hundred and nine level-one students from various Schools in the University of Venda who were doing English Communication Skills (ECS) course in the 2016 academic year. The study adopted a mixed methods research design (quantitative and qualitative research approaches). Data were collected by means of a self-completion questionnaire of the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) developed by Mokhtari and Sheorey. The researcher employed descriptive statistics to analyse frequency use of each reading strategy using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and usage level. Open-ended data were summarised by using grouping technique. The results of the study revealed that the participants in this study were, to a large extent, aware of what they were doing when reading as they reported utilising English reading strategies with different frequencies and with the high and moderate levels of reading strategy usage. The highest mean frequency with which the respondents used a given category of strategies when reading English academic materials was 3.98 (high) which was derived from the category of problem-solving strategies, while the category of support reading strategies and global reading strategies were reported being used with the relative mean of 3.79 (high) and 3.57 (high) respectively. The findings can be helpful to students in increasing their awareness of reading strategies while reading, improving their understanding of the reading process, and enhancing confidence in their own reading ability and to teachers and lecturers in helping their students learn to become constructively responsive and thoughtful readers, which will promote academic reading skills and ultimately enhance academic achievement.

"There is no stage in a person's growth and development when he can say: 'I have mastered reading.' In fact, 'Learning to read,' as the philosopher-poet Goethe aptly said when he was eighty, 'is a life-time process. I have been at it all my life, and I cannot yet say I have reached the goal.' To accept these findings of research in reading means change, a change for the teachers, the pupils, the citizens and the community. While waiting for these changes to be implemented it seems opportune to make a beginning. And so, without the aid of a reading expert of consultant, with only slight outlay of material, and without noticeable change in the school curriculum, a reading experiment which set as its goal, general improvement in reading was initiated in the ninth grade English class. There were several purposes of the study, and while the most important was to improve the reading abilities of the pupils, definite goals were set up in three major types of reading. Particularly stressed were (1) developmental reading with its activities in which learning to read was the main goal, (2) functional reading which included all types of reading to get information, and (3) recreational reading with activities designed to encourage enjoyment and appreciation. Throughout the experiment each of the three types of reading was stressed, yet, there was more or less a balance kept among them"--Introduction. / "August, 1956." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Dwight L. Burton, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-59).

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An important reading skill that is often overlooked by educators is reading fluency. There is a paucity of studies that have investigated computer programs that address this and other critical reading skills. Reading Assistant™ is a form of computer-assisted instruction that uses speech recognition technology and research supported strategies to target reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of Reading Assistant™ on the oral reading fluency and comprehension skills of second through third grade students considered at-risk for reading failure. A total of eight participants were involved in this study across a 6- to 8-week intervention period. In order to evaluate the impact of Reading Assistant™, a multiple baseline across participants design was used. Multiple sources of data were collected to determine the overall effectiveness of the Reading Assistant™ computer program. Data for reading fluency was collected using AIMSweb reading curriculum based measurement (CBM) probes while data for reading comprehension was collected using AIMSweb maze CBM probes. The effect of the Reading Assistant™ computer program was also evaluated by determining the rate of improvement (ROI) as well as by calculating the percentage of non-overlapping data points (PND). The results of this study suggest that Reading Assistant™ may have been somewhat effective for improving the oral reading fluency and reading comprehension skills, but only for some of the participants. The effect size data do not provide a convincing demonstration that Reading Assistant™ had a substantial impact on the majority of struggling readers involved in this study. Further research is needed to establish the effectiveness of Reading Assistant™ as an intervention for reading fluency.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether certain methods employed for the development of reading readiness among first-grade pupils in the Washington Elementary School of Sherman, Texas were effective. Careful evaluation was made by means of standardized tests for the purpose of ascertaining the results accomplished in the course of a school year by the methods used for the development of reading readiness.

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