Proficient reading is a necessary skill for a quality life. While educators would like to believe that most students master the art of reading and can understand what they read, national reports indicate that learning to read and becoming a skilled reader is not mastered by all (No Child Left Behind Act, 2001 ; NICHD, 2000a). One component of successful reading is the ability to read a text with appropriate speed, accuracy, and prosody. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (Pinnell et al., 1995) reported that 44% of the nation's fourth grade students were not able to read at an acceptable level of fluency that was considered necessary for comprehension. Since the publication of that report, research has shown that with direct instruction and remediation of fluency, students in the elementary grades can increase their reading rate. One of the most common fluency intervention techniques is repeated readings (Samuels,1979). However, most of the studies completed include ele mentary students and were focused on increasing their reading rate. Some students are arriving at the secondary level with reading problems which include fluency and comprehension. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of repeated readings on the rate, accuracy, and comprehension of students with disabilities at the secondary level. This study involved a total of 35 students with learning disabilities in grades 6-9. A quasi-experimental design was used for this study. The treatment group received a total of 20 sessions of repeated reading with immediate feedback., goal setting, and independent practice with graphing of reading rate. The comparison group continued their reading instruction with no fluency intervention.The results indicate that this combination of repeated readings had a significant influence on reading rate only. / The other two variables, accuracy and comprehension, did not improve significantly in the treatment group when compared to the comparison group. / by Janice M. Russell. / Thesis (D.Ed.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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Mémoire (M.Ed.)-- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1992. / Bibliogr.: f. [127]-130. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Though research has been conducted on many issues since Namibia's independence in 1990, none of these studies has investigated how English Second Language (ESL) teachers teach and support struggling adolescent readers (SARs) to read. Utilising qualitative research techniques such as classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis, this case study looked at strategies, methods, and resources used by five ESL secondary school teachers to teach SARs to read in two regions in Namibia, Caprivi and Otjozondjupa regions. Two of the five participants were male teachers. The presence of SARs in the classes observed was established by using informal methods such as the ESL teachers' experience (Caprivi region), while a sample of questions from PIRLS 2001 (Mullis, Martin, Gonzalez, & Kennedy (2003) was compiled to form a test used in the Otjozondjupa region. The findings show that despite undergoing initial teacher training and majoring in English, the five ESL secondary school teachers were not trained to teach SARs either how to read or how to support them. In addition, the study found that there was a shortage of reading materials in all five selected schools.

Text in Afrikaans / Die doelstelling van hierdie kwalitatiewe navorsing was om die kind in die middelkinderjare met leerprobleme se belewenis van remediëring binne die skoolmilieu te verken en te beskryf. Ten einde hierdie doelstelling te bereik is bepaalde doelwitte gestel. Die doelwitte het onder andere die daarstelling van ‘n konseptuele raamwerk behels wat met behulp van ‘n literatuurstudie en konsultasie met kundiges die kind in die middelkinderjare met leerprobleme wat remediëring binne die skoolmilieu ontvang binne die konteks van hierdie studie gedefinieer het. Semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude is met die deelnemers gevoer, waarna data geanaliseer is en gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings gemaak is na aanleiding van die deelnemers se belewenis. Hooftemas, subtemas en kategorieë is uit die onderhoude geïdentifiseer en met bestaande literatuur geverifieer. Tydens die bespreking van die data is daar gepoog om nie bevindings te veralgemeen nie en aangesien dit ‘n kwalitatiewe studie was, is elke deelnemer toegelaat om sy of haar belewenis te deel. / During this research, the aim was to explore and describe the experiences of remedial education within the school milieu of the child in middle childhood with learning problems. In order to reach the required goal, a number of objectives were set. The objectives included conceptualising a theoretical framework by means of a literature study and consultation with experts in order to define the child in middle childhood with learning difficulties that receives remedial education within the school milieu. Semi-structured interviews with participants were conducted, whereupon data were analysed and conclusions and recommendations were made according to the participants’ experiences. Main themes, sub-themes and categories were identified in the transcriptions and were verified with existing literature. During the discussion of data the aim was not to generalise the findings, as it was a qualitative study and each participant was allowed to share his or her experience / M.Diac. (Spelterapie) / Social Work

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Text in English / Children with learning disabilities often exhibit emotional problems. Conversely, children experiencing emotional upsets cannot achieve scholastically. The exact nature of the relationship is difficult to elucidate. Most aid programmes deal with one aspect of the problem, placing little or no emphasis on the child in totality. This study focuses on the learning disabled child as a whole from a relation theory perspective. The aim is to ascertain how the child's difficulties affect his relation structures. Once the interaction between the relation structures had been established a programme was devised to assist the child emotionally and scholastically. Play therapy has proved one of the most successful methods of child psychotherapy. This study attempts to incorporate the essential elements of play therapy into a remedial programme. It was found that the children benefitted from both components of the programme and that it had a positive influence on their relation structures / Kinders met leerprobleme toon dikwels ook emosionele probleme. Omgekeerd kan kinders met emosionele versteurings dikwels nie skolasties presteer nie. Die presiese aard van hierdie verwantskap is nie duidelik nie. Die meerderheid hulpprogramme fokus op enkele aspekte van die probleem, ,met min of geen klem op die kind·in-totaliteit nie. Hierdie studie is daarop gerig om die leergestremde kind vanuit die relasieteorie waar te neem en van hulp te wees. Die doel is om te bepaal hoe die kind se probleme sy relasies be"invloed. Nadat die interaksie vasgestel is, is 'n hulpprogram ontwerp om emosionele sowel as skolastiese hulp te verleen. Spelterapie. blyk een van die mees geslaagde metodes in kinderpsigoterapie te wees. Die studie poog om die essensiele elemente van spelterapie by 'n remedierende hulpprogram in te sluit. Daar is bevind dat die proefpersone by hierdie program gebaat het en dat hulle relasies positief be"invloed is. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (with specialisation in Guidance and Counselling)

M.A. (Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Linguistics) / The construct of this study consists of the perceptions and experiences of the teachers and students of initial reading at Sizwile School for the Deaf in urban South Africa. This investigation focuses on a Sub B class, in which Sign Language is the means of communication. The research design is exploratory and descriptive as it aims to explore, describe and clarify the children's apprehension of reading. This could yield new knowledge which is rooted in a specific and complex context. The process is conducted by means of a case study (monographic study) design which includes mostly qualitative methods for data collection. The rationale for this study is that respondents' personal (ernic) views, obtained from a "bottom-up" research mode could bring more light to the body of knowledge of deaf education in South Africa. Insufficient rigorous research, the lack of educational policy, lack of more input in South African curriculum for the deaf and limited cohesive instructional theory in South African deaf education motivated the researcher to initiate this investigation. The rationale of this stidy thus circulated from the theoretical and physical context of deaf education in South Africa, as well as the researcher's personal experiential knowledge as a teacher in the only school for the deaf around Soweto (a Black Township). The research question in this inquiry has been conceptualised in a maze of conflicting opinions and practices regarding the education of the deaf and the teaching of initial reading. The experiences, activities and perceptions of a single class within a school for the deaf was explored and described argumentatively in the light of contemporary theories on language, learning, reading and deaf education. Perspectives on learning to read are discussed in order to contextualise the individual's learning to read. Also included are theories of language and of learning, presented to provide a backdrop against which the practices in deaf education will be discussed. Language is subsequently discussed as medium of communication in the education process, with a closer focus on instruction in the first language (Sign Language) of the deaf child. The other part of the conceptual framework covers reading across the curriculum. The theoretical framework is presented as support structure for the research construct and also to problematise the research question (problem) from complementary angles.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children enrolled in two first grade classes who did not meet the criterion score for one or more of the seven subtests on a selected readiness test given during the first two weeks of the school year would make higher scores on selected comprehension measures when instruction in a basal reading series is supplemented with instruction in the language experience approach than children who receive instruction only in basal reader materials. Language experience activities were conducted with all reading groups in the experimental class for three days every two weeks. Group experience stories and word bank activities were not done with the control group which used only basal materials. A factorial analysis of variance model was selected to analyze the data on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test on the main effects of type of instruction, sex, and classification of students. No significant difference at the .05 level was found for the null hypotheses tested; however, a slight non-significant difference was found in the mean scores of the target children in both classes with the language experience group having an 80% higher mean score than the control group.