The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the judgments of elementary classroom teachers and college and university reading professors with regard to what should be included and stressed in undergraduate level reading methods courses.The instrument developed to gather pertinent data consisted of thirty-eight items which were grouped under the six major categories utilized by the International Reading Association. Each respondent marked on a line continuum the degree of emphasis he judged each item should receive and the response was later translated into a numerical value with nine being the highest rating and one the lowest rating.A random sample of forty public elementary schools in Marion County, Indiana gave the researcher a possible one hundred sixty elementary classroom teacher respondents. A stratified random sample of the Indiana colleges and universities appearing on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education list yielded twenty-two college and university reading professors. Since each person's participation was purely voluntary, the ninety-five percent return by elementary classroom teachers and a ninety-one percent return by college and university reading professors was considered satisfactory.A one way analysis of variance was computed on the data gathered for each instrument item to obtain an F ratio for the test of significance. The mean obtained on each instrument item by a certain respondent group was also used to place the topics on a rank order scale.Based on the results of the investigation, it was concluded and recommended that:1. Both lower and upper elementary classroom teachers would profit from reading courses dealing with the total reading spectrum rather than having separate reading courses for each of the above noted groups.2. Suburban teachers in this particular geographical area desired more emphasis in undergraduate reading methods courses on techniques for evaluation of a child's progress and how to foster a child's interest in reading.3. The number of years of teaching experience did not influence the teacher’s judgment concerning the content of an undergraduate reading methods course.4. The highest academic degree obtained by teachers in this populous Indiana county did make a difference in how important the instrument items were perceived. Master Degree teachers had a greater awareness of the individual needs of children.5. Currently, it would seem that Indiana college and university reading professors stress knowledge of the total reading program throughout the elementary school and knowledge of types of prereading readiness experiences to a greater degree than elementary classroom teachers believe they need. On the other hand, elementary classroom teachers in Marion County, Indiana would like college and university reading professors to increase the emphasis on how to use audio visual aids in reading, how to foster interest in reading, and how to teach reading through a variety of mass media.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/176191 |
| Date | January 1974 |
| Creators | Fleenor, Mary Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Wolpert, Edward M. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | v, 116 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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