This study describes the development and evaluation
of a parent training model to test if a correlation
exists between effective tutoring and locus of control.
The model utilized parents of boys previously referred to
the Educational Clinic for reading difficulties. The
parents became the major treatment resource for
remediating reading problems of their 8 to 11 year old
boys. The venue was a local public library where a
series of five lessons and three follow-up sessions were
held with both parents and their sons present over a six
month period. Reading strategies to develop the
utilization of contextual clues were introduced and
practiced at these sessions.
Control group children from a variety of schools in
Canberra were selected to match the 21 treatment children
by the criteria of chronological age and pre-test results
on an objective word recognition test.
The parents were pre- and post-tested using the
Rotter I-E Scale while all boys were given the IAR Scale,
the Neale Analysis of Reading, ACER Word Recognition, a
Goodman-Eurke Miscue passage and the Survey of General
Reading Attitude.
Analysis of results indicated that sample size
limited the number of significant results obtained. No
significant results between I-E ratings and dependent
variables were found. The tutor's and spouse's initial
I-E perceptions were correlated at p=.08. Correlations
between tutor final I and subject final I ratings were
nonsignificant but positively correlated. The initial
and final I-E ratings of tutors were correlated at the
p<.0l level. A negative correlation significant at p=.0l
or better was noted between tutor behaviours and reading
speed gains. This was also true of correlations between
speed and both accuracy and comprehension (at p<.02 or
greater). A trend to greater gains on all reading
measures (at p=>.2 or higher) favouring the treatment
group (when compared with the control group) suggests
that a tutor programme based on improving reading
comprehension may be of value to the clinic-referred
retarded reader.
A more comprehensive study bypassing the problems of
sample size and differing causes for reading retardation
is outlined using the n=l paradigm. Both locus of
control and motivational factors of tutors and learners
will be investigated.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218978 |
| Date | January 1979 |
| Creators | Guggenheimer, Sally, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Teacher Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Sally Guggenheimer |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds