Education Commons^™

Reading Strategies: Impact On Fifth Grade African American Males’ Reading Comprehension And Motivation To Read, Patrice Antoinette Barrett

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to implement four close reading strategies (Aha moment, Hmm moment, B.U.R.N. strategy, and R.A.P.) and evaluate its impact on fifth grade African American male students’ reading comprehension skills and their experiences with reading at Wisteria Lane Elementary. This intervention study focused on two research questions: how does the implementation of close reading strategies impact the reading comprehension skills of fifth grade male students, and in what ways does the implementation of close reading strategies influence fifth grade male students’ motivation to read in other classes? Nationally, African American boys suffer with weak reading …

The Impact Of Prosodic Reading Instruction On Adolescents’ Silent Reading Comprehension, Judy Lynn Fields

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has established a strong relationship between silent reading comprehension and prosodic reading fluency among young readers, but much remains unknown about this relationship among older readers (Breen, Kaswer, Van Dyke, Krivokapic, & Landi, 2016; Cypert & Petro, 2019). The goal of this study was to determine the impact of prosodic reading instruction on adolescents’ silent reading comprehension. Conducted in a classroom setting in two different school districts, this study included three certified English teachers and a total of 52 students in grades 8, 9, and 10 for a period of nine to twelve weeks with a total of 810 …

A Structured Literacy Approach To Support Striving Readers In Secondary Grades: Meaningful Transactions Through Morphological Awareness And Fluency Building, Samantha Bart-Addison, Robert A. Griffin

Georgia Journal of Literacy

A high school English teacher and a university literacy professor provide secondary teachers with structured literacy strategies to support striving readers in the middle and high school grades. The authors present strategies that can be utilized with diverse texts across learning contexts. As a structured literacy approach, morphological awareness and prosodic fluency are emphasized to foster deeper, more meaningful transactions between students and texts. An example of a full structured literacy lesson is also provided that includes multiple strategies and is based on a gradual release model with guided and independent reading cycles. Applicable strategies for delivery of these skills …

A Multi-Case Study Examining The Practices Of Fourth-And Fifth-Grade Teachers In Title 1 Schools Who Use Specific Reading Strategies To Teach The Comprehension Of Informational Text, Candice Maureen Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multi-case study was to examine the practices of fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in Title 1 schools who use specific reading strategies to teach the comprehension of informational text. One theory that guided this study was Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory focusing on the zone of proximal development as it applies to what a learner can do with and without help, and his concept of learning and development, whereby a child does not develop independently of his or her environment. In addition, Bandura’s social cognitive theory served as a guiding theory for this study. The design was a multiple …

Web Annotation In English Language Arts: Online Dialogue As A Platform To Support Student Comprehension Of Texts, Jonathan B. Allred

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how web annotation—through a process of online reading, writing in the margins, and replying to others’ comments—influences student dialogue in ways that research suggests are associated with improved comprehension. Viewing data through a dialogic lens, and using a qualitative, multiple case study design to observe two high school English Language Arts teachers and their students, this inquiry was guided by the following research questions: (a) How do English Language Arts teachers use web annotation to support student comprehension of texts? (b) To what extent, if any, does web annotation appear to support student comprehension of texts? and …

Educator Researched Methods And Interventions That Increase Below Level Readers’ Fluency And Comprehension, Shawnee Knott, Shannon Tovey

Georgia Journal of Literacy

A student walks into a classroom multiple grades below grade level and already on day one that student is behind and will most likely be behind their entire school year. Many teachers are faced with this scenario year after year. Students entering their classrooms unprepared for the on-level content they need to be on. Reading below grade level is just the beginning of the learning gap that exists in today’s classrooms. Teachers work hard to close that gap, but by upper elementary is it too late? What can teachers do to help these students grow and become successful learners?

This …

Reader’S Theater: A Quasi-Experimental Study For Secondary Students, Angela Kennedy

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

A quasi-experimental quantitative study using a pretest-posttest design examined the effects of Reader’s Theater to eighth graders fluency and comprehension development. The study used 50 eighth grade students with 25 students making up the control group and 25 students making up the experimental group. Reader’s Theater was used as an intervention with the experimental group for 30 minutes a day for 6 weeks while the control group used regular instructional methods including summarizing, questioning, and text-dependent questions. Data were gathered using a fluency passage from Easy CBM and a 20-question comprehension passage from Easy CBM. Most students showed improvement in …

The Effectiveness Of Cooperative Learning In The Reading Classroom, Amelia Tankersley, Joshua A. Cuevas

Perspectives In Learning

This research examined the effectiveness of specific methods of cooperative learning on reading comprehension, motivation, and attitudes. The study implemented Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) and the Jigsaw method in a rural public elementary school and included 60 participants from 3rd grade reading classes. One group used the CSR method to read information on four different topics while the other group read information on the same topics using the Jigsaw method. After controlling for initial attitudes, motivation, and global reading comprehension, the results indicated that neither of these methods led to greater gains in these areas than the other. However, when …

Enduring Through Challenging Multi-Media Text In Middle School Social Studies: How To Increase Motivation While Improving Literacy And Comprehension, Katelyn Nicole Burns

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Middle school students often find social studies classes boring and unnecessary and are underperforming on national reading and writing assessments. There is a disconnect between what they learn in the classroom, and their own personal experiences. This research explores strategies for teaching comprehension and literacy while fostering student motivation in middle school social studies. Research was conducted through online databases, educational websites, and printed educational books. Multiple strategies can be used to teach literacy of text and visual sources as well as increase student motivation. By using and combining these strategies, student achievement will increase and students will be set …

Real-Time Data As An Instructional Tool: Examining Engagement And Comprehension, Eric Blanton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The integration of technology within the lives of all people has continued to expand and also impacts the education systems around the world. The purpose of this study was to study how real-time data impacted the educational achievement of students in a senior level economics class who participated in game-based learning through the Marketwatch Game. The sample for this study was 107 senior level economic students ranging from age 17 to 18 years old. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design (Patten, 2012), the students were divided into two groups and were to play the Marketwatch Game. The experimental …

Once More With Feeling: Elementary Classroom Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Reader’S Theater, Alissa Marie Allen

Selected Honors Theses

Due to the No Child Left Behind policy of 2001, school systems are held to a higher standard with more advanced curricular aims. The resulting intense focus on content leaves little time for extracurricular activities such as the arts. Yet, educators may still include the arts in their classrooms by integrating the arts into curricular content. For example, the use of an arts integrated reader’s theater gives teachers the opportunity to integrate all four strands of the arts and teach oral reading fluency.

This study was guided by the enquiry of how reader’s theater integrates the arts and influences student …

Fives: An Integrated Strategy For Comprehension And Vocabulary Learning, Mary Shea, Nancy Roberts

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

This article describes a strategy that emphasizes the integration of all language and literacy skills for learning across content areas as well as the importance CCSS place on learners’ ability to ask questions about information, phenomena, or ideas encountered (Ciardiello, 2012/2013). FIVES is a strategy that meaningfully integrates research-based methodologies associated with reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing for differentiated disciplinary literacy instruction related to authentic texts and issues. The strategy described can be universally applied across disciplines to develop high levels of competence with literacy processes and content.

A Qualitative Inquiry Into One Teacher’S Metacognitive Processes As They Influence Reading Instruction, Jennifer Antoniotti-Neal

Dissertations

Despite over 40 years of research on the importance of metacognitive strategy instruction for increased student reading achievement, minimal research has been conducted to explore teacher’s explicit awareness of their metacognition and their ability to think about, talk about, and write about their thinking (Block & Pressley, 2002). Therefore, this qualitative case study investigates one teacher’s understanding of metacognitive awareness and missed opportunities for metacognitive comprehension strategy instruction in a reading classroom. One fourth-grade reading teacher from a proficient rural elementary school participated in this study. The data analysis results suggest that the participant’s metacognitive knowledge was limited and comprehension …

Exploring Effective Reading Strategies That Promote Higher Level Thinking And Comprehension For A Chinese-Speaking College Student, Panyang Wu

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of the case study was to explore some effective literacy strategies that prompt higher-level thinking abilities to help one Chinese English as Foreign Language (EFL) student who struggles with academic reading in college classes at a small, liberal arts college. Only one participant named Cathy was involved in the study. Cathy is a Chinese student who studied at college as a regular undergraduate student and had poor performance in her college level literacy class, as indicated by her professors and Cathy herself. Cathy was expected to improve reading comprehension by receiving an intensive one-month reading development intervention, which …

Fluency Interventions And The Impact On Comprehension, Colleen Cook

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Reading fluency is understood to be the rate and accuracy of that which is being read and comprehension is the understanding of what has been read. Many studies support the concept that fluency skills support reading comprehension. Many students with specific learning disabilities lack the fluency skills needed for successful reading comprehension. This study provided fluency interventions to elementary students with specific learning disabilities and evaluated any comprehension gains. Students graphed their own fluency gains during the interventions and a pre-test and post-test were given to monitor comprehension. There was in increase in both the average fluency rate for each …

The Effects Of Choice On Reading Comprehension In 2nd-3rd Grade, Julie P. Fraumeni-Mcbride

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

Poor literacy rates are the cause of low school performance for children across America. In particularly, low income schools continue to struggle with declining literacy rates. Issues with literacy are ultimately attributed to lack of comprehension during reading. This research tested the effects of choice on reading comprehension in 2nd and 3rd grade students at high and low income schools. In addition, students were monitored while reading silently and aloud to see if either had an effect on reading comprehension. Data was collected from 32 students from high and low income schools before, during and after reading in order to …

Speed Dating In History: Fostering Critical Thinking, Patricia L. Rieman

Patricia L Rieman

When students role-play, their learning is personalized (Joyce & Calhoun, 2014). Add the challenge of finding compatible partners, and students are fully engaged as they infer the connections between themselves and their “dates”. Mix in the final element of limiting the opportunity to interact with potentially compatible partners, and students must quickly determine importance, synthesize, and then verbalize the details of their personas. Additionally, students must analyze their partner’s message to identify connections to their own, infer hidden identities, and describe their cognitive processes. In this session on using speed-dating to teach history, all of these actions come together to …

Understanding Angle And Angle Measure: A Design-Based Research Study Using Context Aware Ubiquitous Learning, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Mobile technologies are quickly becoming tools found in the educational environment. The researchers in this study use a form of mobile learning to support students in learning about angle concepts. Design-based research is used in this study to develop an empirically-substantiated local instruction theory about students' develop of angle and angle measure. This local instruction theory involves real-world connections and mobile technologies through a sub category of mobile learning called context-aware ubiquitous learning. Through a process of anticipation, enactment, evaluation, and revision, the local instruction theory was developed to include a theoretical contribution of how students come to understand angle …

Literacy Strategies Successfully Implemented By Secondary Social Studies Teachers, Kelly Killorn

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine which literacy strategies were used by secondary social studies teachers who were identified by their principals as having strong literacy integration skills. In addition, teachers' beliefs and purposes for utilizing said literacy strategies were examined. It was hypothesized that participants would incorporate literacy strategies into their instruction, and would utilize explicit vocabulary instructional methods and graphic organizers most frequently. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from five participants through three 50-minute behavioral observations apiece, followed by a 45-minute focus group discussion. Results indicated that these participants overwhelmingly utilized literacy strategies regularly …

Using Beginning-Of-Year Diagnostic Reading Measures To Predict Third Grade Comprehension Scores In Virginia, Todd Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this correlational investigation is to examine the magnitude of the relationships between three diagnostic reading measures and scores obtained on the third grade Virginia SOL reading test. Specifically, this study investigated the relative utility of predictor variables against one another while also evaluating the strength of the model utilizing all three variables simultaneously. Grounded in the Simple View of Reading as outlined by Gough and Tunmer (1986), this study incorporated the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (or PALS), the STAR Reading Test, and the QRI-5 as independent variables. While each instrument has been the subject of previous investigations, …

Comprehension And Motivation Levels In Conjunction With The Use Of Ebooks With Audio: A Quasi-Experimental Study Of Post-Secondary Remedial Reading Students, Kimberly Wheeler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quasi-experimental pretest, posttest nonequivalent control group study investigated the comprehension scores and motivation levels of post-secondary remedial reading students in a two-year technical college in Northwest Georgia using an eBook, an eBook with audio, and a print book. After reading a module on Purpose and Tone in the three book formats, data was collected from a convenience sample of 67 participants. Data consisted of reading comprehension scores taken from a pretest and posttest and reading motivation scores taken from a pre-survey and post-survey. The pretest and pre-survey were not used as covariates in the final analyses as they were …

Learning To Retell Stories Through Comparative Teaching: Writing And Drawing, Rachel L. Lindle

Theses and Dissertations--Art and Visual Studies

Students who are emergent readers and writers are often difficult to assess, as they are unable to communicate understanding in writing. From my observations, these students communicate ideas best through concrete forms of expression, rather than the abstract formation of letters and writing that is unfamiliar to them. Drawing provides an alternate form of expression from writing. Based on information found in literature review and personal experiences from working with students who are emergent readers and writers, pictures and drawings are a bridge to communicate ideas with these students. This form of expression and communication may be a useful assessment …

Impact Of Leveled Reading Books On The Fluency And Comprehension Levels Of First Grade Students, Melissa Seals

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this nonequivalent, control group, pretest-posttest design study was to evaluate the effectiveness of leveled book programs on first-grade students' oral reading fluency rates and comprehension levels. This study was conducted over a 10-week time span with four first-grade classes. All of the students in each class were given a pretest to determine their current reading level, and then the classes were randomly placed into the treatment group, which used leveled books during independent reading time, or the controlled group, which used trade books selected by the students during independent reading time. Two individually administered assessments, Developmental Reading …

Word Calling In 3rd And 4th Graders: Exploring Student And Teacher Characteristics, Lindsay Starr Couzens

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Reading difficulties in elementary school-aged children may occur when two components of reading- word identification, comprehension, or both of these skills- are weak or underdeveloped (Gough, 1972; Hoover & Gough, 1990; Joshi & Aaron, 2000; Savage, 2001). One type of reading difficulty that is frequently identified by teachers is known as "word calling." Previous research (Hamilton & Shinn, 2003; Hendricks, Reynolds & Sinatra, 2003, Meisinger, Bradley, Schwanenflugel, Kuhn, & Morris, 2009) found that teachers were not accurate in their identification of word callers (word callers). They tended to over-identify these students in their classrooms, confusing them with typical struggling readers. …

Increasing Teachers' Metacognition Develops Students' Higher Learning During Content Area Literacy Instruction: Findings From The Read-Write Cycle Project, Margaret Sauceda Curwen, Roxanne Greitz Miller, Kimberly A. White-Smith, Robert C. Calfee

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Success in the 21st century, for individuals and societies, requires competence in comprehending and communicating in the academic disciplines--the natural sciences, history, geography, and more. The Read-Write Cycle (RWC) Project, a three year longitudinal research study conducted from 2005-2008 in ten public elementary schools in southern California, explored the effectiveness of curriculum and instructional strategies that integrate literacy with disciplinary knowledge with the simultaneous goals of: (1) enhancing students' literacy outcomes; and (2) broadening and deepening knowledge of the content area. Funded by the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences, the RWC Project concentrated over years one and two on 1,024 …

Revisiting On-Line Discussion As Practice For Reflective Thinking In Three Sequential Classes, Charles Dittrich, Jonelle Pool, Divonna M. Stebick, Emily Weigler

Education Faculty Publications

In a previous study, the authors questioned the potential of an on-line environment for increasing productive reflection in three sequential education classes. Of their findings, the issue of consistency stood out as particularly perplexing, namely, why did students exhibit high level reflections sometimes, but not all the time, in an on-line environment? In this follow-up study, the authors question whether in-class reflections coupled with on-line prompts could yield consistently high level pre-service teacher reflections, as measured by individual and class progress over time. This study also examines perceived relationships between the length of a student's reflection and its productivity, as …

The Relationship Between Oral Reading Fluency And Comprehension, Jessica A. Talada

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Oral reading fluency and reading comprehension are identified as components in effectively gaining meaning from text. A reciprocal relationship exists between the two that allows one to comprehend more thoroughly as one reads more fluently. Additionally, as one reads more fluently, one’s ability to comprehend also improves. This is due to the fact that one’s brain is more capable in processing text meaning when one is able to read fluently. Therefore, when one automatically identifies words one is able to comprehend text more completely. The oral reading fluency and comprehension relationship was tested for a second and third grade population …