Education Commons^™

“You Can Pick Really Good Literature That Will Lead Them There”: Investigating The Instructional Roles Teachers Utilize When Conducting Literature Discussions, Sophie M. Ladd

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this multi-case study was to investigate the instructional roles teachers utilize in whole group and small group discussion. This study highlights the questioning and response strategies two elementary teachers used during read alouds and literature discussions. Data sources included whole group and small group discussions, interviews, teachers' reflection journals, classroom observations, researcher field notes, and Informal correspondence. Data were analyzed using Merriam's (1998) analytic framework for case study. A within-case analysis was conducted for each case, followed by a cross-case analysis. Through with-in case analysis questioning and response categories were developed. These categories included: appealing, prompting, examination, …

Contemporary Children’S Literature Recommendations For Working With Preadolescent Children Of Divorce, P. S. Mcmillen, Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson

Library Faculty Publications

Bibliotherapy, defined most basically, is helping with books (Hynes & Hynes-Berry, 1994). Derived from the Greek words meaning book and therapy, bibliotherapy goals fall usefully into two categories. Clinical bibliotherapy, using books to facilitate specified therapeutic goals with those experiencing significant emotional or behavioral problems, involves trained health and mental health professionals such as psychologists, counselors, psychiatric nurses, or social workers. Developmental bibliotherapy, using books to address situational, transitional, and normal developmental issues, can be implemented by others, like educators or librarians, who work in helping roles. Books provide solace, reassurance, and even escape; they also provide new ideas for …

Creative Activities For Teaching Language, Stephen A. Sadow

Stephen Sadow

Creative Activities for Language Learning energizes students to think and to use language in new ways. By injecting humor whenever possible, motivation grows and develops. Used regularly, the group, pair, and single-person activities found here allows students to communicate on a vast array of subjects and try on an endless series of linguistic strategies. They combine the serious tasks with fanciful and creative thinking, self-disclosure and out-right silliness. The activities are also highly teacher-friendly. The groups are chosen, the topic explained, and the students converse until obliged to stop. Students talk, write and think creatively, all at the same time.

An Examination Of Reading Assignments In The Secondary Classroom, Rachel Elizabeth Leer

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this research study is to examine reading assignments given in the secondary classroom of a rural secondary school. The intention is to analyze student readiness to handle complex text found in post-secondary education and/or the workforce, based on current reading trends within the school. The research questions guiding this study focus on the average amount of reading students are expected to complete in a week, what strategic support is being provided to students to enhance comprehension of text, the methodology behind how teachers select both reading assignments and reading strategies, and finally the methodology behind how teachers …

Literacy Coaching, Patricia Jane May

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Examines the experience of four elementary level classroom teachers and one coach as they engaged in a year-long literacy coaching program. Analysis of coach/teacher interactions highlights the role of reflective thought in teacher learning and positions reflective thought as a foundational premise of teacher learning. In addition, as a result of the discovery process inherent in the grounded theory design, finds that teachers' goal setting influenced movement along a gradual release of responsibility (GRR) continuum of adult learning.

The Difficulties Of Teaching Non-Western Literature In The United States, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

"My goal in this article is to build on Priya Kandaswamy’s discussion of students’ response to difference in Radical Teacher #80 by unfolding the pitfalls of teaching and responding to “non-Western” literature in the United States as embodied in my own experience teaching non-Western literature to a group of racially and ethnically diverse, mainly working-class students at a large urban comprehensive public university."

Making Waves With Critical Literacy, Carolyn Fortuna

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

A qualitative study undertaken in 2007 that explores the application of critical literacy pedagogy within English language arts classes of an upper middle class public high school. Results demonstrate that when students recontextualize their own modalities, literacies, and cultures as part of their learning experience, they begin to understand the concept of social justice for all.

Relationship Of Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Award Books On Students' Reading Motivation In Three Illinois Rural Middle Schools: A Quantitative Study, Roxanne Marie Forgrave

Faculty Scholarship – Education

Motivating students to read is challenging, and 49 states have children’s choice book programs whose main purpose is to motivate students to read. This quantitative research study determined if, in three rural middle schools, a relationship exists between sixth, seventh, and eighth graders reading the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Award (RCYRBA) books and reading motivation. The Adolescent Motivation to Read Profile (Pitcher, et al., 2007) survey was used for data collection; the data was analyzed using multiple regression. The results indicate there is a relationship between middle school students’ reading motivation and the reading of RCYRBA books, gender, grade level, …

Contemporary Memoir: A 21st-Century Genre Ideal For Teens, Dawn Latta Kirby, Dan Kirby

Faculty and Research Publications

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. For the past 20 years, the authors have been reading and teaching literary memoir to students of all ages. In the mid-1980s, they began looking for ways to incorporate more nonfiction into their literature classes, hoping to find a fresh genre unflattened by instruction. They wanted to explore with students a genre that literary critics had not already overanalyzed and for which they had not created formulaic heuristics for student analysis. More than anything else, the authors wanted to find literary works that connected directly with students' lived experiences. …

Multi-Modal Reading For Low Level Readers, Jamie O'Neal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The value of this research hinges on the idea that exchanging illustrations for descriptive text can provide appropriate schemas for students with reading difficulties and thereby improve their comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. The research in this dissertation is based on theories and earlier research in the fields of psychology, education, reading, and narratology. A review of these fields offers a variety of perspectives on the processes involved in reading and comprehension. These processes range from the physical systems involved in reading (e.g., early childhood development, eye movement) to the psychological systems, which include cognitive load theory as well as image …

The Efficacy Of Repeated Reading For Building Reading Fluency Of Fourth-Grade Students At A Rural Elementary School In South Carolina, Clarice B'Yonca Norman

Theses and Dissertations

The Efficacy of Repeated Reading for Building Reading Fluency of Fourth-Grade Students at a Rural Elementary School in South Carolina. Clarice B. Norman, 2010: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Fischler School of Education and Human Services. ERIC Descriptors: Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension, Reading Instruction, Curriculum Based Measurement, Rural Schools.

This applied dissertation study was designed to examine the effects of a repeated reading strategy on the oral reading fluency and reading comprehension of fourth-grade students in a rural South Carolina school. In addition, it examined the hypothesis that repeated reading of connected text would build reading fluency and increase comprehension. …

Scholars Day Program Of Events 2010, Carl Goodson Honors Program

Scholars Day

No abstract provided.

The Master's Written Thesis, Anne West, Graduate Studies, Center For Arts & Language

Thesis Writing

91 pages : illus. ; 26 cm; 2nd Edition. "This guide to thesis development is best used in discussion and negotiation with your Graduate Program Director and other thesis advisors. It may also be used as part of a workshop structure to explore in conversation with others the ideas and possibilities most appropriate to your own work." – Anne West, from the Introduction. "This remarkable handbook is a navigational instrument offered to assist each graduate student through the development of an independent, distinctive process of writing about—and with—one’s work." – Patricia C. Phillips, from the introduction. "The first edition of …

The Effect Of Text-To-Self Reading Strategies On Reading Comprehension, Cathy Arlene (Legg) Cutright

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Middle-school male students currently face a disadvantage in reading comprehension compared to female students. Research suggests the problem is that more male students score below grade level in reading comprehension because they require more cognitive scaffolding. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of text-to-self reading instruction and to compare the comprehension achievement of male and female students in 6th-grade reading and language-arts classes using guided reading of text-to-self instruction and guided reading using novels. The foundation of this study was based on constructivist theories including Dewey's pragmatist philosophy, Piaget's developmental theory, and Vygotsky's theory of zone …

The Use Of Handheld Devices For Improved Phonemic Awareness In A Traditional Kindergarten Classroom, Cristy Ann Magagna-Mcbee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Effective teaching strategies that improve the development of phonemic awareness are important to ensure students are fluent readers by third grade. The use of handheld devices to improve phonemic awareness with kindergarten students may be such a strategy, but no research exists that evaluates the use of these devices. This study explored the effectiveness of Bee-Bot handheld devices in kindergarten classrooms to teach phonemic awareness. A 4-month sequential mixed-methods study was conducted in four classrooms: two that used Bee-Bot handheld devices in phonemic awareness lessons and two that never used the devices. The score gain (Fall 2009 to Winter 2010) …

The Effects Of Oral Reading Fluency On Reading Comprehension For Students With Reading Disabilities And Specific Learning Disabilities, Renee C. Nouvelle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The gap in reading achievement continues to be consistent, despite No Child Left Behind goals to narrow these gaps among minority and other subgroup populations. This gap is especially profound for students with disabilities, and any evidence to support progress monitoring of oral reading fluency (ORF) and comprehension will inform educational policy and practice. The theory of automaticity explains that a reader can focus more attention on the meaning of a reading passage when less attention is needed for word and sound recognition. The literature has suggested that reading comprehension can be improved through efforts to improve ORF. The central …

Emerging Theoretical Models Of Reading Through Authentic Assessments Among Preservice Teachers: Two Case Studies, Eileen S. Oboler, Abha Gupta

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This two-part study examines the emerging understanding of the reading process among preservice teachers (PTs), enrolled in a teacher preparation course on diagnostic reading. The study focuses on the use of reading assessment tools to understand the process of reading, while using reading inventories for diagnostic as well as pedagogical purposes' PTs' self-reflections support a developing insight into the reading process. Through the process of inquiry and self-reflections, PTs discovered critical issues related to literacy, namely, metacognition, prior knowledge, cultural factors, instructional implications, and content area reading. These findings have implications for the teaching of reading as inquiry-based instruction, enabling …

Guided Reading: The Effects Of Using Guided Reading In The Classroom, Betty Lynn Austin-Byrd

Theses Digitization Project

This project set out to find the best methods for use in a Guided Reading classroom as well as the results that would be produced from a year long use of guided reading in a first grade classroom. Guided Reading produces reading results in early and emergent readers as it provides structure and assessment practices for the teacher to instruct and guide students through the process of learning to read.

Developing Students' Reading Comprehesion Through Whole Language, Zelda Marie Thomas

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the study is to investigate the motivational affects of Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI) and generative themes applications in the effort to change students' attitude and behavior in reading novels and volume reading materials to improve ninth grade reading comprehension. A descriptive six-week qualitative study on improving ninth grade students' reading comprehension through teaching the concept of whole language and Transactional Strategies Instruction (TSI) was conducted.

Shifting The Literacy Paradigm In Indonesian Higher Education, Isnarti Isnarti

Theses Digitization Project

The focus of this thesis was in postsecondary literacy in Indonesia, and how it might be improved by borrowing and applying philosophies and pedagogical practices such as the role of the writing process in the education of basic writers, the importance of acquiring academic discourse, the benefits of teacher feedback, and the role that a writing center can play in helping basic writers to become proficient writers.

School Aged Children: Visual Perception And Reversal Recognition Of Letters And Numbers Separately And In Context, Janet E. Richmond

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Visual discrimination, spatial orientation, and recognition of letters and numbers in context are important issues in helping young students achieve good literacy and numeracy standards. Thus, measures of Visual Discrimination of Upper Case Letters (VDUCL), Visual Discrimination of Lower Case Letters (VDLCL), and Visual Discrimination of Numbers (VDN) as well as Spatial Orientation of Letter and Number Pairs (SOLNP), Form Constancy of Letters and Numbers (FCLNP), Letter and Number Sequencing (LNS), Figure Ground of Letters in Words FGLW) and Figure Ground Numbers in Calculations (FGNC) must be linear and uni-dimensional so that student weaknesses can be identified objectively. The Simple …

English As A Foreign Language And Cultural Capital In South Korea : A Mixed Methods Study, Eun Hi Seo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Relying on Bourdieu's cultural reproduction theory, this mixed methods study examined the direct and indirect trajectories of social and economic benefits in the home in improving ninth and college-track twelfth graders English language performance, focusing on their participation in cultural capital activities.

Modernist Pedagogy At The End Of The Lecture: It And The Poetics Classroom, Alan Filreis

Alan Filreis

Describes a modernist pedagogy based on the end of the lecture as we know it and a convergence of poetics, universities and the rise of digital media.

The Second Language Acquisition Of English Prepositions, Patricia J. Boquist

Senior Honors Theses

The acquisition of English prepositions is especially difficult for students learning English as a second language. This paper briefly discusses how prepositions are used in English and a few of the reasons prepositions cause problems for English language learners. It also analyzes the underlying system that governs prepositions and how this system might be represented to English language learners. Finally, it analyzes the current pedagogy and suggests a possible alternative to the status quo.

Working For And With Latino/Latina Immigrant Newcomers In The English Language Arts Classroom, Bernadette Musetti, Spencer Salas, Theresa Perez

Faculty and Research Publications

The article discusses how the English language arts practitioners work with the Latin immigrants who are newcomers in learning English language in middle and high school in the U.S. Accordingly, practitioners provide more instructional time to contextualized learning and literacy on first and second language and advocate them to attain a high level of literacy. Moreover, it states that the literacy development of the newcomers must be anchored in patience, flexibility and conscientiousness.

Class And Categories: What Role Does Socioeconomic Status Play In Children's Lexical And Conceptual Development?, Jennifer Bloomquist

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

At one time, academic inquiries into the relationship between socioeconomic class and language acquisition were commonplace, but the past 20 years have seen a decrease in work that focuses on the intersection between class and early language learning. Recently, however, against the backdrop of the No Child Left Behind legislation in the United States (which has been criticized as a culturally biased education policy that, through highstakes testing and broad-based, uniform curricula, discounts the value of non-standard home language varieties largely spoken by working-class children), there has been renewed interest in the relationship between class, language use, and the assessment …

'Ripples In The Upside-Down Lake Of The World’: Running A Read-Aloud Marathon, Dave Iasevoli

David Iasevoli

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of assigning "On the Road," by Jack Kerouac for summer reading.

Metacognitive Awareness And Strategy Use In Academic English Reading Among Adult English As A Second Language (Esl) Students, Yuko Iwai

Dissertations

This mixed method research study explored the role of metacognitive awareness in reading among adult English as a Second Language (ESL) students of various academic levels enrolled in a university in the southeastern part of the United States of America while engaged in academic reading. In addition, this study examined metacognitive reading strategies employed by those students.

In the quantitative portion of the study, 98 students responded to the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) instrument and a background information questionnaire. The SORS measured metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies. In the qualitative portion of the study, six students (two …

The Impact Of Enrollment In A Combined Reading And Learning Strategies Course On Exceptional Students' Fcat Reading Scale Scores, Coral Kathleen Hanson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Previous research has shown that because remediation and support replace required and career-defining courses, exceptional students fall behind, ill equipped to act in society as autonomous adults. No Child Left Behind requires reading proficiency, so students failing standardized tests must take remedial courses. Individualized education plans often require support courses. However, there remains an important gap in the literature regarding the usefulness of reading, standardized testing, and leadership research to solve this problem. A class combining reading and support for students with exceptionalities exists at 1 high school. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the combined program …

Establish Your Presence In The Blogosphere: A Guide To Blog Development For The Foreign Langauge Classroom, Peter B. Swanson, Patricia Early

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

As the wave of technology progresses, the static Web page has given way to the Weblog (blog) as a medium for delivering information. The blog has moved the technology forward with its bidirectional communication ability. This article discusses the evolution of blogs, important considerations when establishing a blog presence, and directions for creating blogs. Online examples are given to guide the reader.