Digital Commons Network^™

Peer Response Groups In The Esol Classroom : A Study, Karin Dorothy Krueger

Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative study is introduced through a discussion of peer response groups and the researcher's interest in them. The guiding question of whether peer response groups are as useful for teaching writing ESOL classrooms as in first language classrooms is stated along with supplementary research questions. These are fol lowed by a review of relevant theories and summaries of peer response group hi story, social and cultural factors, and research done on peer response groups in first and additional language classrooms.

An Examination Of The Effects Of An Intergenerational Reading Workshop On The Listening Comprehension Of At-Risk Pre-Kindergarten Students, Marycarolyn G. France

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

A surge of interest in working with parents to help their children build prerequisite language skills that would prevent reading failure has developed in recent years. The challenge of preventing reading failure in students is exacerbated when parents themselves have limited skills in reading. In recognition of this fact, schools and other institutions have begun to provide intergenerational programs to teach parents and children together. The workshop which is the subject of this study is one such program.

Thirteen parents and their pre-kindergarten children, who had been identified by the school as at-risk students, were exposed to an intergenerational reading …

Thanking In American English And Egyptian Arabic: A Cross-Linguistic Cross-Cultural Study, Ahmed Hosni Gabr

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Code-Switching In The Written Mode, Elisabeth Anne Yoder

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Literacy Through Literature, Tammy Joy Cartwright

All Graduate Projects

Research on literature based and skills based reading programs was reviewed. Results showed that traditional basal programs, which are heavily skill oriented, do not meet the reading styles of all students. Integrated instruction which allows for a variety of learning activities can alleviate this problem. Research also indicated that the reading experience must be meaningful and motivating and that literature is an excellent means of providing this component. Integrated units were developed based upon this research evidence. Conclusions and recommendations are discussed.

The Reading And Writing Connection, Leona G. Morton

All Graduate Projects

Many children are graduating from school lacking skills in writing. This project reviews the literature in order to establish a theoretical justification for improving writing through reading. Using materials from the classroom and library, activities are presented that emphasize writing as well as reading. Some writing activities will be presented before reading and some writing activities will be presented after reading. Thus each activity will reflect the reading/writing connection, and create a basis from which writing should improve.

Parental Involvement: Using Workshops To Promote Beginning Reading, Dana Krieger Clauson

All Graduate Projects

Four workshops are designed to help parents of young children facilitate beginning reading. These workshops focus on techniques for reading aloud, using predictable materials, using environmental print, and constructing games. The workshops are aimed at parents of kindergarten children. The project includes research which provides a definition, rationale, and practical application of each topic, specific workshop designs, parent handouts, and teacher materials. Implications of the benefits of parent education and recommendations for future workshops are discussed.

Activities For Teaching Letter Identification, A. Kristin Seibel

All Graduate Projects

The focus of this project was to compile and design research based letter identification activities. Emphasis was placed on the highly confusable letters "b-d", "p-q", and "n-u". The activities were for use in the first grade curriculum. Learning objectives were stated for each activity. The activities, utilizing a variety of materials, were chosen and designed for hands-on application. Needed materials were listed, directions and patterns for construction were included, directions for use were provided, and classroom management was suggested. Use of the activities was divided into three parts: whole group introduction, guided practice, and small group activities.

Teaching Comprehension By Incorporating Story Grammar Into A Drta Lesson Format, Sharon Kay Neal

All Graduate Projects

This project presents a teaching procedure which should improve primarylevel reading comprehension. This procedure combines a framework of story grammar as a guide for implementing the Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA) lesson format. Literature is reviewed which illustrates the effectiveness of story grammar when used to teach comprehension, and describes the effectiveness of DRTA to promote active comprehension. By combining both story grammar and DRTA, a procedure is developed and ten example lessons are produced.

Content-Based Approaches And Second Language Instruction, Pi-Chu Su

All Graduate Projects

Integration of content-based instruction into an English curriculum based on communicative goals is suggested to better solve the problems of materials and syllabus design in Taiwan. Historical antecedents and the rationales for content-based instruction are reviewed to illustrate a modern perspective on the interwoven relationship between language and content learning. The project proposes a three-year content-based English program for Taiwan's elementary and preschool students. A first year curriculum and model lessons for mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts are presented.

A Handbook On Ways Parents Can Help Their Children Learn To Read, Deborah S. Waltzer

Theses Digitization Project

1st grade -- Parents and literacy -- Transitional whole language method.

Incorporating Cooperative Learning Teams And Whole Language In The First Grade, Mary Elizabeth Berdine

All Graduate Projects

The first purpose of this project was to review current literature regarding whole language and cooperative learning. The second purpose of this project was the development of whole language, cooperative learning strategies and accompanying application lessons for use at the first grade level. Ten cooperative learning strategies and application lessons were developed utilizing a whole language approach. The lessons were centered around children's literature and focused on reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities that were whole, purposeful, and meaningful.

The Effects Of Computer Assisted Esl Instruction On Limited English Proficient Students, Raul M. Sanchez

All Graduate Projects

A study was conducted to determine whether computer assisted instruction or the traditional ESL teaching method was more effective in teaching Limited English Proficient (LEP) students, English language proficiency. Twenty-two second grade subjects were separated into two groups at one elementary school in Yakima, Washington. The experimental group received computer assisted ESL instruction, while the control group was instructed with the traditional ESL teaching method. Analysis of the results supported the research hypotheses for one of the three dependent variables. The null hypothesis could not be rejected for a second variable, while for a third variable, a significant difference was …

English As A Second Language: Evaluation Of A Language Program Designed For & Implemented In The Colombian Oil Company's Research Institute, Patience Nave

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

An incredible proliferation of knowledge has generated a critical need for professionals in all fields to have access to current information and research results. Costs for study and research are extremely high, particularly in science fields, and most professionals seek to minimize loss in time and funds by avoiding duplication of efforts. Language is often a handicap, preventing the voluntary sharing of valuable information between individuals and countries, and many recognize the establishment of a universal language as a means of eliminating this unnecessary barrier. English is rapidly becoming accepted as a universal means of communication, but those who seek …

Approaches In Teaching Advanced Placement Spanish, Melinda L. Brager

All Graduate Projects

The curriculum developed in this project has been designed specifically for Advanced Placement Spanish students, although lt may be used ln almost any advanced foreign language class. In addition to building on prior knowledge and increasing target language proficiency, this curriculum attempts to prepare students to take the Advanced Placement Spanish Language Exam.

A Project For Spanish Speaking Migrant Parents For Involvement In Home Reading Activities, Nancy J. King

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop parent involvement workshops and home reading activities for Spanish speaking migrant parents of the Highland School District. Four one-hour workshops were designed and implemented. In addition, kindergarteners participated in book reading activities. This project demonstrated that Spanish speaking parents could be successfully integrated into school-related activities; and through this integration, positive changes in attitudes and behaviors of both parents and children could be achieved.

The Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of An Effective Reading And Writing Program For A Rural, Small Town Junior High School, Lynn R. Curtis

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the extra time provided for reading and writing in Macon Junior High School, Macon, Illinois. The following hypotheses were tested: The reading and writing treatment has a significant effect on student reading comprehension scores, writing skills, enjoyment of reading, and on the encouragement of students to read more. There is a significant difference between the cost of the reading and writing program and the fine and applied arts courses it replaced. Subjects included students and teachers in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades at Macon Junior High School. Achievement …

A Comparative Study Of The Effects Of Two Urban Kindergarten Beginning Reading Programs On Student Oral Reading Performance And Attitudes Toward Reading, Ann-Carol Banton Holley

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the whole language and the Writing to Read beginning reading programs on oral reading performance and attitudes toward learning to read in school. The research population totaled 128 kindergarten students from two elementary schools within the same urban school system. This population consisted of a complete population sample of sixty-one students at the whole language school and sixty-seven Writing to Read students chosen by random selection to represent all classes and teachers at the other school.

Oral reading performance and attitude toward reading of the two groups were compared …

"Night Writers": A Voluntary Creative Writing Program, Wendy Arline Alexander

All Graduate Projects

"Night Writers", a voluntary creative writing program that utilizes parent volunteers, was designed to encourage more writing in a positive way. Writing supports the aquisition of reading skills and enables one to communicate more effectively. As "Night Writers" encourages the students to write at home, with parent involvement encouraged, a close home-school relationship is being fostered to the benefit of all parties concerned.

The Effects Of Storytelling Experiences On Vocabulary Skills Of Second Grade Students, Gail E. Froyen

Graduate Research Papers

Subjects were 40 second grade students from Lowell School, Waterloo, IA. The students met for 14 weekly forty minute sessions where they heard folktales, learned folktales to tell, and told or listened to each other tell folktales. All second grade students were tested with the ITBS Primary Battery in October 1986 (pre-test) and the subjects took the post-test in April, 1987.

The null hypothesis stated there would be no significant difference in standard scores at p<.05 using as pre-and post-tests ITBS Primary Test V-Vocabulary when compared using NCE's to the national norms of that test. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference at the p<.005 level. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected

Games And Activities For The English As A Second Language Classroom, Mary T. Brunelle

All Graduate Projects

A study has been made to select activities and games that promote language use in the second language classroom. Low classroom and personal anxiety promote language learning; games and activities are a method of focusing the language on its message rather than its structural form. Ways for teachers to help decrease classroom pressure and encourage learning are discussed. Language games for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students are presented in the project portion of this paper and will be used as a handbook of games for English as a second language teachers.

A Whole-Language Approach To Bilingual Language Arts Curriculum, Grades K-4, Martha M. Floyd

All Graduate Projects

Bilingual Language Arts objectives were established by grade level, K-4, in both Spanish and English. One hundred six limited English proficient students are participants in the bilingual program for which this curriculum was designed. This study suggests how selected objectives can be implemented using a whole language approach during a 1-week cultural unit. The intent of the curriculum design was that children learn language naturally when it is in a meaningful context. Implications for success in using a whole-language approach are discussed.

In Review, Edward J. Dwyer

ETSU Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

An Alternative View Of Education For Deaf Children: Part Ii, Lil Brannon, Sue Livingston

Publications and Research

How might deaf children acquire one of the primary goals of education literacy in English? This article suggests that literacy in English as well as knowledge of the English language can be acquired concomitantly through developmental reading and writing activities that reflect principles of first language acquisition if students bring to these activities relatable experiences which they have already linguistically represented. Such activities engage students in reading and writing where content and context support them in their attempts to actively understand and convey meaning in English. The end product of, rather than the prerequisite for, this meaningful reading and writing …

An Alternative View Of Education For Deaf Children: Part I, Sue Livingston

Publications and Research

Quigley and Kretschmer (1982) asserted that the primary goal of education for deaf children should be literacy in English. This article presents an alternative view that there be two primary goals: (a) thinking and learning through the development of meaning-making and meaning-sharing capacities and (b) the acquisition of literacy in English. In this article, the first of these goals is viewed as the more fundamental since it facilitates the acquisition of knowledge while it simultaneously serves as the prerequisite for the acquisition of literacy in English. Because neither direct language instruction nor the exclusive use of English in sign will …

Silent Reading Before Oral Reading On The Iri: Implication For Diagnosis And Instruction, Catherine P. Benedetti

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of silent pre-reading on the number of oral reading errors a student makes on an IRI. Twenty children read passages silently and then orally read passages without pre-reading. The results supported the null hypothesis that there would be no statistically significant difference on oral reading performances for disabled second and fourth graders. Implications for diagnosis and instruction are discussed.

The Effects Of Language Processing Strategies Upon Reading Comprehension, Kathy Ann Kirby

Masters Theses

In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed providing educational services for children with exceptionalities. Learning disabilities was one of those exceptionalities whose definition used a language disorder as its major criteria for the identification and classification of a specific learning disabilities. The inclusion of language disorders within its definition brought about greater interest in language and the understanding of language development, acquisition and processing and how these aspects related with academic learning, particularly with reading.

The purpose of this study was to address the issue of language processing strategies in the remediating of language deficits and …

Nova University Graduate Education Module (Gem) Program Overview August 1984, Nova University

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice College Archive

No abstract provided.

A Curriculum Guide Based On Developmental Stages Of Kindergarten And First Grade Writing, Heidi E. Borrud

All Graduate Projects

The relationship between the developmental stages of a child and the acquisition of written language was studied. Through research, developmental stages were identified. The stages were used to develop objectives for a kindergarten and first grade writing curriculum guide. Activities that would aid in the achievement of the given objectives are suggested.

Remedial Spelling Book For Secondary Students, Rheta Faye Buoy

All Graduate Projects

A remedial spelling book for secondary students was developed for use in the Chapter I Jemedial Reading Class at Toppenish Middle School. This spelling book was designed to meet the needs and interests of secondary students who perform at the second and third grade level. The spelling book incorporates phonics, creative writing, reading and dictionary skills.