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Innovations And Critical Issues In Teaching And Learning, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2020

Innovations and Critical Issues in Teaching and Learning

Complete text of Innovations and Critical Issues In Teaching and Learning, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2020.

Teachers’ Use Of Standardized Assessments To Monitor Learning And Its Impact On Student Reading Achievement, Eilyn Sanabria

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reading instruction must be “intentional, systematic, and explicit” and “implemented by a knowledgeable teacher” (Ruetzel & Cooter, 2019, p. 87). The era of accountability has brought standardized assessments to the forefront of reading instruction. However, gaps about assessment-related and instructional practices and their impact on student achievement exist in the literature. The present study aims to provide needed insights on how these practices help or hinder, specifically, historically low-performing students.

Using student achievement and teacher survey data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten 2011 (ECLS-K), and through the lens of data use theory (Hutchins, 1995; Spillane, 2012), hierarchical multiple …

The Formative Assessment Process: Influence And Impact, Tawyne A. Gibson

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This action research study investigated how formative data use influences teaching and learning, and what impact the formative process has on student outcomes. The study took place in a first-grade classroom with a group of five students over the course of four weeks. Participants were selected for the study because they scored in the 2nd to 11th percentile rank on the FastBridge Early Reading English assessment. Quantitative data was collected weekly for each of the four weeks using FastBridge Word Segmenting progress monitoring and then compared to baseline data taken before the study. A one-way between subjects ANOVA test was …

How Should Context-Dependent Words Be Taught To Beginning Readers?, Abigail M. Turner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examined three different instructional methods for teaching beginners to read context-dependent words. Two types of context-dependent words were taught: irregular past tense verbs and function words. The words were embedded either in scrambled contexts or in meaningful sentence contexts. Three different instructional conditions to teach the words were compared. In the Meaningful Context condition, students studied the target words embedded in meaningful sentences. In the Scrambled condition, students studied target words placed in scrambled word sequences. In the Combination condition, students studied target words in both types of contexts that were alternated across learning trials. Participants were 53 …

Reading Conferences And Impact On Literacy Learning, Ashley Butenewicz Danter

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how student discussions during reading conferences impact literacy learning in the areas of student comprehension and motivation. Surveys, interviews, audio recorded discussions, and notes in a teacher research journal were all analyzed for emerging themes. The findings show that reading conferences have a positive impact on student literacy learning, specifically that there was an increase in reading comprehension and motivation. The data also revealed the major role that critical, multicultural texts have on reading comprehension and motivation for reading when coupled with reading conferences. Implications for future research are discussed.

Teaching Children To Decode Words: Connected Versus Segmented Phonation, Selenid M. Gonzalez-Frey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two methods of decoding instruction were compared. Kindergartners who could not decode nonwords participated in the study, N = 38, M = 5.6 years. Segmented phonation, frequently used in synthetic phonics programs, taught students to convert graphemes to phonemes by breaking the speech stream (“sss – aaa – nnn”) before blending. Connected phonation taught students to pronounce phonemes without breaking the speech stream (“sssaaannn”) before blending. Kindergartners were matched and randomly assigned to the two conditions. Both groups were taught to decode the same set of CVC nonwords consisting of continuant consonants and vowels that could be stretched and connected …

Idiom Comprehension In Adults With And Without Reading Comprehension Difficulties, Molly Brown

Honors College

Figurative language, also known as nonliteral language, is the use of words in a way that deviates from their intended or literal meaning. Idioms are a specific form of figurative language, where the words of the phrase are not reflective of the meaning of the idiom. For example, to tie the knot means to get married, which is different from the physical act of tying a knot in a string. A great deal of research has focused on idiom comprehension in children with reading difficulties, while few studies have examined this issue in adult struggling readers. Many of the skills …

Helping Students Choose A Reading Frame: Three Ways Of Teaching Jacqueline Woodson’S Harbor Me, Emily S. Meixner, Anne Peel

New Jersey English Journal

Choice and autonomy in ways of reading are just as important as choice and autonomy in what to read. Teaching students different frames for reading novels provides students with essential tools for making meaning of texts. This article explores three frames using the middle grade novel Harbor Me.

Story Squad: Connecting Books, Standards, And Literature Circles, Leslie Cowell

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Story Squad was developed after experiencing the use of Literature Circles in a fourth grade classroom. Students enjoyed the idea, but the jobs themselves and process were not engaging. Story Squad presents roles for connecting to literature after giving students “a mission” to solve. Roles expand past the traditional Literature Circle roles and directly connect to state standards. Can be used and adapted for 3-8^th grade.

Read, Write, Rhyme: Increasing Reading Performance With Hip-Hop Texts, Crystal Monique Lavoulle

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This presentation describes the Harlem Renaissance to Hip Hop Movement, a literacy program that uses best practices in literacy instruction to improve reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing. Moving beyond educational hip-hop songs and videos, this presentation offers insight into effective ways to increase Georgia Milestone Assessment scores in both English language arts and social studies using a variety of hip-hop texts.

Incarcerated Fathers’ Experiences In The Read To Your Child/Grandchild Program: Supporting Children’S Literacy, Learning, And Education, Esther Prins, Tabitha Stickel, Anna Kaiper-Marquez

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

In response to rising parental incarceration, some correctional facilities and outside organizations offer family literacy programs for parents in prison. However, research on these correctional education initiatives is scant. This paper uses qualitative data to analyze how 11 fathers in a rural Pennsylvania prison were involved in their children’s literacy, learning, and education before and during incarceration and through the Read to Your Child/Grandchild (RYCG) program. Before RYCG, most fathers had taken steps such as reading to children, teaching reading and math, attending parent-teacher conferences, helping with homework, and singing and rhyming—and then sought to continue supporting their children’s learning …

A Comparative Study Of The Effects Of Computer-Assisted Instruction On The Reading Achievement Of First Graders, Tracy Renae Hudson, Linda Reeves, Rebecca M. Giles, Lauren R. Brannan

Georgia Journal of Literacy

With reading proficiently by the end of third grade as a common goal, many school districts are exploring options to enhance early reading instruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the supplemental, computer-assisted reading program i-Ready would significantly affect first grade students’ reading achievement. Participants (n=159) were first graders at two elementary schools - treatment (n= 82) and comparison n= 77). An independent samples t-test was used to compare the mid-year reading achievement scores of the treatment and comparison groups and found no statistically significant differences between groups. Following 10 weeks of twice-weekly 45-minute sessions of …

Shifting The Teacher Mindset: What Counts As "Real Reading", Sarah E. Pennington

The Montana English Journal

In this article, the author shares how her epiphany about what texts she valued in her classroom pushed her to change how she defines what counts as "real reading" and how this shift in mindset allowed more of her students to view themselves as readers. As part of this process, the author began introducing more alternative text formats and digital texts into her classroom library and instruction, allowed students to bring in their own texts for independent reading, and provided space for students to read their peers' writing for pleasure during reading time.

Learning To Teach Reading Responsively Through Tutoring, Jodi Nickel, Scott Frederick Hughes

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article describes a community service learning collaboration between a teacher education program and a nonprofit literacy society. Seventeen teacher candidates (TCs) tutored young readers weekly for seven months as part of their course-related field experience and completed reflective assignments analyzing their own learning and the learning of their tutees. The study demonstrates how the tutoring experience enhanced the pedagogical competence of TCs (kid-watching, assessment, instruction, responsiveness, professional conversations, and affirmation of impact). These findings align with contemporary research in literacy teacher preparation, which identifies that the combination of coursework and tutoring is effective in promoting the integration of TC …

Do You Get The Picture?: A Meta-Analysis Of The Effect Of Graphics On Reading Comprehension, Daibao Guo, Shuai Zhang, Katherine Landau Wright, Erin M. Mctigue

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although convergent research demonstrates that well-designed graphics can facilitate readers’ understanding of text, there are select situations where graphics have been shown to have no effect on learners’ overall text comprehension. Therefore, the current meta-analytic study examined 39 experimental studies published between 1985 and 2018 measuring graphics’ effects on readers’ comprehension. We first quantified the overall effect on reading comprehension. Then, we considered interactions with learners’ characteristics, graphic types, and assessment formats. Our analysis revealed that the inclusion of graphics had a moderate overall positive effect (Hedges’s g = 0.39) on students’ reading comprehension, regardless of grade level. Regarding graphic …

Teaching A Broad Discipline: The Critical Role Of Text Based Learning To Building Disciplinary Literacy In Architectural Education, Jason Montgomery

Publications and Research

Architecture is a demanding discipline with multiple, complex concerns and identities shaping the profession. The discipline requires analysis of complex and multifaceted issues and synthesizing broad knowledge through a focused creative process. While twenty-first-century education may leverage many sources to educate students of architecture, texts remain the primary repository par excellence of the rich and diverse body of knowledge and ideas that continue to inspire and ground architects, theorists, historians, planners, and policy makers tied to the discipline. Perusing and engaging with the diverse body of architectural literature is a strong approach to support one’s learning to think, speak, and …

Scottish National Assessments: National Report For Academic Year 2018 To 2019, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Assessment and Reporting

No abstract provided.

Teacher Scaffolds During Word Solving In The Context Of The Interactive Strategies Approach-Extended (Isa-X) Intervention, Mary Elizabeth Arcidiacono

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Research has shown that reading intervention which incorporates word identification strategy instruction can help struggling students improve their reading ability (e.g., Gelzheiser, Scanlon, Vellutino et al., 2011; Scanlon, Gelzheiser, Vellutino et al., 2008; Vellutino, Scanlon, Small, et al., 2006). Since poor readers have benefited from interventions which include direct instruction of word identification strategies, my research focused on word identification strategy instruction; specifically, this study examined the types of scaffolds teachers provided to readers as they practiced being strategic word solvers while reading. This study compared the in-situ conversations between teachers using the Interactive Strategies Approach – Extended (ISA—X, Gelzheiser …

Effects Of The Helping Early Literacy With Practice Strategies (Helps) Program On Reading Fluency With English Language Learners, Heeyeon Chung

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the HELPS Program on the reading fluency skills of English Learners (ELs) using a multiple-baseline single case design methodology. Participants in this study included five ELs attending a public elementary school in northern New York State. Students were identified for participation through a review of available records indicating below-average reading fluency skills and/or teacher recommendations based on reading fluency performance in the classroom. Visual analysis and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) were used to evaluate Words Correct Per Minute (WCPM) scores from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills …