Education Commons^™

Reading With Social, Digital Annotation: Encouraging Engaged Critical Reading In A Challenging Age, Miranda L. Egger

English Theses & Dissertations

This design-based research study examines the pedagogical role of social, digital annotation in teaching reading as rhetorical invention, particularly the kind of invention necessary for thoughtful democratic participation in the contemporary discursive era, often described as troubled. In this dissertation study, I deployed a classroom-based intervention meant to challenge how educators in rhetoric and composition/writing studies might directly address the acute and exigent discursive struggle in the first-year composition classroom. This study ultimately finds that social, digital annotation invites significant shifts in students’ reading habits, in that Hypothes.is-based annotations yielded a far more complex, multifaceted set of reading skills, behaviors, …

A Pilot Study On The Correlation Of Reading Improvement Using Colored Overlay Paper In Elementary Age Students With Reading Challenges, Tim Salyers

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

This study examined the use of colored overlay on reading abilities of students with reading deficits in the 5th grade at Lebanon Elementary School during the 2013-2014 school year. This study was guided by the previous research of which has shown that the use of colored overlay increases the reading abilities of students challenged by their reading deficits. The study was a quasi-experimental quantitative pilot research that compared the reading level before and after colored overlay paper was placed over reading passages in a sample size of six 5th grade students. These students were between nine and eleven years of …

Using Interactive Reading Techniques With Word World To Enhance Emergent Literacy, James B. Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations in Early Childhood Education

Facets of emergent literacy such as phonological awareness (PA) and alphabet knowledge (AK) are precursors to later conventional literacy (Dockrell, Stuart & King, 2010; Neuman & Dwyer, 2009; NELP, 2008). Interactive reading techniques such as dialogic reading (Whitehurst et al., 1988) and explicit print referencing (Piasta et al., 2012; Justice et al., 2010) have been used effectively with printed text to enhance emergent literacy. This quasi-experimental study was designed to determine the extent to which interactive reading techniques combined with the viewing of educational television may enhance facets of emergent literacy such as PA and AK. A convenience sample of …

The Impact Of Computer-Assisted Sight Word Instruction On The Reading Skills Of Students With Significant Intellectual Disabilities, Colleen Frances Wood-Fields

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

There is a paucity of research identifying instructional methods that promote the reading development of students with significant intellectual disabilities (ID). This research study employed a single subject, multiple baseline design to evaluate the effects of computer-assisted sight word instruction employing constant time delay (CTD) procedures with incidental phonics and comprehension stimuli on the reading skill development of six elementary students with moderate ID and expressive language impairments. Study results suggest that the seven week PowerPoint slide show sight word intervention had very small to moderate intervention effects on receptive sight word identification. However, students learned some incidental letter-sound correspondences …

Exploratory Study Of The Relationship Between State Fiscal Effort And Academic Achievement, Timothy A. Goodale

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Prior empirical research has taken many varying approaches to determine if differences in funding significantly impacts student academic achievement. However, much of these studies exhibit weak generalizability due to their limited scope, timeframe and dissimilar achievement measures. To expand upon the already robust literature in education finance this study measures interstate funding disparities via state fiscal effort and determines its impact on several measures of student academic achievement. To control for threats to external validity the research investigates the variables over ten years to determine if the relationships hold over time. Statistical measures employed within the research include bivariate correlation, …

The Impact Of The “Universal Voyager Literacy” Reading Program On Reading Achievement And Instructional Practices In An Urban School District, Shanika L. Hope

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Studies

Founded in 1994, Voyager Expanded Learning is a provider of K-3 in-school reading programs, as well as K-8 reading intervention programs for school districts throughout the United States. Voyager Universal Literacy's systematic, precise framework fully addresses the five elements of reading instruction, through an explicit succession of ability growth. Voyager Universal Literacy was developed to be a comprehensive program encompassing the subsequent requisites: in-school broad reading program, progress monitoring methods, extensive-day and summer activities, home learning syllabus, implementation monitoring, and on-going professional development. Voyager Universal Literacy Program activities are organized to provide a thorough range and progression for reading instruction. …

Diagnosing Reading Strategies: Paraphrase Recognition, Chutima Boonthum

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Paraphrase recognition is a form of natural language processing used in tutoring, question answering, and information retrieval systems. The context of the present work is an automated reading strategy trainer called iSTART (Interactive Strategy Trainer for Active Reading and Thinking). The ability to recognize the use of paraphrase—a complete, partial, or inaccurate paraphrase; with or without extra information—in the student's input is essential if the trainer is to give appropriate feedback. I analyzed the most common patterns of paraphrase and developed a means of representing the semantic structure of sentences. Paraphrases are recognized by transforming sentences into this representation and …

The Effectiveness Of Hands-On Activities Compared To Paper And Pencil Activities When Teaching Reading To First Through Fifth Grade Students, Nigel Daniels

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

To answer this problem the following hypothesis was established: There will be a difference in students' achievement levels in elementary reading when determining which is more effective teaching style, using hands-on activities to teach reading or using paper and pencil work to teach reading. The hands-on activity will be the more effective method and the students will prove this by increases in their progress levels.

Effects Of Technology Education On Middle School Language Arts (Reading) Achievement, Mark A. Bolt

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to compare eighth grade students at Rachel Carson Middle School who took eighth grade Technology Education and the effect it had on student achievement on the reading section of the Virginia English Standards of Learning test.

An Examination Of Relationships Of Reading And Writing Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Standardized Placement Test Scores, And Diverse Community College Students' Perceptions Of Those Relationships, Ann Woolford-Singh

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Social cognitive theory explains the role that one's level of confidence plays in the accomplishment of a specific task. According to Bandura (1982, 1995), self-efficacy beliefs should align with performance. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs and reading/writing standardized placement test scores of diverse community college freshmen. Additionally, this study sought to understand the sources of these students' reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs through the descriptions of experiences they feel have influenced those beliefs.

There were three major research questions: (1) What is the strength of the relationships among reading/writing self-efficacy beliefs and reading/writing …

Social Interaction And Reading Achievement Among Children In Poverty, Kendra M. Boykin

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference in the reading achievement of children in a Title I school between children with high social interaction and those with low social interaction after school.

A Study Of The Effectiveness Of Using Volunteer Tutors In A Corrective Reading Program, Jay R. White

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The following hypothesis was used to evaluate this study: 1. Students in the corrective reading program who engage in a volunteer tutoring approach to reading skill improvement will show greater reading skill improvement than those students only exposed to the academic classroom.

An Evaluation Of The Accelerated Reader Program In Grades 3–5 On Reading Vocabulary, Comprehension, And Attitude In An Urban Southeastern School District In Virginia, Carol Ann Howard

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to study recreational reading in third, fourth, and fifth grade urban students in a school district in Southeastern Virginia. The widely-used Accelerated Reader (AR) was the tool examined in the promotion of recreational reading. Recreational reading studies have been done on a broad economic spectrum (Advantage Learning Systems, 1997; Paul, 1996; Paul, VanderZee, Rue & Swanson, 1996). A gap in knowledge exists as to whether recreational reading programs, using AR, are effective with the urban elementary students. The major research questions determined if recreational reading, using Accelerated Reader, influenced reading vocabulary, comprehension, and attitude …

A Study To Determine The Reading Ability Of Electronics Technology Students, Franklin Wayne Pond

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The goals of this research study were as follows: 1. What is the average grade level of the students in electronics technology? 2. What is the average reading ability of electronics technology students? 3. What is the readability level of the approved textbooks for the courses?

A Study To Determine If Economically Disadvantaged Adults Improved Their Reading And Math Scores After Utilizing Plato, Robert Allan Teravainen

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the following questions: 1. Did the clients of the Learning center increase their scores in reading and math after completion of the PLATO program? 2. What percentage of students who completed the PLATO program were placed into either employment training program or directly into employment? 3. What percentage of students dropped out of the program after their start with the PLATO system? 4. Were the grade equivalencies (4.0 to 5.9) too narrow to allow maximum participation in the PLATO program by the clients of JTPA?

A Study Of Reading Ability And Other Characteristics Of High-Risk Community College Students In Introduction To Business, William W. Able

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

This study seeks to identify characteristics of high-risk students in an Introduction to Business course. Questions considered include 1)How important is reading ability to performance in the course as measured by the final grade and the textbook Cloze Test? 2) How prepare are students who take developmental reading compared to students are exempt from developmental reading for the course? 3) Are there common characteristics of non-successful students such as age, sex, program, work versus non-work, GPA, and reading ability as determined by the final grade for the course?