Education Commons^™

Let’S /R//Ē//D/: Using Decodable Texts With Beginning Readers, Rosa Pangari-Schneller

Essays in Education

The use of decodable texts can support beginning readers in building a strong foundation for reading, especially when reinforcing skills taught in phonemic awareness and phonics programs. Decodable texts have a home within the science of reading, which can be used to motivate and inspire children. The purpose of this essay is to share my experiences implementing decodable texts in small groups to support beginning readers. I will discuss teacher use and implementation of decodable texts to support student application of grapheme-phoneme relationships and the strategies used to improve not only student learning, but their love for reading.

Unpacking The Science Of Reading Research, Greta Rollo, Kellie Picker

Literacy and numeracy

The science of reading (SoR) is a term used for a body of evidence encompassing multi-disciplinary research from education, cognitive psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience. This evidence points to six key constructs that contribute to proficient reading: oral language, phonological awareness including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Research around these constructs provides researchers and teachers with an evidence base of the knowledge, skills and strategies involved in competent reading and describes how reading develops in both typical and atypical readers. This paper synthesises evidence reviews conducted by ACER researchers that unpack the science of reading. The aim of …

An Exploration Of Literacy Instruction In Higher Education Programs In Missouri, Melinda Odom

Dissertations

Literacy supports all content areas and is crucial to the academic achievement of all students (Birdyshaw et al., 2017). The International Literacy Association (ILA, 2017) posits that teachers are the most crucial factor in content and pedagogical achievement. The ILA (2019) stresses that students have a right to a highly effective and knowledgeable educator who can provide evidence-based reading instruction. Research illustrates that students who do not learn to read by the third grade continue to struggle throughout school (Rickenbrode & Walsh, 2013). Rickenbrode and Walsh (2013) confirm that most of these students will remain poor readers and are more …

Effective Writing Supports For Multilingual Learners, Stephanie Englar

Graduate Teacher Education

This paper offers practical insights into how early elementary classroom teachers can effectively support and engage multilingual learners (MLL) throughout the writing process. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2012) documents that many MLL students consistently struggle to develop reading and writing fluency skills at the same rate as their Native English-speaking (NES) peers. The studies selected for this review focused on MLL students from prekindergarten through third grade and how classroom teachers can utilize supports they already have in place, such as working in buddy pairs or teaching phonemic awareness (PA), while utilizing new strategies like …

School Improvement Plan: Enhancing Foundational Skills Instruction, Alexis Weber

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Research indicates that phonological awareness ranks among the most crucial abilities and predictors of future success in reading. Additionally, studies have highlighted the correlation between phonemic awareness and reading proficiency, as well as the deficiency in both pre-service and in-service teachers' understanding of fundamental language constructs. In response to these findings, a school improvement plan has been devised, incorporating a supplementary phonemic awareness program aimed at enhancing students' knowledge and skills in this area. Moreover, the plan entails bolstering teacher expertise through tailored training sessions and further professional development opportunities tailored to address specific needs. This initiative will contribute valuable …

Alternative Education Center Teachers' Experiences With Identifying Dyslexia Characteristics In Students: A Phenomenology, Natasha P. Peoples

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study explore the experiences of 10 participants teaching at a North Texas alternative education center, focusing on identifying dyslexia characteristics. The research is grounded in self-efficacy theory and phonological deficit theory, which both contribute to understanding lifelong effects of reading difficulties, particularly dyslexia. Self-efficacy theory emphasizes task-specific beliefs, while phonological deficit theory underscores the importance of accurate letter sound representation for a strong alphabetic foundation. Employing a phenomenological approach, the study gathers participants' perceptions, employing a triangulation method for data collection through interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis. Data analysis followed Moustakas' modification of the Van Kaam method to …

Understanding The Virginia Literacy Act, Candace Bechtold, Kimberly Bridges, David Naff, Joan A. Rhodes, Valerie Robnolt, Tara Davison, Suzanne Alexandre, Michael Crusco, Karli Johansen, Amber Butler, Allison Yandle, Jennifer Askue-Collins, Jean Samuel, Sharrie Merritte, Regina Frazier

MERC Publications

This research and policy brief from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) offers an overview of the Virginia Literacy Act. It is structured to explore the following questions: 1) What are the recent trends in reading achievement in Virginia? 2) What are the policy implications of the VLA for Virginia school divisions? 3) What does the research say about Science of Reading (SoR)? 4) What core instructional programs are approved to meet the VLA? It concludes with a series of key takeaways and recommendations.

Click here to listen to our podcast episode on the Virginia Literacy Act and click here …

A Causal-Comparative Study Of The Flipped Classroom: A Blended Learning Approach To Improving Phonemic Awareness For Kindergarten English Language Learners, Karen Wilson Twitty

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of using the flipped classroom model of instruction to increase English language learners’ phonemic awareness compared to English language learners who received instruction using the business-as-usual approach. This quantitative perspective used a causal-comparative approach to measure achievement in developing phonemic awareness for students at risk due to lack of exposure to English language phonemes. The study involved 167 participants who underwent a pre-test to address any initial group differences. One group received flipped model instruction with curriculum-based video lessons, while the other received traditional in-class expository instruction without access to …

Teaching Phonics Mastery Through The Use Of Differentiated And Instructional Strategies, Ashley Honeyman

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This capstone reports the effectiveness of using differentiated instructional and assessment strategies to improve student understanding in phonics mastery. Based on pretest data that analyzed understanding of short u consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, phonics instruction was implemented to meet the needs of students in whole-group and small-group settings. This unit consisted of five whole-group lessons over short u blending and segmentation. In addition to the whole group learning, specific students were pulled for small-group intervention. The unit concluded with a post-assessment that tested student understanding on real and nonsense CVC words; these assessments were implemented to assess if the integration of …

Improving Reading Skills For Early Elementary Students, Kayla Bucheit

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Research findings have indicated areas for improvement in early literacy programs in schools, and schools have been slow to respond, leaving students and teachers unsupported in the methods and knowledge needed for students to become fluent readers. Past studies have pointed to the need for teachers to have content knowledge of explicit instructional practices that focus on phonological and phonemic awareness. When students can manipulate sounds and letters, they are better able to decode and segment words, resulting in reading fluency. Using research findings, this school improvement plan was created to outline how to transition to explicit instructional methods while …

Effective Teaching Practices For Phonemic Awareness And Phonics In Small Group Reading Instruction, Caitlin Sullivan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Sullivan, C. (2023) Effective teaching practices for phonemic awareness and phonics in small group reading instruction. This paper is the documentation of an educational coach’s journey to find the most effective small group instructional practices for teaching phonemic awareness and phonics to kindergarten and first grade students. The need to share this research led to the development of four professional development sessions for effective instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction specifically created for teachers of kindergarten and first grade students. The Capstone project began by answering the question, How do kindergarten-first grade teachers use best practices in phonemic awareness …

Implementing Successful Foundational Reading Intervention: Resources For Upper Elementary Teachers, Colleen Myers

Culminating Experience Projects

Research shows that being able to read fluently is linked to other academic success and socioemotional outcomes such as having increased empathy. However, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that approximately one-third of fourth graders are reading at a level that is considered below basic. Upper elementary teachers are in a unique position, as the students they are currently teaching likely had their foundational reading instruction interrupted due to the covid-19 pandemic. This means that upper elementary teachers are having to set up reading interventions that focus on foundational skills. Often, these teachers are not provided with the …

Major Components Needed In A Literacy Curriculum To Promote Student Success, Brooke Smith

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This school improvement plan focuses on what components are beneficial in a literacy curriculum to promote success in students' reading skills and improve FAST Test scores. Research has found phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, writing, and science of reading concepts should be included in a literacy curriculum to be effective. These components will help find a new literacy curriculum for a school district. In all success, an effective literacy curriculum will be found with creating a system to look through to find an effective literacy curriculum, piloting, and analyzing data. The objective in the end is to discover a …

A Program Evaluation Of Prekindergarten Program In One School District, Alicia Eubank

Dissertations

I explored the potential impact of position and salary change on prekindergarten teachers in a public-school district in a southern state. I provided an educational, economic, political and moral/ethical analysis in partial support of this change for the district.

The current policy in the district is that the school year prekindergarten teaching positions are considered non-instructional. However, the summer prekindergarten program teachers are certified teachers as per state requirements. The new policy will make all prekindergarten teaching positions require state certification. This change would give them the financial pay and benefits included with the position change and keep them in …

Increasing Phonemic Awareness In Intellectually Impaired Students By Using Wilson’S Fundations Phonics Program In A Self-Contained Classroom, Theresa Lynne Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to investigate if students who have been identified intellectually disabled are able to gain phonemic awareness by using Wilson’s Fundations in a self-contained setting. Most research has focused on students who are not identified as intellectually disabled. In this mixed method action research study, the students were given a first grade reading fluency test and a first grade word reading test for six weeks as the quantitative data. Both instruments were tested using a two-tail t-test, week one’s results were compared to week six’s results on both tests. All five the participants showed growth over the six …

Multisensory Phonics Instruction In Struggling Readers, Amanda M. Dixon

Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a problem of practice that arose from a lack of consistent, systematic phonics instruction within a small rural school with a large percentage of students not mastering skills in a way that builds the needed foundation for reading. To address this problem, action research was conducted through a mixed methods approach to determine the impact of multisensory Orton-Gillingham based reading instruction on a small population of students’ phonetic development and how this specific type of instruction affected their attitudes about reading. In an attempt to collect quantitative data, this study was guided by two research questions: How …

The Impact Of Supplemental Phonemic Awareness Lessons On Phonological Awareness And Spelling Development Among Kindergarten And First Graders, Crystal Olinger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Reading is a developmental process that builds on complex cognitive processes and starts long before children enter school. This present study investigated the impact of supplemental phonemic awareness lessons on phonological awareness and spelling development among kindergarten and first graders. The Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP-2) measured phonological awareness. The Kindergarten Inventory of Developmental Spelling (KIDS) measured spelling development in kindergarten students. The Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) measured spelling development in first grade. Participants in the treatment group received 16 weeks of weekly word study instruction and 10-15 minute daily phonemic awareness instruction. A mixed design full factorial ANOVA …

Perceptions Of Preservice And Mentor Teachers Of Gaining Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Phonics And Phonemic Awareness, Penelope Maureen Montfort

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has shown that, although phonics and phonemic awareness predict reading success, a majority of early learners still lack these skills. Research also showed that a majority of preservice teachers (PSTs) in early childhood education teacher (ECTE) may not have gained adequate pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in phonics and phonemic awareness during their mentored practicums. This may have contributed to kindergarten students’ poor performance in phonics and phonemic awareness on the national literacy assessments between 2015 and 2018 in one education district in Guyana. These students are not prepared for reading success. Using a basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews were …

Developing Teacher Knowledge Of The Science Of Reading: Phonemic Awareness & Phonics, Megan Erin Dziedzic

Culminating Experience Projects

In 2000 the National Reading Panel addressed the low reading proficiency of students in the United States with a report detailing the result of many meta-analysis studies regarding five key areas of literacy: literacy, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (Report of the National Reading Panel, 2000). Through compiling research regarding literacy teaching practices, the panel concluded that to improve literacy scores, we need to focus on research-based, systematic, and explicit instruction, especially in the foundational years of lower elementary (Report of the National Reading Panel, 2000). The science of reading is a broad heading that incorporates neuroscience research …

Phonemic Awareness: An Important Piece Of The Reading Puzzle, Brandi Booker

LC Journal of Special Education

The purpose of this paper is to provide research findings on phonemic awareness. The major topics to be discussed are assessment, strategies, and effectiveness. This paper will conclude with a discussion on the major topics and its importance for special education.

Effects Of Phonemic Awareness And Oral Reading Fluency, Melissa Vetsch-Larson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Teaching students to read is a task that teachers are assigned to every school year. Many theories and theorists have given their take on the best way to teach students to read. Phonemic awareness has been in the forefront of reading instruction and currently is becoming a staple in many classrooms. This research study took a look at the correlation between phonemic awareness growth and oral reading fluency growth in a first-grade classroom working with mid-level students in a small group setting. The researcher used Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites (PRESS) phonemic intervention and curriculum-based measurement (CBM) for …

Improving The Implementation Of The Science Of Reading In Primary Classrooms, Molly Lout

Graduate Teacher Education

Becoming a proficient reader is critical if one wants to have a successful future. Unfortunately, students in the United States continue to fall well-below basic reading levels. Although a plethora of research on the science of reading exists, many educators have not implemented science-based instructional practices in primary classrooms. A total of 17 peer-reviewed articles were synthesized to show teacher education programs, phonological awareness, decoding skills, and specific interventions played a critical role in students’ acquisition of reading skills. The analysis discovered the science of reading has not been implemented adequately in primary classrooms or teacher education programs. However, the …

What Effect Does Phonemic Awareness Have On Young Readers?, Alexis Te Brink

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

A School Improvement Plan is an excellent roadmap that consecutively lays down particular interventions that a school will implement. The plan strengthens shared governance by offering an opportunity where the district collaboratively identifies interventions and plans to address priority areas that require improvements. Students who have difficulty learning are subjected to the reading and repetition hypothesis. However, certain approaches and techniques see learners devise ways of embedding context in their guessing worlds, skipping the words they are not familiar with and memorizing phrases and terms. Therefore, teaching phonemic awareness to young children in their early years dispels later challenges related …

Evidence-Based Reading Interventions For Middle And High School Teachers, Brittany Evans, Beverly Hart, Mashonda Surratt

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

Welcome to Evidence-Based Reading Practices. This module is designed to help middle and high school teachers intervene with struggling readers in their regular education classrooms. This module will take you approximately three hours to complete. During that time, you will learn what to do when students are missing the necessary foundational skills to become skilled readers.

View professional learning module.

Investigating The Role Of Phonological Awareness In The Training Of Phonetic Transcription With Slp Students, Jennifer Kay Binkley

Dissertations and Theses

A dissertation study was developed and completed to further explore the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and phonetic transcription skills in undergraduate speech-language pathology students. A review of the literature provides gaps in knowledge which the proposal seeks to address. Based upon this literature review, the researcher compared PA skills of undergraduate students of various majors, to determine if there was a change in PA by taking a traditional phonetics course, and to explore phonetic transcription outcomes as the result of direct PA intervention with undergraduate SLP students. Quantitative analysis was used to answer three research questions, which were organized …

The Effect Of Direct Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Instruction And Small Group Literacy Interventions On Kindergarten Students’ Reading Growth, Brianna Elizabeth Wierschke

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study focuses on the impact of the implementation of Heggerty Phonemic Awareness and Literacy Footprints guided reading system curriculum in a kindergarten classroom. Adding these interventions are to determine if a focus on phonemic awareness skills is essential for students to learn when beginning to learn how to read. Students were tested at the beginning of the school year for a base score, then tracked at every month, and then a final benchmarking in December. The study took place in a North Dakota elementary school, 23 kindergarten students was monitored for data purposes. The data and results demonstrate a …

Preliteracy Development Of Sound Blending: Teaching Consonant Vowel Consonant Words Through Differentiated Instructional Strategies, Grace Guenther

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This capstone project reports the interventions, progress, and results of five elementary students who were identified as ‘at-risk’ for preliteracy reading skill acquisition. The capstone discusses differentiated instructional strategies and the rotation of intervention strategies utilized to increase the preliteracy skills of the students. The capstone discusses the interventions implemented across four weeks between the collection of baseline and final data. This research finds that students at-risk for acquiring preliteracy skills can increase their preliteracy skills through differentiated instructional strategies.

Phonemic Awareness And Phonics As An Integral Field To Early Emergent Reading Programs, Lea Kunkel

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The act of learning to read is one which is unnatural to the human brain, causing exponential stress for young learners, students acquiring a new language, or learning disabled. To alleviate the nidus which acquiring the ability to decipher literature may impose, continual research in learning to read has taken place. Research which has aimed to discover the best kept secrets, programs and strategies for helping early to emergent readers succeed. Within the literature review, the benefit of implementing phonemic awareness and phonics into early to emergent reading programs will be discovered. Including, how phonemic awareness and phonics arose in …

Effective Phonemic Awareness Instruction For Increased Reading Achievement, Thomas Bulman

Graduate Teacher Education

Reading fluently and for meaning is an essential skill that has allowed students to function effectively in society. Throughout the years, the reading achievement gap has continued to widen and linger across the United States. The low rates of literacy represent a national crisis, especially for low-income Americans. Research shows that strong phonemic awareness instruction and early intervention in the primary grades are key to closing the reading achievement gap. This paper explores the reasons behind the reading achievement gap and what differentiated instructional strategies early educators can employ to support students in the acquisition of skills such as phonemic …

Effects Of Play-Based Learning On Phonemic Awareness And Phonics Skills, Kristen Heidecker

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of play-based learning on phonemic awareness and phonics skills in kindergarten. This study aimed to determine whether or not play-based learning materials such as letter tiles, cards, timers, and literacy-based games were an effective way for kindergarten students to acquire skills such as segmenting, letter sounds, and sight word recognition. A pre-assessment was given using FastBridge to determine which skills the students were working towards mastering. Play-based learning materials were then offered to small groups of students during our regular literacy time, and data was collected using FastBridge after two …