Educational Methods Commons^™

Literature Strands For The Enhancement Of Language In The Early Childhood Classroom, Wendy Sue White

All Graduate Projects

Literature and activities which support and enhance language learning in the early childhood classroom were examined. Seventy-six pieces of literature were selected along with thirty-two supporting activities. These were all described and matched for easy reference by the classroom teacher. A discussion of the importance of literature for the early childhood classroom, particularly that in which Engli~h is taught as a second language, has been included.

The Effects Of Vocabulary Instructional Methods On Vocabulary Retention, Janet S. Robertson

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to determine which of three instructional methods for teaching vocabulary (teacherpresented, student-presented, and no direct presentation) commonly used by English teachers was most effective in affecting student achievement. Sixty-two eleventh grade students in a selected county in Georgia served as subjects for the study. Pretest and posttest vocabulary scores were analyzed, and a simple analysis of variance was computed to determine the mean and standard deviation for each of the three groups. The Scheffe Test was then computed to obtain an F-ratio comparison among the groups. The analyses supported neither of the original hypotheses which assumed a …

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.

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.

Improving Content Area Reading In A Middle School Core Classroom, Richard Têtu

All Graduate Projects

Many middle school students cannot adequately use content area textbooks. This project begins with a review of the research literature related to this concern. The literature review is followed by a content area reading program designed for an eighth grade core classroom. The program is composed of sequential directions and worksheets to teach diverse content area reading techniques. The relative values of different techniques are discussed, and suggestions for future studies are offered.

Cinema As Literature: A Semester Course In Language Arts, Greg Westbrook

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to prepare "Cinema as Literature," a curriculum guide for an elective course in high school English for the Muscogee County School System, to be implemented in school year 1992-93. The proposed elective course will utilize cinema material for the application of literary techniques and modes of criticism for a fuller understanding of the relationship between movies and printed matter as mediums of literary and artistic expression.

The project has produced this curriculum guide through a review of relevant current resources, and in cooperation with the local county school authorities, with the eventual aim of …

The Effects Of The Use Of A Color Code In Graphic Presentation And Assessment On The Reader's Immediate Recall And Delayed Retention, Peggy Ann Posekany Pruisner

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The study investigated the effects of the use of a color code in graphic presentation and assessment of verbal material on the reader's immediate recall and delayed retention. Nine seventh-grade classes, containing a total of 132 students, were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: (a) color-coded graphic presentation with a color-coded graphic assessment, (b) color-coded graphic presentation with a black/white graphic assessment, (c) black-white graphic presentation with a color-coded graphic assessment, and (d) black/white graphic presentation with a black/white graphic assessment. The research design was a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial; the independent variables were the graphic …

The Effect Of Content Schemata On Efl Reading Comprehension Of Textually Explicit Information, Safinaz And El Rahim El Antably

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Handbook For Teaching Journal Writing, Kindergarten Through Third Grade, Linda Rae Donofrio

All Graduate Projects

This masters project provided a teachers' manual for use by teachers who want to establish a journal writing program. It was intended for teachers of grades kindergarten through third grade. In addition to the teachers' manual, this project also provided an overview of the literature of journal writing as part of a language arts program. Examples of students' journal entries were also included. The manual itself was prepared for use in a suburban, middle class school district and it contains a step-by-step approach to establishing a journal program.

A Controlled Composition-Based Exercise Program To Teach Error Remediation In Writing In The High School Regular Freshman English Classroom, Sarah E. Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

For this project, a controlled composition-based exercise program was developed for use in the high school freshman English writing classroom. This non-error-based method utilized a four-stage design -- attention grabber exercises, rewriting exercises, proofreading practice and test exercises, and writing assignments -- to teach error remediation through writing. After the students were exposed to correctness in stage one, they were asked to make transformations, to practice proofreading, and finally to demonstrate knowledge of correct usage in both testing and writing modes.

Included in the program are two diagnostic tools, a student checklist, an introductory sentence section, and sections to address …

Collaborative Reading At Home To Assist Children With Reading Difficulties, Criste R. Goldy

All Master's Theses

The effects of a collaborative home reading program on children with reading difficulties was studied. Students selected for the study were currently enrolled in special programs for reading and/or English as a second language. Students who participated in the Reading-At-Home program made substantial and immediate gains in reading skills, although greatest gains were made by younger students (five to eight years old). Participant reactions were also discussed.

Reading Comprehension Learning Center, Pamela Joy Krocker

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was the development of a reading comprehension learning center that reinforces comprehension skills at the literal, inferential, and evaluative levels, and which also provides practice with basic and sight vocabulary. The contents of this project included a review of the literature related to the topic, a description of objectives on which the cards were based, a description of the materials and methods used to construct the project, and an explanation of how to utilize the project in a primary classroom. Examples of the project including color photographs of the parts of the project that were …

A Model Literature Curriculum Guide For The Secondary Learning Disabled Student, Peggy G. White

Theses and Dissertations

This Literature Curriculum Guide has been prepared for Learning Disabled Students enrolled in special English classes at Hardaway High School in Columbus, Georgia. It was motivated by the observation that curricular materials for secondary Learning Disabled pupils were limited to content in grammar and other aspects of written language. Literature as content for these pupils had been completely overlooked.

Secondary English instruction, when using grammar only as content, is restricted to productive aspects of English. This restriction would necessarily deprive the Learning Disabled pupil of experiences with the heritage of literature shared and enjoyed by their peers. And, Learning Disabled …

The Use Of Oral Communications Courses In High School To Increase Skills In Language Arts, Sylvia C. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to see if there is any difference between the reading and English test scores (TASK= Stanford Test of Academic Skills) between those high schoo1 students who take oral communications courses and those who do not take such courses.

This study used a sample of 40 students enrolled in oral communications courses from three randomly selected high schools. The comparison sample included 40 randomly selected students enrolled in Phase II English courses at the same schools.

The Stanford Test of Academic Skills served as both a pretest and a posttest for scores for all of …

Computer Assisted Instruction As Reinforcement To Initial Reading Instruction, Deborah Lemke

All Graduate Projects

Computer drill and practice reading programs were developed to supplement basal instruction in first grade. The project was created to provide drill and practice on basal vocabulary and promote sight word acquisition. Five program types were developed. The programs were sequential in level of difficulty. Students were required to complete a sentence from which a word had been omitted. Responses varied from choosing from two given vocabulary words, choosing from familiar and unfamiliar rhyming words, and completing the spelling of a word.

A Survey Of Technical Writing Education In Kentucky Colleges, Edward Applegate

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

An applied project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Education Specialist at Morehead State University by Edward Applegate on May 5, 1981.

A Participation Approach To Be Used With Disabled Readers At The Secondary Level, Shirley Kinsel

All Graduate Projects

The project resulted in the development of participation based reading selections and their accompanying teaching suggestions to be used with disabled secondary readers. The complete materials stressed hands-on applications and product-producing activities. The reading selections were written for several levels of reading difficulty. They incorporated the teaching of literary skills, study skills, and functional-living skills and provided practice in following directions. The approach produced materials meant to be a specific fit for disabled secondary readers who prefer to learn by doing.

The Effects Of Language Variables On The Reading Comprehension Of Hearing-Impaired Children, Nancy L. Robbins

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Hearing-impaired children rarely learn to read well. They suffer no apparent deficit in perceptual skill or basic intelligence. Their difficulty appears to be linguistic in origin. But research on the reading ability of the deaf is inadequate to specify the precise nature of their linguistic disability.

The deaf lack knowledge of English phonology. Current reading instruction programs for them a.re based on the assumption that this is the cause of their reading problems. Recent research indicates, however, that phoneme-grapheme correspondences contribute little to the reading process and that phonics instruction may actually impede learning to read. It is unlikely that …

A Study Of Student Learning Objectives In Selected School Districts, Jeffrey P. Beaudry

All Graduate Projects

With the impending implementation of the Student Learning Objectives (SLO) Law, it seemed useful to examine and compare the objectives and programs actually developed by three school districts--University Place School District No. 83, Tacoma School District No. 10, and Sumner School District No. 320.

A Training Program For Use With Aides And Volunteers In A Middle School Remedial Reading And Language Arts Program, Jeanette Johnson

All Graduate Projects

This project consists of three parts. Chapter 1 establishes the need for more concentrated teaching of poor readers among school children and suggests volunteer tutors as a possible source of help. Chapter 2 examines the history of tutoring by non-professionals and concludes that volunteers can indeed be effective tutors, but that appropriate training is a crucial factor. Chapter 3, the main part of the project, presents a set of ten training modules each consisting of taped instructions and accompanying printed material. The script for each tape is included in this paper.

Reading Strategies For Content Teachers, Constance Dallman Luna

All Graduate Projects

This project, designed for content teachers wishing to improve their students' reading skills, includes lesson plans, procedures, and materials for learning modules in the following content field reading problem areas: readability, vocabulary, diagnosis, questioning, using the textbook, organizing for instruction, and notetaking and listening. The key recommendation was that the project be seen as an evolving process and not as an end product.

The Cloze Procedure As A Testing And Teaching Device, Suzanne Gibbs

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

An Approach To The Teaching Of Handwriting, Patricia J. Belter

All Master's Theses

Present systems for teaching handwriting are based largely on custom or preference of previous systems utilized (Templin, 1960). Groff (1960) mailed questionnaires to seventy-two large city school systems and found that decisions on handwriting programs are based on tradition and not on research findings.

Nineteen different handwriting systems supply about ninety-five percent of the instructional materials in use today in the United States. Many of these systems have not been changed in the last fifty years (Mullins, Turner & Saltzman, 1972).

A Diagnostic Procedure To Measure The Student's Ability To Use The Index Of A Textbook, William L. Miller

All Master's Theses

This thesis involved the construction of a 37-item true/false diagnostic test which measures the ability to use an index of a textbook. Sixteen separate indexing skills were identified and sequenced. The reading level of the test is third grade; however, it may be used through the high school level. The test was administered to 28 fifth grade students and statistically analyzed.

Recommendations include additional testing and refinement of test items and the construction of a larger sample index.

Assessment Of Sort-Teach-Test-Sort Technique With Bilinguals Learning English Vocabulary, Janaye Lucille Matteson

Masters Theses

No abstract provided by author.

The Effect Of Project Read On The Reading Achievement Scores Of First Graders In Selected Schools, Kim Richardson Gates

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

Personalized Reading Program For Intermediate Grades, Pamela Kay Kelly

All Graduate Projects

As the reading specialist in an elementary school, it was my responsibility to assist the classroom teachers with their reading program; specifically, with those students who were having difficulty. It was not feasible for me to meet with all who needed help; at the most, I could help forty-three students per week. The pace at which I had to function to assess and meet their individual needs became too great. In view of this situation, the following program was designed to stimulate every intermediate student's desire to read and to do so at his own pace.

Effects Of A Contingency Management Program On Reading Rate And Spread Of Effect With Primary Mildly Intellectually Disabled Children, Leo Carl Beck

All Master's Theses

This paper presents a study dealing with increasing reading rate, with primary, language delayed youngsters. The program was designed to see if rate could be increased with contingent (CRF) as opposed to differential (DRO) reinforcement with no drop in selected variables (comprehension, vocabulary, articulation and auditory discrimination). Reinforcement consisted of tokens paired with social praise. Rate did increase for the duration of the study and the selected variables remained essentially constant.

Recommendations include replication of the study with precise administration of schedules.

A Follow-Up Study On Reading Ability Of Junior High School Remedial Reading Students, Jerry Borgens

All Master's Theses

This paper presents the follow-up study of a remedial reading program for junior high school students. The purpose of the program was to improve the reading ability of these students using the "Modification of Reading Behavior" program. Using pre-test and post-test results, it was found that the majority of the students in the program made significant improvement in reading ability.

The follow-up study indicated that the gains made in reading ability in the original program were maintained approximately one year after termination of the program.

A Comparison Of A Rate Acceleration Reading Program With Basal Reading Program On Reading Achievement In Second Grade, Carol O'Connell

All Master's Theses

This paper compares two reading systems by the experimental method--the Basal Reading Program and the Rate Acceleration Reading Program at the grade two level in a quasi-experimental design to determine if there was any significant difference in the end results of pupil achievement. Results, observations, and implications of the study are discussed.