Browsing by Subject "Reading instruction"
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Item Effects of intervention on undergraduate pre-service teachers in literacy educationWilliams, Alma ElizabethItem Examining student experience, perceptions, and quality of reading instruction for secondary students with significant reading disabilities : a case study(2016-05) Walker, Melodee Anne; Vaughn, Sharon, 1952-; Barnes, Marcia; Powell, Sarah; Reddick, Richard; Swanson, ElizabethObservation studies afford an opportunity to examine the extent to which prevailing practices in reading instruction for older students with reading difficulties and disabilities align with research-based recommendations from practice guides (e.g., Kamil et al., 2008), reports (e.g., Carnegie Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy, 2010), and syntheses of research on interventions for older struggling readers, including students with learning disabilities (e.g., Edmonds et al., 2009; Faggella-Luby & Deshler, 2008; Scammacca, Roberts, Vaughn, & Stuebing, 2013; Swanson & Hoskyn, 1998). However, a recent systematic review of the literature from 2005 to 2014 revealed only four observation studies of reading instruction for students with learning disabilities (Walker & Stevens, 2016). Only one of the identified studies examined reading instruction for secondary students. This study had two central purposes: (1) observe and describe reading instruction for 6th grade students identified with significant reading disabilities, and (2) describe student perceptions and motivations related to reading and reading instruction. Eight teacher and ten student participants were observed across two school sites in English language arts (ELA), reading intervention, and social studies classes. Observational data were collected related to instructional events in reading, opportunities for text reading, instructional groupings, global instructional quality, student engagement, and classroom management. Interview and self-report data were collected from students with regard to reading perceptions and motivation. Teacher self-report data with regard to reading instruction facilitated the interpretation of the findings. Results indicated that student participants received instruction that was largely undifferentiated from their typically performing peers, with the exception of explicit, systematic instruction in word reading instruction and fluency practice. Connected text reading was predominantly in the form of grade-level trade books or standardized reading passages. Whole class instruction was the most prevalent grouping structure across class sizes ranging from 5 to 33. Vocabulary instruction was limited to 10% of all reading instruction, whereas comprehension instruction was 39% of all reading instruction. Comprehension instruction was primarily reading comprehension monitoring. Student self-report responses on a motivational survey were in strongest agreement on items related to students indicating motivation to read because of its utility, social responsibility, and social approval goals.Item Reading instruction in a high-stakes world: a comparative case study of three fifth-grade teachers(Texas Tech University, 2008-12) Willey-Rendon, Ruby; Watson, Patricia; Furgerson, Paige; Morgan-Fleming, Barbara; Price, Margaret A.Teachers in the United States are faced with the challenges of educating students to the best of their abilities while being held accountable for the test results that these students produce. Therefore, teachers are balancing their beliefs of how to teach reading and the demands of high-stakes testing in order to successfully educate their students as well as accommodate the needs of state high-stakes testing requirements. Previous studies of high-stakes testing and instruction have explored that high-stakes testing has an impact on instruction. While they have explored that high-stakes testing impacts instruction they have not focused on the why or how. The purpose of this qualitative, comparative, case study investigation was to better understand how three fifth grade reading/language arts teachers’ plan for instruction in a high-stakes testing situation. Participants in this case study included three fifth grade reading/language arts teachers. The twelve week data collection consisted of formal interviews, classroom observations, reflective journals, and lesson plans. The data was complied and placed into predetermined categories, open coded, and themes were identified. The findings of this study disclosed that teachers under large amounts of pressure due to high-stakes testing alter their instruction to prepare for the high-stakes test and teach in ways that contradict their educational philosophy. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed that high-stakes testing has a negative impact on teachers, students, and instruction.Item The effects of an inference instruction intervention on the inference generation and reading comprehension of struggling readers in grades 6 and 7(2016-08) Hall, Colby S.; Vaughn, Sharon, 1952-; Barnes, Marcia; Berets, Natasha; Church-Lang, Jessica; Toste, JessicaThere is ample evidence that inference generation skill directly contributes to reading comprehension, as well as evidence that struggling readers make fewer inferences than proficient readers. This experimental study examined the effectiveness of a small-group inference instruction intervention on the inference generation and reading comprehension of struggling readers in Grades 6 and 7. The sample comprised 78 students randomly assigned to a small-group inference instruction intervention condition (n = 39) or a business-as-usual comparison condition in which students received computer-delivered English language arts instruction via individualized learning software (n = 39). In the intervention condition, small groups of 3 to 6 students participated in 24, 40-minute sessions. Instruction focused on both text-connecting inferences (e.g., pronoun reference, inferring word meaning from context) and gap-filling inferences (i.e., inferences that require students to integrate their knowledge about the world with information in text). Treatment effects were estimated using multiple regression analyses. Results indicate that membership in the Making Inferences treatment condition statistically significantly predicted higher outcome score for the standardized measure of general reading comprehension skill, the GMRT Reading Comprehension subtest (d = 0.60), but not for any of the three measures of inference skill. Phonemic decoding at pretest was a statistically significant moderator of intervention effects on the GMRT-RC, with treatment effects increasing as students’ levels of phonemic decoding skill increased. The same pattern of effects was evident for the depth of vocabulary knowledge moderator variables, although interaction terms were not statistically significant, p < .05: as student depth of vocabulary knowledge at pretest increased, the effects of inference instruction on the GMRT-RC were greater. Overall, students’ perceptions of the Making Inferences instructional treatment were positive.