Browsing by Subject "Struggling readers"
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Item Listening comprehension and language as scaffolds for reading comprehension with secondary struggling readers(2015-05) McCulley, Elisabeth Vanessa; Vaughn, Sharon, 1952-; Bryant, Diane P.; Barnes, Marcia; Beretvas, Susan N.; Toste, Jessica R.; Cable, Amory L.This experimental study examined the effects of a reading intervention using listening comprehension and oral language as scaffolds to improve reading comprehension of middle school students with reading difficulties. The study included students in 6th-8th grade randomly assigned to a reading intervention treatment or a no treatment comparison condition. Treatment students received 45-minute sessions daily for a total of 33 sessions. Reading comprehension measures included the Woodcock Johnson Passage Comprehension subtest, State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness reading, and an unstandardized curriculum-based measure of summarization. Measures of inference-making included the Test of Language Competence Listening Comprehension: Making Inferences subtest and an unstandardized curriculum-based measure of inference skills. Language abilities were assessed using the Woodcock Johnston Oral Comprehension subtest, and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Formulated Sentences and Recalling Sentences subtests. An unstandardized vocabulary measure assessed student recall of vocabulary words. ANCOVAs were used to estimate the treatment effects for each dependent variable using pretest scores as a covariate. The Kauffman Brief Intelligence Test II Verbal Knowledge subtest served as covariate for the unstandardized vocabulary measure. Results yielded no statistically significant effects on reading comprehension, language, or inference measures. Effects, which were calculated with Cohen’s d, ranged from .00 to .78, with eight of nine measures favoring treatment. Findings from an unstandardized vocabulary measure indicated a statistically significant difference in favor of the treatment group. Results suggest that using oral language and listening comprehension to support reading practices of middle school students with reading comprehension difficulties may be a viable treatment for improving reading comprehension and improving content-specific vocabulary knowledge.Item Teacher change within a reading improvement model : a case study of a first grade teacher's changing reading instruction with struggling readers(2007-05) Simon, Erica Cecelia; Bryant, Diane PedrottyThis study examined a first grade, general education teacher's changing practices related to reading intervention for struggling readers as she worked with a group of university researchers to develop and implement a first grade reading instruction model. This study also investigated the following research questions: What changes in a first grade, general education teacher’s reading instructional practices occurred because of a year long university-teacher collaborative relationship in implementing evidence-based reading instruction for struggling students? What were the facilitators and barriers for implementing evidence-based reading practices for struggling readers? Analyses of classroom observations, teacher interviews, intervention validity checklists (IVC's), observations, support team meeting notes, research team meeting notes, field notes, and other forms of documentation provided a view into the process of change of one teacher.Item The differential effect of anxiety on reading achievement in upper elementary grade students with reading difficulty(2023-04-17) Fishstrom, Sarah; Vaughn, Sharon, 1952-; Clemens , Nathan; Doabler, Christian; Capin, Phil; Roberts, GregThis study addresses the relation between anxiety and reading achievement through an examination of two issues: (1) determining the relations among self-reported reading anxiety, general anxiety, and test anxiety measures in a sample of upper elementary grade students with reading difficulties, and (2) exploring whether reading anxiety, test anxiety, and general anxiety differentially predict reading achievement (overall and based on quantile scores) on word reading, fluency, and comprehension measures in a sample of struggling readers in the upper elementary grades (third, fourth, and fifth- grade students). Data were collected at one time point (pretest only) from three cohorts of students (n = 536) prior to implementation of the intervention. Ordinary least squares regression and unconditional quantile regression approaches were used in order to better understand the relation along a distribution of reading ability. Results showed that the three anxiety measures were positively and statistically significantly related to each other (ranging from .51 to .56, p < .001). Ordinary least squares regression estimates yielded a negative and statistically significant relation between reading anxiety and two of three timed measures of reading, but not on the untimed measures. Unconditional quantile regression estimates show an association between reading anxiety and reading achievement at higher quantiles. Hypothesized results reveal a stronger correlation between reading anxiety and reading achievement than between the other anxiety measures (general anxiety and test anxiety) and reading achievement. However, the hypothesis that the lowest quantile of students in reading ability would reveal the strongest prediction between reading anxiety and reading outcomes was not confirmed. The findings revealed that anxiety did not predict reading outcomes for students in the lowest quantile but did predict the relation for the upper quantiles. The results from this study may help to support future reading interventions efforts, by better understanding different subgroups of struggling readers where anxiety differentially predicts reading achievement outcomes.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.Item The role of set for variability in the relation between word reading and reading fluency(2023-04-17) O'Donnell, Katherine Elizabeth; Clemens, Nathan H.; Vaughn, Sharon; Doabler, Christian; Roberts, GregOral reading fluency, or the ability to read connected text with efficiency, is an indicator of overall reading competence (Fuchs et al., 2011). Reading fluency was initially described as the automatization of phonological decoding processes that enable a person to free up cognitive resources that can then be used to comprehend the text (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974); thus, the speed at which individual words are recognized as the primary skill underlying reading fluency (Torgesen & Hudson, 2006). However, despite the high correlation and predictive nature between these two concepts, research has not paid sufficient attention to the interactive nature of oral reading fluency and word reading (Torgesen & Hudson, 2006). Set for variability is defined as the ability to adjust a partial or approximate pronunciation of a written word to its correct oral pronunciation. Set for variability has been shown to predict the reading of irregular words (Tunmer & Chapman, 2012), decodable words (Elbro et al., 2012), and pseudowords (Steacy et al., 2019a). In addition, previous research has shown that set for variability accounts for more unique variance in a timed word reading measure (6%) than an untimed word reading measure (4%), which could indicate it is beneficial in increasing the efficiency in which a child can determine the correct pronunciation of an unknown word (Kearns et al., 2016). This study investigated the potential mediation relation between set for variability, word reading, and reading fluency. Data from forty-two struggling readers were collected at a single time point and used to create models to assess the potential mediation. In addition, secondary research questions assessed the best ways to measure set for variability in relation to reading fluency. Results showed that, though there was a significant correlation between set for variability and reading fluency, no significant mediation relation was observed for this sample of struggling readers. Discussion of some of the limitations of the current study and how it may have impacted the results are included along with implications for practice and future directions of research on set for variability.