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- Creators: Arizona State University
- Creators: Peter, Beate
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
The current study analyzed existing data, collected under a previous U.S. Department of Education Reading First grant, to investigate the strength of the relationship between scores on the first- through third-grade Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills - Oral Reading Fluency (DIBELS-ORF) test and scores on a reading comprehension test (TerraNova-Reading) administered at the conclusion of second- and third-grade. Participants were sixty-five English Language Learners (ELLs) learning to read in a school district adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border. DIBELS-ORF and TerraNova-Reading scores were provided by the school district, which administers the assessments in accordance with state and federal mandates to monitor early literacy skill development. Bivariate correlation results indicate moderate-to-strong positive correlations between DIBELS-ORF scores and TerraNova-Reading performance that strengthened between grades one and three. Results suggest that the concurrent relationship between oral reading fluency scores and performance on standardized and high-stakes measures of reading comprehension may be different among ELLs as compared to non-ELLs during first- and second-grade. However, by third-grade the correlations approximate those reported in previous non-ELL studies. This study also examined whether the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), a receptive vocabulary measure, could explain any additional variance on second- and third-grade TerraNova-Reading performance beyond that explained by the DIBELS-ORF. The PPVT was individually administered by researchers collecting data under a Reading First research grant prior to the current study. Receptive vocabulary was found to be a strong predictor of reading comprehension among ELLs, and largely overshadowed the predictive ability of the DIBELS-ORF during first-grade. Results suggest that receptive vocabulary scores, used in conjunction with the DIBELS-ORF, may be useful for identifying beginning ELL readers who are at risk for third-grade reading failure as early as first-grade.
ContributorsMillett, Joseph Ridge (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Blanchard, Jay (Committee member) / Thompson, Marilyn (Committee member) / Christie, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Perceptual learning by means of coherent motion training paradigms has been shown to produce plasticity in lower and higher-level visual systems within the human occipital lobe both supra- and subliminally. However, efficiency of training methods that produce consolidation in the visual system via coherent motion has yet to be experimentally determined. Furthermore, the effects of coherent motion training on reading comprehension, in clinical and normal populations, are still nascent. In the present study, 20 participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Two conditions had a participation requirement of four days while two conditions required eight days of participation. These conditions were further divided into 500 or 1000 trials per day (4 x 500, 4 x 1000, 8 x 500, 8 x 1000). Additional pre-test and post-test days were used to attain timed pre- and post-tests on the Wide Range Achievement Test IV (WRAT IV) reading comprehension battery. Furthermore, a critical flicker fusion threshold (CFFT) score was taken on a macular pigment densitometer on the pre-test and post-test day. Participants showed significant improvement in CFFT levels, WRAT IV reading comprehension, and speed of completion between pre-test and post-test; however, degree of improvement did not vary as a function of training condition. An interaction between training condition and degree of improvement was evident in coherent dot motion contrast scores, with significant training plasticity occurring in the 4 x 1000 and 8 x 500 conditions.
ContributorsGroth, Anthony (Author) / Náñez, José E. (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Risko, Evan F. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Individuals engaged in perceptual tasks often use their bodies to lighten the cognitive load, that is, they replace internal (mental) processing with external (body-based) processing. The present investigation explores how the body is used in the task of reading rotated text. The experimental design allowed the participants to exhibit spontaneous behavior and choose what strategies to use in order to efficiently complete the task. The results demonstrate that the use of external strategies can benefit performance by offloading internal processing.
ContributorsMedimorec, Srdan (Author) / Schweitzer, Nicholas J. (Thesis advisor) / Risko, Evan F. (Committee member) / Newman, Matt L. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The federal No Child Left Behind Act has set the goal that all students in every state shall be proficient in reading by 2014. Arizona teachers face the challenge of having 100 percent of their students meeting or exceeding grade level reading standards assessed by Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). One of my goals as a reading teacher is to widen the range of options my students will have. My goal every year is to have my students read at or above grade level. I also am committed to inspiring students to become motivated to love literacy because voluntary lifelong reading is important in peoples' lives. The purpose of this study was to investigate conducting brief, interactive, weekly reading conferences during daily Scaffolded Self-Selected Reading (ScS-SR) sessions while incorporating Transactional Strategy Instruction with a pair-share with a partner, and to see if it would improve my students' reading motivation and comprehension. Data were collected via the Motivation to Read Profile Survey and Interview, informal observations, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Oral Reading Fluency Test (DIBELS: ORF), and Oral Reading Records used by my school district. Findings concluded that students tended to become more willing readers, with several of them explicitly attributing their newfound willingness to read to my efforts. Most students became somewhat more aware of their reading experiences, explaining how different types of books in ScS-SR affected them. All students' reading comprehension performance improved, with measureable increases in students' instructional reading levels, retellings, and meaningful miscues that students attributed to leveled books, strategy instruction, and retellings.
ContributorsLehman, Melanie (Author) / Moore, David W. (Thesis advisor) / Moore, Sharon A. (Committee member) / Cheatham, Gregory (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In the study of the human brain’s ability to multitask, there are two perspectives: concurrent multitasking (performing multiple tasks simultaneously) and sequential multitasking (switching between tasks). The goal of this study is to investigate the human brain’s ability to “multitask” with multiple demanding stimuli of approximately equal concentration, from an electrophysiological perspective different than that of stimuli which don’t require full attention or exhibit impulsive multitasking responses. This study investigates the P3 component which has been experimentally proven to be associated with mental workload through information processing and cognitive function in visual and auditory tasks, where in the multitasking domain the greater attention elicited, the larger P3 waves are produced. This experiment compares the amplitude of the P3 component of individual stimulus presentation to that of multitasking trials, taking note of the brain workload. This study questions if the average wave amplitude in a multitasking ERP experiment will be the same as the grand average when performing the two tasks individually with respect to the P3 component. The hypothesis is that the P3 amplitude will be smaller in the multitasking trial than in the individual stimulus presentation, indicating that the brain is not actually concentrating on both tasks at once (sequential multitasking instead of concurrent) and that the brain is not focusing on each stimulus to the same degree when it was presented individually. Twenty undergraduate students at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University (10 males and 10 females, with a mean age of 18.75 years, SD= 1.517) right handed, with normal or corrected visual acuity, English as first language, and no evidence of neurological compromise participated in the study. The experiment results revealed that one- hundred percent of participants undergo sequential multitasking in the presence of two demanding stimuli in the electrophysiological data, behavioral data, and subjective data. In this particular study, these findings indicate that the presence of additional demanding stimuli causes the workload of the brain to decrease as attention deviates in a bottleneck process to the multiple requisitions for focus, indicated by a reduced P3 voltage amplitude with the multitasking stimuli when compared to the independent. This study illustrates the feasible replication of P3 cognitive workload results for demanding stimuli, not only impulsive-response experiments, to suggest the brain’s tendency to undergo sequential multitasking when faced with multiple demanding stimuli. In brief, this study demonstrates that when higher cognitive processing is required to interpret and respond to the stimuli, the human brain results to sequential multitasking (task- switching, not concurrent multitasking) in the face of more challenging problems with each stimulus requiring a higher level of focus, workload, and attention.
ContributorsNeill, Ryan (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Peter, Beate (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Simulation theory states that text comprehension is achieved by simulating (or imagining) text content using motor, perceptual, and emotional systems. Hence, motor skill should correlate with comprehension skill. In fact, previous research has linked fine motor skills (FMS) with word processing and mathematical skills. I predicted a positive relationship between FMS and reading comprehension. Children enrolled in a reading comprehension intervention were assessed on FMS using the Movement ABC-2. There was a significant correlation between FMS and comprehension of narrative texts, but contrary to the prediction, the correlation was negative. Also unexpected, the control condition performed better on comprehension questions than the intervention conditions. To try to understand these results, we examined the time each child took to answer the comprehension questions. Many children answered the questions quickly, and average time to answer the questions was strongly correlated with comprehension scores. Children may have been answering questions quickly (and randomly) in order to advance to the next story. Nonetheless, the data do not support a relationship between FMS and reading comprehension.
ContributorsWeiss, Julia (Author) / Glenberg, Arthur (Thesis director) / Gomez Franco, Ligia (Committee member) / Peter, Beate (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
With social technology on the rise, it is no surprise that young students are at the forefront of its use and impact, particularly in the realm of education. Due to greater accessibility to technology, media multitasking and task-switching are becoming increasingly prominent in learning environments. While technology can have numerous benefits, current literature, though somewhat limited in this scope, overwhelmingly shows it can also be detrimental for academic performance and learning when used improperly. While much of the existing literature regarding the impact of technology on multitasking and task-switching in learning environments is limited to self-report data, it presents important findings and potential applications for modernizing educational institutions in the wake of technological dependence. This literature review summarizes and analyzes the studies in this area to date in an effort to provide a better understanding of the impact of social technology on student learning. Future areas of research and potential strategies to adapt to rising technological dependency are also discussed, such as using a brief "technology break" between periods of study. As of yet, the majority of findings in this research area suggest the following: multitasking while studying lengthens the time required for completion; multitasking during lectures can affect memory encoding and comprehension; excessive multitasking and academic performance are negatively correlated; metacognitive strategies for studying have potential for reducing the harmful effects of multitasking; and the most likely reason students engage in media-multitasking at the cost of learning is the immediate emotional gratification. Further research is still needed to fill in gaps in literature, as well as develop other potential perspectives relevant to multitasking in academic environments.
ContributorsKhanna, Sanjana (Author) / Roberts, Nicole (Thesis director) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The focal educational problem of practice in this dissertation is how one special education teacher mediated reading comprehension with a diverse group of students, including English learners (EL) with learning disabilities (LD). I selected this problem of practice because of the documented difficulty and complexity of effective teaching to provide integrated EL and LD support. There is a lack of reading comprehension research that centers on the interactive processes between teachers and students who are EL with LD (ELsWLD) and students with LD in small group contexts and intermediate grades. To answer the research questions, I used observational research methods. I examined one teacher’s practices with 5th-grade ELsWLD and LD students in reading small-group instruction in an elementary school in a major city in the southwestern region of the United States. Data analysis procedures included systematic analysis of video-based recordings and instructional transcripts to map student and teacher participation. The analysis centered on teacher mediation of student learning and how the teacher’s talk varied with students. Findings: (1) The teacher mediated reading comprehension through instructional routines for comprehension strategy and vocabulary instruction using independent reading and guided reading of text. (2) Student practice opportunities included integrative, elaborative, and metacognitive processes when reading for connections to text, questioning the text, prediction, and imaging. (3) Throughout, the teacher maintained an authoritative stance and a position as an expert through the overuse of questions for all students, and the question density (number, frequency) which limited student practice opportunities. (4) The teacher’s talk with students varied concerning with whom she used Accountable and Assertive Talk and produced uneven engagement as the teacher primarily used Dialogic Questions for students she viewed as stronger readers.
This research has potential implications for scholars and practitioners as it raises questions requiring teachers and researchers to consider the questions used in small-group comprehension discussions, how teachers ask questions, and the density of questions. Other implications include methods to map teacher talk and the use of a critical dis/ability literacy teaching stance.
ContributorsSalinas, Sarah M (Author) / Artiles, Alfredo J. (Thesis advisor) / Dorn, Sherman J. (Thesis advisor) / O’Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Ferrell, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The current study explores the extent to which literacy game performance can be used to assess reading comprehension skill and vocabulary knowledge. Standardized reading assessments have the benefit of years of validation across different age groups and reading comprehension levels, allowing teachers to evaluate students’ reading performance and relate it to a national standard. However, these assessments reduce classroom time for learning activities, which may be more authentic indicators of student progress. Students’ reading skills can be measured during learning activities by using game-based stealth assessment of literacy. Game-based assessment may be more enjoyable and less likely to invoke test anxiety than traditional assessments, but enjoyment may also impact the validity of the assessment. The current study recruited participants (n=405) to play five literacy games: CON-Artist, Paraphrase Quest, Fix It, Map Conquest, and Vocab Flash. Students also completed the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT), which serves as a validated measure of reading comprehension skill and vocabulary knowledge. Students answered enjoyment questions after each game and the GMRT, and they completed the Cognitive Test Anxiety questionnaire, which measures trait-level negative thoughts about test-taking. The results indicate that Vocab Flash predicted 31% of variance in reading comprehension and 21% of variance in vocabulary knowledge. The other games were not predictive beyond Vocab Flash, but each of them was weakly correlated with reading comprehension skill and vocabulary knowledge. Three games were more enjoyable than GMRT Reading Comprehension, but no games were more enjoyable than GMRT Vocabulary. Cognitive Test Anxiety was negatively correlated with the GMRT and Vocab Flash, but not with the other games. Game enjoyment moderated the relationship between game performance and reading skill, albeit in differing directions. Paraphrase Quest was less predictive of reading comprehension for students who enjoyed the game, and Vocab Flash was more predictive of reading comprehension for those who enjoyed the game. The findings of this study suggest that a simple vocabulary game can be used to measure reading comprehension skill and vocabulary knowledge. Future research is needed to better understand how game-based assessments can be designed to minimize the effects of test anxiety and enjoyment on performance.
ContributorsChristhilf, Katerina (Author) / McNamara, Danielle S (Thesis advisor) / Roscoe, Rod (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The purpose of this single case design study was to examine the efficacy of a graphic organizer for improving the reading comprehension of middle school Spanish-English bilingual middle school students with learning disabilities. Students included two females and one male student. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, students were taught to create a funnel map graphic organizer for 10 descriptive text passages. Students’ performance was assessed on their ability to correctly create the funnel map (criterion variable) and to comprehend the expository passages during baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. Each participant learned to create an accurate funnel map for descriptive texts within four sessions. Reading comprehension scores began to increase within three intervention sessions for each participant. Results showed the positive effect of using the funnel map to improve reading comprehension of descriptive texts. Individual TAU effect sizes (.81 to .92) and overall TAU-U effect sizes (.86) and a Between Cases Standardized Mean Difference (BC-SMD) of 1.87 showed the intervention to be highly effective. Based on the effect sizes, the funnel map was effective for improving the reading comprehension of middle school Spanish-English bilingual students with learning disabilities.
ContributorsCalvin, Kristie (Author) / Gray, Shelley I (Thesis advisor) / Restrepo, Laida (Committee member) / Thompson, Marilyn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022