Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Reading comprehension
- Creators: Atkinson, Robert
Description
This quantitative, quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of three types of online guided-practice activities designed to increase learning of visual art concepts, the color concepts of hue, tint, shade, value, and neutral colors in particular, among fifth grade students in a large school district in the southwestern United States. The study's results indicated that, when students were given a limited amount of time to engage in practice activities, there was no statistically significant difference among the three types of guided practice and the control group. What was effective, however, was the instructional component of this study's instruments.
ContributorsDelahunt, Michael (Author) / Erickson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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
Since the early 1990's, researchers have been looking at intersections between education and music. After a highly popular study correlating listening to Mozart to temporary increases in spatial reasoning, many other researchers tried to find a link between different musical genres and learning outcomes. Using three musical treatments (Pop, classical, silence), this study had subjects (N=34) complete a reading-based task whereupon they were tested on their comprehension. Using a suite of sensors, data was collected to analyze the participants' emotions and affect while they read from an educational psychology textbook. The present study has two major focuses: They detail whether (1) changes in musical condition affect learning outcomes and (2) whether changes in musical condition affect emotional outcomes. The popular conception that listening to classical music makes you smarter was proven false long ago, but there may actually be some merit to using music to assist one in studying. While there were no significant changes in test scores depending on musical condition; frustration levels were significantly lower for those who listened to classical instead of pop music.
ContributorsPaley, Benjamin Henry (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis director) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This study was designed to test a new method of instruction for Japanese language students' re-acquisition of the Japanese relative clause structure. 10 Japanese language students who had already been exposed to the Japanese relative clause in their previous semester were asked to take a pretest that assessed their (a) knowledge of basic grammar concepts such as a "subject" and "predicate," (b) their ability to apply those basic grammar concepts to the Japanese language, and (c) their grasp of the rules applying to the formation of the Japanese relative clause. Students were then placed into a control group containing 6 students and an experimental group containing four students. The experimental group received additional lessons consisting of explicit instruction of basic grammar in both Japanese and English, as well as basic noun relativization rules in each language. The study found that the explicit instruction helped student comprehension of the relative clause structure, although some difficulties remain in identifying the relative clause and in constructing it on their own.
ContributorsHinojosa, Katie Crystine (Author) / Tomoko, Shimomura (Thesis director) / Ghanem, Carla (Committee member) / Chambers, Anthony (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2013-05