Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Reading (Elementary);

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the ability of elementary students to generate verbal reports during a reading task, and to determine whether differences in protocols produced exist between readers of differing ability and verbal activity.

The 20 experimental subjects were 5th and 6th grade students from one classroom in an Iowa school district. The subjects were classified as good and poor readers, and verbal and less verbal. Reading ability classifications were based on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Verbal activity classifications were based on teacher judgment.

The subjects were asked to read a passage and then to verbalize their thoughts as they attempted to understand it. Their responses were subsequently categorized as either cognitive or text-restricted.

The study found that elementary students can give verbal reports in response to a think-aloud request during a reading task, a significant difference exists in the number of responses given by good and poor readers, no significant difference exists between good and poor readers in number of text-restricted responses, a significant difference exists in the number of cognitive responses given by good and poor readers, and no significant difference exists in number of responses given by verbal and less verbal activity readers.

The results of the study indicated that good readers use and report strategies during reading processing differently than poor readers. The study has implications for intervention if readers' processing characteristics and use of strategies can be assessed and used in improving reading skills.

Year of Submission

1990

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Barry J. Wilson

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1990

Object Description

1 PDF file (58 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Share

COinS