http://issuu.com/isabellarose/docs/research-based_reading_strategy
Publishing Leadership Project
Develop and Implement a Strategy to Assist Struggling Readers
to Comprehend the Main Idea in a Reading Selection: A
Synthesis of the Research
Patricia Marcino
Full Sail University
One of the problems facing struggling readers is that the students do not have adequate background knowledge, which hinders them from grasping the main idea of the text they are reading. In essence, when students read stories about things in respect for which they lack knowledge, they will not be able to grasp the main idea, unless they have some background information on the main theme of the story. Although there are abundant resources available on the problems relating to struggling readers, there has not been enough past research conducted focusing on the reading ability of students of Title 1 schools and their grasp of the main idea. There are studies concentrating on the problems of students with disabilities and learning disabilities, and those specifically targeting low socioeconomic students and reading comprehension.
Reading comprehension is a multifaceted process ranging from simple recall of sight words to mastery of plays and the ability to analyze text implications. Factors such as IQ,
home environment, instructional methods, motivation and brain synthesis all play a role in
comprehension.
FCAT Statistics
According to research utilizing a five-year study of the Florida Comprehension Assessment Test (FCAT), students in grades 3-5 from the Title 1 population typically score less on the Main Idea section of the test. The average attainment is 57%, which is well below the acceptable passing percentage of 65% which when correlated to a grade, would be a “D.” Over the five-year period, third graders’ average attainment was 53%, fourth grade 56%, and fifth grade was 56%. In order to change this trend, students must be exposed to a strategy that will aid them in understanding the main idea.
The following chart depicts the FCAT Reading Comprehension attainment for the school in which this study was conducted.
FCAT Reading Summary- Patterson Elementary School
Reading Ability and Text Comprehension
Kinder and Bursuck (1991) report that many textbooks are poorly written, thereby
not clarifying the relationship between concepts, ideas and sentences. They fail to use precise language or text structure to relate content to main idea.
Dickson, Simmons and Kameenui (2009) also note that academic texts often are not well written or constructed and that textbooks, in particular, do not necessarily follow the conventions for a well-presented text. For example, the main idea of a paragraph may be stated late in the paragraph or be missing all together. Dickson et al. (1995a, 1995b) note that, in this case, students will likely need to invent a main idea if necessary. Further, students need to experience teacher modeling, explicit teaching, and practice in order to successfully identify the structures and features of increasingly complex texts in the different content areas.
According to Rothman (2003), the nature of the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and student achievement has been debated for decades. Rothman (2003) cites the works of Coleman (1966) and Jencks, et al. (1973) for many influential arguments in this connection pertaining to the context of United States of America. There are other studies conducted in the Australian setting, which focus on the influence of socioeconomic status on student achievement (Commission of Inquiry into Poverty, 1976; Karmel, 1973). Rothman (2003) argues that there are no clear evidences to prove the influence of SES on student achievement, as there are a number of theoretical frameworks developed to explain the relationship. The views of Rothman (2003) are more in alignment with the proposed theories of the current research, which postulates the low socioeconomic students are lacking in an academic home environment. Additionally, their neighborhood environment has a profound effect on these students’ academic achievements.
The research by Rothman (2003) covered the period from 1980 to 2003 to assess the influence of SES on student performance in Australia. Studies were conducted on the reading abilities of students by removing them from low socioeconomic influences and placing in middle to high middle class environments. Determination of the influence of SES on the academic development and achievement of the students shifted to a new economic environment was the central focus of the study. Lower test scores were recorded and reported for low socioeconomic class students than for middle and upper middle class students. The study also found that parental occupation and environment had a definite impact on students’ academic achievements.
Importance of Background Knowledge
Burns, Roe & Smith (2001) state the product of the reading act is the communication of thoughts and emotions by the writer to the reader, resulting in the reader’s own understanding of ideas that the writer has put into print. Communication results from the reader’s construction of meaning through integrating his or her prior knowledge with the information presented in text.
Research on enriching background knowledge has demonstrated that activating such knowledge increases comprehension. Graves and his associates (1980,1983) developed previews for short stories that had as one component the building of prior knowledge important to understanding the selection. Data indicated that reading the previews before reading the stories increased the students’ learning from stories by a significant and impressive amount. Stevens (1982) conducted a study to determine whether or not direct teaching of background knowledge on the topic of instruction would benefit students when reading passages on that topic. The research was conducted with tenth grade high school boys wherein the boys were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, pre-reading instruction related to the reading topic, and non-relevant instruction on another topic. The author concluded that instruction prior to reading on text-related information improves student reading comprehension. Alvarez (1990) used case-based instruction to develop students’ abilities to assemble and incorporate different knowledge sources in memory. He taught them how to employ thematic organizers and hierarchical concept mapping in their reading.
Lipson (1982) examined twenty-eight third graders, half considered below average and the other half considered average in reading based on standardized achievement tests scores. An intervention, in which types of explicit versus inferential information, was tested to evaluate student acquisition of new information. The reported findings include: (a) prior knowledge was a great factor in reading comprehension for both groups, (b) acquiring new information was higher than correcting old inaccurate information, and (c) all readers resorted to using text to find information, only if prior knowledge was weak.
Teaching students from low socioeconomic background with poorly written textbooks will only lead to the creation of more struggling readers. Richard Vacca, states, “Being a good reader is crucial to today’s adolescents, who will need to read and write more than adults have at any other time in human history” (page 51). One of the objectives of NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act is to help those students, who are struggling readers. However, there are many avenues to be pursued in this direction. Nell K Duke is of the view that a picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to comprehension. Gardner (1999) states that about 35% of the population are visual learners.
Title 1 Struggling Readers
Following in depth research, Title 1 students participated in a 6-month study to determine the effectiveness of a strategy, which would help them to understand the main idea. Given that the majority of Title 1 students have little to no experience in schema theory, which is relating text–to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world, a strategy was developed that would assist students in making connections which is necessary for reading comprehension.
Prior to the application of the strategy, the students were tested on reading comprehension with data collected from three independent formal testing formats, surveys, a series of questions after reading passages and story retelling. These scores were analyzed and the data recorded as follows:
Of the 22 students tested, 7 students scored 75% or higher in the area of main idea in a compilation of the
data.
Implementation of the Strategy-Cycle 1
At the beginning of Cycle One of the strategy, students were introduced to the idea of creating an avatar of him or herself or an imaginary character. The avatars were plain wooden dolls. After deciding on a character, the students painted the avatars.
Painting the avatars proved to be a little more undertaking than was previously thought. Several of the students did not know how to properly dip the brush or mix the paints. Additionally, some students changed their minds two to three times before deciding on a character. Many were not familiar with more than one or
two fairy tales.
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Students were encouraged to play with the avatars, becoming totally engrossed in the characterization of the avatar.
Next, students were instructed to write a story with their avatar as the main character. Meanwhile, they were to play with the avatar each time they wrote a passage. The idea being
if the student could write about something he/she was familiar with; the student could create background knowledge, which is formidable in reading comprehension.
Making connections is a great informal assessment strategy that is generally used by teachers to help students make connections as they are reading; however, if students have little to no background knowledge to make connections to, then a different strategy must be put in place to assist students in establishing a relationship from themselves to text content.
The only assistance students received, as far as their story creation, was general conventions editing.
Following the initial edit, the students revised and edited their stories according to the rubric.
At the end of Cycle 1, all students were again tested with three formative tests, running records that had been kept since October as well as weekly comprehension tests.
After compilation of the data, of the 22 students participating, 11 students scored 75% or
higher in the area of main idea with a score of 85% or higher on their own story.
Second phase-Cycle Two
Cycle Two proved to be a very interesting undertaking as well. Even though many of the students had been exposed to computers by way of testing, gaming and research for library topics, they had not been instructed in the art of movie making. This phase was truly a literacy transformation. Not only did the students script their stories for a movie, they narrated the movie, selected music and animation. It was a great learning experience for all of them. The joy expressed in the students’ faces was a sight to behold. These struggling readers had not only written a story but also produced a movie from their stories and recorded a DVD, which was shared with friends and family.
Results of the Study
Not only was this a successful strategy to assist these struggling readers to understand the main idea, but it was also a confidence booster. Students had mastered a technique to bridge the gap from being a struggling reader to proficiently reading and comprehending text.
Students were able to establish a knowledge base, from which to make a connection to a story and understand the main idea. Additionally, students saw their story come to life by way of creating a digital story.
At the end of Cycle Two, Post- testing was administered under the same premise as at the beginning of the project. Results were outstanding.
Post compilation of identical instrumentation produced 18 out of 22 students scored 75% or higher in reading comprehension; main idea. The data yielded 100% on main idea when tested on the stories the students had written.
Based on formative data from three sources, summative data which was on-going weekly and a compilation of academic grades, overall there has been an average of an 18% increase in students understanding main idea from an unfamiliar reading selection. If the students’ self-created story for background knowledge is considered, then the rate is even higher at a 43% increase!
Conclusion:
The data speaks for itself. It has been conclusively proven that a strategy, which allows students to create stories they can relate to by forming their own background knowledge effectively, impacts understanding of the main idea in unfamiliar stories for which they have no background knowledge. The students were able to analyze the main character’s involvement in the reading selections and or ascertain what facts were being presented that describe the main idea; thereby, substantiating what research has revealed; background knowledge is essential to understanding the main idea.
References
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Bay District Schools: AYP data charts
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