MEASURING THE READING ABILITY OF INCOMING FRESHMEN: A PATH ANALYSIS INVESTIGATION INTO READING COMPREHENSION

Reading is a complex process involving numerous skills and abilities contributing to acquiring meaning from text. Individuals without the requisite reading skills will have difficulty not only in school but throughout their lifetimes. The purpose of the study was to compare the reading ability of incoming college freshmen with that of adults with low literacy found in Mellard, Fall, and Woods (2010). Incoming college freshmen took tests on seven critical reading components: phonemic decoding, word recognition, vocabulary, WMS, reading fluency, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. The associations between the reading components were used to compare the path model derived by Mellard, Fall, and Woods (2010) using adults with low literacy and incoming college freshmen. Subsequently, the best fitting model for incoming college freshmen was found to determine the associations between the reading components for incoming college freshmen. The two groups significantly differed in the path estimates using the path model from Mellard, Fall, and Woods (2010). Adults with low literacy had stronger paths for the early developing reading components, because they typically have difficulty in these areas. Incoming college freshmen had a stronger vocabulary and reading comprehension path than did adults with low literacy. The best fitting model for incoming college freshmen suggested that word recognition does not make a strong contribution on reading fluency once paths between WMS and vocabulary with reading fluency were included in the model. Overall, incoming college freshmen are skilled on most of the critical reading components, especially the later developing ones like vocabulary and reading comprehension

The Reading Ability of College Students

Statement of the problem - The problem of this thesis is to make a study of the reading ability of college students. Three phases of the problem are considered: How well a group of unselected college freshmen can read. What factors affect the reading ability of college students. How reading ability affects scholastic achievement

Sectioning Freshman English on the Basis of Reading Test Scores

I. The purpose of this study is to give a report of the status of reading ability of the \u2743-\u2744 Freshmen at Prairie View College. A. To determine how the group stands in relation to the standardization population. II. To show how Freshmen English students were sectioned on the basis of the results of the Iowa Silent Reading Test. III. To measure the degree of progress made by the students. IV. To give an analysis of the grades awarded in Freshmen English and a comparison of these grades with the Psychological and Reading Test scores

Using College Reading Assignments to Improve Reading/Thinking Skills

The purpose of this study was to determine whether instruction in certain critical reading skills would improve the overall reading ability of college freshmen. The skills of recognizing assumptions, reasoning deductively, interpreting, drawing inferences, and evaluating arguments were the critical reading skills chosen for inclusion in this study. Besides the primary purpose cited, the procedures used in this study provided opportunities to investigate related questions

I don\u27t need to read, I\u27m gonna play football: Male Collegiate Athletes\u27 Perception of Reading

My research is comprised of data collected from surveys and interviews to gain a better understanding of how college athletes, especially those from low-income backgrounds, perceive their past experience with reading. I surveyed ninety-three freshmen male athletes. I then narrowed my research to focus specifically on male freshmen athletes from all sports and football players of all years, since football has the highest percentage of athletes from low-income backgrounds. I then interviewed six student athletes on the football team. I found that whether or not a student athlete is read to as a child, enjoyed reading as a child, and continued to read and perform well throughout high school affect how they perceive their ability to read at a college level. This is evident especially when looking at the difference between low income and non low-income student athletes, freshmen football players and non-football players, and low income and non low-income football players. The lower income students are read to less, enjoy reading less, perform worse in high school-- despite how much they read-- and in turn, are more likely to feel like they are not reading at a college level than their more affluent peers

Remedial Measures in Reading at the College Level

Reading ability is highly related to school success. College freshmen with inferior ability have a high scholastic mortality and those that do remain in school are hampered in gaining knowledge. Therefore, a remedial unit has been inaugurated at the University of Iowa to aid the lowest quarter in reading ability. A clinical method is used, each case being handled individually which allows each difficulty to be treated and makes for better rapport. A complete analysis is made of the student\u27s abilities and weaknesses and work is directed to remove these defects. Various methods of reading and their uses are also given. The comparison of preliminary and end tests shows gains in comprehension up to 60 percentiles while rate of reading has been doubled. Further, an analysis of the fortnightly delinquency reports shows only half as many receive delinquencies on the last report as on the first and only 40% as many delinquencies. It is to be concluded, then, that remedial training in reading is feasible at the college level

The Status Of Reading Ability Among Prairie View College Freshmen: An Exploratory Study

This is a part of the larger exploratory study of the status of reading at Prairie View State College and this part deals primarily with a selected group—. those who were enrolled in school the whole year. The other part of the study deals with sectioning of those groups that were not enrolled in school the entire year, that is they were enrolled in school the first or second semester. The entire group consisted of over 400 representatives from over 125 different high schools throughout the state of Texas. There were several representatives from out of the state

Predicting Academic Success of Entering Freshmen at an Urban University Through the Assessment of Oral and Written Language Competency

In Moores and Klas\u27 (1989) definitive study on college student retention, postsecondary administrators ranked the maintenance of student enrollment second in importance on a list of twenty critical issues facing higher education. Of particular relevance to college administrators has been the retention and graduation of African-American college students (D. B. Hawkins, 1994; Western Reserve, 1991). Researchers, in considering the overall problem of student attrition, particularly, among African-Americans, have explored such questions as these: Which students are dropping out (Sherman, Giles and Green, 1994; Robinson, 1992)? Why do they discontinue their studies (Austin, 1982; Bohr et al., 1995; Kraft, 1992; Tinto, 1975)? Why is the problem especially serious among African-American students (Ball, 1992; Carris, 1995; Miller, 1990)? Are the traditional prediction and placement measures failing to accurately identify those entering freshmen students with the potential to succeed and those who may require intervention to succeed (Bridgeman & Wendler, 1991; Cole, 1987; Wambach & Brothern, 1989)? If so, are there ways to improve on the process? Would using an alternative or supplementary measure more effectively predict which college students are likely to succeed and which students are likely to succeed in college with intervention? The majority of colleges utilize prediction measures such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), the American College Testing Program (ACT) and high school grade point average (HGPA); and, placement measures such as the Nelson Denny Reading Test, the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) test and writing essays to determine the potential for academic success among freshmen entrants (Lederman et al., 1986; N. V. Wood, 1989). An investigation of the effectiveness of using an alternative language-based measure (that assesses a freshman\u27s speaking, listening, reading and writing skills), the Test of Adolescent and Adult Language (TOAL-3), for predicting academic success and assuring a fairer evaluation process and greater precision in the identification and placement of entering freshmen was the focus of this proposed study. Interestingly, colleges have traditionally ignored a student\u27s level of communication competence (e.g., speaking, listening, reading and writing) in predicting academic achievement (Rubin & Graham, 1988). The academic performance of African-American freshmen constituted a sub-theme, suggested by the higher dropout rates found among this population (Minorities in Higher Education, 1994). This study found that there was no statistically significant difference in the ability of the TOAL-3, when compared to the SAT, DRP and WSPT, to predict first semester grade point average (FGPA) based on language competency, among entering freshmen students in general. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the TOAL-3 and the WSPT in identifying entering freshmen students as either Predicted Success (PS) or Potential Difficulty (PD). There was a statistically significant difference between the TOAL-3 and the SAT as a function of race and gender in identifying freshmen students as either Predicted Success (PS) or Potential Difficulty (PD). There was also a statistically significant difference between the TOAL-3 and the WSPT, in forecasting which freshmen students identified as Predicted Success (PS) would achieve the criterion variable as a function of gender. However, because of the small sample size, caution should be utilized in interpreting these findings

Investigation of Two Treatment Approaches for Improving College Students\u27 Comprehension of Science Text.

Many college freshmen are unable to read expository material at a level of proficiency necessary for understanding and integrating information from their textbooks. Providing intervention that addresses these deficits and results in rapid improvements is critical if these students are going to pass their current courses and remain in college. This study examined whether an instructional approach termed Communicative Reading Strategies (CRS) would result in improvement in the ability to comprehend expository text. CRS uses interactive strategies that teach students to comprehend a text as it is read. The CRS approach was compared to a skills approach that addressed similar skills taught individually. Subjects were 8 college freshmen reading at or below a 10th grade level and enrolled in an introductory biology course. Four subjects participated in an 8 week intervention program using CRS and four in the comparison condition. Pretest-posttest results of a standardized measure of reading comprehension, and weekly probes measuring literal and inferential comprehension of the biology text were used to compare gains. Results revealed that both groups improved following intervention for comprehension of inferential questions on the standardized measure. While group differences were not statistically different, qualitative differences were accrued to the CRS group, including higher gains, a college reading level at posttest, and better performance on literal comprehension. Analysis of weekly probes revealed reliably better performance for inferential questions for the CRS condition. Not only did the CRS group perform better for inferential questions, but the improvements occurred more rapidly. After the first week of intervention, the CRS group outperformed the skills group by over 2 points. Rapid improvements are important because by mid-semester a student may have already failed a course. While both instructional approaches result in gains, CRS has the advantages of achieving a college reading level and effecting these changes faster than the skills approach

“I don’t need to read, I’m gonna play football” Male Collegiate Athletes’ Perception of Reading

Abstract The Collegiate Athlete Perception of Reading: Male Student Athletes at The University of Mississippi (Under the Direction of Dr. Melissa Bass) My research is comprised of data collected from surveys and interviews to gain a better understanding of how college athletes, especially those from low-income backgrounds, perceive their past experience with reading. I surveyed ninety-three freshmen male athletes. I then narrowed my research to focus specifically on male freshmen athletes from all sports and football players of all years, since football has the highest percentage of athletes from low-income backgrounds. I then interviewed six student athletes on the football team. I found that whether or not a student athlete is read to as a child, enjoyed reading as a child, and continued to read and perform well throughout high school affect how they perceive their ability to read at a college level. This is evident especially when looking at the difference between low income and non low-income student athletes, freshmen football players and non-football players, and low income and non low-income football players. The lower income students are read to less, enjoy reading less, perform worse in high school-- despite how much they read-- and in turn, are more likely to feel like they are not reading at a college level than their more affluent peers