Applied Cognition in Reading: An Analysis of Reading Comprehension in Secondary School Students

This research sought to add to a body of knowledge that is severely underrepresented in the scientific literature, reading comprehension in secondary students. Chapter 1 examines the current state of literacy in the nation’s public schools and the consequences that arise if students leave high school with inadequate reading skills. It discusses the neurological processes involved with reading and posits that independent silent reading (ISR) combined with scaffolding techniques may prove to be an effective method for addressing reading comprehension. The review also analyzes the components believed to be essential to reading, including vocabulary development, prior knowledge and background information, inferencing and prediction, and cognitive and metacognitive strategies. It argues that technological tools may have the potential to address these components within the framework of ISR. Chapter 2 details the experiment that tested these hypotheses. The study implemented an ISR program across a 5-month semester in a public high school and included 145 participants from nine 10th grade literature classes. The control group took part in no ISR, one treatment group participated in weekly ISR read from a textbook, and another treatment group participated in weekly ISR read from a computer module designed to address the components of reading comprehension. Students were measured on multiple achievement and motivational assessments. Results indicated that students from the ISR groups made greater gains than the control group in total reading ability, reading comprehension, end-of-course reading scores, and success/ability attribution, but no differences emerged on the vocabulary assessment. The computer module ISR group performed similarly in most respects to the textbook ISR group, but students in the computer module ISR group increased in their reading motivation and scored better on the individual reading assignments, suggesting the cognitive tools assisted them in understanding specific material at hand. This research offers much needed data on secondary students’ reading achievement and motivation, and provides evidence for one method, ISR, that has the potential to address development in these areas

Improving Secondary Students’ Reading Comprehension Through the Use of Advance Organizers.

This study examined an instructional method that combined scaffolding and Schema Theory to address the reading comprehension of 105 urban high school students. Participants in the treatment condition read a pair of advance organizers and were asked to paraphrase them in writing to stimulate durable memory representation prior to reading the main passages. Students were assessed on their comprehension of both a narrative and an essay to measure treatment effects across text genres. Low level readers were expected to show greater benefits. Both high and low level readers from the treatment group benefited from the advance information on both passages. The results suggest that comprehension may be readily addressed via schema activation through advance organizers paired with cognitive strategies designed to assist with the encoding of information into long term memory

An analysis of current evidence supporting two alternate learning models: Learning styles and dual coding.

This paper examines the research evidence behind two alternate and mutually exclusive learning models- learning styles and dual coding. The most common incarnation of each model is based on learning modalities, and each makes predictions about how learners process auditory and visual stimuli. Learning styles have found wide acceptance in public perception and throughout education at all levels, yet the majority of empirical research suggests that the model is not accurate and that learning styles instruction has no effect on student learning. Dual coding is more strongly supported by empirical research yet less well known and less commonly used in practice. The analysis examines evidence from a wide variety of sources, including experimental studies, correlational research, teacher-education texts, and neuroimaging studies. The findings reveal that dual coding is likely to be the more accurate model and that it offers more potential for both research and in practical application

Effects of Repeated Reading and Rhyming Poetry on Reading Fluency

Abstract: This study tested two instructional methods meant to improve elementary students’ automaticity, phonemic awareness, oral fluency, and reading comprehension. Twelve 1st grade students received either repeated reading or rhyming poetry instruction. A matched group design was used, and then a single subject analysis was employed to determine if either of the methods was associated with improvements in students’ reading achievement, oral reading fluency, and attitudes towards reading. Findings indicated that students who experienced the rhyming poetry intervention tended to show greater improvements in reading comprehension and oral reading fluency, while those exposed to repeated reading showed mixed results. Students from both conditions showed similar improvements in attitude toward reading, though those in the rhyming poetry group showed slightly more improvement in the area. Overall results suggest that both methods may be beneficial to students’ reading but that rhyming poetry instruction may have greater potential for students at this level. Keywords: Repeated Reading, Rhyming Poetry, Reading Fluency, Automaticity, Reading Comprehension, Phonemic Awarenes

Teacher Perceptions of the Common Core Performance Standards

The Common Core State Standards were implemented in the state of Georgia in the 2012/2013 school year replacing NCLB. Previous studies indicated that teachers and administrators viewed NCLB negatively, and the purpose of this study was to gauge teachers\u27 perceptions of the new standards after they had been in effect for one and a half years. Findings revealed that while teachers did see some improvements with CCGPS, such as preparing students for college and/or a job and increasing creative and critical thinking skills, they did not feel that CCGPS would improve student achievement or raise standardized test scores. Teacher morale was also not improved by the new standards, primarily due to the increased workload, and negative opinions of standardized testing remained firmly in place. Teachers indicated that while they did see some advances with CCGPS, they did not feel that it represented a significant improvement over NCLB

Effects of goal setting for motivation, self-efficacy, and performance in elementary mathematics.

Goal setting is utilized by adults regularly to foster success. It has also been shown to benefit academic achievement. This 8-week study sought to determine the effects of goal setting on motivation, self-efficacy, and math achievement in elementary students. The quasi-experimental study included 70 students in 3rd and 4th grade math classes. Students in the experimental group were involved in setting an achievement goal for fluency of multiplication facts. The students monitored their progress through a weekly graphing and reflection activity. The results indicated that elementary students involved in setting goals showed an increase in their mathematical performance of multiplication facts. However, based on the results from this study, goal setting did not have an impact on motivation or selfefficacy. These results support the concept of goal setting theory in the academic setting, suggesting that it may be beneficial for teachers to include goal setting in their day-to-day instructional practices, though further research on its effect on affective traits is warranted. Keywords: goal setting, motivation, self-efficacy, elementary, mathematics, goal setting theor

Student involvement in IEPs

There has been a recent initiative for students to be involved in their Individualized Education Plan. The goal is for students to become self-advocates and learn to develop goals that pertain to their interests. The study examined this process of including students by addressing three questions. First, does student involvement in their IEP lead to greater mastery of IEP goals? Second, does student involvement in their IEP impact academic achievement? Third, in what ways does the Self-Advocacy Strategy, IPLAN, increase student participation in IEP meetings? Three students participated in the study by providing inventory on their strengths, weaknesses, and what helps them learn. They then turned that information into a presentation of their choice to present at their IEP meeting. Each student differed in the amount of inventory they provided, support that was required to complete the presentation, and understanding and application of the inventory in the classroom

The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning in the Reading Classroom

This research examined the effectiveness of specific methods of cooperative learning on reading comprehension, motivation, and attitudes. The study implemented Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) and the Jigsaw method in a rural public elementary school and included 60 participants from 3rd grade reading classes. One group used the CSR method to read information on four different topics while the other group read information on the same topics using the Jigsaw method. After controlling for initial attitudes, motivation, and global reading comprehension, the results indicated that neither of these methods led to greater gains in these areas than the other. However, when controlling for prior knowledge on the four specific topics, the CSR group made significant gains on all four posttests while the Jigsaw group only made significant gains on the first two tests. This suggests that the benefits of Jigsaw method may fade long term while CSR benefits may persist

An exploration of the use of technology to address academic language learning in teacher education in preparation for the edTPA.

This qualitative exploratory research examined the processes student-teachers used to address academic language in lessons generated for middle school instruction. Undergraduate student-teachers were provided access to ReadAhead, a technological platform designed to scaffold students’ content literacy skills. The studentteachers were serving year-long internships in four content areas and preparing to complete their edTPA teacher certification portfolios. They planned and implemented lessons within diverse middle school settings. They were subsequently interviewed concerning their thought processes in creating and implementing the lessons, and a document analysis was conducted. The findings indicated that the student-teachers approached the lessons with different purposes in mind, and those divergent purposes influenced other critical aspects of the lessons. They also showed a lack of metacognitive awareness concerning the integration of academic language, though they unconsciously addressed it in ways consistent with the literature and the edTPA’s expectations. Ultimately, academic language instruction is essential to learning in all content areas, yet the definitions and application of it may still be unclear to aspiring educators in teacher preparation programs. Considering that the incorporation of academic language instruction will be vital to the licensure process and subsequent practice, it becomes imperative that teacher education programs methodically address the issue

Teacher Impact on Student Growth Mindset

The main goals of this study were to determine if student growth mindset impacted achievement and motivation and to see if gender and ethnicity made a difference in the type of mindset a student possesses. The study was conducted in a suburban middle school in Georgia with a predominantly white population and above-average socio-economic status. Ninety-five students from four 7th grade social studies classes took part in the eight-week study. The results from the study showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between mindset gains and academic gains; however, there was a strong positive, statistically significant relationship between mindset gains and motivation gains. These results indicated that motivation could be the linking factor between mindset and higher academic achievement