Prose, Marta Jeanette Steele

University of Dayton

University of Dayton eCommons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1987 A study of a comparison of two approaches to teaching reading comprehension Marta Jeanette Steele Prose University of Dayton Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/graduate_theses Recommended Citation Prose, Marta Jeanette Steele, "A study of a comparison of two approaches to teaching reading comprehension" (1987). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 5028. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/graduate_theses/5028 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eCommons. For more information, please contact mschlangen1@udayton.edu, ecommons@udayton.edu. A STUDY OF A COMPARISON OF TWO APPROACHES TO TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION MASTER'S PROJECT Submitted to the School of Education University of Dayton, in Partial. Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Education by Marta J. Prose The School of Education UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio July, 198788 05580 Approved by: Gificial Advisor P41DEDICATION This paper is dedicated to C.C. without whose support and encouragement this project would have been impossible. tii  TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION 2... ccc we cc cece ccc rw reece cet eoe eee e en cerene 1ii LIST OF TABLES... cece ce ee ce eee ee eee reese erence eteee Vv Chapter I. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM..........-c ccc eecceeece 1 Review of the Literature.... 2... eee rece sec eceaee 1 Justification of the Problem...... cece eee ce eeee . 3 Statement of the Problem.......cccccecceeesssees J II. PROCEDURE ......esee wee eee eee ener cece e ee eeeeees 4 , Subjects...... Lecce cece cee eee etre eee eeeee beeeee 4 Setting. cc cccccccccccccrecerescenssserecresesseee 4 Data Collection oc ccc ser ccc ccc eee e eter rece eeeece 4 Treatment cose cssscesccccesccevcsteeseeesseecrene 4 Definition of TermS ...... eee e cece eee ce cree ceenes 5 Assumptions and Limitations ........-eess e  eeees 5 III. PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA......... 6 ResultS ....cceecccees a 6 Discussion of Results ......... ae ee ewer eee eeenes 7 IV. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .........-. 8 Summary ..ccceeccccsccccercceves ace e ence eee ceees 8 Conclusions and Recommendations..... sec e eee c cease 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY.....-cccecceseccccrccees eevee csc r access see eee 9 iv    l. LIST OF TABLES Mean and Standard Results........... For Totals of Reading Comprehension Scores For Each of the Reading Strategies   PART I INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM Review of the Literature A major goal of all primary grade teachers is to increase reading comprehension skills. Many studies have considered various teaching styles and have shown how reading comprehension instruction can be taught. In the review of the literature for this study, two teaching styles for teaching reading comprehension, the directed reading activity (DRA) and the directed reading-thinking activity (DR-TA) are compared. Directed Reading Activity. The DRA is not just a method of teaching  reading. It has been defined as a model for organizing and structuring « a reading lesson and for teaching reading in the content areas. According to Tierney, Readence, and Dishner (1985) there are five basic steps that constitute a DRA. First the group should be prepared for the reading of a story or selection. Second, the first reading should be guided or silent reading. Third, word recognition skills and comprehension should be developed during the silent reading. Fourth, the reading, silent or oral, depending on the needs of the pupil should be done for purposes different from those served by the silent reading. Fifth, there should be follow-up on the reading program. These steps provide the structure for the improvement of a wide spectrum of reading skills, the most important of which is comprehension. A study pertaining to the DRA was done by Betts (1957). He found the sequencing of these five major steps vitally important to reading. Improve- ment in reading comprehension can be obtained at any level of reading ability by following these sequential steps. A study by Johnson (1985) has shown students can become more successful at learning tasks by developing comprehension ability. In a study of teaching students to apply stratigies, he concluded that these strategies will also improve motivation of students and make them feel more in control of their own learning. By learning these strategies, the dependency of the child on his teacher is also reduced. “Zintz (1970) stated that a directed reading lesson requires more time than many teachers realize. Such a lesson may be introduced during one period and guided silent reading completed.  a Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. The DR-TA emphasizes that the   reader declare his own purposes for reading. Using this strategy the students become responsible for their own learning. According to Tierney, Readence, and Dishner (1985) the DR-TA has two parts, a process cycle and a product. The process cycle involves the reader in the following: setting purposes for reading, adjusting the rate and the material for these purposes, reading to verify purposes, pausing to evaluated understanding, then proceding to read with the same or different purposes. The product of the DR-TA is the extension and refine- ment of students ideas and thinking. Gillet and Temple (1982) found that the DR-TA significantly improved reading comprehension. In DR-TA the teacher asks opening questions that can be answered in many ways and that encourage divergent thinking. Students are encouraged to predict future happenings. Stauffer (1970) believed the key steps in a DR-TA was development of purposes in reading. DR-TA's first aim was to teach children the skill of extracting information of predictive value from a given context. It's second aim was to provide, through the group, ways of behaving as a thinking reader. The object of instruction was to develop self reliant, independent, discriminating readers. He stated that the most essential teaching variable is the teacher. It is the teachers attitude toward reading, thinking, and instruction that makes the difference. The teacher must be dedicated to the proposition that reading is a mental process and that effecient reading- thinking skills must be taught. Emphasis was always on pupil thinking. As Haggard (1985) pointed out, content DR-TA required students to recall prior knowledge and experience, predict ideas that will occur in text and read to confirm predictions and locate new ideas. Lerner (1985) conducted a study that showed reading comprehension increased when DR-TA was implemented. Reading should be defined as thinking and problem solving. Reading, like thinking, is a continual change. The emphasis in the DR-TA is on-pupil thinking. The goals are to teach pupils to examine, hypothesize, find proof, suspend judgement, and make decisions. Comparison of the DRA and the DR-TA. A most informative study was compiled by Hittleman (1978) comparing the DRA and the DR-TA. Two major differences exist between these two teaching styles. With DR-TA the responsibility for establishing a purpose for reading is shifted from the teacher to the pupils. Another difference is that the new words are not  presented to the pupils prior to the reading of the story. Tierney, Readence, and Dishner (1985) stated that the DR-TA has certain features that distinguish it from the DRA. First, the DR-TA places heavy emphasis upon the relationship between reading and thinking. It encourages students to be aware of and to develop their own reading, thinking process through initiating their own purposes for reading and making predictions. Second, the role of the teacher is different. Unlike the DRA, the DR-TA materials govern teacher-pupil interactions and student purposes for reading; the teacher's questioning does not prescribe this interaction. The teacher does not assume the role of either questioner or judge. Instead, the teacher becomes a moderator and facilitator. Third, vocabulary is treated differently; the student does not meet words prior to reading but as they occur in context. In those studies which comparisions have been made of the two procedures, the DR-TA has fared better. Justification of the Problem For many years this author has been concerned with the low reading comprehension scores of the first grade students. This researcher, therfore, conducted this study to find the teaching strategy more effective in increasing comprehension ability. Statement of the Problem The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast two approaches to teaching reading comprehension.PART II PROCEDURE Subjects For this study, the subjects chosen were members of a heterogeneous class of twelve first grade students. These students ranged in age from six years eight months to seven years nine months. Nine were boys and three were girls. The subjects reading ability included only level six (first reader) of the basal reading series being used. Setting School. The school which the subjects attend is a new, fairly large elementary (approximately four hundred students) in a ruyal southeastern Ohio community. This elementary school includes grades kindergarten through eight inclusive, with two classes of each grade. It also offers classes in special needs such as classes for the developmentally handicapped (D.H.) and the learning disabeled (L.D.). Community. This rural community is made up largely of farming families. No businesses or factories are in its attendance area. The nearest small town is approximately twenty miles away. Unemployment is at fifty seven percent and free lunch recipients comprise seventy two percent of total enrollment. The residents of this community were mainly of middle to low economic status. Data Collection This study was conducted over a period of six weeks. The activities and methods were presented daily during the reading instructional time. . Reading comprehension scores were obtained and compared using both methods of teaching reading comprehension. Also observed and recorded were the children's preferences in reading strategies. Scores were obtained daily from children's comprehension worksheets. The first three week period provided scores using the DRA program. The final three weeks produced scores using the DR-TA program. The researcher used the same basal reading series for the length of this study. Each reading session lasted forty five minutes. Treatment Using the DRA for a three week period, the researcher guided the group through morning sessions of reading. New words were presented prior to each lesson and questions were interjected throughout.Using the DR-TA, for a separate three week period, similar reading sessions were conducted. The emphasis was placed on the childs ability to decode new words and become a more independent reader. Reading comprehension scores were obtained for each child using these two methods. A score of one hundred percent indicated perfect reading comprehension. The scores were averaged for each individual and for the group using first the DRA method and secondly the DR-TA method. Definition of Terms Directed Reading Activity (DRA). The DRA is a reading strategy for  the improvement of a wide spectrum of reading skills, the most important of which is comprehension. Directed Reading ~ Thinking Activity. The DR-TA is a reading strategy emphasizing that the reader declare his or her own purposes for reading, in addition to comprehension. Comprehension. Comprehension is more than what words say: what the   teacher thinks the words say may not be what they say to the beginning reader. Comprehension Instruction. Comprehension instruction is teaching children to work out the meaning of more than a one word unit. Assumptions and Limitations It was assumed that there would be no difference in reading compre- hension scores obtained using both teaching methods. It was also assumed that student involvement in both reading groups would be the same. There were some limitations in this study that should be considered. The sample group was small due to small class size. The DR-TA was taught during the second three week period, therefore the effect of maturation may have influenced validity. It is not the intent of this study to generalize these findings from this sample to the population. To generalize the results found from the sample population to other population could be misleading, unproven or completely false. PART III PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA RESULTS The means of measuring any gain or loss in the students reading comprehension ability used in this study was a record of each student's daily scores or work sheets involving comprehension skills. These work- sheets were published materials which correspond to the basal reader being used by the school system at the time the study-was conducted. The scores were based on one hundred percent. The following table lists the mean and standard deviation for each reading approach.   TABLE I Approach N X S DRA 12 81 8.76 DR-TA — 12 93 . 2.91           These students were also interviewed to find their preferred reading strategy. Of the twelve subjects, nine sited a preference for DR-TA.Discussion of Results Each member of the group showed a higher percentage score measuring reading comprehension using the DR-TA method. For the short term of this study the gains are quite evident when studied in terms of daily work. Comparing DRA and DR-TA scores improvement ranging from five to twenty two points were found in the second group. The results presented in the preceding table conclude that reading comprehension scores were higher using DR-TA. Using DRA, a mean of eighty one and a standard deviation of eight and seventy six one hundreths was tabulated. Using DR-TA a mean of ninety one one hundreths was found. This finding showed clearly the mean reading comprehension scores were twelve points higher, using DR-TA and these scores deviated less from this higher average.  PART IV SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary Reading comprehension is a major component of reading instruction in the first primary grades. Various studies have been done to utilize different reading strategies. ‘The purpose of this study was to implement two reading strategies in the first grade classroom for the improvement of reading comprehension. Daily scores were kept as a means of measuring abilities. Two strategies, DRA and DR-TA, were utilized for two spearate three week periods. Results revealed a high improvement in reading comprehension scores using the DR-TA stragety. Every member of this small group showed a significant improvement in reading comprehension during the three week period in which DR-TA was implemented. Conclusions and Recommendations As is supported by the data presented and the researcher's observations cited in this study, DR-TA will improve reading comprehension for the first grade students. It can be concluded also that skills for independent learn- ing will increase. It is the recommendation of the researcher that this method of reading comprehension be approached with openness and understanding that adaptation may be necessary in order to experience success. It is also recommended that each child's individual needs be assessed and met.  9 BIBLIOGRAPHY Betts, E.M., Foundations of Reading Instruction, American Book Company, 1957, pp. 492 and 549, Gillet, Jean Wallace, and Charles Temple, Understanding Reading Problems, Little, Brown, and Company, 1982, pp. 143-152. Haggard, Martha R., "An Interactive Strategies Approach to Content Reading", Journal of Reading, 29, December 1985, pp. 204-210. Hittleman, D.R., Developmental Reading: A Psychlinguistic Perspective, Rand McNally College Pub. Co., 1978, Chicago, P. 203. Johnson, Peter, "Teaching Students to Apply Strategies That Improve Reading Comprehension", The Elementary School Journal, 85, May 1985, pp. 635-640. Lerner, Janet, Learning Disabilities, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1985, pp. 366-390. Stauffer, R.G., Teaching Reading as a Thinking Process, Harper and Row, 1969, New York, pp. 40-57. Stauffer, R.G., The Language-Experience Approach to the Teaching of Reading, Harper and Row, 1970, New York, pp. 134-158. Tierney, R., Readence, J.E., Dishner, E.K., Reading Strategies and Practices, A Compendium Second Edition, Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1985, pp. 3-23. Zintz, M.V., The Reading Process: The Teacher and the Learner, William C. Brown Co. Publishers, 1970, Dubuque, Iowa, p. 80. ——- ROO34L0GS0

A study of a comparison of two approaches to teaching reading comprehension

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