Struggling Readers Research Articles

The effect of modality on reading comprehension of struggling and typical readers in the second and third grades

AbstractBackground“Screen inferiority” refers to a well‐established phenomenon observed among adults and teenagers, wherein they demonstrate higher reading comprehension when reading from paper compared to screens. However, there is limited research focusing on readers in the initial stages of reading development. The current study aims to investigate reading comprehension in both screen and paper settings, as well as modality preferences, among young typical and struggling readers in the second and third grades.MethodsThe study included 342 second graders and 284 third‐grade Hebrew readers. Their reading comprehension performance in both modalities and their preferences for a particular modality were assessed.ResultsThe results suggested no differences in reading comprehension between the two modalities in the second and third grades. The only group that showed numerically higher performance on paper over computer was struggling readers in the second grade. The numeric proportion of modality preferences was higher on the computer rather than on paper.ConclusionsThe current study did not find an effect of modality on reading comprehension in the second and third grades. We did find that children in these grades prefer to read on screens. It is essential to examine the specific characteristics of the digital task to determine when it benefits young readers and when it may be detrimental to them.

IMPLEMENTATION OF 8-WEEK READING PROGRAM FOR STRUGGLING READERS: BASIS FOR ENHANCED SCHOOL REMEDIATION PROGRAM

This study seeks to determine the effect of Implementing the 8-week Reading Program on the Struggling Learners: Basis for Enhanced Remediation Program. This study employed the non-experimental descriptive survey research design in investigating the research problem. It is descriptive because the data are presented in quantitative descriptions on the “Implementation of 8-week Reading Program for Struggling Readers: Basis for Enhanced School Reading Program. According to Good (2023), this method of research shows merely description of tasks presenting the conditions regarding the nature of the group of persons or class of events that involved procedure of analysis, classification, and measurement. It involves varied information regarding the current or present condition (Deauna, 2022). This study will be conducted in Almendras Elementary School. The respondents in this study are the 150 struggling learners of the research locale. The respondents will answer a researcher made assessment test on reading comprehension. This study makes use of the universal sampling procedure considering the manageable number of respondents in the research locale. This revealed that learners’ level in majority of the least mastered competency in reading is at Approaching competency except for giving judgment where they are at developing level. Therefore, it is concluded that the current reading program should be enhanced giving more focus on giving judgment. KEYWORDS: implementation of 8-week reading program, struggling readers, basis for enhanced school remediation program

Technology-Based Reading Application on Improving Reading Literacy Level Among Struggling Readers in a Public Elementary School in the Philippines

Reading literacy is a fundamental skill essential for academic success and lifelong learning. However, some students in elementary schools face challenges in developing proficient reading skills, leading to academic setbacks. Technology offers innovative solutions to address these challenges and facilitate reading literacy levels among struggling readers. This study assessed the effects of a technology-based reading application READTECH 1.0 on improving the reading literacy level of Struggling Readers in a public elementary school in the Philippines. READTECH 1.0 follows the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implementation, Evaluation (ADDIE) Model in creating learning content. The respondents of this study were 26 Grade Six Struggling Readers. Quantitative methods were used in collecting the data such as conducting pre-and post-reading test assessments. Descriptive Statistics were used to analyze the data and the questionnaires using the five-point Likert Scale. Findings revealed that the implementation of READTECH 1.0 leads to an improvement in the reading literacy level of the Struggling Readers. The integration of technology into education, particularly in the realm of reading, has shown promise in engaging and assisting struggling readers.

A CASE STUDY ON PROJECT EMPOWERING LEARNERS’ EAGERNESS AND CONFIDENCE THROUGH INTENSIVE READING AND ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT (ELECTRA) AS A READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM

A CASE STUDY ON PROJECT EMPOWERING LEARNERS’ EAGERNESS AND CONFIDENCE THROUGH INTENSIVE READING AND ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT (ELECTRA) AS A READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM

Effectiveness of the Read Like Me Program for Grade 3 Struggling Readers

Effectiveness of the Read Like Me Program for Grade 3 Struggling Readers

Effects of a reading dog programme on reading skills and task-related behaviour in special needs education

ABSTRACT In this study, we randomly assigned struggling readers in special needs education (n = 23; 8–12 years of age) to a dog-assisted reading intervention or a similar intervention without a dog present. Students participated in 30-minute reading sessions twice a week for a total of six weeks. Using two standardised tests we measured reading skills before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention. In addition, the task-related behaviours and emotional expressions of a sub-group of these students (n = 17) were observed during the sessions. Results show that students who received the dog-assisted intervention had a higher increase between the pre- and post-test in their reading scores on two standardised tests, for both single-word reading and full-text reading. Differences between the groups at the follow-up measurement were present, but not significant. Observations indicated that the group receiving the dog-assisted reading intervention showed a longer duration of on-task behaviour and positive emotions during the sessions. No differences in the duration of off-task behaviour and negative emotions were found.

Effects of a Virtually Delivered Reading and Embedded Mindset Intervention on Reading Performance for Fourth-Grader Struggling Readers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a virtual intensive reading intervention embedded with mindset training compared to typical reading instruction in a business-as-usual (BAU) condition delivered to fourth grade students with or at-risk for reading disabilities. After screening, the 59 participants were stratified and assigned randomly to condition. Highly trained interventionists delivered the intervention one-to-one with high fidelity and student engagement during the intensive intervention. Classroom teachers delivered the BAU. We examined the effects of the intervention on a variety of standardized timed and untimed measures of word reading and decoding, reading fluency, comprehension, and mindset. We addressed two research questions: What are the effects of intensive virtual reading intervention embedded with mindset training relative to a business-as-usual comparison (BAU) on the reading outcomes of fourth grade students with or at-risk for reading disabilities? Was initial mindset related to student response to intervention? Data analyses examined the main effect and moderation using linear mixed effects models. Significant differences in reading favored the virtual treatment condition for letter and word identification (g = 0.38). No other significant effects were observed. We note limitations in our study and offer directions for future research, including the need to explore additional moderators.

The Effects of an On-line Reading Intervention on the Development of English Decoding Skills among Moroccan Adult Struggling Readers

The present study examines the role of an intensive phonics-based online reading program in developing decoding skills among a group of low-intermediate adult learners. All the participants taking part in this experiment are defined as low-level, or struggling, readers. A lexical-decision task is administered to a total of twenty-four students divided into two main groups: treatment and control groups. The administration of the computer-based test is twofold and is done over two main phases: pre- and post-intervention. The online reading intervention, which is tailored to cover English orthographic knowledge and sound processing of high and low frequency words, is exclusively designed for the experimental group for four weeks. The intervention group demonstrates a significant improvement in spelling skills, reading speed and phoneme awareness. The results, on the one hand, suggest the importance of L2 print exposure which fosters phonological processing skills. On the other hand, the findings show that word identification processes operate at a pre-lexical access stage and are rudimentary to recognize and activate a lexical item.

Behavioral Problems in Grade One Students with Reading Difficulties in Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: Children with reading difficulties face a number of challenges when entering school. Numerous studies have revealed greater behavioral and emotional problems in children with reading disorders. There is limited data on the challenges faced by young struggling readers in Thailand. This study aimed to investigate behavioral and emotional problems in grade one students, comparing between children with and those without reading problems.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of 901 grade one children in Thailand. The parental version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was completed by parents along with a questionnaire of demographic data. Homeroom teachers completed the SDQ, teacher version. Reading assessments were performed to determine which students had reading difficulty.Results: Based on reading test scores, 131 students were considered to have reading difficulty. Students with reading difficulty were found to have significantly more behavioral and emotional problems in almost all aspects of the SDQ than children who were typical readers since they had just attended the formal education system. Overall, teachers reported five times as many problems in struggling readers, while parents reported twice as many.Conclusion: Thai grade one students with reading difficulty appear to have significantly more emotional and behavioral problems than typical readers.

Teachers’ Beliefs and Their Students’ Progress in Professional Development

We respond to calls for more research to address whether and how successful professional development (PD) experiences (defined here in terms of student progress) are related to changes in teacher beliefs, specifically about effective literacy instruction for young struggling readers. We developed a measure, a Teacher Belief Score, to identify teacher beliefs present in interview data and we used student achievement data to create two contrasting groups of teachers, those whose students had lower progress and those who had higher. While initially in the fall, lower progress and higher progress teachers differed little in their alignment of beliefs with program features; over time, higher progress teachers trended toward beliefs that were aligned with program features, whereas lower progress teachers trended away. Findings suggest the need for an additional component to Guskey’s model of teacher change: attributing student progress to the new instructional practices learned in PD.

Challenges to Parental Involvement in Children’s ESL Learning

This paper highlights the findings from the research question, namely: “How do the participating parents work with their children at home?” This is a qualitative study involving seven participating parents of struggling readers of ESL in a Malaysian primary classroom. Interviews were conducted to obtain information from the participants and data was inductively analysed encompassing a co-construction of meaning between the participants’ expressions and researcher’s own interpretation. Two major themes emerged from the data namely involvement; and challenges. In this paper, the results of one of the main themes developed, that is challenges will be discussed. This paper focuses on three types of challenges reported by the participating parents of this study which are “parents and family factors”, “school and teacher factors” and “child factors”. The findings of this study suggest some implications for the system surrounding struggling readers in the Malaysian context including strengthening home-school relationship and establishing educational program for parents.

Teaching Struggling Readers of English as a Second Language in the Malaysian Classroom

Teacher plays an important role in students’ reading growth through the implementation of various suitable instructional strategies in the classroom. This study contributes to the existing literature pertaining to the way the teacher worked with the students who were identified as struggling readers of English as a second language (henceforth ESL). This is a qualitative study involving one primary teacher as a research participant. Data was obtained from classroom observations, interviews and documents collection. Inductive analysis was carried out and the process incorporating a co-construction of meaning between the participant responses and the researcher’s own understanding. Two main themes emerged in the study namely “involvement” and “challenges”. In this paper, one of the themes namely “involvement” that incorporates “classroom environment” and “instructional methods” will be discussed. The findings of this study suggest that the Ministry of Education (henceforth MOE) can look into how support can be given to the teachers to assist them to have more effective teaching strategies in the ESL classroom.

Reaching Out: A Publication Trend Analysis of Scholarly Articles Discussing Graphic Novels and Reluctant or Struggling Readers

Graphic novels combine short text and pictures to tell a story or convey information while still engaging the reader visually. This is a potentially useful tool for reaching out to struggling and reluctant readers. Struggling readers have difficulty reading and understanding what it is they are reading. Pictures allow for more context clues than just text alone, allowing for the potential for greater success in comprehension for struggling readers. Reluctant readers, on the other hand, may have more of a distaste for reading. In some cases, they are capable of understanding what they read, but they do not enjoy the activity and tend to avoid it. Graphic novels allow for a more visual experience when reading and potentially grabbing and holding the reluctant readers' interest. The purpose of this study is to analyze the publication trends in library and information (LIS) journal articles as well as educational journal articles that discuss graphic novels and reluctant or struggling readers, specifically publication trend over time, authorship, core journals, and the number of articles that are based on surveys or interviews.

What we have learned: implementing MiniLit as an intervention with young struggling readers

ABSTRACT Information about effective interventions for students with early reading difficulties is essential when deciding about how best to provide support. MiniLit, a small-group intervention for young struggling readers, was released in 2011 after several years of development and trials. This paper provides a rationale for MiniLit, a brief history of its development and implementation, and a summary of evidence collected from various efficacy studies. Pre- and post-test group data from program trials and experimental research indicate that MiniLit has produced large gains in students’ phonemic awareness, phonic decoding, word reading, and spelling. Experimental studies yielded lower effect sizes than program trials for phonic decoding and word reading skills, with effect sizes for these dimensions in the medium or large range. Program revisions in response to evidence from studies, feedback from practitioners, and findings from recent research about early reading have been undertaken, resulting in the development of MiniLit Sage.

Motivating Struggling Malaysian Primary ESL Readers Through The ‘Read and Record Project’

This research was conducted to explore how the ‘Read and Record Project’ could help motivate struggling Malaysian primary ESL readers to read. This paper will report on motivating effects of the ‘Read and Record Project’ towards struggling readers. A case study was employed as the research design and four instruments were used to collect the data which were semi-structured interview, observation notes, and reflective journal. The data collected were analysed thematically. The participants were chosen through purposive sampling. Before this study was carried out, a preliminary study was done in a primary school located in Betong, Sarawak. From the preliminary study, four struggling readers from Year 3 were chosen to participate in the ‘Read and Record Project’. Findings revealed five elements of the project that could help motivate struggling readers to read through the project. The elements include independent learning, parents’ involvement, video production, sense of accomplishment, and fun learning. To conclude, the findings proved that the ‘Read and Record Project’ could enhance the motivation to read among struggling Malaysian primary ESL readers.

Supporting young struggling readers at Success for All schools in the United States and the Netherlands: Comparative case studies

Success for All, a multi-tiered school reform program, has its origins in the US and has recently expanded to the Netherlands. Using a multiple case study approach, we investigated similarities and differences in the way struggling readers are supported at two Success for All schools in the US and two in the Netherlands. First- and second-grade teachers and other staff members involved in the implementation of Success for All and the support of struggling readers were interviewed. We concluded that American and Dutch interviewees agreed on the benefits of Success for All for struggling readers, such as the engaging whole-class lessons and the possibility to offer tutoring. Furthermore, in both countries a tension was observed between the scriptedness of Success for All and the need for flexibility in the support of struggling readers. Regarding differences, we observed that both contextual and cultural factors led to variations in the way struggling readers are supported.

Improving boys' reading comprehension with readers theatre

Research on readers theatre has indicated that it can improve elementary students' reading achievement and can be motivating, engaging and enjoyable, even for reluctant or struggling readers. Because of the potential for improvement and the engagement factor, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of readers theatre on young male students, a population that tends to be more reluctant to read. This matched quasi‐experimental study examined the differential effects of readers theatre on second‐grade boys' decoding, word knowledge and reading comprehension. Students were pretested and posttested using the Gates‐MacGinitie Reading Test. With the use ofa propensity score matching procedure, 46 students were matched from a sample of 76 on the basis of pretest scores, English‐language learner status, at‐risk status and whether the students received special education services. A repeated measures analysis of variance detected a time effect on the reading comprehension measure, which was qualified by an interaction effect, indicating that boys in the treatment group outperformed those in the business‐as‐usual comparison group. Implementing readers theatre in elementary classrooms may be an effective means for engaging young male students in the reading process and improving their reading comprehension. Additional implications for instruction, limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

Exploring the Perceptions of Middle School Teachers Regarding Response to Intervention Struggling Readers

ABSTRACT Focus groups were conducted with middle school general and special education teachers to investigate their perceptions of Response to Intervention (RTI) reading intervention. Three cross-cutting themes emerged through content analysis: (a) the exigency of professional development, (b) buidling capacity to implement in middle school, and (c) teacher leadership. Participants supported the concept of RTI, but frustrations with feasibility were reported. Teachers implementing a standard-protocol expressed mixed perceptions. Future research should explore models that strengthen school capacity for middle school RTI and implications for professional development.

The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales by Mary Downing Hahn

Reviewed by: The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales by Mary Downing Hahn Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Hahn, Mary Downing The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales. Clarion/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020 [192p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780358067320 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780358067344 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 4-6 Noted horror writer Hahn offers up ten spooky stories, three of which have been published in previous anthologies and all of which provide some satisfying, if not particularly inventive, scares. The most successful ones bring a bit of humor to the chills, with "The Thirteenth Pigeon" seeing the annoyingly rebellious protagonist turned into the titular bird, and "The Puppet's Payback" sentencing a harridan of a teacher to a lifetime with a rhyming puppet. Most of the tales, however, traffic in worn-out tropes, with two having nearly the same plot. Perhaps most valuable here is the accessibility in the straightforward first-person narration and the brevity of the stories, making this an easy pick for reluctant or struggling readers. Hahn's afterword discussing her reasons for writing ghost stories and some of her process as a writer might also inspire aspiring authors, and they'll particularly appreciate her inclusion of a tale she wrote in high school, the first draft (and in her own grading a generous B-) of one of the tales appearing here. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Turning the Page for Spot: The Potential of Therapy Dogs to Support Reading Motivation Among Young Children

ABSTRACTThis study investigated whether dogs might facilitate a context conducive to reading for children when they are faced with a challenging reading passage. A within-subjects design was used to assess children’s motivation to read in two conditions: with a therapy dog and without a therapy dog. Seventeen children (8 girls; 9 boys) in Grades 1 to 3 (aged 6–8 years) and their parents participated in this study. Results of a multivariate repeated-measures ANOVA with two levels suggested that the presence of a therapy dog positively impacted children’s reading motivation and persistence when they were faced with the task of reading a challenging passage. Specifically, children confirmed feeling significantly more interested and more competent when reading in the presence (versus absence) of a therapy dog. Additionally, participants spent significantly more time reading in the presence of the therapy dog than when they read without the therapy dog present. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to use a within-subjects design to explore children’s reading motivation and reading persistence during a canine-assisted reading task. Moreover, as canine-assisted reading interventions assume that the reading context is one that may present a challenge, this research is unique because the reading passages were carefully selected and assigned to each participant to ensure that each child was provided with a challenging reading task. This research holds implications for the development of a gold-standard canine-assisted intervention for young struggling readers.