The Effect of a Learning Strategy on the Word Pronunciation Ability of Learning Disabled Adolescents
Date of Award
5-1985
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Special Education: M.S.
Department
Special Education
College
School of Education
First Advisor
James Lewis
Second Advisor
Stanley Knox
Third Advisor
Eugene Bjorklun
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Learning Strategy for adolescent reading instruction
Abstract
PROBLEM:
The Word Identification Strategy, a cognitive learning strategy designed to increase students' ability to pronounce multisyllabic words, was taught to four learning disabled adolescents enrolled in a resource room in a small, rural high school. The subjects' measured reading ability was fourth to fifth grade. One subject was an eighth grade female while the other three subjects, one male and two females, were ninth graders. The purposes of this study were a) to determine if the word identification strategy would improve the percentage of correctly pronounced words to 99 percent in grade level textbooks, b) to determine if the strategy would improve reading comprehension to a minimum of 70 percent of questions answered correctly, c) to determine if using the strategy adversely affects reading rate, and d) to determine if students would dissect more words as material difficulty increased.
PROCEDURE:
The instructional procedures utilized an eight step process including a) a pretest written at each student's grade placement level, b) a describe step wherein the instructor explained the entire strategy in detail, c) model in which the instructor modelled the correct use of the strategy, d) verbal rehearsal in which the students learned the strategy rules to an automatic level, e) instructional level practice wherein the students used the strategy in materials written at their individual reading levels, f) grade appropriate practice in which students practices the strategy in materials written at their grade placement level, g) a posttest written at each student's grade placement level, and h) maintenance in which the students used the strategy outside the resource room.
A time-series single subject experimental design was utilized for this study. Each time a student read a passage, pronunciation, comprehension, and dissecting data were graphed. Reading rate was determined by counting the number of words pronounced correctly in the first minute of reading on the pre- and posttests, once each at instructional and grade appropriate levels, and on the first maintenance probe.
RESULTS:
Results showed that all four subjects learned the word identification strategy to criterion (99 percent of words pronounced correctly and 70 percent of comprehension questions correct) in both instructional and grade appropriate materials. Students reduced their word pronunciation errors from a mean of 24.8 on the pretest to a mean of 4.0 on the posttest. The subjects increased their average comprehension score from 60 percent on the pretest to 95 percent on the posttest. Three of the four subjects did dissect more words as material difficulty increased. The mean number of correctly dissected words during instructional practice was 2.9; the mean number of correctly dissected words during grade appropriate practice was 6.0 . The use of. the strategy did not adversely affect the reading rates of the students, nor did the strategy improve the reading rates of the subjects to a significant degree.
These results indicate that learning disabled adolescents can learn a cognitive learning strategy and use it in both ability and grade level materials. Students were able to generalize the use of the strategy to situations other than the resource room. The mean number of 55 minute class period needed to learn the strategy was 23.
Recommended Citation
Aldrich, Lona Ferguson, "The Effect of a Learning Strategy on the Word Pronunciation Ability of Learning Disabled Adolescents" (1985). Culminating Projects in Special Education. 202.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/sped_etds/202
