Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Reading (Primary)

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Dynamic assessment as an early screening tool for identifying New Zealand children at risk of reading difficulty upon school entry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Bisschoff, Susan
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a dynamic assessment as a screening tool for identifying children at risk of reading difficulty. Unlike traditional static assessment, dynamic assessment includes a teaching stage within the assessment and aims to determine what the child can do independently as well as what they have the potential to do when given quality input. At the start of their formal schooling, 165 New Zealand children were administered a dynamic assessment of phonological decoding, along with several static measures of emergent literacy skills. At the end of their first year at school, these same children’s reading abilities were assessed using multiple early reading measures. The results were analysed to determine whether measures administered at the beginning of formal schooling significantly predict future reading ability, and whether there is a significant difference in the ability of the static and dynamic measures to predict future reading difficulty and in their respective predictive classification accuracy. Results indicated that the dynamic assessment of decoding was able to predict future reading difficulty with a high level of accuracy and that it provided superior predictive ability and classification accuracy to that of the static measures of emergent literacy. Furthermore, combining the dynamic and static measures did not improve the overall ability of the dynamic measure alone to predict future reading difficulty. The ease and efficiency of administration of the dynamic assessment, as well as its ability to provide information pertinent to supporting remedial intervention, provided evidence of this measure’s acceptability as an effective universal screening tool. Taken together, the findings indicate that a dynamic assessment of decoding can accurately predict future reading difficulty and that it has the potential to meet the other important characteristics of an effective universal screening tool. This provides support for the use of a dynamic assessment of phonological coding as a universal screening tool for the prediction of reading difficulty at the start of children’s formal schooling.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The influence of teachers’ knowledge and teaching practice on outcomes for beginning readers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Manawatū Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Braid, Christine Louise
    New Zealand has a problem with reading achievement, in spite of ongoing efforts to address the issue. The current study selected to investigate the influence of teachers’ knowledge and teaching practice in teaching beginning reading. The study was a two-phase, mixed methods, explanatory sequential design, involving 30 teachers from 12 urban, state schools located in New Zealand’s lower North Island. Teachers participated in professional learning and development (PLD) workshops focused on teacher knowledge and explicit teaching practice for beginning readers. The study used data from 109 New Entrant children from the PLD classrooms and from a non-PLD comparison group of 61 new entrant children. The first phase of the study involved obtaining and analysing data about teachers’ linguistic knowledge, self-confidence for teaching literacy, teaching practice, and reading prompts. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and t-tests. The findings showed that teachers’ knowledge of linguistic constructs and self-confidence in teaching the code component of reading increased significantly. Observations showed a significant change in teaching practice, from implicit teaching to explicit teaching. Teachers’ prompts changed significantly to using code-cue prompts. For some teachers, teaching practice remained implicit and prompts remained context-based, regardless of an increase in their teacher knowledge. The second phase of the study involved interviews with four teachers to identify barriers for teachers in changing to explicit teaching. Student reading skills were measured and data analysed using a series of MANOVAs and ANOVAs to identify any differences between the implementation and comparison groups. The student data showed significantly better outcomes for the implementation students, with a notable positive difference for students from schools located in lower socio-economic neighbourhoods. Findings suggest that when teachers are equipped with knowledge and practice to teach the code component explicitly to beginning readers, improvement in reading outcomes is possible. Recommendations from the study include that changes are required at a policy level, in teacher training, and for teaching resources, with a particular need for increased cognisance of studies from the science of reading.  
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Investigating the home literacy environment and emergent literacy skills of children as they start school in New Zealand : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Van Tonder, Brittney Elizabeth
    Home literacy environment (HLE) has been consistently linked with children’s early literacy skills in international research, and is argued to be an important variable influencing the development of children’s emergent literacy. However, there is very limited New Zealand research investigating this relationship. Therefore, to address this gap in the literature, the present study sought to explore whether there is a relationship between HLE and children’s emergent literacy at school entry within the New Zealand context. Additional research aims involved exploring the impact of years spent in early childhood education (ECE) on emergent literacy, and exploring the role of parent education level on both HLE and children’s emergent literacy within the New Zealand context. The study used a correlational research design to explore these research aims. A total of 35 five-year old children and their parents participated in this study. Children were assessed using a range of emergent literacy assessments and HLE was measured through parental questionnaire. Results showed that there was some correlation between HLE and children’s emergent literacy. However the nature of these correlations differed depending on the component of HLE used in the analysis. Additionally, ECE attendance was not positively associated with any measure of children’s emergent literacy. Further, parent educational level showed little or no correlation with children’s emergent skills and HLE. Two particular implications associated with the present study include the importance of using a wide conceptualisation of HLE in research and the importance of considering proximal variables of influence, such as HLE, over distal variables of influence, such as socioeconomic status.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A comparison of reading attainment in two first grade classes in a state and a Montessori school in Switzerland : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master's degree in Educational Psychology (MEdPsych) at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Elben, Judith Mary
    The main purpose of this study is to examine whether the age at which children start to learn to read affects their later progress - specifically, whether an earlier start at reading gives children an advantage when they enter first grade at the age of six years. The study was conducted in Zürich, Switzerland, and compared a first grade class in a local school with two first grade classes in a Montessori school. There were 42 participants aged between six and seven years, 22 girls and 20 boys. The children were given a series of alphabet knowledge, reading and phoneme tests at the beginning and end of the year to measure the reading progress of each group. It was found that although the Montessori children who had already attended the Montessori kindergarten had an advantage over the local children, this advantage was only significant for alphabet knowledge, and was not translated into a significant advantage in either phonemic awareness or reading ability. Reasons for this were considered including the relative efficiency with which children learned to read in German at the local school, possible failings in the Montessori instruction, and the fact that many of the local children had already learned to read at home before starting school something that may be related to the high socioeconomic status (SES) and home literacy environment (HLE) of both groups.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Whole language and phonics : which instructional practices are most effective in teaching at-risk students to read? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Senior, Tamara Ann
    A disproportionately large number of New Zealand students fail to learn to read. Results of recent international studies demonstrate that the gap between New Zealand’s highest- and lowest-achieving readers is wider than most other top-performing countries. Despite research showing the crucial role of explicit phonological-based instruction for children at risk of reading failure, the New Zealand education system continues to emphasise whole language teaching methods at the expense of explicit phonological instruction. Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are at high risk of reading failure and are over-represented among New Zealand’s under-achieving readers. The current study investigated the extent to which teachers of beginning readers in low socioeconomic communities placed an emphasis on explicit phonological-based instruction. The relationship between teacher emphasis on phonological instruction and student progress in reading-related skills was also examined. Results demonstrated a significant relationship between teacher emphasis on phonological-based instruction and student progress in word reading whereby students receiving explicit phonological-based literacy instruction made superior progress in word reading skills over children receiving implicit phonological-based instruction. Moreover, analysis of standard deviation in class word reading scores over time demonstrated that a strong emphasis on explicit phonological instruction was associated with a reduction in class variation of word reading scores, while minimal emphasis on explicit phonological instruction was associated with increasing variability of class word reading scores. Correlation results indicated a relationship between word reading skills and phonological ability that strengthened over time. The study findings support previous research demonstrating that phonological awareness and decoding skills play a crucial role in the development of word reading ability and that explicit phonological-based instruction can attenuate differences in word reading development. Implications for teachers and policy makers are described.