| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to determine whether the reading and writing skills of low achieving students might be improved by enhancing the students' self-images. Many of the low achieving students in the fifth and sixth grades investigated in this study were minority students. Among the reasons which could account for their low achievement are language difficulties--some students use ethnic or regional dialects of English and for others English is their second language--and low self-images. In research currently being conducted by Norton (1984), it was hypothesized that improving the self-image of culturally different children brought about improvements in their reading and writing skills.
The subjects for the study were 13 students in a fifth grade class, 11 students in a sixth grade class, and 11 students in an English as a Second Language (ESL) sixth grade class. The subjects were all low achieving students, having scored in the lowest 5% of their grade level on basic skills tests. The treatment was administered to the experimental classes between November and March and consisted of incorporating a large selection of multiethnic literature into the reading and writing program of each class. Books were made available for all the students which contained stories about Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans. These stories were intended to build pride in the students' cultural heritage and to have a positive effect on their self-images.
To test the hypothesis that better writing skills are found in children with a positive self-image, it was decided to get a direct sample of the spontaneous writing of the students before the use of the ethnic reading materials and again several months after the intervention treatment. The students were asked to write an autobiography and were given 20 minutes to write. The same procedure was followed in both the fall semester and the spring semester to gather these writing samples.
The earlier samples were compared with the later samples in terms of total words and total sentences, which were subdivided into simple, compound, and complex sentences. All three classes showed improvements in some areas of their writing in the spring semester.
It was concluded that there are many variables that must be considered in assessing the gains made in the writing skills. Student maturation and teacher skill are possible reasons for improved writing skills. However, it appears that the research hypothesis was borne out: that is, improving the self-image of the student and providing reading/language arts instruction based on positive multiethnic literature will in turn improve the reading and writing skills. | en |
