The effect of selected instructional strategies on pupils' reading achievement in grades two, three, four, and five

Abstract

This investigation examined the effect of specified instructional strategies on pupils' reading achievement in the second, third, fourth, and fifth grades. A sample of twenty-four elementary teachers in the Centex Independent School District were randomly assigned, stratified on grade level, to one of three groups: experimental observed (n = 8), experimental non-observed (n = 8), or control observed (n = 8). The experimental treatment was designed to enhance teachers' use of reading instructional strategies which have been associated with pupils' reading achievement. The control treatment involved use of procedures for interpreting pupils' reading test performance. Experimental observed and control observed teachers were observed six times during their classroom reading instruction, over a nine week period. Pupils were pretested and posttested with the Prescriptive Reading Inventory. Linear regression procedures were used to compare pupil achievement in the three groups and to test for significant differences of socioeconomic groups within experimental teachers' classes. Observational data gathered on teachers' use of the instructional process variables were correlated with adjusted pupil reading achievement scores to specify the strengths of association between the two. Similar procedures were employed to compare socioeconomic groups within experimental classes, socioeconomic groups within control classes to those within experimental classes, primary with intermediate classes, and classes with more variance with classes with less variance. There were no significant differences found among the treatment and control groups, or between high and low socioeconomic groups within the exerpimental groups. Procedures employed to correlate the instructional process variables with pupil achievement showed no particular patterns when correlated over all teachers. Regression slopes were used to select "more effective" and "less effective" teachers. Instructional process patterns involving questioning strategies emerged when coded data for "more effective" teachers were examined. Instructional process variables were used more by primary than by intermediate teachers. Indications were that the instructional process variables were more effective for use with low socioeconomic groups than with high socioeconomic groups.