Gender Difference in Minimum Rapidity of Reading Fluency - Research Proposal Example

Name: Institution: Instructor: Course code: Date: WHAT IS THE GENDER DIFFERENCE IN MINIMUM RAPIDITY OF READING FLUENCY NECESSARY FOR ABOVE AVERAGE COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE IN SECOND AND THIRD GRADE STUDENT? Conceptualising Research Question Various past studies that have focused on reading comprehension and the fluency in reading have mainly sought to analyse the impact that reading fluency has on reading comprehension, the level of reading fluency growth rate and how such skill is predictive of future capabilities in reading achievement (Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman 662; Tannenbaum, Torgesen, and Wagner 389). Few have focused on the minimum reading fluency that is required for average comprehension (Burns et al 130), and non so far known to the author that focuses on gender difference in rapidity of fluency and word recognition necessary for above average comprehension performance. The research question in this research therefore is “What are the gender difference in minimum rapidity of reading fluency and word recognition necessary for above average comprehension performance in second and third grade students?” Literature review Definitions Reading comprehension is noted as one of the key literacy competencies in early childhood development and education. Reading comprehension has been defined as the ability to interactively recognise, understand and decode various words (van Kraayenoord et al 51-52). On the other hand Oakhill, Cain & Byrant (451) posit that reading comprehension is the ability to make sense of the meaning of sentences, words, and given text using various reading strategies, knowledge and as a result of a successful interaction between the text and the reader of the text. On the other hand, Burns et al (124) define reading fluency as the speed level at which readers are able to read words quickly and accurately, and be able to recognise such words with the sentence constructs and texts. Looking at the two above definitions it can be noted that the two are closely related since the ability to read fluently and recognise the words that have been read positively impacts the ability to comprehend the words, sentences and text being read. This literature review presents past researched work on reading fluency and comprehension and the gender differences in performance. Reading comprehension and Fluency Over the past two decades there have been numerous studies that have researched reading comprehension in relation to reading fluency. Notably most of the studies have focused on the impact of reading fluency to reading comprehension performance. Burns, Tucker, Hauser, Thelen, Holmes, and White (5) and Berninger et al (345) found in their research that indeed there is strong positive correlation between reading comprehension and fluency. Indeed other studies have found reading fluency to have a unique variance in the assessment of comprehension that allows greater accuracy in assessment (Spear-Swerling, 215; Alber-morgan et al 25). Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman (654) used a sample of 12,536 kindergartens to third grade children and various tests including Stanford Achievement Tests and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills subtests to study the growth rate of reading fluency over a four year period relative to the performance and achievement in reading comprehension over the same period. Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman (665-665) concluded in their findings that while for the first graders it was vocabulary skills and growth rate of fluency that impacted comprehension performance for the higher grades such as the second and the third grade it was an a successful earlier performance in reading fluency during the kindergarten and first grade levels that had a stronger impact in the performance and achievement of their reading comprehensions. Such conclusions imply that the earlier a reader is able to read fluently from the lower grades, the higher their chances of higher performance in reading comprehension. Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman’s results have been supported by other scholars such as Fuchs et al (251) and Deno (190) who have through monitoring of students reading shown that such information is not only important in understanding the comprehensive abilities of the students but also essential in aligning the instructional material relative to student needs and skills in comprehension. Based on Rosenblatt (270) transaction framework for reading, reading is conceptualised based on reading fluency where the readers are one with the text and where through reading the student is able to gain knowledge from the text they are reading. Reading Fluency would tend to be positively associated with a more infused transaction form of interaction between the reader and the text (Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman 653). Using this learning framework Flint (290-292) posited that reading through social associations and using reading partners enhanced the knowledge transfer process among the first grader learners. A good deal of research has show that the reading frequency shown as the number of words read correctly per minute (WCPM) are critical in analysing the learning and comprehension skills of children (Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman 653; Wiley & Deno 210; Burns et al 130). In fact Burns et al and Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman posit that efficient reading of words enables the reader to be able to pay closer attention to the meaning of the words. This implies that those who are not fluent tend to spend a lot of effort in identifying words to be read out rather than the meaning of such words. With this view point then fluent readers demonstrate stronger comprehensive skills. Burns et al (130) showed that the minimum fluency rate for reading comprehension was 63 words per minutes. This study seeks to expand this study conclusion by evaluating differences between the boys and girls. Gender differences in reading comprehension Difference between boys and girls in their reading comprehension has been widely demonstrated in literature. A considerable number of research studies have shown that girls are better than boys in reading and performing in comprehension (Ming Chui and McBride-Chang 345; Logan and Johnson 182). This has been regardless of the kind of instruction that the students receive. Van Kraayenoord et al (59-61) in their empirical analysis of identification of words and reading comprehension of 64 boys and 75 girls in third and fourth grade, found significant differences in their reading and learning abilities. Notably the girls outperformed boys on all of the measuring tools used, with word identification and reading in this research comprising a bigger percentage in the performance of the reading comprehension. Conclusion of literature review This literature review sought to review available researched data on reading fluency and its impact on reading comprehension and through this review, be able to identify a gap in research study that need be addressed. Notably while research studies already done have focused on reading comprehension and the fluency in reading have mainly sought to analyse the impact that reading fluency has on reading comprehension, the level of reading fluency growth rate and how such skill is predictive of future capabilities in reading achievement, few have focused on the minimum reading fluency that is required for average comprehension (Burns et al 130), and non so far known to the author that focuses on gender difference in rapidity of fluency and word recognition necessary for above average comprehension performance. Theoretical perspective related to the research question The main theoretical construct of this research study is based on the Transactional reading theory or framework as posited by Loise M. Rosenblatt (268-270). This theory posits that reading entails a mutual reciprocal relationship between the text to be read and the reader of such text. It is through reading that a person truly gets to understand the true meaning of the text and in essence make text make sense. In this sense, this model of reading will enable the conceptualisation of the reading fluency process as one in which the readers are one with the text, where through reading the student is bale to understand the text they are reading, or they strive to understand it. Reading Fluency is noted to be positively associated with a more infused transaction form of interaction between the reader and the text (Kim, Petscher, Schatschneider, and Foorman 653). Using this learning framework Flint (290-292) showed that reading through social associations or using reading partners enhanced the learning process among the first grader learners. In this theoretical framework, Rosenblatt treats reading as an event upon which there is transfer of knowledge. This research study will also further draw upon the research conducted by Burns et al (2011) in which an empirical analysis to obtain the minimum reading fluency that is required for minimal reading comprehension is obtained. Drawing on the findings of Burns et al research, this research paper seeks to further its deductions by looking at the minimum reading fluency that is required for above average reading comprehension performance and how this differs among both the boys and the girls in second and third grade. These two theoretical perspectives will a key role in the manner in which the research will both be carried out and how it will be interpreted based on these theoretical underpinnings. Ethical considerations for the research question The participants in this research study are children in the lower grade classes aged 7 to 10 years of age. The essence of using children in the research may give rise to a wide array of ethical implications. One notable ethical concern is how appropriate it is to use children in research studies as research subjects. This is mainly because of the vulnerability of children during research studies (Keddie 73), and in this context it is during the process of collecting data where all the children would have required to read out the assigned texts in the presence of the other children and therefore those who are not fluent in reading may not feel comfortable reading in front of others yet may not fully express dislike. Though parental an informed parental permission would be obtained in order to carry out the research, the children may not have much say as to whether they actually want to be the research subjects and may not be fully aware of what it entails. They may end up not pleased with the experience and would probably not walk out or choose not to continue as they may feel obliged to remain in the study group until the research is complete. Such a perspective may raise ethical questions and issues. Another ethical consideration for this study is the mention of the exact town location from where data was sourced, even though schools would remain anonymous. Such is an ethical issue as it may bring to light education issues or factors impacting the town even if the study was meant to act as an inference for the general population even in other areas. Consequently, the issue of having to provide gender based results may raise ethical issues as such results may be used to wrongly to put down one gender. Research design and Methodology Data collection and research design In completing this research study information will be gathered from secondary data sources which include empirical analysis of past research studies which analyse the relationship reading fluency and reading comprehension. This will provide important information on other studies that have already been done in this area and will also provide well synthesized data that can be used in this research study to identify gaps in research that are to be addressed by this research study. In addition, primary data will be gathered through active in-class participation of the second and third grade students in two randomly selected elementary schools The research design will be done both qualitatively and quantitatively, with the qualitative part mainly comprising the literature review that not only seeks to expand the view point of the research question under study, but also seeks to support the deductions arrived at in the paper. The quantitative component mainly involves the study of the primary data gathered, coded and analysed for deeper discussion based on the on-ground data. Participants of the study The participants in this study will be 100 second and third grade students from four primary schools in Melbourne, two from the high end side of town and two from the low side of town in order to represent all populations of all economic levels equally. As much as possible an equal sample for both boys and girls will seek to be attained representation of various ethnicities within Australia. The age range for the study participants will be between 7-10 years of age. Materials and procedure For each grade, reading passages will be randomly chosen from Leslie and Caldwell’s Qualitative Reading inventory (QRI-4) which has 197-word reading passages and eight comprehension questions. This formal reading inventory has been noted to be among the most suitable in understand the reading comprehension of students from various grades. A number of factors have been included in this inventory such as word frequencies, vocabulary and sentence length. The questions have also been structured in manner that they focus on the key terms and story line of the reading passages (Leslie and Caldwell 57). Consents will be obtained from parents for all students taking part in the study to allow the students partake in the research study and afterwards. Different schools will be evaluated at different times but within their schools. Readers will be selected randomly to read orally the passages and then answering the questions orally. All student participants in each school will read a passage in order to gauge the reading fluency of the students and base it to their performance in correctly answering the comprehension questions orally and within a short period of time. Passing the reading comprehension would be based on passing six correct questions. Both the time taken to read the passages, correctness of the questions answered and the time taken to answer them will be recorded for analysis. Data analysis Data collected will be analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Measures of central tendency such as mean and median are be used to analyse the attributes of the sample under study such as mean age of participants and their stand deviations. Qualitative data analysis will mainly be based on constant comparison and grounded theory where data is analysed and indicators of categories identified and compared (Strauss 165: Balnaves & Caputi 157), followed by an analytical induction which seeks to make sense of the comparisons deducted and linking them to the research questions and hypothesis to find the answers to the questions (Katz 231: Walter). In analysing the data in this research study, words read per minute criteria and the percentage performance on the comprehension questions as well as the time taken to answer them were used. First and foremost the mean of words per minute and the standard deviations will be calculated to understand the reading fluency. Similarly performance averages on the performance of the reading comprehensions will be computed with the mean and standard deviation of the performances. From this, z-statistics will be used to analyse whether the mean values of the reading fluency relates to the means of observed performances of the reading comprehension at 5% significant level. The p values of the data gathered will then be able to explain the validity of the hypothesis that reading fluency increases the reading comprehension performance, where if the p value is less than the 5% significant level, the hypothesis is rejected. In addition, the reading frequency will be divided into three groups based on performance. Those who tool 5-7 mins to read, those who took more than 7 minutes to read , and those who took less than 5 to read, with the determining variable of time taken being the average taken by all students in the research study. With these groups, a one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) will used to analyse the group differences in means of the performance in reading comprehension, and in deriving the minimum number of words per minute that needs to be read for the above average performance of the reading comprehension for both the boys and the girls. In addition, a one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) will used to analyse the gender group differences in means of the performance in reading comprehension. Since it is hypothesized that that reading fluency increases the reading comprehension performance, and that girls tend to be perform highly in reading comprehension that do boys and tend to take less words per minute on the above average reading comprehension score as compared to boys, then one way analysis for each of these variables would be the appropriate tool of analysis (Balnaves & Caputi 147; Katz 248), to understand such differences. Based on these quantitative analysis done on the research data collected, various deductions will be extracted for discussion in order to understand the what the gender difference in minimum rapidity of reading fluency and word recognition necessary for above average comprehension performance in second and third grade students. Works Cited Alber-Morgan, R. Sheila, Matheson E. Ramp, Lara L. Anderson., & Christa. M. Martin. “Effects of repeated readings, error correction, and performance feedback on the fluency and comprehension of middle school students with problem behavior.” Journal of Special Education, 41 (2007): 17 – 30. Balnaves, Mark, and Peter Caputi. “Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods: An Investigative Approach.” London: Sage Publishers (2001). Berninger, W. Virginia, et al. “Paths to reading comprehension in at-risk second grade readers.” Journal of Learning Disabilities 39 (2006): 334 – 351. Burns, K. Mathew, et al. "Minimum Reading Fluency Necessary for Comprehension among Second-Grade Students." Psychology in the Schools 48.2 (2011): 124-132. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. Burns, K. Mathew, et al. “Minimum reading fluency rate necessary for comprehension: A potential criterion for curriculum- based assessments.” Assessment for Effective Intervention, 28 (2002), 1–7. Deno, L. Stanley “Developments in curriculum-based measurement.” Journal of Special Education, 37 (2003): 184 – 192. Retrieved from http://www.studentprogress.org/library/Deno.pdf Flint, K. Tori. “Making Meaning Together: Buddy Reading in a First Grade Classroom.” Early Childhood Education Journal 38 (2010): 289-297. Fuchs, S. Lynn, Douglas Fuchs, Michelle K. Hosp, & Joseph R. Jenkins. “Oral reading fluency as an indicator of reading competence: A theoretical, empirical, and historical analysis.” Scientific Studies of Reading, 5 (2001): 239 – 256. 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Ming Chui, Ming, & Catherine McBride-Chang. “Gender, context and reading: A comparison of students in 43 countries.” Scientific Studies of Reading 10.4(2006): 331–362. Oakhill, James, Klein Cain, & Peter E. Byrant. “The dissociation of word reading and text comprehension: Evidence from component skills.” Language and Cognitive Processes, 18 (2003): 443–468. Rosenblatt, M. Loise. “The Literary Transaction: Evocation and Response.” Theory into Practice, 21.4 (2001):268277 Spear-Swerling, Louise. “Children’s reading comprehension and oral reading fluency in easy text.” Reading and Writing, 19 (2006): 199 – 220. Strauss, L. Anselm. “Qualitative analysis for social scientists.” New York: Cambridge University Press (1987) Tannenbaum, K. Kendra, Joseph K. Torgensen, and Richard K. Wagner. “Relationships between Word Knowledge and Reading Comprehension in Third-Grade Children.” Scientific Studies of Reading 10.4(2006): 381-398. Van Kraayenoord, E. Christina, Andrea Beinicke, Mathias Schlagmuller and Wolfgang Schneider. “Word Identification, Metacognitive Knowledge, Motivation, and Reading Comprehension: An Australian Study of Grade 3 and 4 pupils.” Australian journal of Language & Literacy 35.1(2012): 51-68 Walter, Maggie (Ed.) “Social Research Methods 2nd ed.” Melbourne: Oxford University Press.(2010) Wiley, I. Hilda, & Deno, L. Stanley. “Oral reading and maze measures as predictors of success for English learners on a state standards assessment.” Remedial and Special Education 26 (2005): 207–214. Read More