USING TEACHER ORAL READING TO IMPROVE 9th GRADE STUDENT ATTENDANCE VOCABULARY AND COMPREHENSION IN AN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL By Barry D Cannon A MASTER S PROJECT For ED 7999 Submitted to the Office for Graduate Studies Graduate Division of Wayne State University Detroit Michigan In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of MASTERS OF ARTS IN TEACHING 2004 MAJOR ENGLISH SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION APPROVED BY Advisor Date Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapters I Introduction to the Project The Situation The Need Significance of the Study Population Summary III 1 1 3 4 4 4 II Review of Related Literature Introduction Theoretical Bases Research Suggested Approaches Summary 5 5 5 6 7 8 III Methodology of the Study Introduction Hypotheses Population Sample Description of the Project Data Collection Summary 9 9 9 10 10 10 11 IV Findings Introduction Hypothesis 1 Summary Hypothesis 2 Summary Hypothesis 3 Summary Hypothesis 4 Summary Chapter Summary 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 V Conclusions and Recommendations Introduction Conclusions Recommendations Personal Reflections References Appendix A Pretest and Posttest Scores Appendix B Daily Attendance Count 18 18 18 18 19 20 22 24 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who contributed to my success At this time I would like to take a brief moment to give thanks and recognition to all of these wonderful people First I would like to give thanks to Christ who is at the head of my life Second I give thanks to my mother and father Mrs Bobbie Lee Cannon and Mr Willie McKinley Cannon Sr for my birth and instilling the correct values drive and determination within my character Third I give thanks to my advisor Dr Bob Pettapiece whose guidance helped me to complete this project Fourth I give thanks to all my siblings for their encouragement motivation and support along this journey Fifth I thank Mr Samuel Little Craig Jones Anthony Fleming Geary Howard and Frederick Johnson for being positive influences and encouraging me to further my education I would like to thank my educational role models Edward Cody Kenneth Moon Charles Whiteside Robert Smith John Baker Larry Houser Johnny Goston Renardo Edwards Frederick Hodge Jerry Franklin Jr Kevin Byrd James Blanton Dr Jerome Boikai Juanita Stovall Mary Cain and Brenda Gatlin for always being positive role models and for laying the foundation for me to follow Finally the people I wish to recognize are countless but I am reminded of the African proverb it takes an entire village to raise a child I sincerely appreciate the support and encouragement from all my friends and family 3 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT Introduction There is a dire need for oral reading particularly in urban school districts where the reading level of many students is very low Yet many school districts neglect this Oral reading is interactive It depends on the students involvement for its effectiveness This project will look to see if students who are read to orally will exhibit better attendance and improve their reading comprehension and vocabulary The Situation Reading is fundamental to learning Yet millions of school children particularly in urban districts cannot perform this basic literacy skill Since the 1980 s the idea of raising achievement standards in public education has emerged as a national cause but very little has been written about the role oral reading plays in students achievement and reading comprehension A few articles have been written about the correlation between oral reading and student attendance and reading comprehension but these have only been cursory in scope and have not treated the subject in depth According to The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 1997 about 40 percent of the population have reading difficulties enough to hinder their enjoyment of reading These problems are generally not developmental and do not diminish over time but persist into adulthood without appropriate intervention p 2 The Institute further contends the difference between a child who has a learning disability in reading and a child who is simply a poor reader is only the difference in the severity of the problem p 2 A statistic reported by the 4 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 1997 which also deals with students approaching adulthood tells us 42 million adult Americans can t read 50 million can recognize so few printed words they are limited to a 4th or 5th grade reading level one out of every four teenagers drops out of high school and of those who graduate one out of every four has the equivalent or less of an eighth grade education p 3 Throughout the United States an enormous expenditure of energy and money has been filtered into remedial reading programs Yet American children still suffer from reading difficulties Focusing specifically on African American children in the 1960 s and 1970 s Pellegrini 1991 explains how many experts debated over the issue of using Black English in the schools Although Black English is not the answer educators need to understand the language demands and rules that correspond to specific contexts if we hope to understand the reasons why certain children succeed or fail in school p 24 In addition some educators see these students as lacking the prerequisite language experiences and intellectual stimulation needed to easily become members of a literate community Walker Dalhouse 1993 p 24 There are many cultural and economic factors that create a major difference in the achievement of African American students and affect the type of reading skill implementations needed for success Regardless of the many explanations of why it is difficult to teach the African American child to read the task must be conquered Developing reading programs will help to boost students self esteem Eric St John 2000 states remedial programs for students are all part of building self esteem and that helps them believe that they can do the work p 3 The student s failure to obtain adequate reading 5 skills causes many to stop attending classes and eventually leads to dropping out Some scholars believe that children who fail to read lack reading skills due to limited exposure to books in the home exposure to outside literacy events or shared book reading between the child and parent Pellegrini 1991 As more and more children are having reading difficulties during their high school years it is important to find programs strategies and best instruction