Reading skills are fundamental for success in school and society. Research has shown that struggling readers need intensive interventions to improve their reading skills. The purpose of this study...Show moreReading skills are fundamental for success in school and society. Research has shown that struggling readers need intensive interventions to improve their reading skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two individualized online reading tutoring interventions – UIL (Universal Instruction for Literacy) and RA (Read-Along) – on the word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension skills of struggling readers in grades 4 and 5 (N=52). The UIL intervention involved direct, explicit reading instruction, whereas the RA intervention focused on increasing the amount of reading that students did. Both interventions were compared to a wait-list, business-as-usual (BAU) control group. Reading skills were measured via CBM word reading, CBM reading aloud, and CBM maze-selection tasks. Results revealed that students in the intervention conditions (UIL and RA) made significantly greater pre-posttest gains in word reading skills than did students in BAU control condition. Additionally, students in the UIL and RA made significantly greater pre-posttest gains in reading fluency and in restoring meaning to the text than did students in the BAU condition; however, these results were seen only for instructional texts, not for transfer texts. The results of the study suggest that providing extra, intensive 1:1 reading intervention to struggling readers in grades 4 and 5 may increase their reading skills; however, the extent to which such skill improvements transfer to material not practiced during instruction is in question.Show less
With the growing possibilities that technology offers to education, this study set out to explore the potential of online, intensive, individualized reading interventions. The study compared the...Show moreWith the growing possibilities that technology offers to education, this study set out to explore the potential of online, intensive, individualized reading interventions. The study compared the effects of the UIL (Universele Instructie in Lezen) and Read-along intervention methods on the reading performance and attitude of pupils with reading difficulties. The 35 grade 5 and 6 pupils took part in eight 30-minute tutoring sessions via Microsoft Teams. Prior to and following these sessions, the pupils were asked to complete a pretest and posttest comprising a series of reading tasks and a questionnaire with items on self-perception of reading skills and reading motivation. Our analysis showed that the pupils made substantial gains in reading performance from pretest to posttest and that their reading attitude improved. The observed gains were similar for the UIL and Read-along groups. We conclude that intensive one-on-one tutoring is potentially beneficial to improve the reading performance and attitude of struggling readers. Future studies with a control group, larger samples, and more divergent intervention methods can strengthen the present conclusions and help develop new or improved reading interventions to achieve even larger gains in reading performance and attitude.Show less
The CBM maze task scores must reflect all skills required for reading for it to be used as a measure of general reading proficiency. The main purpose of the current study was to find out whether...Show moreThe CBM maze task scores must reflect all skills required for reading for it to be used as a measure of general reading proficiency. The main purpose of the current study was to find out whether the CBM maze task scores reflect reading comprehension because, despite evidence for the reliability and validity of the maze task as a measure of general reading performance, there are questions about the extent to which the maze task scores reflect reading comprehension. The second purpose was to find out whether gender is an influential factor affecting the performance on the maze task. The current study had an experimental design because the format of the maze, which was the within-subjects factor, was manipulated. All 44 participants in the study completed both standard and scrambled mazes. The coherence of the scrambled maze texts was distorted by randomly shuffling the order of the sentences. Thus, if the participants score significantly higher on the standard mazes than on the non-coherent scrambled mazes, it would mean that CBM maze scores reflect reading comprehension. A two-way mixed ANOVA was performed to answer the research questions. The study revealed that participants obtained significantly higher scores on the standard mazes than on the scrambled mazes, supporting the hypothesis that CBM maze scores reflect reading comprehension. A statistically significant main effect of gender was found, however, there was no statistically significant interaction between the gender of the participants and the maze format on the maze scores. More research is needed to find out whether gender plays a significant role in the performance on maze tasks. The finding that CBM maze task scores reflect reading comprehension supports the use of the CBM maze as a measure of general reading proficiency.Show less
