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
In the Netherlands, 8-10% of the population of 16 years and older is low literated. Because literacy is quite important to participate in current and future society, this research investigates if...Show moreIn the Netherlands, 8-10% of the population of 16 years and older is low literated. Because literacy is quite important to participate in current and future society, this research investigates if teacher efficacy has a positive effect on the growth rate of reading. The participants are 23 teachers and 89 students of the 5th to the 8th grade. Teacher efficacy has been measured with a questionnaire translated into Dutch. Reading growth has been measured by a weekly maze task and a pre and post measurement of two reading tests. The results show there is no significant correlation between teacher efficacy and the results on the maze-tasks. The two factorial repeated measures ANOVA’s that have been conducted show both main effects for Measurement time (pre- and post) and ‘Teacher efficacy’. Remarkably, reading test scores of students of teachers with low teacher efficacy are higher than reading test scores of students of teachers with high teacher efficacy. In this research, no support has been found for the hypothesis that teacher efficacy has a positive effect on the growth rate of reading. Because the sample has been small, additional research should be done in order to draw strong conclusions.Show less
