Date of Award

12-1988

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Educational Leadership, Research and Technology

First Advisor

Dr. Paul Wilson

Second Advisor

Dr. Ronald A. Crowell

Third Advisor

Dr. Nickola W. Nelson

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to provide a new focus on college-level developmental reading programs by examining course content (i.e., instructional activities) in a developmental reading class.

Attitudes and time spent on instructional activities were monitored for 47 students in three sections of college level developmental reading. Multiple regression analyses were used to relate these data to vocabulary and comprehension gains on the Nelson Denny Reading Test (J. Brown, Nelson, & Denny, 1976).

Students made significant gains in vocabulary and in comprehension. Student attitudes predicted gains in both vocabulary and comprehension. Because of reliability problems, the time data do not predict gains.

Differences in vocabulary and comprehension performance were also explored. Comprehension gains were superior to vocabulary gains, and these gains are an indication of the efficacy of the instruction that was provided.

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