- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- The effectiveness of the verbal skills curriculum system upon student attitudes and test scores, 1978
- Creator:
- Gleaton, Ruby H.
- Date of Original:
- 1978-05-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- This study was undertaken to determine to what extent the Verbal Skills Curriculum System is effective with the disadvantaged child. The purpose was to investigate the relationship between the use of Verbal Skills and achievement in and attitudes toward reading in students. The study was conducted on the basis of the following hypotheses (1) Mean gains in reading achievement for students enrolled in the Verbal Skills Curriculum System will be significantly greater than their mean gains in the year prior to enrollment in the program. (2) Attitudes toward reading by students enrolled in the Verbal Skills Curriculum System will be more positive than in the year prior to enrollment in the program. The subjects used in conducting this study were 47 fifth, sixth, and seventh grade boys and girls enrolled in the Title I reading program at the Thomasville Heights Elementary School the year prior to and following the introduction of Verbal Skills. The instruments utilized in the study were the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, The Verbal Skills Curriculum System, and a Teacher Rating Instrument. The Iowa Tests are eleven separate tests. The test battery is organized as follows: Vocabulary, Reading Comprehen sion, Language Skills, Work Study Skills, and Mathematics Skills. Verbal Skills is a programmed approach to reading and two devices provide the essential means for individualizing verbal skills instruction. They are: The Audio Frame System, a self stopping cassette playback machine which allows for audio self pacing and a Write and See marker, a printing innovation that provides immediate and contingent student response confirmation and a permanent record of student responses which can be diagnostically used by a teacher. The Teacher Rating Instrument was adapted by the writer from Thomas H. Estes' A Scale to Measure Attitudes Toward Reading. Procedural steps began with a survey of the Thomasville Heights student body. After selection of the 47 subjects, their Iowa test scores were obtained for the spring of 1973 and the spring of 1974. These two sets of scores were recorded. The 1973 scores were sub tracted from the 1974 scores to obtain a gain score. The same pro cess was used with the 1974 and 1975 scores. The mean gain scores for each school year were determined and a t test of significance was applied to determine if there was a significant difference between the reading performance of students before and after Verbal Skills exposure. Student mean gains were significantly lower at the .05 level after Verbal Skills exposure. The hypothesis that mean gains in reading achievement for students would be significantly greater was, therefore, rejected. The rating instrument was administered to classroom teachers who had instructed the 47 subjects during the 1973 74 school term and during the 1974 75 term. Results of the positive and negative statements were recorded. Students were rated lower on positive statements of the Teacher Rating Instrument after Verbal Skills exposure. This finding suggests that attitudes were also adversely affected by Verbal Skills. Negative statements concerning reading were rated approximately the same for the years prior to and follow ing the program. The recommendations included; (1) That further study be conducted to verify or disprove the present findings concerning the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Verbal Skills Curriculum System; and (2) That a much more involved longitudinal study be made of the Verbal Skills Curriculum System and its effect on student attitudes and test scores.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1978_gleaton_ruby_h
- Rights Holder:
- Clark Atlanta University
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
