Term

Summer 2017

Capstone

Thesis

Degree Name

MALED

Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair

Karen Moroz

Secondary Advisor/Reader One

Dawn Fedora

Peer-Reviewer/Reader Two

Betsy Saine

Abstract

The research question addressed in this capstone was: How does explicit instruction in close reading skills impact self-perception as a reader in struggling middle school students? In this project, action research was conducted over a four week period in a seventh grade suburban summer school classroom with eleven students. All of the participants were categorized as struggling readers. At the beginning of the research, students were administered a survey to gather information about their self-perception as a reader. Over the next four weeks, students received explicit instruction in three close reading strategies. During this period, students were also interviewed one on one about their learning and self-perception as a reader. At the end of the study, students completed the same reader self-perception survey. After four weeks of explicit instruction in close reading strategies, all eleven students saw gains in their reader self-perception. In their interviews students expressed that the close reading strategies gave them greater confidence and skill as a reader

Research Methodology

Action Research, Interview, Survey (attitude scale, opinion, questionnaire)

Keywords

Literacy, Motivation, Reading

Included in

Education Commons

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