Increasing the Performance of Poor Readers in the Third Grade With a Group-Assisted Strategy

• Published in: The Journal of educational research (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 84; no. 2; pp. 69 - 77
• Main Author: Lloyd Eldredge, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Routledge 01.11.1990; Heldref Publications; Public School Pub. Co. for the University of Illinois, Bureau of Educational Research
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Childrens literature; Cooperative Learning; Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods; Dyadic relations; Educational sciences; Elementary School; Grade 3; Oral literature; Posttests; Pretests; Primary Education; Reading; Reading Achievement; Reading Comprehension; Reading Improvement; Reading Instruction; Reading teachers; Reading, writing; Remedial Instruction; Teachers; Teaching Methods; Vocabulary Skills
• ISSN: 0022-0671; 1940-0675
• DOI: 10.1080/00220671.1990.10885995

This study examined the reading achievement effects of "group-assisted reading," a teaching strategy designed to assist poor readers to read material that is too difficult for them to read by themselves. The 18 poor readers who received the group-assisted reading treatment and the 18 poor readers who received the unassisted-reading treatment were randomly selected from the population of poor readers in 3 third-grade classrooms in one elementary school in Provo, Utah. One teacher taught both groups of students in 15-min "pull-out" sessions over an 8-week period. A pretest-posttest control group research design was used. Reading comprehension and vocabulary were measured using the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Level C, Form I. All students, in both treatment groups, were administered the Gates test at the end of January 1987 and again in April 1987. Students involved in the group-assisted reading experiment made greater achievement gains in reading comprehension and vocabulary than did those who were given no assistance. Explanations for the reading gains are discussed.