Effects of a Peer-Mediated Phonological Skill and Reading Comprehension Program on Reading Skill Acquisition for Middle School Students with Reading Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a peer-mediated instructional approach on the teaching of phonological skills and reading comprehension for middle school (sixth- to eighth-grade) students with reading disabilities. All students (n = 38) were identified as having learning disabilities and reading at the third-grade level or below. One group was taught using a peer-mediated phonological skill program, Linguistics Skills Training (LST), and a peer-mediated reading comprehension program, Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS). The contrast group was taught in the more traditional whole-class format using a widely implemented remedial reading program. The results showed significant differences between conditions, with students receiving the LST/PALS instruction outperforming the contrast group on Letter—Word Identification, Word Attack, and Passage Comprehension using the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement—III. Furthermore, large effect sizes for growth were found on Letter—Word Identification, Word Attack, and Passage Comprehension for the LST/PALS treatment group. No differences were found between conditions for reading fluency. Findings are discussed in regard to instruction delivery format (peer tutoring vs. whole class) with respect to best practices for middle school students with reading disabilities.

[1]  T. Conway,et al.  Intensive Remedial Instruction for Children with Severe Reading Disabilities , 2001, Journal of learning disabilities.

[2]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Acquisition and Transfer Effects of Classwide Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies in Mathematics for Students with Varying Learning Histories. , 1995 .

[3]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Classwide Curriculum-Based Measurement: Helping General Educators Meet the Challenge of Student Diversity , 1994 .

[4]  M. Lovett,et al.  Components of Effective Remediation for Developmental Reading Disabilities: Combining Phonological and Strategy-based Instruction To Improve Outcomes. , 2000 .

[5]  Sharon Vaughn,et al.  The Underlying Message in LD Intervention Research: Findings from Research Syntheses , 2000 .

[6]  Richard T. Boon,et al.  Can Middle School Students with Serious Reading Difficulties Help Each Other and Learn Anything? , 2001 .

[7]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies in Reading , 2001 .

[8]  Larry Maheady.  Training and Implementation Requirements Associated with the Use of a Classwide Peer Tutoring System. , 1991 .

[9]  E. Hanushek,et al.  Does Special Education Raise Academic Achievement for Students with Disabilities? , 1998 .

[10]  Louisa C. Moats,et al.  Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able To Do. , 1999 .

[11]  K. Lane,et al.  The Impact of Comprehensive Reading Instruction on the Academic and Social Behavior of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders , 2003 .

[12]  Douglas Fuchs,et al.  Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies for First-Grade Readers: Responding to the Needs of Diverse Learners. , 1998 .

[13]  Charles R. Greenwood,et al.  Longitudinal Effects of Classwide Peer Tutoring. , 1989 .

[14]  Larry Mabeady.  Preparing Teachers for Instructing Multiple Ability Groups , 1997 .

[15]  M. Wolf,et al.  Naming-Speed Processes, Timing, and Reading , 2000, Journal of learning disabilities.

[16]  James F. Baumann,et al.  The Effectiveness of a Direct Instruction Paradigm for Teaching Main Idea Comprehension. , 1984 .

[17]  Michelle K. Hosp,et al.  Oral Reading Fluency as an Indicator of Reading Competence: A Theoretical, Empirical, and Historical Analysis , 2001 .

[18]  L. deBettencourt,et al.  Follow-up of Postsecondary-Age Rural Learning Disabled Graduates and Dropouts , 1989, Exceptional children.

[19]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Effects of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies on High School Students with Serious Reading Problems , 1999 .

[20]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Effects of Explicit Teaching and Peer Tutoring on the Reading Achievement of Learning-Disabled and Low-Performing Students in Regular Classrooms , 1995, The Elementary School Journal.

[21]  Maryanne Wolf,et al.  What time may tell: Towards a new conceptualization of developmental dyslexia , 1999 .

[22]  G. Glass,et al.  Meta-analysis in social research , 1981 .

[23]  A. Sandler.  Intensive remedial instruction for children with severe reading disabilities , 2001 .

[24]  Richard K. Olson,et al.  The Etiology and Remediation of Phonologically Based Word Recognition and Spelling Disabilities: Are Phonological Deficits the 'Hole' Story? , 1997 .

[25]  M. Lovett.  Treating the Core Deficits of Developmental Dyslexia: Evidence of Transfer of Learning after Phonologically- and Strategy-Based Reading Training Programs. , 1994 .

[26]  I. Sigel,et al.  HANDBOOK OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY , 2006 .

[27]  H. Lee Swanson,et al.  Reading Research for Students with LD , 1999, Journal of learning disabilities.

[28]  H. Swanson,et al.  Experimental Intervention Research on Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis of Treatment Outcomes , 1998 .

[29]  T. Whitlock.  Dyslexia , 1989, The Lancet.

[30]  Patricia G. Mathes,et al.  Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies for First-Grade Readers: A Tool for Preventing Early Reading Failure , 1999 .

[31]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies: Making Classrooms More Responsive to Diversity , 1997 .

[32]  Victor Nolet,et al.  Curriculum-Based Evaluation: Teaching and Decision Making , 2000 .

[33]  D. Share.  Phonological recoding and self-teaching: sine qua non of reading acquisition , 1995, Cognition.

[34]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  The Effects of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies and Curriculum-Based Measurement on the Mathematics Performance of Secondary Students with Disabilities , 2003 .

[35]  S. Vaughn,et al.  Urban Middle-Elementary Students' Perceptions of Grouping Formats for Reading Instruction , 1997, The Elementary School Journal.

[36]  N. Zigmond,et al.  Follow-Up of Postsecondary Age Learning Disabled Graduates and Drop-Outs. , 1985 .

[37]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies: An Evidence-Based Practice to Promote Reading Achievement , 2000 .

[38]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension-Monitoring Activities , 1984 .

[39]  Charles Greenwood,et al.  Classwide Peer Tutoring , 1986, Exceptional children.

[40]  M. C. Wittrock,et al.  Generative processes in reading comprehension. , 1978 .

[41]  Patricia G. Mathes,et al.  Do Students With and Without Lexical Retrieval Weaknesses Respond Differently to Instruction? , 2001, Journal of learning disabilities.

[42]  H. Lee Swanson,et al.  Research on Interventions for Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis of Outcomes Related to Higher-Order Processing , 2001, The Elementary School Journal.

[43]  Charles R. Greenwood,et al.  ClassWide Peer Tutoring and the Prevention of School Failure , 1995 .

[44]  L. Cremin,et al.  READING, WRITING, AND LITERACY , 1975 .

[45]  S. Vaughn,et al.  Reading Instruction in the Resource Room: Set up for Failure , 2000 .

[46]  Marilyn Jager Adams,et al.  Beginning To Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. , 1991 .

[47]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Exploring the Importance of Reading Programs for Kindergartners with Disabilities in Mainstream Classrooms , 2002 .