Running head: UNDERACHIEVEMENT IN READING 1

Student Motivation and Reading Underachievement

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH DESIGN

Introduction

Reading is becoming an emergent global problem in various societies. In order to address

these issues locally, action researches can be utilized in order to decipher the best plan of action

which will yield fruitful results. It is the job of educators to find ways to help students to learn

how to read and how to understand what they have read in order to create a society that is

literate, functional and productive.

According to Clem Adelman (2006), Kurt Lewin is one of the major founders of action

research. He was a social psychologist who developed topographical psychology. He and his

colleagues devised interactive theories on organizational behavior which enhanced social

psychology. This was a way to apply psychological ideas and draw precise conclusions. Lewin

did a study with his students to analyze the gains in productivity and cooperation in a democracy

verses an autocracy. This research concluded was in which we can develop and maintain good

working relationships. His goal was to help minorities to develop more confidence and have a

voice in their community. His concept referred to as “action research” was set out in 1934.

According to Adelman (2016), Lewin shared, “No action without research; no research without

action.” He continued his studies by using what he had learnt to foster cooperation and

productivity amongst various groups. Today action research has developed drastically. It is

employed by various disciplines. In the past, classroom teachers and the curriculum were the

main focus but today it has branched out. Other types of research methods have emerged and

more information on how to go about carrying out qualitative research is available. This includes

steps, guides and procedures to carry out research. New labels have been added within the

research and it now covers a broader scope giving more accurate results (Smith, 2006).
Student Motivation and Reading Under Achievement 3

It is important to carry out these types of researches especially in the classroom setting

where there is need for reform in order to see growth in the children and in the country.

According to the popular quote, “The children are the future.” Becoming a functional member of

society will lessen many societal problems. Many schools in the country will be able to benefit

from this action research as they will see how it can be applied in their schools in order to be

effective. In this paper, the Read Naturally Program will be utilized in order to see whether it has

positive effects on the fluency and comprehension of students. This intervention program uses

concepts such as repeated reading, teacher modelling and progress monitoring in order for

students to develop fluency and comprehension skills. This intervention will be done for an hour

after school, four days a week. Apart from this, it will be infused in a unit plan which will be

taught to students. Before the unit students will be given a pretest to test their fluency and

comprehension level. After the program and the implementation of the unit, a post test will be

administered and the results will be recorded and analyzed. Within the unit will be the major

comprehension strategies tested in the program which are making predictions, recalling details,

inference, summarizing and main idea and supporting details. Students will also be taught the

fluency skills which the program aims to improve. The results will be analyzed using a

quantitative approach and displayed through graphs and tables. To ensure that the data is an

accurate account, students were informed of the process in a non-threatening manner and the

pretest was conducted in a quiet space by two teachers.

Sample

The standard 2 (grade 4) level classroom which was employed for this intervention has

28 students. The school decided to conduct this intervention due to the poor results on the Belize

Junior Achievement Test due to lack of reading and comprehension skills. Standard 2 was
Student Motivation and Reading Under Achievement 4

chosen because students are already preparing to take the test the following year. The group was

divided into two in order for teachers to effectively carry out the intervention plan. The students

at grade 3.5 and below were sent to an infant level teacher, while I worked with students from

4.0-6.0 as a middle level teacher. The children in the class are ages 7 and 8. The group analyzed

for this study consists of 8 boys and 8 girls. Most students are middle classed and are provided

for at the basic level; however, some students have more parental support than others. The

children in the class are of Creole, Garinagu and Mestizo descent with the majority being Creoles

followed by Mestizos.

Instrument

The instrument used for collecting the data is an established pretest and posttest used in

various primary schools in Belize to test students’ reading levels. These tests were distributed to

the school by Path Light International. The intervention program was bought abroad through this

non-profit organization which has a base in Belize. The program came with binders which have

about 12 stories at each reading level. The reading levels of the stories given to the school range

from pre-primer to grade 8. Each student also received a workbook which had on a checklist of

activities that they were supposed to complete using each story. This work book included an area

for challenging words, words and definitions, summaries, main idea and supporting details and

an area to respond to comprehension questions. At the back of the workbook is a page with a

graph where students recorded the amount of words read correctly in one minute before carrying

out the activities (cold time) and the amount of words read correctly in one minute after carrying

out the activities (hot time). Students were allowed to color their cold time on the graph with a

blue crayon and their hot time after the activities with a red crayon. This activity sheet and
Student Motivation and Reading Under Achievement 5

progress monitoring chart was developed and tested by the owners of the program and have been

utilized in various studies.

Data Collection Procedure

Before implementing this project as a means of this action research, permission was

granted from the principal of Holy Redeemer School as the intervention was still going to take

place with or without the action research. It would be beneficial for the school to see how the

children are progressing using this program. Letters were sent home to parents by the school

sharing the significance of the program and how it will be implemented. It was a mandatory

program for the school meaning a consent form was not given for the school initiative. However,

in order to use the data for this action research, a consent form was given to the children who

would be participating. As mentioned before, the instruments for the intervention was bought

from the Read Naturally owners through Path Light International which is a non-profit

organization which supports and empowers students and teachers in Belize. The steps for

implanting the after school program are as follows:

1. A pretest is given where students are tested on fluency and comprehension. The results of

the test are used to place students at a reading level.

2. Students go to the binder of their reading level and choose a story.

3. Students look at the picture and title then write a prediction of what the story may be

about.

4. Students go to the teacher and read for cold time. Teacher clarifies mistakes in reading.

They colour in blue the number of words read correctly in their chart.
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5. Students sit and complete repeated reading and comprehension activities by following

their checklist.

6. After completing all the activities on the checklist, students read to the teacher for hot

time and record the number of words read accurately in one minute by coloring with red

on their chart.

7. Students are encouraged to look at their chart and see their improvement from cold time

to hot time.

8. Students put back the story and choose another. They then complete the process again

until they reach the 6th week of the program.

Data Analysis Procedure

The data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics. Before the intervention takes place,

the pretest scores will be recorded in a table along with the mean, mode, median and range of the

scores. Also, using the pretest scores the percentage of students at each reading level will be

displayed using a table. Another table will show the number of errors each student got while

responding to comprehension questions after reading the passage. Students’ scores on the post

test will be distributed in a similar manner as the pretest in order to give a clear view for the

results to be analyzed. The table with percentages will also be repeated to show students new

reading level and number of errors while answering comprehension questions. A pie chart will

be utilized to show how much percentage of the students reading increased in hot time reading

verses cold time reading and the percentage of students which showed neither an increase nor a

decrease. Analyzing these tables and pie chart will bring a clearer view of the effect the

intervention had on students in the areas of fluency and comprehension. This approach was

chosen in order for readers to compare the base scores to the scores after the intervention has
Student Motivation and Reading Under Achievement 7

taken place. The strengths and weaknesses of the intervention will also be able to be inferred

while analyzing the results. Therefore the extent to which the program is effective or ineffective

will be able to be concluded.

Chapter Summary

Kurt Lewin was one of the major founders of Action Research. This stemmed from the

need to establish how factors can affect performance of a group. Action research turned into a

precise way to conduct research and gain knowledge based on observations and other data. Over

the years the methods and strategies have changed making it a more powerful tool in addressing

social and psychological issues. This action research will be analyzed using descriptive data

collected during the research process. The method used will yield data which will give insights to

the extent of success the Read Naturally Program has on the performance of students in

Language Arts in a primary school in Belize City.