Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

Sub-Department

Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Kenneth Vogler

Abstract

The present quantitative action research study examined two classes of Southern kindergarten students in a Title I school and their oral language and comprehension abilities as measured by standardized tests. The identified problem of practice involved incoming kindergarteners’ lack of preparedness for reading. The research question that guided this quantitative study was: How does a kindergarten student’s oral language ability relate to his or her ability to comprehend a wordless picture book and a text read to them? Assessments of overall oral language, wordless picture book comprehension, and listening comprehension comprise the data set. Data were collected at the beginning of the school year. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine if a relationship existed between oral language and listening comprehension as well as between oral language and wordless picture book (reading) comprehension. Findings include a strong, positive connection between oral language and reading comprehension for the participants in this study. The researcher reflected on the data with her colleagues to determine implications. An action plan was designed based on these findings to improve instruction for beginning of the year kindergarteners at the researcher’s school. The action plan includes using developmentally appropriate practices to provide additional instruction in oral language and comprehension strategies as well as engaging in more research on this topic.

Rights

© 2017, Rebecca Kathleen Thompson

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