Exploring the Value Added of a Guided, Silent Reading Intervention: Effects on Struggling Third-Grade Readers’ Achievement

Abstract

The authors’ purpose was to explore the effects of a supplementary, guided, silent reading intervention with 80 struggling third-grade readers who were retained at grade level as a result of poor performance on the reading portion of a criterion referenced state assessment. The students were distributed in 11 elementary schools in a large, urban school district in the state of Florida. A matched, quasi-experimental design was constructed using propensity scores for this study. Students in the guided, silent reading intervention, Reading Plus, evidenced higher, statistically significant mean scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test criterion assessment measure of reading at posttest. The effect size, favoring the guided, silent reading intervention group was large, 1 full standard deviation, when comparing the 2 comparison groups’ mean posttest scores. As such, the results indicate a large advantage for providing struggling third-grade readers guided silent reading fluency practice in a computer-based practice environment. No significant difference was found between the treatment and control group on the Stanford Achievement Test–10 (SAT-10) posttest scores, although posttest scores for the treatment group trended higher than the control. After conducting a power analysis, it was determined that the sample size (n = 80) was too small to provide sufficient statistical power to detect a difference in third-grade students’ SAT-10 scores.

Examining the Effects of Skill Level and Reading Modality on Reading Comprehension

“…Although sustained silent reading is a prevalent classroom practice, it is not well supported by research (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000). Results from investigations of Scaffolded Silent Reading suggest that silent reading programs can be effective if the teacher makes several proactive decisions, including structuring, guiding, teaching, interacting with, monitoring, and holding students accountable for time spent reading independently and silently (Reutzel et al, 2008;Reutzel et al, 2012). Pedagogical techniques such as Scaffolded Silent Reading may be necessary to ensure that students become independent silent readers who can construct meaning from expository and narrative text.…”

“…Students are seldom asked to read aloud beyond the elementary school years. Pedagogical support is rarely provided to students regarding how to silently read and extract information in an independent manner (Hiebert et al, 2012), despite evidence suggesting that scaffolded silent reading fluency instruction, or the process of providing instructional support tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve his or her learning goals (Sawyer, 2006), is beneficial for students (Reutzel, Jones, Fawson, & Smith, 2008;Reutzel, Petscher, & Spichtig, 2012;Sanacore, 2002). Students whose reading experiences occur primarily in a setting where heavy attention is placed on oral reading without providing scaffolded instruction in silent reading may not develop the skills required for full participation in higher education and in the future workplace (Hiebert et al, 2012).…”

Reading Comprehension: A Computerized Intervention with Primary‐age Poor Readers

“…Several researchers have shown independent silent reading to be beneficial in terms of reading achievement, comprehension, fluency and vocabulary (Kelley & Clausen‐Grace, ; Reutzel, Fawson, & Smith, ; Reutzel, Jones, Fawson, & Smith, ), particularly for students over the age of 8 years old (Kuhn, ; Reutzel, Petscher, & Spichtig, ). However, there are some issues with using independent silent reading practice in the classroom, such as ensuring that students are actually able to read the books they choose (Donovan, Smolkin, & Lomax, ) and keeping their eyes on the text (Hiebert, Wilson, & Trainin, ).…”

“…However, there are some issues with using independent silent reading practice in the classroom, such as ensuring that students are actually able to read the books they choose (Donovan, Smolkin, & Lomax, ) and keeping their eyes on the text (Hiebert, Wilson, & Trainin, ). Nevertheless, research has shown computer‐based guided silent reading interventions, using texts which increase in difficulty and length, to produce gains in reading comprehension and general literacy achievement (Rasinski, Samuels, Hiebert, Petscher, & Feller, ; Reutzel et al, ). Reutzel et al suggest that the success of the computer‐based guided intervention is due to the programme monitoring the children's comprehension and adjusting the text level to suit their ability (rather than children selecting texts that are too difficult for them), promoting motivation by giving students a choice of genre within the appropriate level of text, making students accountable for their time by monitoring their progress and focusing on the development of fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills.…”

“…Reports generated by the programme allow each child's progress to be constantly monitored. Comprehension Booster utilizes several of the methods identified as being effective in improving reading comprehension, including silent reading (Kuhn, ; Reutzel et al, ; Reutzel et al, ), repeated reading (Armstrong & Hughes, ; Karweit & Wasik, ; Therrien et al, ), controlled decodable vocabulary and vocabulary instruction (Karweit & Wasik, ; Lovett et al, ), reading along with the computer (Basil & Reyes, ; Swanson et al, ), increasingly difficult text (Chard et al, ), question and answering (Karweit & Wasik, ) and immediate corrective feedback (Chard et al, ) allowing the child to reflect on the responses given before moving on to the next passage (Hall et al, ).…”