Graduation Year

2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Granting Department

Childhood Education and Literacy Studies

Major Professor

Susan Homan, Ph.D.

Committee Member

James King, Ed.D.

Committee Member

Robert Dedrick, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Linda Evans, Ph.D.

Keywords

singing, rereading, fluency, early adolescents, alternative text, middle school, embedded literacy

Abstract

Singing exaggerates the language of reading. The students find their voices in the rhythm and bounce of language by using music as an alternative text. A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted to investigate the use of an interactive sing-to-read program Tune Into Reading (Electronic Learning Products, 2006) as an alternative text, embedded within a heterogeneous music classroom. Measured by the Qualitative Reading Inventory-4 (QRI-4) (Leslie & Caldwell, 2006), the fluency, word recognition, comprehension, and instructional reading level of the treatment students were compared to their counterparts who sang as part of the regular music program. Concurrently, this investigation also provided a description of the peers’ interactions during the literacy task assigned by the music teacher. The intent of this study was to address the following three research questions. First, what is the difference in reading outcomes for students who used the singing software verses the students who sang as part of their regular music curriculum? Second, are the reading outcomes different when the students were grouped by FCAT reading levels? Third, how do the peers interact during the literacy task of singing to read? The first two questions addressed the quantitative phase of this study to assess the collective differences on the dependent variables overtime and by group. The qualitative phase in this study used an interpretive case study approach to describe peer interactions during the assigned literacy task.

The study findings suggest that rereading through singing, using the interactive singing program, Tune Into Reading, was more effective regardless of the reading levels for treatment students compared to control students. In addition, prosody appeared to have a direct connection to reading comprehension. Furthermore, the use of the interactive program provided opportunities for differentiated reading level achievement. Finally, group dynamics highly influenced the early adolescent’s motivation, engagement, participation, and successful outcomes in reading fluency.

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