Center for Research on Learning Scholarly Works
https://hdl.handle.net/1808/18180
This collection contains publications by researchers and faculty affiliated with the Center for Research on Learning.2024-03-28T09:02:37ZUnderstanding oral reading fluency among adults with low literacy: Dominance analysis of contributing component skills
https://hdl.handle.net/1808/24693
Understanding oral reading fluency among adults with low literacy: Dominance analysis of contributing component skills
Mellard, Daryl F.; Anthony, Jason L.; Woods, Kari
This study extends the literature on the component skills involved in oral reading fluency. Dominance analysis was applied to assess the relative importance of seven reading-related component skills in the prediction of the oral reading fluency of 272 adult literacy learners. The best predictors of oral reading fluency when text difficulty was fixed at a single reading level was word reading efficiency. When text difficulty varied based on readers’ comprehension levels, word reading efficiency was also the best predictor with vocabulary and auditory working memory emerging as important predictors as well. Our findings suggest the merit of investigations into whether adults with low literacy may need vocabulary and auditory working memory strategy interventions to improve their reading fluency.
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11145-011-9322-y.
2012-07-01T00:00:00ZDispositional factors affecting motivation during learning in adult basic and secondary education programs
https://hdl.handle.net/1808/24692
Dispositional factors affecting motivation during learning in adult basic and secondary education programs
Mellard, Daryl F.; Krieshok, Thomas S.; Fall, Emily C.; Woods, Kari
Research indicates that about a quarter of adult students separate from formal adult basic and secondary education (ABE/ASE) programs before completing one educational level. This retrospective study explores individual dispositional factors that affect motivation during learning, particularly students’ goals, goal-directed thinking and action based on hope theory and attendance behaviors, and self-perceptions of competency based on affective domain attributions about external and internal obstacles to learning and employment, and demographic factors. Among 274 ABE/ASE students, those learners who made an education gain in 1 year significantly differed from those who did not in only a few dispositional or demographic variables; and by educational level they significantly differed in a wide variety of dispositional and demographic variables. These findings suggest researchable questions and programmatic considerations that may lead to future innovations that improve learner persistence.
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11145-012-9413-4.
2013-04-01T00:00:00ZRelation and interactions among reading fluency and competence for adult education learners
https://hdl.handle.net/1808/24559
Relation and interactions among reading fluency and competence for adult education learners
Mellard, Daryl F.; Fall, Emily E.; Woods, Kari
Statistical analyses of data from an academically diverse sample of 276 adult basic and secondary education learners extends understanding of the relation of and interactions between oral reading fluency and reading competence indices. Significant interactions between total word rate and word error rate that differed in relation to two measures of reading competence suggest that adult literacy instructors should emphasize fluency instruction to a greater or lesser degree depending on whether the major goal of instruction is academic reading (e.g., being able to comprehend a textbook) or functional reading (e.g., being able to fill out a job application).
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mellard, D. F., Fall, E. E. and Woods, K. L. (2013), Relation and Interactions Among Reading Fluency and Competence for Adult Education Learners. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 28: 70–80. doi:10.1111/ldrp.12008, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/ldrp.12008. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
2013-05-01T00:00:00ZAdult Education Instructional Environments and Interaction Patterns Between Teachers and Students: An ecobehavioural assessment
https://hdl.handle.net/1808/21412
Adult Education Instructional Environments and Interaction Patterns Between Teachers and Students: An ecobehavioural assessment
Mellard, Daryl F.; Scanlon, David; Kissam, Brenda; Woods, Kari
Researchers who hope to develop improvements to adult basic education have very few quantitative studies on which to base their work. By conducting an ecobehavioural assessment of two adult education programs, this study provides empirical data describing two programs that primarily use one-to-one instructional methods. A significant discernible portion of the observations identified lost instructional time - time when teachers were not focused on students, no discernible subject was being instructed, no identifiable materials were being used, and teacher behaviours as well as student behaviours did not correspond to any of the recognised categories related to learning and instruction.
2005-01-01T00:00:00Z