A Quasi-Experimental Study to Determine the Effects of Daily Free-Reading on Sixth-Grade Students' Reading Lexiles

Date of Graduation

Spring 2005

Degree

Master of Science in Education in Literacy

Department

Reading, Foundations, and Technology

Committee Chair

Beth Hurst

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of daily free-reading outside of the classroom setting on sixth-grade students’ reading lexiles. The study was conducted in a large southwest Missouri school district of nearly 24,000 students. This school district consists of 40 elementary schools, nine middle schools, and six high schools. One of the nine middle schools was the site of the study. There were 11 sixth-grade reading classes at this middle school. A judgment sampling of eight of the 11 reading classes was used in this study. The researcher was one of the reading teachers for the experimental group which consisted of four reading classes. Students were given a pre-test using the Scholastic Reading Inventory © (SRI). Over a 12-week period, students (91) in the experimental group were instructed to engage in free-reading for a minimum of 20 minutes each day outside of the classroom setting. They were allowed to choose what types and genre of materials they read. The control group of students (91) was not given any directives to engage in daily free-read or to read for a specific amount of time outside of the classroom setting. At the end of the study, the students were administered a post-test, again, using the SRI. This study included five hypotheses: 1) There would be a significant difference in reading lexiles when comparing both groups; 2) There would be a significant difference in reading lexiles when only the males from both groups; 3) There would be a significant difference in reading lexiles when comparing only the females from both groups; 4) There would be no significant difference when comparing the reading lexiles of the males and the females in the control group; 5) There would be no significant difference when comparing the reading lexiles of the males and the females in the experimental group.

Keywords

independent reading, lexile, free-reading, silent reading, sixth-grade reading

Subject Categories

Other Education

Copyright

© Linda M. Grigsby

Citation-only

Dissertation/Thesis

Share

COinS