Factors that Affect the Reading Comprehension of Secondary

249 Pages·2017·2.83 MB·English

The University of San Francisco
USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library |
Geschke Center
Doctoral Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects
2015
Factors that Affect the Reading Comprehension of
Secondary Students with Disabilities
Karen L. Sanford
University of San Francisco, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at:http://repository.usfca.edu/diss
Part of theEducation Commons
Recommended Citation
Sanford, Karen L., "Factors that Affect the Reading Comprehension of Secondary Students with Disabilities" (2015).Doctoral
Dissertations. 125.
http://repository.usfca.edu/diss/125
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital
repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of USF
Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please [email protected].
The University of San Francisco

FACTORS AFFECTING THE READING COMPREHENSION OF SECONDARY
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

A Dissertation Presented
To
The Faculty of the School of Education
Learning and Instruction Department

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Education

By
Karen L. Sanford
San Francisco
May 2015
THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO

Dissertation Abstract

Factors that Affect the Reading Comprehension of Secondary Students with Disabilities

Thirty-million Americans are considered functionally illiterate and are unable to
complete job applications or understand health care forms. Fifty-seven percent of adults
with disabilities believe that job opportunities are limited due to their poor reading
ability. Without strong literacy skills, post-secondary college and employment options are
limited. The genesis of adult literacy issues can be linked to below-grade level reading at
the elementary and secondary school levels. For students with disabilities (SWD),
reading deficits are rampant and lead to low self-efficacy and higher drop-out rates.
While reading difficulties are not isolated to SWD, there is a significant gap in reading
achievement between students with and students without disabilities. Additionally, poor
academic outcomes for SWD are related to inconsistency in the application of teaching
reading strategies.
To understand the factors integral to reading comprehension, this study explored
the relative importance of working memory, vocabulary, prior knowledge, word
recognition, reading strategies, and motivation-to-read for the reading comprehension of
secondary SWD. These variables represent the major constructs of Kintsch’s
Construction Integration Model of reading and have been identified in reading
comprehension research as the factors integral to reading comprehension.
Participants were 158 SWD in grades 9 to 12 attending two large urban northern
California high schools. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with the affective
and cognitive variables both individually and jointly and, in order of importance, word
ii
recognition, vocabulary, reading strategies, working memory, and prior knowledge were
found to influence the reading comprehension of secondary SWD. Of the motivation-to-
read factors, extrinsic motivation had a statistically significant negative relationship with
reading comprehension indicating that internally motivated students had higher reading
comprehension ability. Intrinsic motivation was also a significant contributor to reading
comprehension when the affective factors were regressed onto reading comprehension.
Differences in the relative importance of the cognitive components between low- and
high-comprehenders were also noted suggesting that high-comprehenders had more
internalized reading abilities than low-comprehenders.
The results from this study findings suggest a variety of cognitive and affective
factors influence the reading comprehension of secondary SWD. Knowing the relative
importance of these variables will help identify appropriate instruction to target key
reading deficits. Multi-sensory direct instruction in word recognition and vocabulary is
one such method that has promise for secondary SWD.

iii
This dissertation, written under the direction of the candidate’s dissertation committee
and approved by the members of the committee, has been presented to and accepted by
the Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
degree of Doctor of Education. The content and research methodologies presented in this
work represent the work of the candidate alone.

Karen L. Sanford May 13, 2015
Candidate Date

Dissertation Committee

Robert Burns, Ph. D. May 13, 2015
Committee Chair Date

Kevin Oh, Ph. D. May 13, 2015
Date

Helen Maniates, Ph. D. May 13, 2015
Date

iv
Dedication

The work herein is dedicated to the students and teachers I have had the pleasure
of working with for the past nine years. Every day I come to work, I am awed by the
resilience and eagerness my students express to learn to read. Through tears and laughter,
they strive to become stronger readers so that they will be able to have opportunities
when they graduate. Each and every one of them has learned that reading is the key to
their future and because of that they push themselves to overcome years of reading
failure.
This work is also dedicated to my colleagues who work diligently to make sure all
of their students can read. I have been blessed to work with a group of caring and creative
individuals who are able to see the future though the eyes of their students.
v
Acknowledgement

This work could not have been completed without the unwavering support of Dr.
Robert Burns, my committee chair. Dr. Burns was instrumental with this process from its
inception, and I am honored to have had his guidance and support. From my myriad
emails, to lengthy phone calls, to numerous revisions, Dr. Burns was patient in answering
all my questions and helping me turn this work into the best that it can be.
I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members, Drs. Kevin Oh
and Helen Maniates, who offered pointed insights, which helped perfect this work. The
faculty of the Learning and Instruction department at USF also deserves my unwavering
thanks for the countless hours they invested into my education and future. My heartfelt
thanks are also expressed to Dr. Yvonne Bui who was my committee chair, advisor, and
mentor during the last six years; without her assistance this work could not have been
completed.
Some believe it takes a village to raise a child, but I would like to posit that it also
takes a village to complete a large project like this as well. I could not have completed
this work without the support of the Elk Grove Unified School District. First, I would like
to express my thanks to Ms. Sylvia Brooks for her unfailing help in organizing students
and gathering data at my second school site. To the Resource Specialists at both school
sites, my appreciation is boundless. A special thank you is extended to Mr. Brad
Hemenway, Mr. Stephen Lee, and Mrs. Sarah McCleary for filling in when I was needed
elsewhere, helping assess students, and being available to do whatever was needed so I
could finish this project. I would be remiss if I did not express my appreciation to my
vi
school psychologist, Mr. Hung To, who tirelessly bounced ideas around with me,
explained psycho-educational testing and constructs, and helped administer tests.
Additionally, the principals at both school sites, Ms. Chelsea Bowler-Shelton and Ms.
Jana Durham, were gracious with their time and allowed me to use their school facilities
to test students. Their support of this project is an indication of their desire to ensure that
all students have the reading skills needed to be successful in their future endeavors.
Lastly, I could not have completed this project without the unwavering support of
my family. My parents, John and Betty, have always been my strongest supporters. They
have been in the trenches with me helping me organize, file, type, and be my general
“gophers.” I will always be grateful for their love and support. My children, David,
Lizzie, Adam, Vincent, Iris, and Deanna have sacrificed a lot of “mom” over the past two
years and, while those days can never be recovered, I am thankful that they have cheered
me on as I traveled this educational journey. Both my sister, Kathy, and my daughter,
Deanna, provided much-needed editing to ensure that my dissertation was readable.
Thank you one and all for your love and encouragement during the past six years; I could
not have done it without you!

vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................viii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................x

LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................................xii

CHAPTER ONE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.........................................................1

Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................................7
Significance of the Study ...........................................................................................9
Theoretical Framework ..............................................................................................10
Background and Need ................................................................................................19
Research Questions ....................................................................................................23
Definition of Terms....................................................................................................24

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................27

Working Memory.......................................................................................................28
Vocabulary .................................................................................................................39
Prior Knowledge ........................................................................................................47
Word Recognition ......................................................................................................58
Reading Strategies .....................................................................................................72
Motivation-to-read .....................................................................................................82
Summary ....................................................................................................................94

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY ...............................................................................104

Research Design........................................................................................................104
Sample.......................................................................................................................105
Protection of Human Subjects ..................................................................................108
Instrumentation .........................................................................................................109
Procedure ..................................................................................................................120
Preliminary Data Analysis ........................................................................................129
Data Analysis ............................................................................................................134
Summary ...................................................................................................................137

viii
CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS ...............................................................................................138

Research Question One ..............................................................................................139
Research Question Two .............................................................................................141
Research Question Three ...........................................................................................144
Additional Exploratory Analyses ...............................................................................148
Summary ....................................................................................................................150

CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, LIMITATIONS, DISCUSSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS ...........................153

Summary of Study .....................................................................................................153
Summary of Findings .................................................................................................157
Limitations .................................................................................................................158
Discussion of Findings ...............................................................................................161
Implications for Research ..........................................................................................174
Implications for Practice ............................................................................................177
Conclusions ................................................................................................................182

References ..............................................................................................................................185

Appendix A District Approval Letters ...................................................................................197

Appendix B BADER Reading Inventory Test Instrument ...................................................203

Appendix C Adolescent Motivation to Read Profile ............................................................220

Appendix D Motivation to Read Questionnaire ...................................................................223

Appendix E IRB Approval Letter .........................................................................................235

Appendix F Cognitive Component Analysis .........................................................................237

ix