Effects of Phrase-Reading Ability, Syntactic Awareness, and Reading Rate on Reading

135 Pages·2017·1.59 MB·English

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Communication Sciences and Disorders Department of Communication Sciences and
Dissertations Disorders
Fall 8-21-2014
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Patsy Nomvete
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Nomvete, Patsy, "Effects of Phrase-Reading Ability, Syntactic Awareness, and Reading Rate on Reading
Comprehension of Adolescent Readers in an Alternative Setting." Dissertation, Georgia State University,
2014.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/6474536
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication Sciences and
Disorders at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication
Sciences and Disorders Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
ACCEPTANCE
This dissertation, EFFECTS OF PHRASE-READING ABILITY, SYNTACTIC
AWARENESS, AND READING RATE ON READING COMPREHENSION OF
ADOLESCENT READERS IN AN ALTERNATIVE SETTING, by PATSY THOMAS
NOMVETE, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory
Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy, in the College of Education, Georgia State University. The
Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chairperson, as representatives
of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as
determined by the faculty. The Dean of the College of Education concurs.

_________________________________
Susan R. Easterbrooks, Ed.D.
Committee Co- Chair

______________________________ _____________________________________
Laura D. Fredrick, Ph.D. Peggy A. Gallagher, Ph.D.
Committee Co-Chair Committee Member

______________________________
Bridget V. Dever, Ph.D.
Committee Member

_________________________
Date

______________________________
Laura D. Fredrick, Ph.D.
Chairperson, Department of Educational Psychology, Special Education, and Communication
Disorders

______________________________
Paul A. Alberto, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Education
AUTHOR’S STATEMENT
By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State
University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its
regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to
publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by
the College of Education’s Director of Graduate Studies, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or
publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It
is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential
financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission.
NOTICE TO BORROWERS
All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance
with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this
dissertation is:

Patsy Thomas Nomvete
Educational Psychology, Special Education, and Communication Disorders
College of Education
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, GA 30302-3979

The directors of this dissertation are:

Dr. Susan R. Easterbrooks and Dr. Laura D. Fredrick
Educational Psychology, Special Education and Communication Disorders
College of Education
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30303
CURRICULUM VITAE
Patsy Thomas Nomvete
Email ADDRESS: [email protected]

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. 2014 Georgia State University
Educational Psychology and
Special Education

M.Ed. 1996 North Georgia College and
State University
Special Education

B.F.A 1991 Brenau University
Dance
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

2013-present Special Education Teacher
Douglas County Schools
2005-2006 Douglasville, GA

2006-2013 Graduate Research Assistant
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA

2004-2005 Special Education Teacher
Cobb County Schools
Marietta, GA
PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS:
Waller, K. S., Houchins, D. E., & Nomvete, P. T. (2011). Establishing a school-based mentoring
program for youth who are transitioning from a secure facility. Beyond Behavior, 19, 30-
35.
Nomvete, P. T., Duchaine, E., & Jolivette, K. (2011, March). Class-wide secondary tier reading
interventions: Increasing reading comprehension/engagement with secondary students.
8th International Conference on Positive Behavior Support, Denver, CO.
Duchaine, E., Kearley, R., & Nomvete, P. (2011, March). Class-wide secondary interventions for
secondary teachers: Overlapping strategies to increase student engagement. 8th
International Conference on Positive Behavior Support, Denver, CO.
Nomvete, P. T. (2010). School discipline in Florida: Discipline practices leave many children
behind. Atlanta, GA: U. S. Commission on Civil Rights
Shippen, M. E., Houchins, D. E., & Nomvete, P. (2010). Reading assessment and instruction for
students at-risk (5th ed.). In R. Colaru6-sso & C. O’Rourke (Eds.), Special education for
all teachers. Dubuque, IA; Kendall Hunt Publishing Company
Duchaine, E., & Nomvete, P. (2010, Dec). Universal implementation with secondary tier
interventions: Teaching challenging students in alternative classrooms. GAPBS
Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Nomvete, P. T., & Duchaine, E. (2010, Dec.). Check-in/Check-out: Effectively implementing a
secondary tier intervention. GAPBS Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Nomvete, P. T., Houchins, D., Jolivette, K., & Waller, K. S. (2010, April) Self-regulated strategy
development: Elementary students in a psychoeducational residential facility. CEC 2010
Annual Convention & Expo, Nashville, TN.
Waller, K., Houchins, D., Jolivette, K., & Nomvete, P. (2010, April) Improving reading fluency
for students with EBD using self-guided, computer-based repeated reading. CEC 2010
Annual Convention & Expo, Nashville, TN.
Nomvete, P. T., Josephs, N. L., Waller, K. S., & White, M. W. (2009, April.). Academic
mentoring of court-involved youth in a community setting: Lessons learned. CEC’s 2009
Annual Convention & Expo, Seattle, WA.
Nomvete, P. T., & Waller, K. S., Houchins, D., & Jolivette, K. (2009, Oct). The effects of
procedural facilitators on story elements for students with emotional and behavior
disorders in a residential setting. TECBD Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
Waller, K. S., Nomvete, P. T., Houchins, D., Jolivette, K., & Miltenberger, S. (2008, Oct).
Ending the pipeline to prison through effective reading instruction. The Prison Pipeline:
The Intersection of Childhood and the Criminal Justice system Conference, Athens, GA.
Jolivette, K., Houchins, D.E., Josephs, N., Waller, K, Hall, T., & Nomvete, P. (2008). Providing
educational services in secure settings. L.M. Bullock & R.A. Gable (Eds.), Ensuring a
brighter future for troubled children/youth: Challenges and solutions (pp. 193-263).
Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional
Children.
Houchins, D.E., Jolivette, K., Nomvette, P., Waller, K., Hall, T., Josephs, N., & White, M.
(2007, Oct.). Implications of research in juvenile justice settings: Academic, behavior,
and transition considerations for students with special needs. International Conference
on Children and Youth with Behavioral Disorders, Dallas, TX.
White, M., Nomvete, P. T., & Josephs, N. L. (2007, Oct). No child left behind bars: Research-
based reading and behavior interventions for youth in corrections. Georgia Depart of
Juvenile Justice: A Prescription for Successful Teaching, Macon, GA.
Nomvete, P. T., Waller, K. S., & White, M. (2007, July). No child left behind bars. Correctional
Education Association International Conference: Excellence in education, Atlanta, GA.
Hall, W. T., Josephs, N. L., Nomvete, P. T. & Waller, K. S. (2006, March). No child left behind
bars. CEC State Conference, Macon, GA.

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS
2006-2012 Council for Exceptional Children
Council for Children with Behavior Disorders

2010-Present Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
2007-2009 Educational Advocacy Council
Fulton County Juvenile Court Atlanta, GA
EFFECTS OF PHRASE-READING ABILITY, SYNTACTIC AWARENESS, AND READING
RATE ON READING COMPREHENSION OFADOLESCENT READERS IN AN
ALTERNATIVE SETTING

by

PATSY THOMAS NOMVETE

Under the Direction of Dr. Susan Easterbrooks and Dr. Laura D. Fredrick

ABSTRACT
Many adolescent readers do not acquire adequate reading skills, and over the past 40
years reading scores for adolescent students have not improved (Edmonds, Vaughn, Wexler,
Reutebuch, & Cable, 2009; Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007). The purposes of this study were (a)
to explore the relationships among phrase-reading ability, passage reading rate, syntactic
awareness and reading comprehension of students attending an alternative school, and (b) to
investigate whether phrase-reading ability serves as a mediator (i.e., the mechanism that accounts
for the relationship between the predictor and the criterion) between reading rate and
comprehension, and between syntactic awareness and reading comprehension. Theories of
automaticity (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974; Perfetti, 1985) and the structural precedence hypothesis
(Koriat, Greenberg, & Kreiner, 2002) provide the theoretical basis for this investigation. To
investigate the relation among reading rate, syntactic awareness, phrase-reading ability, and
comprehension, a series of assessments was conducted with 70 students who attend an
alternative school. The resulting data were analyzed using correlation analysis, hierarchical
regression (Pedhazur, 1997), and mediation regression (Baron & Kenny, 1984). The hypotheses
for adolescent readers in an alternative setting are: (a) Phrase-reading ability, syntactic
awareness, passage reading rate, and reading comprehension will have a positive, significant
correlation; (b) Language related variables (i.e., phrasing ability, syntactic awareness) will
account for more of the variance in reading comprehension than passage reading rate; (c)
Phrase-reading ability, as measured by phrase-level prosody, provides a mechanism or at least
partially mediates how passage reading rate affects reading comprehension; (d) Phrase-reading
ability, as measured by phrase-level prosody, provides a mechanism or at least partially mediates
how syntactic awareness affects reading comprehension. Findings confirmed all hypotheses.
Based on these findings, researchers should further investigate contributions that language
related skills such as phrase-reading ability and syntactic awareness make to reading
comprehension for adolescent readers and whether these findings when disaggregated hold true
for students with disabilities and struggling adolescent readers. This investigation brought
attention to the need for a standardized terminology concerning reading fluency.

INDEX WORDS: Adolescent readers, Students in alternative schools, Students with disabilities,
Struggling adolescent readers, Phrase-reading ability, Reading rate, Syntactic awareness,
Reading comprehension, Prosody, Reading automaticity.
EFFECTS OF PHRASE-READING ABILITY, SYNTACTIC AWARENESS, AND READING
RATE ON READING COMPREHENSION OFADOLESCENT READERS IN AN
ALTERNATIVE SETTING

by
PATSY NOMVETE

A Dissertation

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the
Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

in

Education of Students with Exceptionalities
in
Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education
in
College of Education
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA
2014