Effects of reading aloud in English on the reading ability and attitudes of Spanish-speaking children.

167 Pages·2017·6.67 MB·English

UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff MMaassssaacchhuusseettttss AAmmhheerrsstt
SScchhoollaarrWWoorrkkss@@UUMMaassss AAmmhheerrsstt
Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014
1-1-1986
EEffffeeccttss ooff rreeaaddiinngg aalloouudd iinn EEnngglliisshh oonn tthhee rreeaaddiinngg aabbiilliittyy aanndd
aattttiittuuddeess ooff SSppaanniisshh--ssppeeaakkiinngg cchhiillddrreenn..
Carmen G. May
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1
RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn
May, Carmen G., "Effects of reading aloud in English on the reading ability and attitudes of Spanish-
speaking children." (1986). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 4174.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/4174
This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It
has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of
ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected].

EFFECTS OF READING ALOUD IN ENGLISH ON THE
READING ABILITY AND ATTITUDES OF
SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
A Dissertation Presented
By
CARMEN GRACIELA MAY
Submitted to the Graduate School of the
University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 1986
School of Education
Carmen Graciela May
1986
All Rights Reserved
EFFECTS OF READING ALOUD IN ENGLISH ON THE
READING ABILITY AND ATTITUDES OF
SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
A Dissertation Presented
By
CARMEN GRACIELA MAY
Approved as to style and content by:
Luis Fuentes, Chairperson of Committee
Mario D. Fanti
Dean
To
My daughter, Sheila, for her understanding
and
My Parents, for their caring
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is the custom in these matters to write some words of thanks to
all those who in one way or another helped one through this enormous
endeavor. If there is one solitary thing to be learned from this experi¬
ence, it is that it cannot be done alone. Yet how does one thank all the
wonderful people who always seemed to be in the right place at the right
time. From beginning to end, there was the inspiration, the enthusiasm,
the continuous support, the dedication and trust, the faith, and, most
important, the love. For all these things, I offer my humble but most
sincere thanks to the members of my committee: Luis Fuentes, Sonia
Nieto, and William Moebius; and to the members of my family: my parents
and step-parents, my aunt and uncle, my daughter, Sheila, and to Jimmy.
I would also like to express my most heartfelt thanks to my very
special friends in Amherst: Brunilda, Carmencita, Gloria, Miguel,
Efrain, Lizzette, Ingrid, Manolo, Jane, Nelson, and specially to Dora--
all of whom demonstrated a magical control over time, making sad times
brief, and happy times long and full.
For the teachers and students who worked in this study and the
administrators who allowed us to work together, and for Dr. Masha Rudman
who opened the doors to a world I had until now ignored, I cannot find
words to adequately express my gratitude. I thank them most heartily
because I know I could not have done this without them.
Finally, but certainly not least, my thanks go to the cheering sec¬
tion of the English Department at Bayamon Technological University
v
College in Puerto Rico, especially to Olga for the prodding and to
Isidra for the typing of so many drafts,
Thank you and may God bless you all.
vi
Effects of Reading Aloud in English on the
Reading Ability and Attitudes of
Spanish-Speaking Children
(May 1986)
Carmen Graciela May, B.A., Long Island University
M.S., University of Bridgeport
Ed.D., University of Massachusetts
Directed by: Professor Luis Fuentes
The primary goal of this dissertation is to examine some of the
effects of a read aloud program on the attitudes toward reading and the
English reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking children in the primary
grades.
The first chapter provides the historical background of teaching
methods in English as a second language. The chapter describes the
unsteady relationship between the techniques developed for foreign and/or
first language teaching and second language learning. This study poses
the question of whether reading aloud, a technique widely used in English
monolingual classrooms, can be transferred to the second language class¬
room where the conceptual, experiential, and linguistic background of the
English as a second language learner is so profoundly different from that
of the English monolingual learner. The effects of this transference on
the second language learner's reading ability and the attitudes toward
reading constitute the focus of the study.
The second chapter reviews the literature in the areas of reading
and bilingualism, reading aloud, and reading attitudes. The review
points out two significant findings. First, it reveals that there is
very little cogent research available on the topic of reading and
bilingualism. Second, the literature available on reading aloud and the
measurement of reading attitudes was found to focus almost exclusively
on English monolingual learners rather than on second language learners.
The third chapter describes the research plan, which follows an
experimental design using a control group, pre- and post-testing, and
t-test analysis of the responses of fifty-three Spanish-speaking stu¬
dents enrolled in a bilingual elementary program. The tests used were
the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, a standardized measure, and an atti¬
tude measure adapted by the researcher. A teacher's observation check¬
list was also used to record students' responses to the readings.
The findings of the study presented in Chapter IV are briefly sum¬
marized as follows:
1. A positive trend supporting the use of reading aloud
in the ESL classroom was observed, although the find¬
ings were not statistically significant.
2. Teacher observations indicate that individual reading
selections stimulated increased verbal and nonverbal
student interaction during the read aloud sessions.
Chapter V offers a summary of the study, the conclusions, and the
recommendations for applications of the findings, improvement of the
study, and possible further research.
vi i i