Intervention Project Proposal

EDUC5509 Interventions In Learning

Nikki Shearer

ABSTRACT The proposal will outline the purpose of this research and begin addressing the specifics of how the research will be conducted.

Intervention Project Proposal August 5, 2013 Title How a phonics based program can improves the decoding skills of a Year 6 student with reading difficulties.

Statement of Issue This research study will endeavor to explore the impact a focused and direct phonicsbased program will have on the reading skills of a Year 6 student. The Year 6 students has been identified as having difficulties with reading which have affected not just only his Literacy work, but also his work in World Studies (History and Geography), Science and Mathematics. This study will focus on addressing the main area of weakness in Noahs reading through a targeted intervention. The intervention is made up of a phonics-based program that will include mini-lessons, games, writing and activities.

Literature Review

The Reading Process The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension. Reading comprehension is the understanding of knowledge from what has been read. In order to gain comprehend a text, a reader must be able to understand each of the words on the page. There are several stages within the reading process. Figure 1 below shows an interpretation of the reading process. The pink sections relate to word knowledge including phonological awareness and sight word knowledge. The blue section relates to an understanding of print conventions and a bank of reading strategies. The final section of the reading process includes background knowledge and vocabulary. It is these three sections together and working in conjunction that provides the reader with the ability to gain understanding and comprehension from a text. If a child has a deficit in one area of the reading process, the reading becomes difficult for them and understanding does not occur.

Nikki Louise Shearer

21090298

Intervention Project Proposal August 5, 2013

Figure 1: Adapted From McKenna & Dougherty Stahl (2009)

Decoding Difficulties Decoding is the process of translating written words into speech (Stothard and Hulme, 1995). Children use visual cues in addition to their bank of sight words to interpret the words on the page. In adults, decoding is automatic and not a skill we actively use. Gates and Boeker (1923) originally defined decoding as actively studying the details, features and characteristics of a word. When decoding skills are missing in a child, the childs reading becomes, slow, disjointed and often the sentences do not make sense. Gough (1993) outlined that decoding can be linked with memory problems. By this it is meant that as you increase the number of words in a childs vocabulary, you increase the memory required to find the correct word in the mind.

Phonics and Decoding Phonics knowledge and phonological awareness are clearly linked to decoding skills further through the reading process. Van de Sande (2013) linked phonological awareness specifically in Kindergarten to decoding skills in Year 1. A sound base knowledge in phonics and phonological awareness can help students to develop greater decoding skills for reading.

Nikki Louise Shearer

21090298

Intervention Project Proposal August 5, 2013 Research Question How will the implementation of a phonics-based program improve the decoding skills of a Year 6 student with reading difficulties?

Participants I am a pre-service teacher based at the University of Western Australia and I will be conducting this research project. I am in my final year of a 2-year Master of Teaching (Primary) course. Noah (pseudonym) is a Year 6 boy who has been selected to participate in this research study. Noah attends Cloverdale Grammar School (pseudonym), an independent school, in Perths Southern suburbs, Western Australia. Noah displays difficulties in many learning areas including Literacy, History and Science. In each of these learning areas, it has been noted by his teachers, that Noahs problems stem from his difficulties with reading. It should be noted Noah also experiences difficulties with spelling. Cloverdale Grammar School has an unusual format to the school day and it runs more like a Secondary school than a Primary school. At Cloverdale, Noahs class has one teacher, Miss. Walker (pseudonym), for homeroom, English and World Studies (History and Geography), a second teacher, Miss. Jones (pseudonym), for Science and a third teacher, Miss. James (pseudonym) for Mathematics. Noahs class also has specialist teachers for ICT, Health, Sport and Italian. As such each day, Noah has interactions with a fairly large number of teachers. I have spoken with each of Noahs core teachers and discussed the difficulties he is experiencing in the class and how I will be working with Noah throughout this intervention.

Selection Process Noah was selected to participate in this research project after I had spent time working with him during my period of professional practice at Cloverdale Grammar School. During my time at Cloverdale, I noticed that Noah had trouble reading and read at a slower pace than I would have expected. I also noticed that on his weekly spelling tests, Noah was not experiencing the same success as the majority of the students in the class. While I was listening to Noah reading I noticed, he was having

Nikki Louise Shearer

21090298

Intervention Project Proposal August 5, 2013 trouble with many of the words, particularly in recognising and pronouncing the words. After I had identified an area of weakness in Noahs reading I spoke with Miss. Walker about what I had noticed. Together we discussed the possible reasons for the weakness in Noahs reading and how this weakness was affecting many of the other learning areas in school. Miss Walker also informed me that Noahs parents are aware of his weakness in reading and had asked the school for information on additional tutoring both at school and out of school. It was in conjunction with Miss. Walker that the decision was made to perform this research intervention with Noah and to focus on his reading skills.

Intervention For this intervention, I will be spending 10 days at Cloverdale Grammar School working with Noah. On each of the 10 days I will be working solely with Noah for one hour on the phonics-based program that will be designed to specifically cater to his areas of needs.

Data Collection Initially I will be collecting data through a selection of pre-intervention tests in order to accurately determine Noahs areas of weakness, specific to his reading. To collect data on Noahs reading, the Informal Phonics Inventory (IPI) and Frys Sight Word Inventory (SWI) will be used. These tests will break down Noahs reading skills and determine where in the reading process his weakness is. In addition to the reading tests, the Words Their Way Upper Spelling Inventory (USI) will also be administered to Noah. This test will show exactly where Noahs deficit in spelling skills is. During the intervention data will also be collected in the form of interviews with Noah and his teachers. During the interactions and activities with Noah, anecdotal notes will be made to keep track of changes, difficulties and improvements. These methods of data collection have been chosen as they are the most accurate way to gain a clear idea of where Noahs reading difficulties are and to see specifically the link between his reading difficulties and spelling errors.

Nikki Louise Shearer

21090298

Intervention Project Proposal August 5, 2013 Date Analysis Data collected from the IPI will determine which aspect of phonics Noah is having trouble with and allow for a more focused phonics program to be created for the intervention. The data from the USI will determine Noahs level of spelling development. In conjunction with the data collected from the IPI, it will be possible to determine where in the reading process Noah is having difficulties. Data collected from the IPI, USI and Frys SWI prior to the intervention will be compared with the data collected from the same tests conducted following the intervention. This comparison will show whether or not the intervention has had an impact on Noahs reading skills. Specifically the comparison and analysis of the test results will show if the phonics-based program implemented during the intervention has improved Noahs decoding skills through a greater understanding of phonics knowledge.

Ethical Considerations There are many ethical issues associated with working with children. In this particular situation there are several considerations that I am undertaking to ensure that my interaction with the student involved in this research is appropriate. The first consideration is a letter to the parents of the student. The letter outlines the purpose of the research, what will happen to the data gathered from the student and how I will interact with the student. The second consideration is that the student has the right to say no to partaking in the research at any time. To give the student empowerment in the situation, the student will have to sign (or mark) a consent form. Even after signing this consent form, the student still have the right to say no at any time even in the middle of the intervention. In order to protect the identity of the student, I will be using a pseudonym and I will not be taking photographs of the student. Both of these mean that the student will never be identifiable from the research paper.

Nikki Louise Shearer

21090298

Intervention Project Proposal August 5, 2013 References

Gates, A. I. & Boeker, E. (1923). A Study of Initial Stages of Reading by Preschool Children. Teachers College Record. 24. 469-488

Gough, P.B. (1993). The Beginning of Decoding. Reading and Writing Journal. 5(2). 181-192

McKenna, M.C. and Dougherty Stahl, K.A. (2009). Assessment for Reading Instruction. The Guilford Press. USA

Stothard, S.E. and Hulme, C. (1995). A Comparison of Phonological Skills in Children with Reading Comprehension Difficulties and Children with Decoding Difficulties. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 36(3), 399-408

Van de Sande, E. (2013). How Phonological Awareness Mediates the Relation Between Children's Self-control and Word Decoding. Reading and Learning Difficulties, 26, 112-118.

Nikki Louise Shearer

21090298