Description of Research Project
This research project took place across a 10-week period during the second half of this 2011/2012 academic year. Each session consisted of a two and a half hour block, once a week, in the afternoon between 12:30 p. m. and 3 p.m and since a few sessions were missed, extra days were added at the end of the study as make up days. This time was divided into three 40-minute minilessons, with short working breaks in between for discussion and transition into the next lesson. Each block included at least one read aloud/ think aloud and discussion. Other reading was done at the end of the day using the book Home of the Brave when time permitted. The time was used for instruction in vocabulary skills, use of rich words in writing, and morphological analysis of words. Assessments of vocabulary and narrative writing, using rich, descriptive words also took place during these sessions. The various forms of data collected was assessed outside of this block of time. A pre-instruction spelling inventory to uncover any spelling problems that may impede the proper acquisition of the lesson content as we begin to add affixes to base and root words was given at the beginning of this study, this data was not used in the study, only to provide information on any possible problems students may have at syllabic junctures which could have impeded the work with affix instruction. Students were given 3 different pretests to gain perspective on students’ abilities in narrative writing, vocabulary skills, and morphological analysis of words at the start of the research study. The students were administered the Test of Written Language, 3rd Ed. (TOWL-3), and a Six Traits Writing Assessment rubric to assess students’ narrative writing. The students were also administered an assessment for morphological analysis of words using a researcher-designed word mapping assessment. At the end of the 10-week study, the students were assessed in these same three areas of literacy using the same three assessments. The Six Traits Writing Assessment was completed using sample of students’ work gathered as part of the fourth-grade language arts curriculum requirement, in order to gain a true, fair, and accurate sampling of students’ writing. Students’ narrative writing samples for the pretest and posttest were done using the same writing prompt. Finally, a pretest of a researcher-designed word mapping assessment of students’ abilities to morphologically analyze words was administered in order to ascertain students’ knowledge of generative words, word families, parts of speech, and proper sentence use. |
