This document summarizes a research study that evaluated 378 4th and 5th grade students' silent reading fluency skills. The study found that most students had poor silent reading fluency according to standardized tests. Fifth grade students performed significantly better than 4th grade students. Female students also performed significantly better than male students. The study highlights the importance of developing silent reading fluency skills in addition to oral reading fluency. More research is needed on measuring and improving silent reading fluency in Turkey.
SSR is an acronym for sustained silent reading. first developed over thirty years ago by Lyman hunt at the university of Vermont, SSR has become a common practice in classrooms. Some teachers go further and build SSR into every school day. SSR occurs often in elementary and middle school settings, and in high school are beginning to embrace this practice
Importance of reading and its types.
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning (reading comprehension). Reading is a means of language acquisition, communication, and of sharing information and ideas. Like all languages, it is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which is shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language community which is culturally and socially situated
SSR is an acronym for sustained silent reading. first developed over thirty years ago by Lyman hunt at the university of Vermont, SSR has become a common practice in classrooms. Some teachers go further and build SSR into every school day. SSR occurs often in elementary and middle school settings, and in high school are beginning to embrace this practice
Importance of reading and its types.
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in order to construct or derive meaning (reading comprehension). Reading is a means of language acquisition, communication, and of sharing information and ideas. Like all languages, it is a complex interaction between the text and the reader which is shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language community which is culturally and socially situated
A short article mentioning some benefits of extensive reading. This article was thought to be published in a magazaine, that is why there are no references
This presentation looks at research conducted at a university in Japan to find evidence that Extensive Reading (ER) is working. Specially, the presentation looks at the influence of ER on the reading speed of students at Tokai University in Japan. The research hypothesis was that students’ reading speed would improve if they read graded readers during one university semester. The presenter also measured the students’ general proficiency in English through a cloze test.
English 8 - Types of Reading (Intensive vs. Extensive)Juan Miguel Palero
It is a powerpoint presentation that discusses about the lesson or topic: Types of Reading (Intensive vs. Extensive). It also includes the definition and types of Reading Styles.
A short article mentioning some benefits of extensive reading. This article was thought to be published in a magazaine, that is why there are no references
This presentation looks at research conducted at a university in Japan to find evidence that Extensive Reading (ER) is working. Specially, the presentation looks at the influence of ER on the reading speed of students at Tokai University in Japan. The research hypothesis was that students’ reading speed would improve if they read graded readers during one university semester. The presenter also measured the students’ general proficiency in English through a cloze test.
English 8 - Types of Reading (Intensive vs. Extensive)Juan Miguel Palero
It is a powerpoint presentation that discusses about the lesson or topic: Types of Reading (Intensive vs. Extensive). It also includes the definition and types of Reading Styles.
A four-year-old asks on average about 400 questions per day, and an adult generally asks much much less. Our school system is often structured around rewarding giving the "right" answer and not asking smart questions. The result over time is that, as we grow older, we stop asking questions. Yet asking good questions is essential to finding and developing solutions - an important skill in critical thinking, innovation, and leadership.
This workshop will support teachers to explore their current habits and practices of formulating and asking questions, discuss with their colleagues a range of practices from research and articles, and then develop some new practical approaches they can use with their students.
Research topic Comparing the effect of paired versus repeat.docxbrittneyj3
Research topic: Comparing the effect of paired versus repeated reading on improving Saudi EFL students' reading fluency.
Introduction
Fluency reading in one of acquired skill that is significantly important in formal communication. The art of reading involves coordination of brain functions and eyes. However, fluency in reading is an improved skill that can acquired through practice. People with physical or mental impairment might have difficulty in reading. All students in a class have distinct reading abilities. In prompting their fluency in reading, the two methods is applied; paired and repeated reading. In paired reading, two or more students are grouped and subjected to similar reading material assessing the reading pattern for each. Every student here will exhibit a unique reading style to compete with others. On the other hand, in repeated reading, students with fluency reading difficulties are subjected to repeat reading exercise in which assessment in done on every stage acquainting the level of fluency (Gorsuch, & Taguchi, 2008).
Saudi Arabia is an Arabic speaking nation. Their countries first language is Arabic. Their English learning experience is greatly hampered by reading difficulty since it’s a foreign (second) language. A study done in one of Saudi EFL teachers college showed that the student had a significant interest in learning how to improve their reading experience. It was discovered that, at least 20% of those interested in English, had a significant competitive experience in acquiring the standard rate of fluency in reading (Williams, 2013). Some of the factors highlighted as leading impediment to the improved fluency reading were; difficulty in understanding the meaning of the text, spelling and pronunciation problems, difficulty in scanning and skimming, limited vocabulary, syntactic parsing difficulty among others.
There are many ways of enhancing fluency reading skills. These skills can better be improved during younger ages of the reader. However, fluency in reading can be improved by training children to read aloud. These provide a clear model for fluent reading during elementary periods of learning ( Chang,2010) . Fluency can also be enhanced when learners listens to an audio recording and systematically listening along the audio. It can also be attained through practice sight words using playful activities.
Learners can enhance their reading fluency through training and performance in reading theaters or spoken word competitions. ( Al-Otaibi, 2004), choral reading is a practice by which the teacher reads an enlarged text several time until the leaner’s master the text and can fluently read it on their own. This is also another way of improving fluency reading( Kuhn , 2015 ). The prime purpose in this study is to compare the significance of the two basic methods of improving fluency among the EFL students and how the counteracting effects on the methods.
Problem o.
This study focuses on the listening anxiety experienced by teacher candidates (TCs) in Iran and Turkey. Using different data collection methods, including two questionnaires, listening test, and semi-structured interviews, this study tried to investigate the factors behind Foreign Language Listening Anxiety (FLLA) among Iranian teacher candidates (TCs). The participants of the study in Iran context were 29 teacher candidates studying at BA level in English Language Teaching. All of the participants were asked to complete these two questionnaires with the background information regarding their age, gender, years of language study. The participants’ answers to FLLAS and FLCAS were analyzed with spss to obtain frequencies and percentages. The results were compared to the same study by Bekleyen. The findings revealed that Iranian TCs experienced a high level of FLLA compared to Turkish TCs and showed a significant positive correlation between FLLA and FLCA, which means that teacher candidates with higher levels of language anxiety tended to have higher levels of listening anxiety. In addition, interview data suggested that Iranian and Turkish participants’ FLLA mostly originated from the same source: inadequacy of past education in listening skill. Furthermore, practice was the most frequent strategy used by participants in these two countries to overcome this kind of anxiety.
The study was carried out to determine the effect of stop, think and talk activities on the performance of students in reading comprehension in junior secondary schools in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. The study was carried out using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest research design. The target population of the study comprised of 16,925 JSII students. A sample size of 100 JSII students from two secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, were purposely sampled in the study. Sixty five (65) students from Government Junior Secondary School, Apo and thirty five (35) from Government Junior Secondary School, Garki were used for the study. Both groups of students were taught for six (6) weeks. Government Junior Secondary School, Apo was assigned as the experimental group while Government Junior Secondary School, Garki was assigned as the control school. Students were pre-tested to establish their homogeneity before the commencement of the treatment. They were taught for six (6) weeks and were tested using retelling test as an instrument. Data collected from students’ test scores was analysed using mean and standard deviation, while t-test was used to test the formulated null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that “stop, think and talk” activities had significant effect on students’ performance in reading comprehension. In fact, the experimental group which was exposed to stop, think and talk activities had better understanding of the reading comprehension passages given to them. The result further revealed that students in experimental group were more active, responsive and paid more attention to details concerning the main ideas in the passages read. Based on the findings, it was recommended that teachers should be encouraged to use “stop, think and talk” activities in reading comprehension lessons. Such activities should be provided before, during and after every reading comprehension passage to enhance and facilitate students’ reading abilities. Curriculum planners should provide activities that would encourage students to “stop, think and talk” to make reading comprehension lesson more purposeful and meaningful.
In recent years, research on learning strategies has become the new domain in the area of the second language acquisition (SAL). In view of the above, the study based upon the definition and classification of O’Malley & Chamot and Oxford, discusses the condition of junior students’ listening strategies use and the impact on listening understanding. Through this research, we can see that the students with better listening score are better at self-supervising, training and listening techniques. I suggest that teachers should encourage and train the students to use the listening strategies to improve their ability. The final goal is encouraging students to self-evaluate and self-direct, and lay the foundation of life-long learning.
The present study was an attempt to see if there is a relationship between the Emotional Intelligence of the teachers and their attitudes toward Code Switching in Iranian EFL classes. Why some teachers use code switching in an EFL class and some others ignore it, is so challenging at the face of any foreign language class. The population in this study comprised of 140 individuals. To determine the sample size of EFL teachers, total numbering and simple random sampling method were used respectively resulting in the selection of 80 English teachers including 40 female and 40 male teachers. The mother tongue of the participants was Turkish/Persian ranging between the ages of 20 and 30.To collect the required data, first, two types of standard questionnaires were given to the participants; one of the questionnaires encompassing questions about code switching and the other one about the emotional intelligence. The reliability of both questionnaires was already established. According to the obtained results by means of SPSS software, it was shown that there was not any correlation between teachers’ emotional intelligence and code-switching and the educational outcome of EFL students in Iranian context. The results of the present study will pave the way for more accurate EFL classroom conduct and also other factors of the related issues in question could be considered by some other researchers.
The purpose of this study is to determine if there were relationships among learning style
preference, gender and English language performance of EFL Libyan secondary school students
in Malaysia. Specifically, the study was guided by three research questions focused on Libyan
student’s level of performance in EFL class in Malaysia, their learning styles and gender, and the
relationship between students’ learning styles and their English language performance. There has
been a limited number of studies on Libyan secondary schools’ student studying in Malaysia.
This study was a correlational study involving 108 Libyan secondary school students in Malaysia.
Data was analysed using the statistical package for Social Science (SPSS, version 20.0). The
results showed that most learners who participated in this study had a medium proficiency level
in the English language and majority of the Libyan students preferred independent learning style.
It was found that there was a difference in the learning styles preferred by female and male
secondary school students. The study also revealed that there was no significant relationship
between students’ overall learning styles and their English language performance and.
Recommendations were offered. Future researches could use more than one school to obtain
accurate results and could also focus on gender biases.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
We all have good and bad thoughts from time to time and situation to situation. We are bombarded daily with spiraling thoughts(both negative and positive) creating all-consuming feel , making us difficult to manage with associated suffering. Good thoughts are like our Mob Signal (Positive thought) amidst noise(negative thought) in the atmosphere. Negative thoughts like noise outweigh positive thoughts. These thoughts often create unwanted confusion, trouble, stress and frustration in our mind as well as chaos in our physical world. Negative thoughts are also known as “distorted thinking”.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
How to Create Map Views in the Odoo 17 ERPCeline George
The map views are useful for providing a geographical representation of data. They allow users to visualize and analyze the data in a more intuitive manner.
This is a presentation by Dada Robert in a Your Skill Boost masterclass organised by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan (EFSS) on Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the 26th of May 2024.
He discussed the concept of quality improvement, emphasizing its applicability to various aspects of life, including personal, project, and program improvements. He defined quality as doing the right thing at the right time in the right way to achieve the best possible results and discussed the concept of the "gap" between what we know and what we do, and how this gap represents the areas we need to improve. He explained the scientific approach to quality improvement, which involves systematic performance analysis, testing and learning, and implementing change ideas. He also highlighted the importance of client focus and a team approach to quality improvement.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France. It marked the decline of absolute monarchies, the rise of secular and democratic republics, and the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This revolutionary period is crucial in understanding the transition from feudalism to modernity in Europe.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
1. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013
C. Cetinkaya. A neglected skill: silent reading fluency. International Journal of Academic Research Part B; 2013; 5(4),
475-480. DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-4/B.67
A NEGLECTED SKILL: SILENT READING FLUENCY
Cetin Cetinkaya
Duzce University, Faculty of Education (TURKEY)
fatihcetincetinkaya@gmail.com
DOI: 10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-4/B.67
ABSTRACT
The aim of this research was to draw attention to one of the neglected skills which is silent reading fluency.
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With this aim, the present study was conducted with a total of 378 4 and 5 grade students. Test of Silent
Contextual Reading Fluency (TSCROF) was used to measure the students’ silent reading fluency skill. The results
showed that most of the students have poor silent reading fluency skills. Additionally, there was a significant
difference in favor of fifth grade students among fourth and fifth grade students and in favor of male students
among male and female students.
Keywords: silent reading, reading fluency, elementary school students
1. INTRODUCTION
Reading is a complex intellectual process which consists of various constituents such as seeing, perception,
comprehension and detailed or different thinking (1). One of the basic imperatives to realize this challenging
process is fluent reading (2). As has been in every country, bringing skills of fluent reading to the individuals has
gained importance in Turkey in recent years. While fluency in reading is an important feature of good readers,
inadequacy in fluency is a feature of the readers that cannot read well. Varieties in fluent reading not only
distinguish good and poor readers from each other but also are amongst the most important predictors that affect
reading comprehension (3).
Fluent reading is constructing meaning from the text by using accurate, fast and prosodic reading skills (47). These skills show themselves as recognizing words easily, reading in an accurate speed, intonation and
reading by separating the sentences into proper phrases in terms of semantics and syntax during oral reading
studies. These features, during both oral and silent reading, either ease or limit understanding according to the
existing competence of the reader.
Most of the definitions for fluent reading associate fluent reading with oral reading. Most of the researches
carried out especially on the level of primary school show that there is high level of relationship between the skill of
fluent oral reading and reading comprehension (8, 9). Though the process of oral reading is in the focus of
improving fluent reading, the recent researches stress that silent reading is also important for reading success (5,
7). Silent reading is the commonly used way of reading after the first grades during which teaching of reading is
performed. Oral reading is not as practical way of reading as silent reading.
Oral reading is much slower when compared to silent reading. Researches show that the number of pausing
times that readers do during oral reading is higher than they do during silent reading. Increase in the number of
pausing times decreases the speed of reading. This does not improve the fluent reading of the kids (10, 11, 12).
Some researches (13) assert that individual oral reading or shared reading studies are commonly used in
the classrooms. These studies generally occur in such a form that a student reads orally and the others follow.
While these kinds of reading help teacher measure various reading skills, Gilbert (14) suggests that these
measurements provide limited data. Moreover, the pausing times and comebacks of readers that listen to the oral
reader doubles (15). In case a poor reader reads, learning process of the followers is affected negatively due to the
possibility of lack of attention and regression in their own reading and learning process.
Miller and Smith (16), who analyzed the effects of fluency of oral reading and silent reading to
comprehension, found out that the participants' levels of comprehension during oral reading and silent reading
differ. A student who can read silently and fluently comprehends much better. Focusing on oral reading cause
some habits -such as reading word by word, letter by letter, tracing with finger, wiggling lips, moving tongue and
vocal cords, nodding, reading with inner voice, repeating comebacks frequently during silent reading whichhamper
comprehension and last a lifetime. Oral reading slows down the speed and in case of syllabication or reading the
words orally, the time of reading the text increases four-five times more (17).
In addition to all of these, oral reading, especially during the ages which are entitled as critical periods for
the students during which they can develop learned helplessness, may result in shyness, fear, decrease in the self
confidence and accordingly the reader student may dispense reading skill through developing learned
helplessness. Lots of studies conducted in the literature (18-21) argue that there is a relationship between the
classroom atmosphere and learned helplessness. Making poor readers among the primary school students read
orally in the classroom, on the critical period during which success vs. inferiority complex is experienced, may result
in learned helplessness about reading skill.
Baku, Azerbaijan| 475
2. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH
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The constraints mentioned above put forward the fluency of silent reading. Oral reading helps students, who
just started to read, learn how the written language gains meaning in oral language.Thus, lots of researches have
been conducted to define and develop fluency of oral reading (5, 22).However, after the importance of silent
reading during reading process is realized, it is observed that defining and developing the fluency of silent reading
have been concentrated on recently (23, 24). The student's silent reading ability at sufficient level is possible by
canalizing the teaching process that we started with oral reading towards the silent reading and by building a
balance between oral and silent reading (25).
When the studies conducted within Turkey are examined, it is observed that the researches on the
measurement and development of silent reading fluency are very limited. In a research conducted by Yildirim and
Ates (26) it was studied whether the fluency of silent reading predicts comprehension or not and the findings
gained set forth that silent reading fluency is an important predictor of reading comprehension. Limitedness of the
researches about the subject shows that more researches are needed for either the measurement or development
of silent reading fluency. Through this research, it is aimed to define the primary school students' silent reading
fluency and draw educators' and academicians' attention to the subject.
2. METHOD
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The aim of this research was to define silent reading fluency of 4 and 5 grade students. In line with this
purpose, survey method was utilized through the research.A survey method is a part of quantitative research
approaches and in this method the aim of the researcher is to try to define the level, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes etc.
of the participants towards a case (27). In this research, it was tried to define the levels of silent reading fluency of
the participants through prepared texts.
2.1. Participants
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The data of this research was collected from a total of 378 4 and 5 grade students from three primary
schools, having an average socio-economical level, randomly selected in the central district of Yozgat. Gender and
grade distribution is given in the table below:
Table 1.Demographic features of the students participated in the study
Grade
Age
Gender
Male
Female
Total
4
9-10
f
91
109
200
5
%
45.5
54.5
100
10-11
f
82
96
178
%
46.1
53.9
100
The reason for choosing 4th and 5th grade students as the participants of the study is that there is more
acquisition in these grades to develop the skills for fluent reading and reading comprehension when compared to
the lower grades. In the first years of the primary school, teaching of reading is at the forefront rather than
comprehension and fluency.Also, reading fluency is actualized mainly through oral reading in these years. During
st
nd
rd
the 1 , 2 and 3 grades of primary school, group teaching is intensely applied and in these studies oral reading is
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preferred rather than silent reading.For these reasonsthis research was conducted with 200 4 grade and 178 5
grade students.
2.2. Instrument
The measurement tools used in the research were created by examining the related literature.Many various
methods exist in the literature to evaluatethe silent reading fluency of the students. Test of Silent Contextual
Reading Fluency (TOSCRF) which is used in this research as it was used in the similar studies (28, 29, 30), is
composed of words that are independent from context and unconnected to each other. Silent reading fluency of the
participants is defined through these texts. TOSCRF shows whether the student is above or below the average. It
does not suggest why he is below the average. In order to define the reason, additional measurements are needed
to be done for definitions (30).Two informative texts were used for the preparation of measurement tools.The texts
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were selected from the books of 4 and 5 grades’ Turkish Language books which are published by the Ministry of
National Education and not instructed in the schools where this study was carried out. The reason for excluding the
books from the ones that are instructed in these schools is to ensure that the students have not encountered the
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text. During the text selection, frequently used words list, prepared by Cetinkaya (31) for 4 and 5 grades, was
taken into consideration. The lengths of the sentences in the text differ from 4 to 11 words. After defining the texts,
they were written with a font style to which the students are familiar, the words were displaced in such a way that
they would not form a context and all the punctuation and the spaces between the words were removed.Besides,
all the words were written in capitals and the measurement tools became ready by copying the texts. Scoring of the
data collected from the measurement tool starts in the line marked lastly and goes on towards the text's beginning
line. Student gets a point for every word that he distinguishes correctly. The application is disannulled in case a full
line is omitted and if so, the test needs to be applied again to that student. The students are warned not to cross
lines in the center of a letter, not to cross lines that are not precisely separating the words and not to cross
excessively italicized lines.
476 | PART B. SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
3. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH
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2.3. Procedure
To ensure data collection to be error-free, informative meetings were held with the teachers of the
classrooms defined beforehand. During the meetings, the aim of the research, features of the data collection tools,
timeframe specified for application, the materials that the students may need during application, the classrooms
that would be preferred during application and sitting arrangement were explained to the teachers and their
questions about application were answered. Next, sample applications were carried out in the classrooms defined
for data collection and application awareness for the students was created. During the sample applications, the
displaced words of the sentences written in capitals without spaces on the board were separated with different
colors of chalks. This activity was repeated for a few times with the participation of the teacher and the voluntary
students.
Before starting the application, the students were asked to empty the desks and prepare their pencils and
erasers. The students were also informed that the application would be started and finished all together and no one
should break the silence. The applications were started with “Start” and finished with “Finish” instructions of the
teacher after a warning of “you have one minute left” after two minutes. The forms were collected without deranging
the sitting arrangement.
Evaluations were done on the data collected by two independent raters. During these evaluations, the total
of the words that were distinguished correctly by each student was specified as silent reading fluency of each
student. Average coherence between the independent raters was calculated as.86. Statistical analyses on the
collected data, which will be answers to research problem and questions, were performed.
3. RESULTS
Table 2.Descriptive Ratings for Standard Scores
Index Score
Intervals
>130
121-130
111-120
90-110
80-89
70-79
<70
Descriptive Ratings
Very superior
Superior
Above Average
Average
Below Average
Poor
Very poor
Percentage Included
In Each Interval
0.80
2.91
8.73
26.71
60.85
Silent reading fluencies of the participants were shown in Table 2 by taking Allen and Hammill's
classification (32) into account. No students out of a total of 378 participants were rated as “superior” or “very
superior” because none of them could distinguish 120 or more words in the specified timeframe. The number of the
participants who scored between 110 and 120 and were rated as “average” or “above average” is only 14.Scoring
between 80 and 89, 32 participants were rated as “below average” according to Allen and Hammil’s
classification.87.56 % of the rest of the participants were rated as “poor” or “very poor”.
Table 3. Silent reading fluency mean and standard deviation
scores of the students according to grade levels
Grade
4
5
N
200
178
X
25.98
33.82***
SS
12.73
15.44
p<.001
The independent-samples t-test (or independent t-test, for short) compares the means between two
unrelated groups on the same continuous, dependent variable was used to assess whether or not the students'
silent reading fluency differs according to grades. The result showed that there was a significant difference
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between silent reading fluency scores of the students in favor of 5 grades (t(376)=-5.410, p=.000).
Table 4. Silent reading fluency mean and standard deviation scores of the students according to gender
Gender
Female
Male
N
173
205
X
31.54
28.10
SS
15.21
13.90
p<.05
The independent-samples t-test (or independent t-test, for short) compares the means between two
unrelated groups on the same continuous, dependent variable was used to assess whether or not the students'
silent reading fluency scores differs according to gender. The result revealed that there was a significant difference
between silent reading fluency of the students in favor of female students (t(376)=-2.300, p=.022).
Baku, Azerbaijan| 477
4. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Vol. 5. No. 4. July, 2013
4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In this research, the importance of silent reading which is thought as a neglected skill was concentrated on,
the level of significance between the silent reading fluency of male and female students and the silent reading
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fluency of 4 and 5 grade students were examined with the help of method used for measuring silent reading
fluency.
In the research, it is seen that most of the participants’ silent reading fluency is poor. Focusing on teaching
oral reading too much may cause some skills of this ability to be transferred into the silent reading process. In
literature, there are researches on that oral reading studies decrease silent reading fluency (10, 17, 26). For not
transferring the skills in oral reading to the silent reading, silent reading should be passed balancedly and practices
should be done to increase silent reading fluency.
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Another finding in the research is that 5 grade students are more successful in terms of silent reading
fluency level. It is an expected situation that the higher is the level of the grade, the higher is the fluency of the
students’ silent reading ability. After the period of teaching reading ended and the period of reading for learning
started, as the level of the grade gets higher, the teachers should use more silent reading and comprehension
activities in learning environments. In the classification defined by Chall (33), the development processes of
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reading-writing skills were defined in separate stages. According to this classification, 5 grade students were
considered as in “reading for learning new information” stage, it was expressed that in this stage, the skills and
habits of silent reading are more important than oral reading skills in reading success. Such a case in this research
th
may have contributed significant difference to occur in favor of 5 grade students.
That there is a significant difference in favor of girls among the averages of the participants’ silent reading
fluency can be explained with that girls’ attitudes towards reading are higher than boys. Besides, there are
researches which correlates the significant difference in favor of girls in reading which includes a complicated
mental process with teacher expectations (34,35), with higher amount of female teachers (34,36,37).
During teaching fluent reading, silent reading fluency is as important as oral reading fluency. Whereas both
of the reading types include similar skills, they are not completely the same. Reading on a proper speed with
correct pronunciation and as prosodic as to reflect that a meaning is inferred from the text is the accepted
description for oral reading fluency (38). Silent reading fluency is reading by a proper speed and comprehensibly
with a constant attention and concentration in an easy and comfortable way (38). Comprehension variant is the
common key for both definitions.
Silent reading fluency measurements should be applied in schools. If the students cannot read the test
items correctly and precisely in the specified time frame, or cannot infer the correct meaning from the text, this
situation affect their academic success (3). This situation requires the silent reading fluency of the students to be
evaluated. Determining tracing methods proper to silent reading fluency and using them in schools are also
required.
Besides, that the teachers cannot support the students during silent reading activities indicates that the
studies do not support the silent reading fluencies of the students. During the silent reading studies, teachers can
contribute to the fluency and comprehension of the students by presenting a broad alternative list to the students,
by choosing texts in appropriate difficulty level, by controlling silent reading of the students at school and at home
and by creating environment that the students can read the books which are their own choices (39).
With this study, silent reading fluency which is regarded as a neglected skill, which is focused in recent
years in the world, about which there are very few researches have been made in Turkey, is tried to be brought
forward. Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency (TOSCRF) that had been used in the researches such as (29,
30, 31), was used as measurement tool and the levels of silent reading fluencies of the participants were
determined. In this research, the levels of silent reading fluency of the participants were found as poor. The
reasons for this situation should be researched deeply. To increase the reliability of the results, silent reading
fluency should be measured with different measurement tools and the correlation between them should be
examined.Additionally, complex studies may be conducted to study the relation between silent reading fluency and
oral reading fluency. The effect of silent reading fluency on comprehension also seems another question to be
th
th
studied in the field. Furthermore, the study group of this research consists of 4 and 5 grade students. Similar
studies for different grades may also be conducted. Whereas this study was performed with average socioeconomic participants, different researches may be done for different socio-economic levels.
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