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The Impact of High Interest Literature in the Underachieving English Classroom

The Impact of High Interest Literature in the Underachieving English Classroom. Alexandria Hamelin April 5, 2008 ECI 637 Instructor: Martha Maurno Old Dominion University. Purpose of the Study:. To investigate the impact of high interest literature on student achievement.

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The Impact of High Interest Literature in the Underachieving English Classroom

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  1. The Impact of High Interest Literature in the Underachieving English Classroom Alexandria Hamelin April 5, 2008 ECI 637 Instructor: Martha Maurno Old Dominion University

  2. Purpose of the Study: • To investigate the impact of high interest literature on student achievement. • To answer the question: What happens to underachieving students when we try to educate them with materials that are interesting to them?

  3. Purpose Continued: • Conventional attitudes are that high interest novels are not “good literature” • Canonical literature, however does not “grab” students’ attention…especially students who don’t enjoy learning to begin with. • Teaching methods need to change in order to aid student learning.

  4. Need for Study: • Conventional methods of teaching literature skills are leaving poor readers out in the dust. • Students need to be engaged in what they are learning. • Teachers need to see the value of teaching literature that is not necessarily considered to be “good” literature—there is value in Adolescent Lit!

  5. So, Why High Interest Literature? • High interest, or Adolescent Literature, helps students to relate to the books that they are reading. • Texts are usually about issues and problems that students go through on a regular basis. • Texts are easier for lower level readers to understand and relate to.

  6. “Why?” continued… • Texts address the same elements of literature as recognized canonical literature. • Texts allow for more creative and stimulating discussion, projects, and work in general. • If the students are interested in what they are reading, they are more likely to be involved in what is taking place in the English classroom.

  7. Research Questions: • Are there correlations between the usage of high interest novels/literature on student attitude? • Is there a correlation between interest in the work and student achievement? • Is there a correlation between use of high interest literature and student achievement?

  8. Data Collection: • Data will be collected in the form of test scores and answers to a parent survey. • This data will be analyzed using the SPSS program. • One teacher and a class of approximately 23 students will be involved in the study. • Both qualitative and quantitative data will be used in the study. • Tests will determine student achievement and advancement in the subject. • Parent survey will determine students’ attitudes toward reading and their perceived success of the study.

  9. Results: • Parents perceived that their students had low motivation when it came to reading and other school subjects. • Students were not spending time outside of school working on their reading skills and other school work.

  10. Results Continued: • Pre-Test Scores showed that students’ reading levels varied between 4th and 7th grade levels. • Post-Test Scores showed an improvement in reading level over the course of the year. • Curriculum-based assessments that were given over the course of the study showed improvement each time.

  11. Conclusion • The use of the high interest literature in the classroom did indeed help improve the students’ test scores and reading levels in the study class. • High interest literature has a positive effect on student achievement at the high school level.

  12. Possible Problems • As with any study, there needs to be more information collected in order to be sure of the validity. • While student achievement rose greatly, we cannot blame it entirely on the use of the literature. • Other variables that may have caused an increase in scores would be increased personal student motivation, the impact the teacher had, and a number of other outside influences that the researcher had little to no control over

  13. Possible Changes: • If this study were to be continued into the future, there are some possible changes that could be made. • There is a need for a control group to compare the study group with, to see the level of increase in achievement. • Other types of assessments could also have been implemented to get a wider range of statistical data.

  14. The End! • Thanks for all of the help and support while completing this project!

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