The effects of instructional method on fourth-grade reading achievement: Phonics versus a balanced approach in language arts instruction.

摘要

Purpose, scope, and method of study. This study compared reading achievement between two groups of students in Christian schools: one used a phonics approach, while the other used a balanced approach to teach reading to fourth-grade students.;The difference of the means of the spring 2002 SAT reading comprehension scores and the spring 2003 SAT reading comprehension scores of the students in the two groups were compared. Scaled scores were used because the scaled score enables one to compare students' test scores with those of other students and evaluate changes in student performance across subtests and testing occasions.;School administrators provided data from spring 2002 SAT scores and spring 2003 SAT scores for each student. The students were divided into four different levels based on their spring 2002 SAT scaled score.;The data was analyzed by a factorial ANOVA. The independent variables were the method of instruction and the scaled score level of the students, while the dependent variable was the change in the students' scores from pretest to posttest.;Findings and conclusions. The findings indicated that there was no significant difference between the two groups (phonics approach and balanced approach). Thus, the hypothesis of this study was rejected. Teaching methodology had no significant effect on reading comprehension achievement for this study. A significant main effect for Level was found. Students (in both groups) that started fourth grade at the lowest level showed a significant increase in scaled score on reading comprehension by the end of fourth grade when compared against the other three reading performance levels.