The Effect of Teacher Modeling on Reading Behaviors, Fluency and Comprehension

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an intervention aimed at increasing time on task during silent sustained reading periods, teacher modeling, on reading fluency and comprehension scores in fifth grade students. Five classrooms in a rural county in eastern North Carolina served as the participants, with one class used as a control and one class that was dropped from the study. Target students from each class were administered curriculum based measurements of oral reading fluency and comprehension twice weekly throughout the study and a multiple baseline across settings and participants design was used to document the effectiveness of the intervention on reading achievement. Students did not demonstrate significant increases on either reading fluency or comprehension following the application of teacher modeling and did not differ significantly from the student in the classroom that did not receive the intervention. Additionally, direct behavior ratings completed to document time on task during silent sustained reading periods did not demonstrate an increase in time on task following the application of the intervention.