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INTRODUCTION

Purpose of the Study

An invariable challenge for elementary educators is developing and implementing tools that foster an improvement in students’ reading comprehension. The most successful tools are those that inspire active thinking and application. When these tools are successfully introduced, a student can demonstrate improved comprehension and generally an increase in academic success that is evident cross-curricular.

During the 2005-2006 school year, the Marion Independent School District began implementing research based strategies in kindergarten through fifth grade to improve reading comprehension in the area of retelling of narrative (fictional) and expository (non-fictional) texts. Beginning in the fall of 2006, teachers built upon these learning strategies by establishing other methods to improve comprehension.

In continuation with the goals of the Marion Independent School District for improving reading comprehension, the researcher incorporated the use of a research based tool called a graphic organizer into daily lesson plans for the third graders in this class. As the researcher familiarized the students with this tool, the researcher gathered information and documented its effect on students’ reading comprehension.

Context of the Study

This study was conducted with a third grade class in the Marion Independent School District during the 2006-2007 school year. The students in this district came essentially from working middle-class families. Approximately 90% of enrolled students were Caucasian. Nearly twenty-five percent of the student body was enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program.

The researcher’s third grade class consisted of 14 girls and 10 boys with diverse learning abilities. Five students were on an IEP (Individual Education Plan). The researcher for this study was the teacher primarily responsible for the reading success of this class. The researcher incorporated both whole group and guided reading group instruction into the lesson plans. This study was restricted to these two groups.

The Instructional Decision Making (IDM) model was implemented to assure that all students’ instructional needs were considered when formulating lesson plans for reading comprehension relevant to this study. The IDM model assists educators in determining instructional goals to facilitate learning. Educators look at each student’s individual needs and find strategies to help each student to be successful in the classroom. The primary learning strategy incorporated to meet the researcher’s determined goals was the graphic organizer for reading comprehension.

Review of Related Research

Research based reading strategies fall into three primary categories: decoding (determining how to read the word of text), fluency (trying to sound smooth when reading), and comprehension (determining what the text means). When students are equipped with a variety of strategies, they are empowered to conquer the challenge of a new text. Graphic organizers have been scientifically proven to improve success in this area of reading comprehension. (Joyce, 2006).

“Comprehension is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language” (Pardo, 2004, p. 272). When students approach a text for the first time, comprehension can easily be impeded by the occurrence of unfamiliar vocabulary. To overcome this obstacle, students need strategies to help them focus on the essential information represented. Graphic organizers help students interact with the text in a dynamic manner rather than allowing students to take an inactive approach (Merkley & Jefferies, 2000). Visually mapping and organizing key information prompts students to comprehend the text they have read (Baxendell 2003).

According to the RAND Reading Study Group in 2002, “Graphic organizers were developed on the basis of Ausbel's theory of ‘meaningful verbal learning’, which states that when students are introduced to the material for which they have little background knowledge their learning will be improved if they have a structure and clear method for organizing the information” (Baxendell, 2003, p.47). Graphic organizers provide students with a tangible system to organize information in a way that is meaningful to them. When used accurately, graphic organizers allow students to “visualize the relationship among key concepts and terms in informational text” (Joyce, 2006, p.36).

Brain based research tells us that “Information that the brain determines is important is much more likely to be attended, stored, and later retrieved than that which the brain decides is meaningless or of little consequence” (Westwater & Wolfe, 2000, p. 49). When new information is encountered, “The brain immediately begins a filtering process to determine which data are relevant and need our conscious attention, and which are irrelevant and need to be discarded” (Westwater & Wolf, 2000, p. 49). When students can cue their brains to focus on material that is important, they will also increase comprehension and information recall.

By implementing graphic organizers for pre-reading, reading, and post reading tasks, teachers can enable students to know what information to look for when reading a new text. Studying the graphic organizer before first approaching the text enables students to know what information they should be looking for. According to brain based research, “To comprehend new data, the brain searches through these previously established neural networks to see whether it can find a place to fit the new information” (Westwater & Wolfe, 2000, p 49, 50). “The process of connecting known information to new information takes place through a series of networkable connections known as schema. In schema theory, individuals organize their world knowledge into categories and systems that make retrieval easier” (Pardo, 2004, p. 273). Using graphic organizers as a pre-reading tool enables the reader to link pre-reading information with a reader’s existing schema (Kim, Vaughn, Wanzek, & Wei, 2004).

As students read, they can use the graphic organizer to record the information for which they are responsible. After reading the new text, reviewing the systematic format of the completed graphic organizer helps students increase reading comprehension.

Students can use graphic organizers with both narrative (fictional) and expository (non-fictional) text. The differing word structures in narrative and expository text often cause students to struggle. Narrative text is usually easier for students to comprehend because they have more everyday exposure to fictional stories. Story maps, webs, and answering the questions who, what, where, when, why, and how are useful graphic organizers to help students find the important information in narrative text.

Expository text is structured in a more complex way. Therefore, many students struggle with reading expository text. Students must look for more abstract information dealing with relationships such as cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution, and sequence classification (Merkley & Jefferies, 2000). Here, graphic organizers such as KWL (what I know, what I want to know, and what I learned) charts, Venn diagrams, sequence charts, and cause and effect charts tend to show merit.

In whole group reading, the researcher’s students consisted of both regular and special education students. Favored researched strategies could benefit all learners in the third grade classroom. According to some research, “one strategy that has often been recommended to assist students with LD (learning disabilities) in learning from expository text is the use of graphic organizers” (Kim, Vaughn, Wanzek, &Wei, 2004, p.105). It is no coincidence that studies have proven that the use of graphic organizers improves LD students reading comprehension (Kim, Vaughn, Wanzek, &Wei, 2004).

Not all studies agree that graphic organizers are consistent for increasing comprehension. If students are not correctly instructed on how to use graphic organizers they can become perplexed and overwhelmed. Students with learning disabilities can readily become confused with complex types of graphic organizers. In this situation, it is important to choose graphic organizers that are simple to follow with a minimum of extra details on the page that can cause distractions (Chang, Sung, & Chen, 2002). After reviewing this research, it appears imperative to implement a variety of graphic organizers and teach students how to use them appropriately.

Overall, graphic organizers have the potential to be a beneficial learning strategy for all types of learners in the researcher’s classroom. The research reviewed reinforced the benefits graphic organizers have for students in order to retain, recall, and comprehend information (Baxenell, 2003, p.47). It was not only the researcher’s desire to have students reading comprehension scores improve, but it was the researcher’s passion to see students embrace this strategy so they could improve comprehension cross-curricular and develop a thirst to become life-long learners. This strategy “assures academic success for all students” (Baxendell, 2003, p.53).

Statement of the Focus of the Study

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of graphic organizers on reading comprehension with students of different learning abilities. The questions attempted to be answered in this study were as follows: 1) Do graphic organizers improve students’ weekly comprehension quiz scores? 2) Do graphic organizers improve students’ comprehension scores on the BRI (Basic Reading Inventory) and AIMSweb MAZE evaluation? 3) Do graphic organizers enable students of different learning abilities and styles to improve reading comprehension? The researcher’s hypothesis was that by teaching students to use graphic organizers effectively all students’ reading comprehension would improve.

The AIMSweb MAZE (MAZE) assessment is a formative evaluation to measure literacy. MAZE is a norm-referenced assessment that measures reading comprehension by an “on-grade level” passage through a three-minute cloze activity. The BRI assessment determines at what level students decode, read fluently, and comprehend. With this assessment, three levels of reading are determined for each student: independent reading level (level which students read easily without needing help), instructional reading level (level at which students can read successful with some assistance), and frustrational reading level (level which is too difficult). The results of the MAZE and BRI assessments are a useful tool for measuring how students progress with reading comprehension. (MAZE and BRI do not appear in the appendix. Rights for the MAZE assessment are available only to subscribers. The results of the BRI are held in confidence by the district.)

This study was done with the researcher’s third grade whole group and guided reading groups during general classroom reading instruction. The researcher anticipated the need to account for data collected from students who may occasionally be absent from the classroom during reading instruction to participate in programs such as ELP (extended learning program), Math Improvement (remedial math program), Reading Improvement (remedial reading program), Speech, and Resource (special education). Students used graphic organizers weekly to aid in comprehension. The researcher implemented the following graphic organizers: story maps, the five w’s and how (answering who, what, where, when, and why), main idea and supporting details, cause and effect, webs, KWL chart (what I know, what I want to know, and what I learned), and Venn diagram (Appendix A).

Summary of Introduction

In the experience of the researcher as an elementary school educator, the barriers to reading comprehension for students must be addressed anew each academic year. The elementary schools in the Marion Independent School District focused on different research based strategies to improve retelling and comprehension skills to improve students reading scores. This research determined the effect of graphic organizers on reading comprehension with students of different learning abilities. The researcher believed there would be improvement in reading comprehension for all learners in this third grade class. As students practiced and became more fluent in using graphic organizers, students’ comprehension increased.

METHODOLOGY

Design

The research questions addressed in this study include: Do graphic organizers improve students’ weekly comprehension quiz scores? Do graphic organizers improve students’ comprehension scores on BRI and MAZE assessments? Do graphic organizers enable students of different learning abilities and styles to improve reading comprehension?

Quasi-experimental research was used to discover whether using graphic organizers increased reading comprehension. The study determined if the use of graphic organizers increased reading comprehension. Graphic organizers were implemented with this class of twenty-four third grade boys and girls after students took the BRI and MAZE assessments, which were administered in September (pre-measure or baseline) and May (post-measure) with an additional MAZE testing in January. Five weeks of comprehension quiz scores were used as a baseline for the study. The quizzes came from the assessment book in the McGraw-Hill Spotlight on Literacy reading program (Appendix B).

The third grade class used for this study was chosen by a process which distribute students of various personality types, problematic behaviors, and learning styles evenly between two classrooms. This study began starting in the fall of 2006 and culminated in May 2007. The researcher triangulated the research by collecting comprehension quiz scores, results from the BRI and MAZE assessments, and anecdotal notes. Each week students used two graphic organizers, and took a weekly comprehension quiz. Observations and quiz scores were recorded beginning the first week of school continuing through May 18th, 2007. Additional data was collected from the BRI which was assessed in September and May, and MAZE which was assessed in September, January, and May.

One constraint on this study was that not all of the researcher’s students could read at grade level during whole group instruction. Students who attended Reading Improvement or had an IEP for reading skills were unable to read third grade text. If a student struggled with decoding a word (determining how to read the word of text), it was impossible to expect that student to understand what he or she read. To alleviate this limitation, students who read below grade level had the text read to them, listened to it on tape while they followed along with their finger, or had a peer assist them.

Subjects

The study was conducted on students in a third grade class which consisted of 14 girls and 10 boys presenting diversified learning abilities. Five students were on an IEP, and five students were in the Reading Improvement program. The students in this district came essentially from working middle-class families. Three of the 24 students were enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program.

The third grade class used for this study was chosen by a process used in the Marion Independent School District to distribute students of various personality types, problematic behaviors, and learning styles evenly between two classrooms. Each week, students were instructed in whole group reading on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and guided reading on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Instrumentation

To answer the research questions, data collections took place in three ways. One question posed by the study was whether or not implementing graphic organizers would improve students’ weekly comprehension quiz scores. Weekly quiz scores were recorded in the grade book and used to quantify improvement. The weekly comprehension quizzes came from the McGraw-Hill Spotlight on Literacy reading program (Appendix B).