Effectiveness of an extracurricular program for struggling readers: A comparative study with parent tutors and volunteer tutors

This study reviews the effectiveness of an extracurricular paired reading program to enhance the reading of struggling readers. For the first time, two program conditions are compared within one study: parent tutors and volunteer tutors. The program was implemented within a randomized controlled field trial; its effects on reading fluency and reading ability were investigated on a sample of 198 Swiss third graders with reading difficulties. The findings revealed that volunteers outperformed parents: Children who trained with volunteers developed significantly better reading fluency after 20 weeks (d = .21). However, the main effects on reading fluency did not last at follow-up and no effects on general reading ability were found. Children with higher reading fluency at the pretest benefitted significantly more than very poor readers (post-test: d = .47; 5 month FU: d = .39). The study highlights the benefit of volunteer tutoring and the necessity of ongoing, adaptive support for very poor readers.     

Relative effectiveness of reading practice or word-level instruction in supplemental tutoring: how text matters

In this quasi-experimental study, which is part of a series of investigations on supplemental reading tutoring variations, the relative effectiveness of more intense decoding instruction or text reading practice was examined. Fifty-seven first-grade students scoring in the lowest quartile for reading skills received either classroom reading instruction or one of two treatments: tutoring in word study with text reading practice, or word study tutoring alone. Individual instruction was provided by trained paraprofessional tutors. At the end of first grade, treatment students significantly outperformed their nontutored peers on measures of reading accuracy, reading comprehension, reading efficiency, passage reading fluency, and spelling. Differential treatment effects on passage reading fluency are examined, taking into consideration pretest skill levels and text reading practice characteristics.     

Training Parents and Teachers in Remedial Reading Procedures for Children with Learning Difficulties

The mothers and classroom teachers of four 11‐12‐year‐old low progress readers were trained in tutoring procedures that involved delaying attention to child reading errors, providing cues to help correct errors and praising specific reading strategies and achievements. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to evaluate the effects of tutor training in both home and school settings. Baseline measures showed that one class teacher delayed attention to child errors and two teachers provided appropriate prompts, while the parents showed no occurrence of the tutoring behaviours. Following training, both teachers and parents applied the specific tutoring behaviours and these behaviours were shown to persist across a three to five week maintenance period during which the experimenter reduced training and feedback to tutors and at three one‐month follow‐up assessments. Pre‐tests showed the children to have reading age levels three to five years behind an expected level for their chronological age. Post‐tests showed the children to have an average gain in reading level of 28 months (range 24‐48 months).     

Parent‐implemented reading interventions within a response to intervention framework

This study tested the effects of parent‐implemented reading interventions on four elementary students’ reading fluency. Student participants had been receiving a Tier 2 reading intervention, but they were not responding favorably to the Tier 2 intervention. A consultant conducted brief experimental analyses of reading interventions and identified a Tier 3 intervention for each student. Then, the consultant trained the students’ mothers to implement the interventions at home. The interventions were tested via a multiple baseline design across students. During the intervention phase, the consultant monitored parents’ treatment integrity and assessed students’ oral reading fluency for novel, grade‐level progress monitoring passages. Visual analysis indicates that all four students demonstrated increases in oral reading fluency for instructional passages and novel progress monitoring passages after intervention implementation. In addition, single‐case design effect sizes indicate strong effects for instructional passages for all four students, moderate effects for novel progress monitoring passages for two students, and strong effects for novel progress monitoring passages for two students. Finally, parents implemented interventions with moderate to high integrity, and parents rated the interventions as acceptable. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research and practice as they relate to parent‐implemented interventions within a response to intervention framework.     

Peer Mediated Intervention in Reading Instruction Using Pause,Prompt and Praise

A multiple baseline research design across subjects (pairs) was used to examine the effectiveness of peer tutoring in reading using the Pause, Prompt and Praise tutoring procedure. Twelve 11 year‐old, Year 6 students of varying reading ability were trained in the systematic use of delayed attention, prompting and praise to tutor 12 Year 6 students of a similar age and similar reading ability. Individual trends in tutor behaviours were examined using a statistical programme specifically designed for analysing data from interrupted time series research designs. A one‐tailed t‐test was also computed to test for significant differences in pre‐ and post‐test means in reading achievement. Continuous data collection throughout the programme indicated that all peers were effective in increasing their use of the tutoring behaviours; not all tutors experienced statistically significant increases, however. Both peer tutors and tutees made statistically significant gains in reading accuracy and comprehension over the course of the intervention.     

Developing a Collegial Approach to Initial Teacher Education: the Westminster B.Ed Primary Internship Project

This paper describes Hong Kong research into peer tutored instruction in reading. Tutors were trained to use Paired Reading, a technique appropriate for use across a range of ability levels, and adaptable for reading instruction in languages and orthographies other than English.

The Hong Kong research confirms that peer tutors can successfully deliver reading instruction, with both tutors and tutees benefiting in terms of enhanced reading proficiency, intrinsic motivation to learn, and self‐concept. It also suggests some factors which may enhance the effects of peer tutoring upon achievement. For tutees these are content coverage, peer self‐concept and intrinsic motivation to study. For tutors the predominant factor is locus‐of‐control.

Interestingly, tutors’ instructional behaviours during tutoring sessions appear not to have any effect on tutoring outcomes, except in so far as they might slow down coverage of the material being read.

     

The Efficacy of an Early Literacy Tutoring Program Implemented by College Students

Absctract. This article describes a two‐year study addressing the effectiveness of a highly structured, systematic tutoring intervention implemented by minimally trained college students with two cohorts of at‐risk first‐grade readers. Participants were 61 first‐grade children in Cohort 1 and 76 first‐grade children in Cohort 2. Tutors participated in three one‐hour training sessions and received occasional on‐site assistance. Individual tutoring sessions were scheduled for three to four times each week for one school year, with each cohort receiving approximately 10–14 hours of instruction across 44 sessions. The curriculum included a game to teach phonemic awareness and letter‐sound correspondence, structured word‐study activities, reading of leveled books, and simple comprehension strategies. Significant differences were found on measures of phonemic awareness and nonsense word reading for both cohorts. For Cohort 1, but not Cohort 2, significant differences were also detected for real‐word identification. Our results support using tutors to provide additional assistance and instruction in early reading, even when tutors are not professionally trained teachers.     

The effects and characteristics of family involvement on a peer tutoring programme to improve the reading comprehension competence

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of an educational programme involving peer tutoring at school and family tutoring at home on child reading comprehension achievement in Catalunya, Spain. We drew upon a sample of 303 primary school students from 8 to 11 years old and 223 family tutors from home (61.5% mothers, 15% fathers, 17% both parents, 6.5% siblings). Reading comprehension performance was assessed through standardised tests in pre and post-test bases. Background variables were collected by means of student and parent questionnaires and also teacher and family interviews. An analysis of the family tutoring interactions was also performed. The main results showed positive effects for all the students, but especially for the 223 students who received family support. Overall, the study reveals the effectiveness of peer learning to improve reading comprehension skills and the potential of family involvement for the development of academic skills when the school provides trust and support for it.     

Helping parents to read with their children: evaluation of an individual and group reading motivation programme

Twenty‐two primary school children, aged 6–12 years, who were experiencing significant reading difficulties, were allocated to one of two parent‐instruction treatment conditions according to the parent’s preference. The treatments were based upon learning‐theory principles, and were aimed at teaching the parents optimal ways of helping their child learn to read. One condition involved the parent and child being seen individually by the therapist twice a week over five weeks. The other condition involved the parents meeting as a group for three weekly sessions, and then as a group with their children for the final two sessions. The same learning‐theory principles were taught in both treatment conditions. Seven children who were awaiting treatment provided waiting‐list control data over a five‐week period. Outcome measures of the children’s reading level and reading self‐concept, and the parents’ stress levels during reading‐time showed significant improvements for those in the individual treatment condition, and this improvement was maintained at a follow‐up after two months. While there were some gains for those in the group treatment condition, these were not maintained by the two‐month follow‐up.     

The Influence of Certain Social Factors upon Scores in the Stanford Achievement Tests

Abstract

Cognitive changes in socially disadvantaged children in Grades 5 to 7 who were participating in a one-to-one tutoring program in Israel were assessed. Tutors were university students who received a partial tuition rebate if they met their child twice a week in 2-hour sessions over a 7-month period. The progress of a sample of tutored children was compared to that of a sample of nontutored children in mathematics, reading (Hebrew), and English. The tutored children were not found to be at an advantage on the tests although other data from tutors, parents, children, and teachers indicated that the project should be having an impact on academic achievement.     

Do Boys or Girls Make Better Reading Tutors? An Empirical Study to Examine Children's Effectiveness as Tutors Using the Pause,Prompt and Praise Procedures

This study aimed to assess the effects of single‐sex and cross‐gender pairings in the context of the ‘pause, prompt and praise’ procedures for improving reading, the effects of boys as tutors compared with girls as tutors and those of choice in sex of tutor. Four groups were involved in the study: boys tutoring boys, girls tutoring girls, girls tutoring boys and boys tutoring girls. The tutees were 24 Year 7 pupils and the tutors were 24 Year 10 pupils from a large suburban comprehensive school in the Midlands of England. The reading age of each of the tutees was measured both before and after the intervention so that gains in reading age could be evaluated. The results showed that peers could be successfully trained to use the pause, prompt and praise techniques and that these were effective in raising the reading standards of tutees in all four groups. However, little evidence was found to suggest that any of the pairings was any more successful than the others or that the sex of the tutor had any significant effect on the tutoring outcome. On the other hand, however, there was some evidence that choice of tutor sex might have an effect on gains in tutee's measured reading ages     

Comparison of Peer Tutored Remedial Reading Using the Pause,Prompt and Praise Procedure with an Individualised Tape‐assisted Reading Programme

In this study ten 9‐ to 11‐year‐old, low progress readers were randomly assigned to receive assistance through one of two remedial reading programmes, i.e. peer tutoring using Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures or an individualised tape‐assisted reading programme (TARP). An educational psychologist trained primary teachers to implement and monitor both programmes. Results of the eight‐week programme indicated substantial gains for readers on both programmes with gains being maintained and even increased at follow‐up. While reading gains for tutees on the peer tutoring programme were similar to those for readers on TARP, the greatest gains were made by peer tutors.     

Contexts for Remedial Reading: Practice Reading and Pause,Prompt and Praise tutoring

Abstract Fourteen residential childcare workers were trained to implement both a Practice Reading and the Pause, Prompt and Praise remedial reading procedures in school and cottage settings with 18 low‐progress readers of primary school age. Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures were introduced in each setting only if readers made insufficient progress with Practice Reading alone. Childcare workers displayed major change in their tutoring behaviour between baseline (untrained tutoring) conditions and trained tutoring conditions (Practice Reading or Pause, Prompt and Praise). Readers who received a six week programme of individual reading assistance made significant gains on standardised tests of reading accuracy and comprehension and made accelerated progress through graded book levels, while children in the comparison group did not. Results are discussed in terms of the interactive social contexts provided by the two procedures and of the opportunities for reciprocal gains in skill between readers and tutors with the Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures.     

Training Parents to be Home Reading Tutors: Generalization of Children's Reading Skills from Home to School

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a procedure for teaching parents of mildly retarded children to be home reading tutors and to examine generalization of the children's acquired skills from the home to the school setting. The parent‐tutor procedures were based on Glynn, McNaughton, Robinson and Quinn (1979). Four children aged 8 to 10 years, attending a special class, participated in the project. The reading tutor training procedure was implemented in a multiple baseline across participants design. Tutor behaviours measured were attention to errors, delayed attention, modelling, prompting and the use of praise; child reading behaviours assessed were accuracy of reading, number of errors, self‐corrections and prompted corrections. During intervention and maintenance phases substantial increases in targeted tutor behaviours and corresponding improvements in child reading behaviours were observed. Improvements in the children's home reading behaviours, particularly self‐correcting, generalized to the classroom setting.     

Pause, prompt and praise – peer tutored reading for pupils with learning difficulties

Eila Burns undertook the enquiry that is the subject of this article while studying for her MEd degree at the University of Birmingham. She is now a lecturer in teacher education at Jyvaskyla University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The project she describes here aimed to assess the effectiveness of peer tutoring and the advantages of the structured 'pause, prompt and praise' reading method in improving reading skills among pupils working in Key Stage 4. Action research was undertaken in a secondary level special school catering for pupils with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) in order to explore the benefits of establishing such interventions within special school environment.
The pause, prompt and praise reading sessions were conducted at the beginning of lessons, employing same-age peer tutors and using subject-based texts. The findings reveal that, after a slow start, the tutees' rates of self-correction began to rise, indicating improvements in reading skills. Eila Burns also reports growing skills and confidence in the tutors, suggesting benefits for all involved in the peer tutoring process. She describes, in detail, interesting differences between outcomes for the different tutor-tutee pairings in her work and proposes a number of ways in which her small-scale enquiry could be taken forward. The implications of this study are, however, very encouraging for practitioners considering the use of peer tutoring in their own environments.     

A Feedback Procedure for Teacher Trainees Working with Parent Tutors of Reading

Abstract In this pilot study, four third‐year teacher trainees were trained to give feedback to parents who were tutoring their own children in reading using the Pause Prompt and Praise procedures. The trainees learnt to teach the procedures to the parents and then to give feedback by prompting parents to remember and explain their own tutoring behaviours. Baseline measures showed that when trainees were asked to help parents in any way they could to implement the procedures, they used very intrusive forms of prompts. Following training trainees used much less intrusive forms of prompts, giving parents more opportunity to remember and explain their own tutoring behaviours. It was argued that less intrusive forms of prompting when giving feedback may have been of more assistance to parents in learning the procedures than more intrusive forms of prompting, since parents may have learned to become more independent of trainee support. This, in turn, may have contributed to the substantial gains in children's reading levels which occurred.     

Behavioural Peer Tutoring: training 16‐year‐old tutors to employ the ‘pause,prompt and praise’ method with 12‐year‐old remedial readers

Abstract Eight 16‐year‐old, low achieving pupils were trained to tutor reading using the ‘Pause, Prompt and Praise’ method. The effectiveness of training such tutors was investigated through a tutorial programme in which these eight older pupils tutored eight 12‐year‐old remedial children who were retarded in reading. The programme consisted of 24 tutorial sessions conducted over eight weeks. Two matched control groups of remedial readers were also included in the experiment. One consisted of eight pupils tutored by a group of eight untrained tutors who tutored during the same sessions using the same materials. The second control group consisted of a third group of remedial readers who read silently, without a tutor. The experimental group of tutees, who had a mean pre‐test reading age of 8 years 4 months, made a mean gain of 6 months in reading accuracy by the end of the programme. The tutees of control group I who had received tutoring from untrained tutors made a mean gain of 2.4 months. The pupils of control group II who read silently without a tutor made a mean gain of 1.8 months. Analysis of covariance showed the gains of the experimental group to be statistically significantly different from the gains of the two control groups.     

Volunteers as teachers of child management to parents of behaviour‐disordered preschoolers

Ten women volunteers were trained as teachers of child management skills to parents of behaviour‐disordered preschoolers. Families were selected from referrals to a child psychiatric clinic, and included 42 children. Initial assessment of families was undertaken by a psychologist, and specific goals for treatment were set with parents. Volunteers trained in a social learning approach to child management visited the families in their homes to implement and supervise programs aimed at parent and child behaviour change. After 6‐8 weeks families were reassessed at the clinic. Evaluation of the project's outcomes using a consumer satisfaction survey, parent ratings on a problem behaviour checklist, and staff ratings of goal attainment, showed major changes in child behaviour which were maintained at three‐month follow‐up.     

Effects of training peer tutors in content knowledge versus tutoring skills on giving feedback to help tutees’ complex tasks

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of training tutors in content knowledge of a particular domain versus training them in tutoring skills of pedagogical knowledge when tutoring on a complex tutee task. Forty-seven tutor–tutee pairs of fourth-year secondary school students were created and assigned to one of the two treatments. Twenty-two tutors received training in content knowledge and the other twenty-five tutors in tutoring skills. Tutors formulated written feedback immediately after the training. Tutees first interpreted the tutor feedback and then used it to revise their research questions. The results showed that tutors trained in tutoring skills formulated more effective feedback than tutors trained in content knowledge. In addition, tutees helped by tutoring-skills tutors found the feedback more motivating than those helped by content-knowledge tutors. However, no differences were found in tutee performance on revision. The findings are discussed in terms of the set-up of this study and implications for improving the effectiveness of peer tutoring.     

Paired Reading: a study of process and outcome

A peer tutored Paired Reading (PR) project was organised involving 10 and 11 year old pupils at two primary schools. Outcome was assessed by reading age. Tutor and tutee behaviour during PR was analysed by sessional tape recordings. The study indicates that many of the tutors involved in this project failed to follow PR procedures closely, that all tutors employed reinforcement at very low rates, that many important errors were left uncorrected, and that tutors were consistent in their adherence to (or neglect of) the procedures in which they had been trained.

There appeared to be no influence of tutees’ initial reading age on either tutee or tutor behaviour during PR sessions. No aspect of either tutee or tutor behaviour during PR was associated with size of reading gain.

Mechanisms underlying the apparent effectiveness of PR (and a number of other tutoring techniques for oral reading) are discussed in the context of the apparent absence of any relationship between tutor adherence to PR and tutee reading gains.