THE INFLUENCE OF MENTOR READING BUDDIES ON ORAL READING FLUENCY FOR ESL AND NON ESL STUDENTS THE INFLUENCE OF MENTOR READING BUDDIES ON ORAL READING FLUENCY FOR ESL AND NON ESL STUDENTS Erin M. Gregory School of Education and Allied Professions University of Dayton April 19, 2006

Introduction 12 of my 30 students are ESL (English as a Second Language) learners There are eight different first languages spoken in my classroom including Spanish, Romanian, Creole, French, Swahili, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Arabic. All of my students, regardless of their first language, seem to struggle with oral reading fluency.

Research Question Will mentor reading buddies improve oral reading fluency for ESL and non-ESL students?

But What is Reading Fluency? According to Timothy Rasinski (2004), “Reading fluency refers to the reader's ability to develop control over surface-level text processing so that he or she can focus on understanding the deeper levels of meaning embedded in the text” (p. 47).

What Other Research is Saying “Effective fluency instruction should serve as a modeling component – helping see (and hear) what fluent reading of a targeted text is like” (Rasinski, 2003, p. 4).

What Other Research is Saying Assigning an older student to act as a “buddy” to another student is a sure way to help second-language students become first-rate readers of English ” (Athaide-Shannon, 2005, p. 50).

My Participants and Setting Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School Cleveland, Ohio Urban Catholic School, Pre K-8 th Grade Approximately 300 students Majority are White or Hispanic Of a lower socioeconomic status

My Participants and Setting My Classroom 30 Third Grade Students 12 of the 30 are ESL students 2 African Refugees who know little English are new to the class

Data Collection and Analysis My Buddy Reading Program My 30 Third Grade Students were paired up one-on-one with the 29 Seventh Grade Students They read for two 30-minute sessions a week Continued for exactly one month

Data Collection and Analysis Pre and Post Tests from the Trophies Series Found student’s WCPM (word count per minute) Calculated the mean WCPM for the whole class and each group (ESL and non-ESL students)

Findings ESL students increased their WCPM by approximately 14 words Non-ESL students increased their WCPM by an impressive 26 words 60% of my third grade classroom scored in the 4 th quartile, or somewhere between the 76 th and 99 th percentile at the completion

Findings

Quartiles Interpreting Quartiles Quartile Percentile Level of Performance 1 st 1 st to 25 th Students in this quartile are significantly below average in oral reading fluency. 2 nd 26 th to 50 th Students in this quartile range from moderately to slightly below average. 3 rd 51 st to 75 th Students in this quartile may range from slightly to moderately above average. 4 th 76 th to 99 th Students in this quartile are significantly above average in oral reading fluency. Reference: Hasbruck and Tindal (1992)

Pre-Test Quartiles

Post-Test Quartiles

ESL Student Quartiles

Non-ESL Student Quartiles

Conclusions WCPM created a new “buzz” or enthusiasm for reading in my classroom and the 7th grade classroom alike Buddy Reading had a positive effect on oral fluency for both ESL and non-ESL students

Planned Action Continued Buddy Reading Program with the 7 th grade for the remainder of the year Encouraging the rest of the school to participate as well More buddy reading time among my students

References Athaide-Shannon, T. (2005). Beginning reading, bilingually. Teaching PreK-8, 36(2), Hasbruck, J.E., & Tindal, G. (1992). Curriculum-based oral reading fluency norms from students in grades 2 through 5. Teaching Exceptional Children, 24 (3), Rasinski, T. (2004). Creating fluent readers. Educational Leadership, 61(6), Rasinski, T. (2003, November/December). Fluency is fundamental. Instructor,

Acknowledgements Thank you to the following people for making this research project possible: Mrs. Rivera and her 7 th Grade Class Sr. Rosario Vega, Principal of OLMC The parents of the 3 rd and 7 th grade students Dr.Kinnucan-Welsch and Leah Strayer for their continued support