The Development and Evaluation of a Confluent Language Arts Program
The growing interest in the self-concept as a factor to learning and the idea of confluence as a possible motivator for building positive self-concepts influenced the direction and intention of this study. The problem of this study was (1) to develop a confluent language arts program designed to imp...
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| Format: | Others |
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Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University
1980
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| Online Access: | https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2758 https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4149&context=etd |
| Summary: | The growing interest in the self-concept as a factor to learning and the idea of confluence as a possible motivator for building positive self-concepts influenced the direction and intention of this study. The problem of this study was (1) to develop a confluent language arts program designed to improve the self-concepts and reading achievement of students; and (2) to determine if there were increases in self-concept and reading achievement scores after participation in the program. The development of the confluent language arts program involved the following process: (1) theory formation to give substance and structure to the literature-language lessons; (2) establishment of criteria for literature selection; (3) needs assessment of students; and (4) the writing of literature-language lessons. The lessons combined feeling and thinking in activities to build positive self-concepts through problem solving and increase reading proficiency. The evaluation of the confluent language arts program made up the second portion of this research project. A summer school was organized for a five week period with the confluent language arts program as the curriculum. Participants of the summer school were volunteers who made up the experimental group. The control group was randomly selected from the population of Jefferson School students who ranged from beginning fourth grade to completing fifth grade. The experimental group and the control group were pretested for self-concept and reading achievement. At five, six, and four week intervals, self-concept and reading tests were administered again. The reading and self-concept posttest and two retention tests were compared to the pretests to measure any increase in means. The means of these tests were subjected to an analysis of covariance at the .05 level of significance for rejection of the null hypotheses. The analysis of covariance indicated that no significant differences were found between the experimental group and the control group in self-concept improvement or reading achievement. The null hypothesis were not rejected. |
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