Effects of individualised and small-group guided oral reading interventions on reading skills and reading attitude of poor readers in grades 2–4

Abstract

To assess the efficacy of guided oral reading as a remedy for low-achieving readers, two experiments were conducted in the early grades of primary school. In the first, poor-reading students were randomly divided between two treatment groups and a control group. In treatment groups, the intervention was delivered one-to-one, either in a repeated reading (RR) or in a continuous reading format, depending on how often students practised with the same text. In the second experiment, poor-reading students were randomly divided between a group-based guided oral reading condition and a control condition. Groups comprised three students who received an integrated version of continuous and RR. Measures included tests for fluency, reading comprehension (RC), vocabulary (VOC) and reading attitude (RA). The results demonstrate that both the individual and the group variants of guided oral reading are effective for improving fluency and RA. Transfer effects on RC and VOC could not be established.

Keywords:

• poor reading
• guided oral reading
• reading fluency
• reading attitude
• experimental research
• primary education