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The Effects of Parenting Stress and Academic Self-Concept on Reading Ability in a Clinic Referral Sample

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This study investigated the relationships among the variables of parenting stress, academic self-concept, and reading ability. The purpose of this study was to determine whether parenting stress and academic self-concept contributed to the child's reading ability. Two hypotheses were investigated in an effort to accomplish this purpose. The subjects used in this study were forty-nine children and their primary caretakers referred to The Child and Family Resource Center, The University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, during the academic years of 1994 through 1999. Subjects ranged in age from seven to eighteen years of age. Academically, the subjects ranged from first graders through eleventh graders. All subjects lived in and attended schools in Denton County or neighboring counties. Parental employment ranged from unskilled laborers to medical doctors. The participating families included biological, step, adoptive, single, and divorced families. Abidin's Parenting Stress Index was used to measure parental stress experienced by the primary caretaker. The Intellectual and School Status cluster of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was used to measure the child's academic self-concept and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised provided a measure of the child's reading ability. Test scores were obtained following a review of The Child and Family Resource Center's …
Date: May 2001
Creator: Maldonado, Michele L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
How Adult Readers Navigate Through Expository Text in a Hypermedia Environment to Construct Meaning (open access)

How Adult Readers Navigate Through Expository Text in a Hypermedia Environment to Construct Meaning

Research methods from both the qualitative and quantitative paradigms were used to answer the question concerning how adult readers navigate through informational text embedded in a hypermedia environment to construct meaning.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Bland, Jana H. (Jana Hamilton)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Content Analysis of Children's Historical Fiction Written about World War II (open access)

A Content Analysis of Children's Historical Fiction Written about World War II

The purpose of this study was to investigate the evolution of children's historical fiction dealing with World War II in order to describe the changes that have occurred over the past 50 years. Two questions were asked in the study: (1) Has the characterization of protagonists portrayed in historical fiction about World War H evolved since 1943? and (2) Have the accounts of the events of World War H portrayed in historical fiction evolved since 1943? Content analysis was used as the method of collecting data. The sample consisted of 86 novels written from 1943 to 1993. Upon completing the reading and coding, the researcher discussed the categories and questions posed. As part of analysis, the discussion of the novels in each period was accompanied with an overview of trends in children's literature and events affecting society. The analysis led to the following conclusions: 1. Authors were impacted by changes in the social and political climate, as evidenced by the changes in the gender of the protagonists, an increase of violence, and the inclusion of women. 2. Novels written during the 1980s and 1990s were written with a stronger American perspective. 3. At the time that an increase of violence …
Date: August 1996
Creator: Crossland, R. Bert (Rodney Bert)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Parents' Perceptions of Their Roles and Needs as Related to Their Children's Reading Development (open access)

Parents' Perceptions of Their Roles and Needs as Related to Their Children's Reading Development

The problem of this study was that parental perceptions of the roles and needs related to their children's reading development had not been successfully investigated. The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine parental perceptions of their roles, influence, and skills most needed to assist them relating to their children's reading development; the information sources on which parental beliefs about their role are founded; factors foreseen by parents that might hinder their involvement in that role; parents' preferred mode of receiving desired information relative to their assistance in their children's reading development; and existing variations in parental perceptions.
Date: May 1981
Creator: Thompson, Barbara Jean
System: The UNT Digital Library
Texas Educational Reform: a Study of the Effects of Mandated Testing in Texas (open access)

Texas Educational Reform: a Study of the Effects of Mandated Testing in Texas

The problem of the study was to examine the effects of Texas legislated basic skills testing as the effects relate to teachers, administrators, and local school districts. Questionnaires consisting of thirty questions were mailed to a stratified random sample of 120 educators from all twenty Regional Service Centers in Texas. Both teachers and administrators were included in the sample. Factual information and personal opinions were solicited to determine how educators and local school districts have been responding to the testing reform directives. Responses of educational groups and demographic types were compared using the chi-square test and presented in descriptive and tabular form.. Nine findings, nine conclusions, and six recommendations resulted from the study.
Date: December 1990
Creator: Gray, Ruth Ann
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Use of Nonfiction/Informational Trade Books in an Elementary Classroom (open access)

The Use of Nonfiction/Informational Trade Books in an Elementary Classroom

The purpose of the study was to describe the use of nonfiction/informational trade books within a literature-based elementary classroom by students and the teacher. Using a qualitative ethnographic approach, the researcher became a participant observer in a third grade classroom during a two and one-half week thematic unit about the westward movement. Data were collected from field notes, audiotapes of class discussions and informal interviews, documents of students' work, photographs, daily observer comment summaries, and memos. These data were coded, analyzed for recurring patterns, and grouped together, resulting in grounded theory.
Date: August 1994
Creator: Briggs, Connie Craft
System: The UNT Digital Library
Authors, Protagonists, and Moral Decision Making in Contemporary Young Adult Realistic Fiction: a Content Analysis (open access)

Authors, Protagonists, and Moral Decision Making in Contemporary Young Adult Realistic Fiction: a Content Analysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there is a difference in the way male and female authors of contemporary realistic fiction for young adults portray decision making by their male or female protagonists. Questions asked in the study were: (1) Do female writers of contemporary young adult realistic fiction employ an ethic of justice or an ethic of care for male protagonists involved in moral decision making? (2) Do female writers of contemporary young adult realistic fiction employ an ethic of justice or an ethic of care for female protagonists involved in moral decision making? (3) Do male writers of contemporary young adult realistic fiction employ an ethic of justice or an ethic of care for male protagonists involved in moral decision making? and (4) Do male writers of contemporary young adult realistic fiction employ an ethic of justice or an ethic of care for female protagonists involved in moral decision making? Content analysis was used as the method of collecting data. The sample consisted of 194 novels written from 1989 to 1998, 53 of which contained a moral dilemma. A discussion of the novels included examples of moral dilemmas, alternative solutions, dilemma resolutions, and resolutions based …
Date: August 1999
Creator: Ford, Peggy Kathleen Ollar
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Teaching of Children's Poetry: An Exploration of Instructional Practices in University Courses of Children's Literature, English, Language Arts, and Reading Education (open access)

The Teaching of Children's Poetry: An Exploration of Instructional Practices in University Courses of Children's Literature, English, Language Arts, and Reading Education

There are no studies which focus on the instructional practices employed in the teaching of children's poetry at the university level. This project aimed to describe the instructional practices utilized in the teaching of children's poetry at universities across the United States. Limited to the practices of the university professors and adjunct instructors who were members of the Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) at the time of this study, this investigation attempted to ascertain the general perceptions of poetry held by these university professors and adjunct instructors, their in-class instructional practices, and the types of poetry assignments given. Additionally, this study revealed both the poets typically highlighted and the goals held by professors and instructors in courses of children's literature, English, language arts, library science, and reading education. A mixed-methods design provided the framework for the descriptive data gleaned from the Poetry Use Survey. Quantitative data analysis yielded descriptive statistical data (means, standard deviations, ranges, percentages). Qualitative data analysis (manual and computer-assisted techniques) yielded categories and frequencies of response. Major findings included respondents': (a) belief that the teaching of poetry was important, (b) general disagreement for single, "correct" interpretations of poetry and …
Date: December 2004
Creator: Jacko, June Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library