One of the articles I found is entitled "The Effects of Three Instructional Methods on the Reading Comprehension and Content Acquisition of Novice Readers." This article explored the effects of three instructional comprehension methods including picture walks, the DR-TA and the KWL. There were three intervention groups (one for each method) and a control group. The results showed significant positive effects of the DR-TA on reading comprehension. Also discussed is the consistency of this study with earlier studies concerning the DR-TA.
I believe this article relates to my research problem because the usage of the DR-TA strategy is at the heart of my problem. I would like to begin my literature review with studies about the effectiveness of the DR-TA and story mapping strategies. This will set a purpose for why my research question is important and should be studied further. It needs to be shown that these strategies will be effective from the beginning in order to complete a longitudinal study.
Another article I found is entitled "Early Intervention in Reading: Results of a Screening and Intervention Program for Kindergarten Students." This study involved kindergarten students who were selected for a reading invention program on the basis of their ability to name letters of the alphabet. The intervention included tutoring over a 20-week period using various strategies. The results were that this group of students consistently outperformed a control group. However, there was also a 2-year longitudinal follow-up which showed lower rates in special education or remedial reading programs for the students involved in the intervention.
This article relates to my research problem by showing that early intervention can have lasting effects. I am trying to do something similar with comprehension strategies in 2nd grade. Since there is no research on my specific topic, I plan to research other longitudinal reading intervention programs and see what their lasting effects were. For the second part of my literature review I will relate previous studies to my own problem. I will try to organize these studies by topic instead of by author.
I feel I am still working through many issues with my literature review. My only experience is with searching for articles that are exactly linked to my topic, and therefore I am having trouble drawing the line of how relevant something is to my own research problem. I want to relate other studies explicitly to my own since that is one of the criteria for literature reviews. However, I am struggling with how related they need to be and how I can connect them. Particularly in the second half of my literature review where I will be discussing other longitudinal studies, I am thinking about how to find relationships between the topics.
Another question I have is whether my research problem is now more focused as I have been trying to narrow it down. Coming up with search words to find new articles has also been a struggle for me as I try to narrow my topic.
My last question is concerning whether we can also use books if we have the required 6 articles as well. I am not finding many articles on the DR-TA strategy but I know I have read about it in multiple books.
References
Dougherty Stahl, K.A. (2008). The effects of three instructional methods on the
reading comprehension and content acquisition of novice readers.
Journal of Literacy Research, 40(3), 359-393.
Lennon, J.E., & Slesinski, C. (1999). Early intervention in reading: Results of a
screening and intervention program for kindergarten students. School
Psychology Review, 28(3), 353-364.
Excellent work. You do a good job summarizing the articles without going into too much detail. However, with both I had questions about the sample. What size? Demographics of students? This is always important in helping assess the relevance of the study.
ReplyDeleteThe struggles you are having with your literature review are exactly the struggles you should be having. It's hard work finding that niche where your study belongs. Regarding your question about citing books, that's fine as long as you have the required 6 peer reviewed articles as well.