Promoting Students' Multifaceted Literacy Competence Through Quality Talk: A Quasi-Experimental Study

• In Event: Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Understanding Intruction, Motivation, and Learning in Literacy

Abstract

Students often lack the literacy competence needed to be successful in today’s global economy. Unfortunately, traditional literacy programs tend to focus on developing individual literacy skills rather than students’ overall literacy competence, resulting in substantive inadequacies in students’ literacy skills. This yearlong, federally-funded, quasi-experimental study investigates the efficacy of a multifaceted literacy intervention called Quality Talk. Fourth- and fifth-grade students from two public schools participated in a district-wide literacy program with half also participating in Quality Talk within their language arts class. Basic and high-level comprehension was assessed at three time points. Results indicated that students participating in Quality Talk had greater high-level comprehension growth than comparison students during the second half of the school year. Implications will be forwarded.

Authors

• Pricilla Karen Murphy, The Pennsylvania State University

• Jeff A. Greene, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Carla Marie Firetto, Arizona State University

• Mengyi Li, American Institutes for Research

• Rebekah F Duke, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Rachel Miriam Vriend Croninger, The Pennsylvania State University

• Nikki G. Lobczowski, McGill University