Reading and Writing Instruction for Academically At-Risk Deaf and Hard of Hearing First-Year College Students

Objective/Research Question: Students with disabilities, including deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students, are enrolling in college at rates higher than in the past with most of them pursuing an associate’s degree. For DHH students, their reading ability is a predictor of their academic achievement in college. However, more than half of DHH students enroll in remedial reading and writing college courses indicating they are not reading and writing at a college level and putting them at-risk for non-completion. In addition, remedial reading and writing courses often do not count for credit toward graduation and may hinder rather than support student progress. One way to mitigate the need for remedial coursework during college is to provide the remedial instruction in a low-stakes manner through summer bridge to college programs. The purpose of the present study was to measure the effects of remedial reading and writing instruction provided through a summer bridge program on first-year, academically at-risk DHH college students’ ( N = 20) reading and writing abilities. Methods: Using a pretest/posttest design, we implemented remedial reading and writing instruction for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Results: Upon the completion of instruction, the student participants’ reading and writing skills improved. Conclusions/Contributions: Our findings may encourage researchers to attempt remedial instruction through summer bridge programs with other populations with disabilities or English language learners.

Mobile-based Interactive Media in Remedial Reading Instruction

This study investigated if there would be a significant effect of using mobile-based interactive media on the word recognition and comprehension of Grade-7 students who underwent remedial reading classes because they were identified as non-readers or belonging to the frustration level of reading comprehension. It employed a standardized reading test in administering the pre-test and post-test among the students before and after utilizing the said interactive media, respectively. The test included word recognition (oral) and comprehension (written) tests to determine the reading ability of the students. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the students both for word recognition and comprehension. The use of mobile-based interactive media was found effective in enhancing the reading skills of students, even for those students who were already in Grade-7 and those who belonged to the Frustration Level of reading comprehension. The study recommended that a longer period of time could be allotted for remedial reading instructions while using mobile-based interactive media and that interviews could be used as a follow-up strategy in ascertaining the improvement of students’ reading skills.

Educational Epidemic: A Study of the Academic Underachievement of Luso-Canadians

The Luso-Canadian community has been subject to a multitude of unfortunate social injustices since the initial waves of mass migration between the 1950’s and 1970’s. A community which has historically contributed greatly to Canadian society, has been marginalized intergenerationally in both the academic and professional realms of Canadian society. The Luso-Canadian community, specifically in Toronto where the highest concentration resides, has historically been marked by high drop-out rates, overrepresentation in special education and remedial reading programs, and extremely low rates of post-secondary education. These barriers early in life have been identified by numerous sources as being the cause for various subsequent issues the Luso-Canadian community has faced including vast underrepresentation in other professional spheres of Canadian life. While numerous causes can be identified to explain the reasoning for these injustices, it is clear that legislative actions by the school boards and board of education must be taken to battle this issue and ensure that Luso-Canadians fulfill their full potential.

A Literature Review on Remedial Reading Teachers: The Gaps in the Philippine Context

Remedial reading teachers are forerunners in elevating the reading achievement of students in schools. In the Philippines, there has been a continual enrichment of the reading skills of struggling readers through the initiatives of remedial reading teachers. However, the country does not have clear policies on the identities, roles, challenges, and needs of such teachers. This paper presents a review of the literature on remedial reading teachers. The results revealed that remedial reading teachers performed various roles in schools and that the cultivation of the roles and duties of remedial reading teachers rely so much on different factors, some of which are knowledge and the skills that they have, philosophical views in education and the whole school community, the rapport that remedial reading teachers have with their colleagues, the support of the administrators to their personal and career developments, and provisions of the local government. It was also evident in the review that literature and studies are scarce regarding remedial reading teachers in the Philippines, thus, suggesting to explore on the what's and the how's of remedial reading teachers in a hope of creating clear policies that will strengthen their identities and support their professional developments.