An examination of the critical reading of fifth graders who have been presented with either a single version or parallel versions of a story episode

• Main Author: Dignazio, JoAnne Abbonizio
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Subjects: education, elementary; education, reading
• ISBN: 9780591785524; 0591785528

The purposes of the present study were to determine: (a) whether fifth-grade students who read parallel passages had an increased awareness of differences between characters' perceptions of a series of events, and (b) whether fifth-grade students had a better understanding of why events occurred in a passage after reading parallel passages when the same event is viewed from two different perspectives compared to those who read a single passage. The parallel passages designed for this study were two short episodes relating an identical series of events. Each version presents the information from the perspective of only one of the characters.
The subjects, 200 fifth-grade regular education students, were randomly assigned to one of four groups: Group 1, Rakim and Mrs. Harris Version I and II; Group 2, Rakim and Mrs. Harris,Version II; Group 3, Peter and Carlos, Version I and II; Group 4, Peter and Carlos, Version II. There was an equal distribution of males and females who participated in the study. There was no pre-teaching of characterization, character perspective or point of view prior to the study.
Results of a two-way analysis of variance, analysis of covariance and t-test for matched samples indicated: (a) The awareness of fifth-grade students to differences between characters was not significantly increased after reading parallel passages than for those students who read single version passages, and (b) the comprehension of students with respect to why events occur in a passage did increase significantly after reading parallel passages than for those who read a single version passage $(p<.05).$
However the results of this study support the use of parallel passages for facilitating the comprehension and critical reading skills of fifth-grade readers. The idea of using parallel passages may be a way to enhance students awareness of differences between characters, as well as to increase reading comprehension and to develop critical reading skills. In addition, the limitations of this study and implications for future research are discussed.