College of Education
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1647
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
Browse
36 results
Search Results
Item Special Classes and Group Therapy: An Evaluation of Their Effects on Achievement and Behavior in a Public School Setting(1971) Weinstein, Howard G.; Goering, Jacob; Human Development & Quantitative Methodology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)This investigation was designed to test the relative effectiveness of four educational-treatment methods of providing adequate services for children with special learning problems in elementary school Special Learning Problems classes. The focus was on the relative effectiveness of these methods in bringing about positive achievement and behavior change. The subjects were 50 elementary school pupils enrolled in e ight existing Special Learning Problems (SLP) classes in Fairfax County, Virginia. The Ss represented a wide range of behavioral and/or educational disorders reflected in an equally wide range of inappropriate behavior and/or educational retardation of at least one, and generally two years. Each of the eight pre-established SLP classes was randomly assigned to one of four educational-treatment groups. Two SLP classes were assigned to each treatment group. The experimental methods consisted of special class placement and: (A) "Child Therapy Only" (CTO); (B) "Parent Therapy-Only" (PTO); (C) "Child and Parent Therapy" (CPT). In addition, a "Special Class-Only" (SEO) control group was included. Subjects in the CTO and CPT groups participated in 24, 90-minute group therapy sessions. The parents of the children in the CPT and PTO groups received 24, 90-minute parent group therapy sessions. The SEO (control) group did not receive group therapy nor did their parents. Group therapy sessions were conducted by trained and experienced group therapists from the Mental Health Center. The California Achievement Tests, The Wide Range Achievement Test, the Behavior Rating Scale, and the Human Figure Drawing Test were administered in mid-October, 1969 and repeated in mid-April, 1970. The difference between pre- and post-test scores were computed and the differences between treatment groups' mean gain scores were tested for significance by means of t-ratios. The null hypotheses tested were: Hypothesis 1. There will be no significant differences in mean gain scores on any of the achievement measures or on the behavior ratings between the control group (SEO) and any of the experimental groups (CTO, PTO, CPT). Hypothesis 2. No significant differences in mean gain scores on any of the achievement measures or on the behavior ratings will be found between the three experimental groups (CTO, PTO, CPT). Hypothesis 3. There will b e no significant differences in mean gain scores on any of the achievement measures or on the behavior ratings between those students designated as NEW (1st year SLP) and those FORMER students in SLP classes. The analyses of the results from the achievement and behavior measures provided, with only three exceptions, support for not rejecting the null hypotheses. With regard to Hypotheses 1 and 2, although only two comparisons reached statistical significance (i. e. , the CPT group obtained significantly higher CAT-Reading and WRAT-Arithmetic gains than the SEO group), it was found that the achievement mean gain scores were generally greater for the CPT group than for either the SEO group or for either of the other two experimental groups (CTO and PTO). In contrast, the SEO group obtained a greater behavior scale mean gain than any of the three experimental groups (CTO, PTO, CPT), although this difference did not reach significance. With only one exception (WRAT-Arithmetic), no significant differences were found between the NEW and FORMER groups. Subsequent to the experimental period, the NEW students demonstrated a significantly greater mean gain in Arithmetic than their FORMER group counterparts. Behaviorally, the FORMER group obtained a greater mean behavior rating gain than the NEW group, although not statistically significant. In general, the present findings provided no evidence for differential favorable effects from any of the educational-treatment methods utilized in terms of significantly greater achievement or behavioral gains. However, some noted trends were suggestive of the fact that perhaps each of the four educational-treatment methods is best suited for different situations, goals, and subjects. Further research was recommended.Item The Influence of Behavior Rehearsal Techniques on Children's Communicative Behaviors(1973) Cassidy, Edward W.; Rhoads, David; Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of behavior rehearsal techniques on the behavior of shy children as determined by a measure of verbal behavior. Answers were sought to the following questions: 1. Does participation in a behavior rehearsal program affect the verbal behavior of shy children? 2. Is there a difference between standard and personal hierarchies used in behavior rehearsal? 3. Is there a difference between group and individual behavior rehearsal approaches? The sample included one hundred seventy-seven elementary school children from nineteen fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classrooms. The subjects were pupils who had a history of low frequency of verbal participation in group and individual settings. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two principal treatments or a control group. The first treatment was identified as Behavior Rehearsal-Personal. In this treatment subjects developed their own personal anxiety hierarchy. The second principal treatment was identified as Behavior Rehearsal-Standard. In this treatment the subjects were assigned to rehearse items from a hierarchy developed by the experimenter. The two treatments were applied in both one-to-one and group counseling settings. Besides treatment and setting, sex of subject and counselor were used as classification variables and included in a 2^4 factorial analysis of variance design. At the conclusion of a four week treatment period the subjects were observed on the criterion behavior, unsolicited communicative response, during a thirty minute controlled discussion session. Analysis of the data demonstrated that there was no change in verbal behavior as a result of participating in a behavior rehearsal program. It appears that in this study the behavior rehearsal procedures had no differential effect on the verbal behavior of the shy children. No significant difference was found on any of the other factors which· were measured. Neither the treatment setting, nor the sex of the subject, nor the counselor appeared to have a significant effect on the final results of the study. Although research studies indicate that the behavior rehearsal technique should be an effective technique for shaping assertive behaviors, no such evidence was found in this study. Nor was support found for the traditional view that personalized hierarchies are more effective than standard hierarchies. The lack of research on the behavior rehearsal technique suggests that more intensive and systematic research is needed to assess the specific effects behavior rehearsal has on the behavior of shy children.Item The Effectiveness of Differential Social Reinforcement Strategies in Facilitating Achievement Behavior of Lower Socioeconomic Status, Primary Grade Children(1971) Fishman, Harold; Matteson, Richard; Human Development & Quantitative Methodology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)This study was designed to ascertain whether Positive Social Reinforcement (PSR), Negative Social Reinforcement (NSR) and the condition of no verbal feedback (Control) have a differential motivational effect on the achievement behavior of low socioeconomic status, primary grade Ss. Two related objectives of this research were : (a) to determine whether black and white Ss are differentially motivated to achieve in response to the aforementioned three social reinforcement-feedback contingencies and (b) to determine whether Ss who are at different developmental levels are differentially motivated to achieve by these three classes of social reinforcement-feedback parameters.Item The Effects of Variation in the Amount of Play Materials on the Play Behavior of the Preschool Child(1978) Rechsteiner, Ann E.; Leeper, Sarah L.; Human Development & Quantitative Methodology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)Major questions have arisen concerning the function of play in the development of the young child. Changing attitudes towards the significance of play reflect changing social patterns. The present study was concerned with the effect that a removal of a specified amount of play material had on the play behavior of young children. Ten intact groups of children from the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area ranging in age from three to five years old were studied by this researcher. A time sampling technique using a modified version of DUSOPAC was used to measure the play behavior of the groups. The data collected by the observers were compiled and analysed using a one way ANOVA for a repeated measure design for each of the eleven variables (Disruptive, Unoccupied, Solitary, Onlooker, Parallel, Associative, Cooperative, Not Play, Child-Child, Child-Adult, Child-Self.) The findings indicated that a significant relationship (at the .05 significance level) existed between the amount of social play observed and the amount of play equipment that was available to the young child. Less social play was observed when the material was removed on the first treatment day than when the material was present. No significant relationships were observed between the amount of equipment available and the amount of non-social play, the amount of child-child interaction, the amount of child-self interaction, or the amount of child-adult interaction that occurred. Investigation of the mean score values revealed trends for both interaction patterns and play behavior. Females were found to display more child-self interaction behavior and males more child-child interaction behavior. Also, for all days of observation, regardless of treatment, the most frequently occurring interaction behavior was child-child followed by child-self. The least frequently occurring interaction behavior was child-adult. For play behavior for all days of observation, regardless of treatment, males displayed more disruptive, unoccupied, associative, cooperative, parallel and social play behavior than did females. Females were found to display more solitary, onlooker, not-play and non-social play behavior than were males. These findings were not in agreement with Langlois, Gottfried and Seay (1973), and Sitzky, Haywood and Isett (1970 ). The results of this study seem to indicate that there is a need for more research to 1) update earlier studies; 2) study the role of play in the development of social interactions; 3) investigate saturation levels of equipment as they relate to a child's play; 4) to explore in more detail environmental influences on play behavior.Item Plans, Targets, and Trends in Ethiopian Education(1970) Bjerkan, Ole-Christian; van Zwoll, James A.; Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)The purpose of this study was to trace the progressive recognition of educational needs as expressed in targets and objectives in educational and development plans in Ethiopia from 1944 to 1968, and to discover the relationship between the needs and the actual attainment of the goals and targets. A study was also made of the contribution of the non-government schools to the fulfillment of presentday educational needs. By reviewing the literature pertaining to the development of the educational system in Ethiopia, some of the forces which have and are influencing educational policies and plans were discussed. An analysis of the educational and development p lans revealed clues to the progressive identification of educational needs as expressed in the different plans. After crystallizing the educational needs as expressed in educational objectives and targets, an attempt was made to find to what extent these needs have been fulfilled. The needs in Ethiopia were found to be similar to those in many of the African nations in spite of a different cultural background and political history of the country. The differences in problems were rather in degree than in kind. The educational plans for Ethiopia have, with the exception of the Addis Ababa Plan of 1961, been made without any relation or comparison with other African nations. In most cases the targets and goals of the local plans were surpassed, but when related to educational "desired averages" for the African countries taking part in the Addis Ababa conference, the educational development in Ethiopia proved to be seriously lagging. compared with the "desired averages" of the Addis Ababa Plan, of an age-group population enrollment of 100 per cent for the first level, 23 per cent for the second level and 2 per cent for the third level to be reached within the year 1982, a projected enrollment in keeping with the historical trend for the last ten years in Ethiopia indicates that these targets would not be reached within the target date.Item INTENDED AND INCIDENTAL LEARNING OUTCOMES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES WITH A SELECTED AUDIOVISUAL PRESENTATION(1978) Main, Robert Gail; Berman, Louise M.; Administration, Supervision, and Curriculum; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)Problem: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the use of learning objectives with an audiovisual presentation on the intended (objective relevant) and incidental (non-objective relevant) learning outcomes. This study was conducted to provide evidence regarding the facilitative effects of using learning objectives as an organizer with a fixed-pace, fixed-format, non-print medium. The investigation was based on one phase of David P. Ausubel's theory of meaningful verbal learning: the advance organizer, Ausubel hypothesized that organizers facilitate learning when presented to students in advance of a learning passage. In this investigation, the organizer consisted of the learning objectives for the students, and the curriculum material was an audiovisual slide-tape presentation. The organizer was presented prior to the presentation, following the presentation, and interspersed within the presentation immediately preceding the objective relevant content. Procedure : An experiment was conducted to determine the effect and interaction of five independent variables with an audiovisual slidetape program: presence of learning objectives, location of learning objectives, type of knowledge, sex of learner, and retention of learning. A factorial design replicated for retention of learning was selected for the analysis. Student learning of intended knowledge and incidental knowledge, as measured by paper and pencil tests, were the dependent variables. A commercially produced educational slide-tape presentation concerning advances in communication technology was used as the stimulus. The participants were 108 college students enrolled in an introductory mass communications course at a California State University. Students in the class were stratified by sex and randomly assigned to four groups. Each experimental group viewed the slide-tape presentation either without learning objectives (control group), with learning objectives grouped at the beginning of the presentation (advance organizers), grouped at the end of the presentation (post organizers), or located throughout the presentation immediately preceding the relevant content (adjunct organizers ). Viewing and listening factors were carefully controlled for each of the four groups. Students completed an immediate posttest measuring intended and incidental knowledge as well as their feelings toward the subject and the manner of presentation. They were tested again two weeks later for intended and incidental knowledge only. The data were subjected to analysis of variance and other selected statistical procedures for testing differences between the experimental groups. Results : Although all three treatment groups had higher intended learning scores, only the performance of the group receiving the learning objectives before the slide-tape presentation achieved significance at the .05 level. The comparison of the immediate and delayed posttest analyses indicated that the relative effects of the experimental treatment did not change over time for the intended learning. No significant differences were found between experimental groups in the learning outcomes of incidental knowledge. No interactions were found between treatment and the grade point average or sex of the student. Significant differences did occur in the participants' evaluation of the slide-tape presentation. While there was no significant difference between the treatment groups and the control group, the group receiving the learning objectives before the presentation gave a significantly higher evaluation rating to the slide-tape program than did the group where the learning objectives were interspersed during the presentation. Conclusions: As a result of this experiment, the author concluded that the use of learning objectives facilitated the learning of objective relevant knowledge from a slide-tape presentation when the learning objectives were presented at the beginning of the program. Learning objectives used in this manner as "advance organizers" do not inhibit the acquisition of incidental (non-objective relevant) information contained in the instructional program. Furthermore, the use of learning objectives with a slide-tape instructional program does not detract from the students' evaluation of the program. Recommendation : Learning objectives can be developed by instructors for the audiovisual materials they use. The insertion of the learning objectives prior to the presentation of the audiovisual program can be accomplished rather easily. If the primary concern of the user of audiovisual materials is to increase intended learning, the insertion of learning objectives prior to the presentation is recommended.Item A Study of International Farm Youth Exchange Delegates Who Visited Latin America(1960) Blum, Lee Ann Leet; Wiggin, Gladys A.; Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)A. Statement of Problem The problem of this thesis is to study the nature and prediction of adjustment to foreign culture of 24 American International Farm Youth Exchange delegates. Specifically, this thesis is designed to answer the following questions: 1. What was the nature of adjustment or the 24 subjects as determined through: a. An analysis of a questionnaire administered on return from the foreign visit. b. An analysis of correspondence during the foreign visit. 2. Could the nature or the adjustment have been predicted prior to the foreign visit by materials available in: a. Application form for foreign visits. b. Supplementary biographical data. A secondary purpose of this thesis is to review the literature relating to technical and/or student exchange programs of: 1. Foreign nationals in the United States. 2. Americans in other countries. B. Procedures 1. Selection of the Group from which Population Was Drawn A group of 1010 IFYE delegates who have visited a total of 59 different countries and Puerto Rico was the population from which the sample was drawn. Due to the variety of country cultures represented and the world coverage, it was decided to simplify and centralize the population. The 133 delegates who visited the 18 Latin American countries were selected to represent the group. Latin American countries were selected because of their similar cultural and religious background. Since information on file was to be used in the study, it was essential to select only those del egates with comparable data. Comparable data were available for delegate participants during the years 1955-57. As so limited, the group numbered 64. 2. Criterion for Selecting Population The next step was to determine whe ther the 64 subjects could be categorized at the outset into most and least adjusted to the foreign culture visited, on the basis of material available after return. The answer to question number 19 on the Individual Report Form was selected as the item to be used for categorizing. For categorizing question 19, eight individuals were asked to serve as raters. Four raters had only a slight knowledge of the IFYE program and four raters were past participants in the IFYE program. Each rater was given the group of 64 Individual Report Forms and asked to categorize question 19 in one of three categories. These categories were: (1) Least Adjusted, (2) Medially Adjusted, and (3) Most Adjusted. No criteria were given the rater to influence his placement. The categorizing was used as an attempt to see if a significant pattern could be recognized. For the purpose of this study, it was decided that the following method be used in classifying subjects: a. Each subject must appear in the least adjusted or in the most adjusted category a minimum of four times (which means that at least half of the raters thought that the subject was either least adjusted or most adjusted). b. The subject was not to appear in the least adjusted category if classified in the most adjusted category, and vice versa. c. The subject might appear in the medially adjusted category and still be used for the most or the least adjusted category if qualifications for step (a) listed here were fulfilled. After all raters had completed their categorizing, tabulations were made and it was found that 11 subjects in the least adjusted category and 13 subjects in the most adjusted category could be used in this study. Complete categorizing of the 64 subjects can be found in Appendix A. 3. Procedures for Analysis of Data a. Nature of Adjustment Question number 19 of the Individual Report Form was used to categorize the subjects into groups of most adjusted and least adjusted. The question reads as follows: "Of all things that were new and different to you, which were difficult or disagreeable to adjust to?" The Individual Report Form appears in Appendix B. The 24 subjects' responses to the question appear in Appendix G. Answers were available to all other questions on the report and an analysis will be made in this study of all questions relating to the nature of adjustment. Correspondence received from the delegates while visiting in the foreign country was available in individual files. An analysis of the correspondence indicated that delegates report a variety of news. The nature of news reported is available for study in relationship to the delegates' adjustment in the foreign culture. b. Prediction of Adjustment Adjustment while in the host country is of special interest to the officials of the IFYE program. To be able to predict adjustment of a delegate to his host country before actually participating in the program would be of great value to IFYE. This study is designed to investigate available pre-participation background information on each subject. The available information on file relates to: (1) Delegate Application Form (to be found in Appendix c) and (2) Delegate Biographical Form (to be found in Appendix D). The purposes of this study are to investigate the background information listed above and to test for significant relationship of nature of adjustment in the foreign country.Item The Development of an Instrument to Differentiate Among Public School Teachers on the Basis of Attitudes Toward Professionalism(1978) Uhlan, Eugene Arthur; Goldman, Harvey; Administration, Supervision and Curriculum; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument which would measure the level of professionalism attained by public school teachers. The development of such an instrument is based upon the assumption that there are degrees of professionalism rather than a simple dichotomy between the professional and the nonprofessional. Procedures: A review of the literature revealed that the characteristics of a profession are of two basic types. First are those characteristics which are part of the structure of the occupation including such things as formal education and entrance requirements, the formation of a professional organization and the adopting of a code of ethics. The second type is attitudinal. These attributes of professionalism reflect the way in which the practitioners view their work. If the occupation has met the structural prerequisites of a profession, the approach taken in practice determines the level of professionalism reached. In order to determine the extent to which the approach taken by public school teachers toward their work approximates the professional model, the researcher developed an initial pool of 104 items for a Teacher Attitude Scale based upon the following six attitudinal attributes of a profession: 1. The use of the professional organization as a major reference. 2 . Involvement of the individual in the professional culture. 3. A belief in service to the public . 4 . A belief in the right to self -regulation. 5. A sense of calling to the field. 6. A belief in autonomy. The initial pool of items was submitted to three professionally trained teachers who were provided full definitions of each attribute above and were asked to match each item with the attribute it was intended to measure. The work of this group indicated that the six attributes should be collapsed into three. Thus, use of the professional organization as a major reference and involvement in the professional culture were combine . A belief in service to the public and a sense of calling to the field were combined and autonomy was combined with a belief in the right to self-regulation. A second panel examined the items for clarity and unnecessary duplication. This process resulted in the selection of sixty (60) items, twenty designed to measure each of the three combined attributes. The sixty item Teacher Attitude Scale was then sent to a total of 500 randomly selected teachers in eight different county school systems in Maryland. The statistical analysis was based upon 408 usable responses or just over an eighty percent return. Twenty-two items were selected for use on a field test version of the Teacher Attitude Scale. Responses from 100 randomly selected teachers in Cecil County, Maryland, resulted in the selection of nineteen items for the final instrument. Findings: The research indicates that there are two factors contributing to the professionalism of public school teachers which can be measured through the use of a self-report instrument. These factors relate to the use of the professional organization as a major reference and a belief in commitment to the profession including a sense of calling to the field. Implications: The score a subject obtains on the instrument developed through this study should be considered an attitude score . In general, the interpretation of an attitude score on a summated- rating scale cannot be made independently of the distribution of scores of some defined group. This should present no problem since the purpose of using the instrument is to place the attitude of each subject in relation to the attitudes of other subjects. Scores on summated rating scales can be interpreted in this relative sense . In terms of further research, the purpose will be to compare the mean change in attitude scores as a result of introducing some experimental variable. A study of the teachers exhibiting the more professional attitudes, according to the instrument, may reveal training and/or organizational differences which relate to this professionalism. Administrators and teacher educators could then encourage the use of those training techniques which enhance professionalism.Item An Examination of the Effects of Three Testing Techniques on Word Accuracy, Comprehension, Rate, and Percentages of Semantic Substitutions in Oral Reading(1972) Stafford, Gerald Edward; Sullivan, Dorothy D.; Early Childhood Elementary Education; University of Maryland (College Park, Md); Digital Repository at the University of MarylandAuthoritative opinion of long standing has recommended that purposes for reading be established prior to reading. In spite of such recommendations, testing procedures for oral reading typically have not involved reading for purposes. Furthermore, research designed to examine the effectiveness of reading for purposes has generally produced divergent findings. Superior reading performance has been observed when purposes for reading were established prior to reading as well as when they were not established prior to reading. Moreover, research designed to examine the effectiveness of purposeful reading has been confined almost exclusively to the area of silent reading. To date not a single investigation has been found which clearly illustrated the effects of purposes for reading on oral reading performance. The present study was designed to investigate the relationships between three testing techniques and performance on four dimensions of oral reading performance. The three testing techniques employed in this study were identified as (1) careful reading, (2) reading for specific purposes, and (3) reading for general purposes. The four dimensions of oral reading performance on which comparisons were made involved oral reading word accuracy, comprehension, rate, and the percentages of semantic substitutions. The four research hypotheses examined in the investigation are stated as follows: 1. There is a difference in oral reading word accuracy under the treatments careful reading, reading for specific purposes, and reading for general purposes for third and sixth graders. 2. There is a difference in oral reading comprehension under the treatments careful reading, reading for specific purposes, and reading for general purposes for third and sixth graders. 3. There is a difference in oral reading rate under the treatments careful reading, reading for specific purposes, and reading for general purposes for third and sixth graders. 4. There is a difference in the percentages of semantic substitutions made under the treatments careful reading, reading for specific purposes and reading for general purposes for third and sixth graders. To obtain data for this study, forty-five third grade and forty-five sixth grade subjects were randomly selected from two elementary schools. The ninety subjects chosen for the study were then randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Each subject was requested to read orally in the manner dictated by the treatment group to which he had been assigned. The materials from which subjects read were the appropriate passages from Form A of the Gilmore Oral Reading Test (1852). Measurements for oral reading word accuracy, comprehension, rate, and percentages of semantic substitutions were computed for each subject. A 2x3 analysis of variance design was used to test for differential treatment effects. An analysis of the data from the study indicted that none of the research hypotheses was supported at the .05 level of significance. The present study led to recommendations in the areas of theory, diagnosis, teaching, and research. Authoritative opinion has suggested that many of the classification schemes used for analyzing oral reading errors are a theoretical. It is possible that performance differences not evidenced through the classification scheme employed in this study could be found using a classification scheme having a sounder theoretical basis. It was therefore recommended that the effects of the three treatments employed in this study be reexamined using a classification scheme built around a theory of reading. In contrast to investigation in the area of silent reading, the present study did not evidence differences in reading performance under the treatments employed. The failure of oral reading performance to vary in the manner observed for silent reading suggested that the two forms of reading are in some respects dissimilar. It was therefore recommended that that diagnostic procedures include measures of both oral and silent reading . Recent investigation has suggested that children often need greater skill in reading for different purposes. One possible explanation for why differential treatment effects were not obtained in the present study was that subjects did not have skill in reading for different purposes. The recommendation was made, therefore, that classroom teachers place greater. emphasis on teaching children to read for different purposes. The following recommendations were made for the area of research. (1) It was recommended that research be undertaken to develop measures of oral reading comprehension, rate, and percentages of semantic substitutions which have greater test-retest reliability. (2) The sample chosen for this study was restricted to third and sixth graders whose performance on a standardized silent reading test placed them in the second or third quartile of the normative population. A replication of this study using subjects from other grade and performance levels was recommended. (3) It was recommended that investigation be undertaken to further examine the relationships between oral and silent reading. Special consideration should be given to identifying those factors in which a satisfactory generalization from oral reading to silent reading can be made. (4) This study did not evidence differential treatment effects using reading materials and purposes for reading supplied by an examiner. It was recommended that investigation be undertaken to examine the effectiveness of using pupil-selected materials and pupil purposes for reading.Item Self-Concept and Race: Basis for Reactions to a Short Story?(1976) Reggy, Mae Alice Turner; Secondary Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The purpose of this study was to assess the identification responses of black female tenth-grade readers in relationship to the reader's self-concept and the race -- black or white -- of the central character in an investigator-constructed short story. The problem under investigation centers around two major probes: 1. Do black female readers identify more with a white central character than with a black central character? 2. Do the self-concepts of black female readers influence their capacity to identify with a central character in a short story? The study has significance for the potential contribution it may make in helping teachers, librarians, curriculum supervisors and others understand the ways in which black female tenth-grade readers respond to characters in a particular short story and select written works accordingly. A sample of 24 black female tenth-graders in a creative arts high school in the D.C. Public Schools reacted to two versions of an investigator-constructed short story about the physical self-concept of a black (version A1) and white (version A2) central character. Divided into two groups (A, B), the subjects responded to version A1 or A2 using a questionnaire constructed by the investigator to measure the subjects' identification responses. Both groups were administered the Personal Orientation Inventory, a standardized test used to measure their self-concept. Data from these two instruments were analyzed using a standard t test and a Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient to test the following research hypotheses: H1 The mean score for Group A as measured by the Self-Involvement Questionnaire will be greater than the mean score for Group B. H2 There is a positive correlation between students' scores obtained on the Self-Involvement Questionnaire and scores obtained on the Personal Orientation Inventory. The findings of the study lead to the conclusions that, within the limitation and implementation procedures of the study, the self-concepts of black female readers have an effect upon their capacity to identify with the central character in a short story. Students with high self-concepts tended to identify with the central character in a short story regardless of the race of the central character and, conversely, that students with low self-concepts tended to reject the central character, black or white. The study also showed that black, tenth-grade female readers do not identify more with a black central character than with a white central character. The major implication for teaching is that teachers, librarians, curriculum supervisors and others need to consider the self-concepts of their students in selecting and assigning written works.