Setting reading accuracy goals affects performance and attitude

Abstract

Students tend to take a grade and rarely reflect on their performance. Did I do well? What was the main mistake? Is there anything I need help with? How can I improve that grade next time? That same grade that students get either motivates or demotivates them. If students get the chance to set their own goals based on their weakness, and work on an action plan to reach that goal, their view of the grade changes. They will take a grade as an indicator to help them know how well they have acquired a concept or even reached their goal. Based on that reflection, they will be able to know what the next step will be. Working on reading skills in lower elementary is a base to develop other components. In the Lebanese National Curriculum for English as a first language in the third grade, there is no emphasis on phonics and phonemic awareness that are a base for reading accuracy. Helping students set a reading accuracy goal and work on attaining that goal through intervention, which lacks at several points in the classroom, influences their achievement and their attitude towards reading. In this study, reading accuracy was examined within the context of goal setting. Additionally, this study examined the attitude students have towards reading before and after setting reading accuracy goals. A convenience group of third grade students was chosen for the study. All the thirty students took a running record (McGraw-Hill Education. Reading Wonders Running Records/ Benchmark Books.) and a reading attitude survey before sharing results. Afterwards, students identified their weakness and set their goal. A teaching plan was created for a 4-week interference program. Meanwhile, students documented their reading progress on daily basis for content analysis. By the end of the intervention time, running records and reading attitude survey was passed again for students. In this mixed method descriptive quasi experimental research design results were analyzed in the form of descriptive statistics and inferential t-test after doing a pre-test and a post-test. By the end of the study, a set of recommendations are given to enhance reading accuracy.