Date of Award

6-1-2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education

First Advisor

Karin Dittrick-Nathan, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Cynthia Hazel

Third Advisor

Kathy Green

Fourth Advisor

Edith King

Fifth Advisor

Frederique Chevillot

Keywords

Assessment, Ethnicity, MAVA, Rural, Three-tier, Vocabulary

Abstract

This study examined vocabulary acquisition of elementary students in grades kindergarten through fifth in one rural New Mexico school. The school had 277 students. Hispanic students comprised nearly 80% of the student body. All students received free lunch and breakfast. The 65 students who participated in the study were assessed using the Montgomery Assessment of Vocabulary Acquisition (MAVA). This new assessment, published in 2008, tests receptive and expressive vocabulary utilizing the three-tier vocabulary model introduced by Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2001). The study assessed each student for proficiency in identifying and using tier-I, tier-II and tier-III words. Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants were compared with respect to their tier-I, tier-II, and tier-III proficiency using analysis of covariance with three candidate covariate factors: participant grade in school, gender, and caregiver level of education. Results of the study demonstrated that Hispanic participants and non-Hispanic students performed equally well in tier-I expressive and tier-II and tier-III expressive and receptive vocabulary. Caregiver level of education showed statistical significance for tier-I expressive and tier-II receptive vocabulary results. Participant grade level was found to be statistically significant in both expressive and receptive scores for all three-tier levels.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Eileen M. Gatliffe

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

92 p.

Discipline

Educational leadership, Educational evaluation, Educational tests & measurements

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