Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1997

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

J. Estill Alexander

Committee Members

Jeffrey Aper, Lonnie Mclntyre, Thomas Turner

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between critical thinking and attitudes toward reading of community college students enrolled in a Critical Reading course at Roane State Community College. The study was conducted with two sections with a total of 31 students enrolled in Critical Reading at Roane State Community College. One instructor taught both classes: one class was taught the regular curriculum and the other class was taught the regular curriculum plus instruction in five critical thinking skills. The design allowed for a comparison of the two different treatments one on the Roane County campus and the other on the Cumberland County Center campus. The research questions were:

1. Is there a significant relationship between gain scores on a measure for attitude toward reading and a measure for critical thinking skills?

2. Is there a difference in the means of the gain scores between pretest and posttest measures for attitude toward reading of community college, developmental reading students enrolled in a Critical Reading course?

3. Is there a significant difference in the means of the gain scores between pretest and posttest measures for critical thinking skills of community college, developmental reading students enrolled in a Critical Reading course? The students in both groups were given a pretreatment reading attitude assessment and critical thinking test to determine if reading attitude and critical thinking skills were comparable. Pretreatment measures were comparable for both groups. Since pretreatment reading attitude and critical thinking were comparable, posttreatment measures of reading attitude and critical thinking were analyzed to see if they were comparable, and to see if there was a relationship between reading attitude and critical thinking. The results indicated that no statistically significant correlation existed between attitude toward reading and critical thinking. However, a statistically significant difference was found between the gain scores for critical thinking for the treatment group and the control group. This experiment did establish the need for more research on reading attitudes and critical thinking skills of community college students.

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