READING ACHIEVEMENT OF SECONDARY STUDENTS: A COMPARISON OF THE LANGUAGE ARTS SKILLS CENTER APPROACH (LASCA) WITH THE ENGLISH THEMATIC INTEGRATED APPROACH (ETIA)

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Language Arts Skills Center Approach (LASCA) yielded significantly greater gains in reading comprehension, reading vocabulary, spelling, and in more positive attitudes toward reading. Standardized test results of LASCA and ETIA were compared after a nine-week period of instruction. The LASCA program stresses the separating out of language arts skills for specific instruction in an individualized setting. The ETIA program provides broad learning in several language arts areas integrated by means of the framework of a specific theme provided in a traditional setting. The study sample consisted of 150 eleventh and twelfth grade students from a large regional high school and included a wide range of socio-economic levels. Differences in pretest-posttest mean gains for each group were calculated. The mean gains of LASCA and ETIA were compared and analyzed for significance by means of t tests for independent samples. An alpha level of .05 was the level of significance selected. The results showed that LASCA yielded greater gains than ETIA in the areas of reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, and spelling in a nine-week period when measured by standardized tests. The LASCA approach also yielded significantly greater gains than ETIA in positive attitudes toward reading in a nine-week period as measured by an attitude inventory administered to two groups who were also measured in comprehension skills. The LASCA approach did not, however, yield significantly greater gains than ETIA in positive attitudes toward reading as measured by an attitude inventory administered to two groups who were also measured in vocabulary skills. The conclusion drawn from the results of this study is that LASCA is a significantly better approach to teaching the individual skills measured when compared with ETIA. Secondary schools should consider a LASCA-type program in language arts and in subject areas, such as, mathematics and social studies.