The Effect of Fifth Grade Student Tutors on the Sight Word Vocabulary Attainment of First Graders

Sixty-six first graders who needed individual help in sight word instruction were equally divided into the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group received extra tutoring on sight word vocabulary while the control group had only classroom instruction. The tutors, 33 fifth graders identified as low achievers in reading, were trained to provide sight word vocabulary instruction to beginning first graders. The training consisted of four 1-hour sessions and included tutor behavior, tutoring skills and procedures, and program objectives. The tutors were also taught to use the Dolch Picture Word Cards. The actual tutoring was held 3 days a week, 30 minutes each day, and lasted for 2 months. The Primary Word Recognition section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test was used for pretest and post-test. Data were analyzed at the .05 level of significance with a t test. Both the experimental and control groups made significant gains during the 2-months period, but the experimental group indicated significantly higher gain than did the control group. Tables and references are included. (AW)