Two thirds of all students at East Los Angeles College place into remedial, pre-college level English classes. Many of these students take introductory chemistry classes and will probably encounter language barriers to content comprehension. Driven to quantify the effect of reading ability on content mastery, and to optimize student success in class, the effect of student's reading ability on chemistry content mastery in introductory chemistry classes was investigated. Students were given an online reading assessment, which consisted of numerous multiple-choice questions geared to assessing reading ability. The course textbook was also assessed and assigned a reading difficulty rating. The reading ability of the students and the reading level requirements of the textbook were then compared and gaps between levels were identified. A reading strategy was developed to bridge any gaps between the reading level required by the textbook and the reading levels of students. Students took a pre-strategy chemistry assessment, were then introduced to the reading strategy, and finally took a post-strategy chemistry assessment. Initial results show that implementation of the reading strategy lead to gains in post-strategy assessment scores. Student reading assessment results showed that 79% of students were reading below the level of the textbook at the outset of the class, which might explain why only 29% of students scored proficiently on the pre-strategy assessment. However, following implementation of the reading strategy, 57% of students scored proficiently. This initial data suggests that implementation of effective reading strategies early in a chemistry class can lead to gains in chemistry assessment grades, and consequently carries implications for effective instruction.

Reading strategy leads to exam gains in chemistry: Implications for instruction

251st National Meeting (2016)

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