The Effects of Socratic Method and Student-Led Discussion on Eighth Grade Students' Reading Comprehension
Date
2017
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teacher-led and student-led Socratic
discussion on reading comprehension scores of eighth grade students. The sample consisted of 11
females and 12 males who were emolled in a Title I public school in East Tennessee. Data were
collected using EasyCBM reading comprehension assessments. The tests were administered twice.
The first test was administered after students engaged in teacher-led Socratic discussions; the
second test was administered after students engaged in student-led Socratic discussions. The data
were analyzed using a paired samples t-test. The results indicated that there was no significant
difference between students' reading comprehension scores after engaging in teacher-led and
student-led Socratic discussions (t(22) =-1.271. P>0.05). Two independent t-tests were also
conducted in order to determine whether there was a difference between males and females ' scores
after engaging in the respective Socratic discussions. The results indicated that there was not a
significant difference between males and females after teacher-led Socratic discussions (t (21) =
0.578, p>0.05). Likewise, the results for the third research question indicated that there was not a
significant difference between males and females after student-led Socratic discussion (t (16) = -
1.77, p>0.05). The results suggest that more research should be conducted to determine the effects
of teacher-led and student-led Socratic discussion.
Description
Master of Education (M.Ed.) Thesis
Keywords
Reading comprehension, Discussion, student-led, Discussion, Socratic, Discussion, teacher-led, Master of Education (M.Ed.) Thesis