Dissertation
Exploring the effects of reading young adult literature that portrays people with disabilities
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
08/2010
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006115
Abstract
This intervention study examined the impact of reading young adult novels that portray people with disabilities on the attitudes of 229 eighth grade students. Students' beliefs and intentions to interact with peers with disabilities were measured on three occasions utilizing the Shared Activities Questionnaire (Morgan, Walker, Bieberich & Bell, 1996, Unpublished manuscript) and the Adjective Checklist (Siperstein, 1980; Siperstein & Bak, 1977). This study was conducted in two phases. First, all students took the attitudinal surveys. Half of the students then read a book that portrays a character with a disability, while the other students read a novel without disability portrayals. All students responded to two writing prompts about their novels before taking the survey a second time. For the second phase of this study all students listened to two short stories portraying teens with disabilities and then responded to a writing prompt about challenges. Afterwards, all students took the survey a third time. Repeated measures Analysis of Variance revealed no significant differences within or between subjects on either measure. Potential explanations for the results of this study as well as pedagogical implications are provided.
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Details
- Title
- Exploring the effects of reading young adult literature that portrays people with disabilities
- Creators
- Janine Julianna Darragh
- Contributors
- Jane E. Kelley (Chair)TARIQ TANVIR AKMAL (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of Teaching and LearningPaulette Mills (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of Teaching and Learning
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- College of Education
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 128
- Identifiers
- 99901055125601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation