Jessica Craig
Doctor of Philosophy, (Education)
Study Completed: 2015
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Citation
Thesis Title
Word level literacy skills of Adolescents and their Teachers: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
Poor adolescent reading comprehension is a persistent problem. Ms Craig investigated word level literacy skills of 301 New Zealand adolescents to determine if poor readers lacked knowledge of English as a written language (orthography). Students’ understanding of the structure of the language (morphology) was also assessed. Ms Craig developed a teacher-delivered intervention aimed to improve spelling and decoding skills for weaker students and improve vocabulary knowledge for all students. The teachers’ knowledge of word level literacy skills was also assessed.
Supervisors
Dr Alison Arrow
Distinguished Professor William Tunmer
Dr Keith Greaney