Abstract

The purpose of this study was to rate the oral retellings of fifth-grade students to determine to what degree passages, raters, and rating occasions affect those ratings, and to identify what combination of those elements will produce reliable retelling ratings. Thirty-six fourth-grade students read and orally retold three contemporary realistic fiction passages. Two raters rated these retellings on two separate occasions using the Reader Retelling Rating Scale. These ratings were analyzed quantitatively using generalizability software. Two research questions were answered by the generalizability (G) and decision (D) studies. The G study answers the first question regarding the percentages of the total variation that can be attributed to the students, the raters, the rating occasions, the passages, and interactions among these factors. The G study found that the largest sources variation were the students, the passages, and the student-by-passage interaction. The D study answered the second question about how many raters, rating occasions, and passages would be needed to obtain a reliability coefficient for similar students in another setting. To obtain high reliability coefficients, retellings of a minimum of four (preferably six) passages should be rated by at least two raters on one occasion.

Degree

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Teacher Education

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