THE EFFECT OF THE INTEGRATION OF LANGUAGE ARTS OBJECTIVES WITH MOTOR DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES IN THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM: KINDERGARTEN THROUGH SECOND GRADE

The purpose of this study was (a) to investigate whether or not a taxonomic approach could successfully integrate listening and reading language arts objectives with motor development objectives in a physical education program, kindergarten through second grade; and (b) to examine the changes and relationships that occurred in the 155 elementary school children (63 kindergarten, 46 first grade, 46 second grade) participating in the research.;The motor development objectives ratings indicated varying emphases in physical education by grade level: kindergarten (mental development and body handling development), first grade (mental development, body handling development, and social-emotional development), and second grade (mental development, social-emotional development, physical development, body handling development, object handling development, and coordinated body and object handling development). The majority of the stated language arts objectives in listening and reading received an appropriate rating. The language arts grade level progression developed was in agreement with the progression suggestions given by several texts for language arts development. Objective ratings for the motor development and language arts were in agreement with previous research findings.;Data obtained from the motor development tests revealed significant improvement over time, significant differences between grades in a developmental direction, and significant differences between sexes. The girls scored higher on the PPMS items which involved body awareness, rhythmic response and items not requiring strength. The boys scored higher on the GMI items which were principally gross motor object handling.;Data obtained from the language arts tests revealed significant differences in favor of the Experimental groups on kindergarten beginning consonants and second grade listening comprehension. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on listening comprehension at the kindergarten level and on reading comprehension at the first grade level.;A descriptive research design was used to address the first question. A list of objectives in language arts development and motor development was given to classroom teachers, physical education specialists, and university professors to be evaluated for appropriateness at the kindergarten, first, and second grade levels. A quasi-experimental research design using pretests and posttests to measure changes in performance levels in motor development and language arts development was used to address the second question. Canonical correlation analysis of the posttest examined the existence of relations between motor development and listening and reading components of language development at each grade level. The Purdue Perceptual-Motor Survey and the Gross Motor Inventory were used to measure motor development, while language arts development was measured by STEP-Word Puzzles and Listen to a Story (kindergarten), COOP--Listening and Reading Forms 12A and 12B (first grade), and COOP--Listening and Reading Forms 23A and 23B (second grade).;Significant relationships between object handling development patterns and listening comprehension were revealed at all grade levels. Items on the GMI were related to reading whole words in kindergarten, reading comprehension in first grade, and reading interpretation, evaluation, and inference in second grade. These results are not consistent with previous research.;In summary, use of an organizational schema (taxonomic approach) for selecting language arts and motor development objectives and learning experiences enabled successful integration of language arts into the physical education curriculum with no loss of performance improvement for either subject area. Several significant changes in motor and language arts performance occurred and significant relations between the motor development variables and language arts development variables were found.