Reading acquisition: Third-grade curriculum integration through children's literature

The purpose of this study is to determine if the use of a literature-based integrated 3rd grade curriculum increases students' reading abilities more than a traditional text-based language arts pedagogical approach. This study compares the literacy performance of 2 groups of students from 2 matched 3rd grade classrooms in the same urban elementary school.;This is a quantitative study of a matched sample of students. Pre- and post-test instruments testing fluency and comprehension are used for assessing both groups. Findings reveal a trend indicating students from the literature-based integrated curriculum increase their literacy test scores more than those in the traditional group but there is not a significant statistical difference. There is a significant difference shown for these students in reading comprehension, as measured by their reading quizzes. Findings also show that these students read more and from a wider variety of children's literature genres. This study supports the use of children's literature to improve the literacy performance of 3rd grade students.