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European Journal of Special Education Research ISSN: 2501 - 2428 ISSN-L: 2501 - 2428 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu doi: 10.5281/zenodo.838262 Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 EFFECTS OF CLASSWIDE PEER TUTORING ON WORD ATTACK SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES Majdoleen Sultan Bani Abdel Rahman, Suhail Mahmoud Al–Zoubii Department of Special Education, Najran University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abstract: This study investigated the effects of classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) on word attack skills among students with learning disabilities (LD). The participants included 5 students with LD in the control group and 4 students with LD in the CWPT experimental group; all of the students were in the third grade in Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The word attack test (WAT) was developed and administered to the two groups as the pretest and posttest. The students in the experimental group received instruction through CWPT, whereas the students in the control group received individual instruction. In the WAT posttest, the mean rank of the students in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. Keywords: classwide peer tutoring, reading difficulties, students with LD, word attack 1. Introduction The U.S. Department of Education estimated the prevalence of LD in the developed societies as 5.36% (Lerner & Johns, 2012; Al-Zoubi & Al-Qahtani, 2015), but in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) it is estimated between 5-10% (Abu Nayyan, 2015). Academic struggles are one of the characteristics of students with LD. They can face difficulties in a variety of subjects, including reading, writing, and math. Thus, the academic problems associated with LD can vary, leading to the emergence of specific LD terms. Reading is the most significant challenge for students with LD (Hallahan, Correspondence: Suhail M. Al–Zoubi, Department of Special Education, Najran University, Najran, 61441, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, e-mail: suhailalzoubi@yahoo.com i Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 88 Majdoleen Sultan Bani Abdel Rahman, Suhail Mahmoud Al–Zoubi EFFECTS OF CLASSWIDE PEER TUTORING ON WORD ATTACK SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES Kauffman & Pullen, 2012). A student might have difficulty recognizing letters and their sounds, reading visual words, reading silently or orally, or comprehending what is read (McLoughin & Lewis, 2008). Reading difficulties may be due to the problems related to word attack skills, reading comprehension and fluency (Hallahan, Lloyd, Kauffman, Weiss, & Martinez, 2005) or critical reading skills (Al-Khateeb, 2013). Reading challenges in the students with LD could also be associated with problems in phonological awareness (Gillon, 2007), word encoding and decoding (Swanson, Zheng & Jerman, 2009), auditory memory (Swanson & Stomel, 2012), working memory (Wang & Gathercole, 2013), or cognitive processes (Kudo, Lussier & Swanson, 2015). The development of language varies among children in early childhood depending on visual disengagement and word attack skills(Venker, 2016) .Therefore, the acquisition of reading skills depends on a child having an alphabet reading system that allows him or her to convert written words to the phonological representation(Müller, Richter, Križan, Hecht & Ennemoser, 2015). Word attack skills are considered key to the learning process (Kucker, McMurray& Samuelson, 2015). Thus, students with reading difficulties need a differentiated instruction to enable them to transform decoding skills into word attack skills (Cho et al., 2017). In this regard, the use of synthetic and analytical phonics is an effective technique for teaching reading skills to students who struggle with reading (Henbest & Apel, 2017). The educational programs that are implemented for students with LD in general education classes are not always effective (McGrother et al., 2006); students with LD need to be taught strategies that meet their academic needs. Accordingly, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act stresses that all students should obtain a high quality of education through the implementation of varying teaching strategies (Morgan, 2006). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) also emphasizes the need to provide identification and intervention services for students with LD in placement settings (Lundblom & Woods, 2012). The IDEA encourages the use a general education curriculum for students with disabilities (McMaster, Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006). Thus, special and general education teachers should use modern teaching strategies to improve the reading skills of students with LD. For downloading the full article, please access the following link: http://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejse/article/view/931 European Journal of Special Education Research - Volume 2 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 89