Klaipėdos universitetas

As researchers have different opinions about the most important factors in the formation of the reading process, including the effects of animal-assisted activities on reading, a study was conducted, of which the purpose was to compare the effects of different types of reading skills improvement activities on the reading motivation and word decoding skills of second-grade students. The following research tasks were formulated: 1) to develop methods adapted to Additional Reading and Reading with an Animal groups; 2) to compare the results of word decoding abilities and the reading motivation of three groups (I experimental, II experimental, and III control), obtained before and after the intervention; 3) to compare changes in the results of the I experimental, II experimental and III control groups obtained after the experiment. A real experiment was chosen as the research method, consisting of two experimental groups (group I participants read texts for the researcher, group II read texts for dog-assisting interventions), and the control group (with whom no additional activities were performed). The results of the study showed that when comparing the results of each group before and after the intervention, word decoding skills, internal and external motivation, and negative attitudes, in terms of reading, did not change significantly. When comparing the changes in the results of all three groups obtained after reading activities, it was observed that the participants in the experimental group II had a greater positive change in the decoding ability of non-meaningful words, while the participants in the experimental group I were distinguished by a greater negative change in the decoding ability of non-meaningful words than the rest of the participants in the study. The participants in the experimental group II, after reading activities, were distinguished by a significant increase in respect of external motivation: social (reading-related) behaviour, and the participants in the control group were distinguished by a significantly weakened social (reading-related) behaviour compared to the rest of the participants in the study. The participants in all three groups were distinguished by a positive change in the decoding ability of meaningful words after the intervention, but this difference was not significant. Although in this study reading for dog activities do not show significant changes in the motivation or negative attitudes towards reading, they had a positive effect on reading motivation.