ERIC Number: ED002593
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1965
Pages: 246
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF VARIABILITY IN READING RATE IN GRADES FOUR, FIVE AND SIX.
HARRIS, THEODORE L.; AND OTHERS
METHODS OF TESTING, EVALUATING, AND TEACHING READING IN THE FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES ARE DESCRIBED. CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTAL TESTS OF VARIABILITY IN READING SPEED ARE DISCUSSED. DESIGN WAS BASED ON THE RATIONALE THAT A MEANINGFUL READING-TIME SCORE DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE SUBJECT'S PURPOSE FOR READING. WHILE READING SPEED MAY BE DIRECTLY EXPRESSED IN TIME UNITS ALONE, ATTENTION WAS FOCUSED UPON A DERIVED RATE OF READING SCORE IN RELATION TO DEGREE OF COMPREHENSION AND IN SOME CASES TO A SPECIFIED PURPOSE FOR READING. WORDS-PER-MINUTE SCORING WAS NOT GIVEN PREFERENCE, AS EYE-MOVEMENT PHOTOGRAPHY HAS SHOWN THAT THE FOCUS OF ATTENTION IN RAPID READING IS UPON KEY WORDS WITHIN THOUGHT UNITS, SUGGESTING THAT THE ACT OF READING IS ONE OF SELECTION OF WORDS WHICH ADVANCE CONTINUITY OF IDEAS. MULTIPLE CHOICE WAS THE MOST USUAL TECHNIQUE USED FOR MEASURING COMPREHENSION. PASSAGE CONTENT, STYLE, FAMILIARITY, STRUCTURE AND SENTENCE COMPLEXITY WERE CONSIDERED SIGNFICANT AND AMENABLE TO EXPERIMENTAL CONTROL. PSYCHOLOGICAL TENSION WAS MEASURED WITH A GIBSON 8 CHANNEL POLYGRAPH. GALVANIC SKIN RESPONSE, MUSCLE TENSION, HANDWRITING SPEED, AND LEGIBILITY OF WRITING WERE ALSO CONSIDERED. A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER PORTION OF CHILDREN SHOWED LOWER LEVELS OF TENSION IN READING TASKS THAN IN SUBSEQUENT RECALL TASKS. INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY INDICES OF THE RELATIVE ADJUSTMENT OF READING TIME FOR THE THREE READING PURPOSES ARE NOT DIFFERENT FROM ONE INTERMEDIATE GRADE LEVEL TO ANOTHER. READING TIME IN SECONDS OR READING RATE IN WORDS-PER-MINUTE, HOWEVER, DOES CHANGE SIGNIFICANTLY DURING THIS PERIOD, IF CHILDREN BECOME MORE EFFICIENT IN LATER GRADES, BUT THEY DO NOT INCREASE IN ADJUSTMENT OF READING SPEED TO SPECIFIC PURPOSES.
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Wisconsin Univ., Madison. School of Education.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A