READING INSTRUCTION IN COLLEGE: THE EVALUATION OF A SELF-ADMINISTERING PROGRAM

499 Pages·023.124 MB·English

by  CORVINI, RUDOLPH

Sponsoring Committee: Professor Ernest li. 'Pood
Professor Alonzo P. Dyers
Professor Robert Hoppock
READING INSTRUCTION IN COLLEGE:
TEE EVALUAT I ON OF A SELF-AIl^II-.flSTERILvG PROGRAM
RUDOLPH GORYINI
Submitted in partial fulfillm ent of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy in the School of Education of
New York University
j8t Jfoncts College
BROOKLYN 2, NEW YORK
October 16, 1950
To: Graduate Committee
School of Education
New York~TJniversity
New York 3, N. Y.
Prom: Rudolph Corvini
I hereby guarantee that no part of the dissertation
which I have submitted for publication has been heretofore
published and/or copyrighted in the United Spates of America,
except in the case of passages quoted from other published
sources; th at 1 am the sole author and proprietor of said
d issertatio n ; th at the dissertation contains no matter which
if published, w ill be libelous or otherwise Injurious, or
infringe in any way the copyright of any other party; and th at
I w ill defend, indemnify and hold harmless New York University
against a ll su its and proceedings which may be brought and
against a ll claims which may be made against New York University
by reason of the publication of said dissertation or document*
Rudolph Corvini
193 Clinton Avenue
Brooklyn 5, N* Y.
PREFACES
The w riter’s interest in the improvement of reading at
the college level began almost simultaneously with the commencement
of his testing and counseling activ ities at St. Francis College in
September, 1947. With the need apparent and no program to meet it,
he saw at once an opportunity for the student personnel service to
take the in itiativ e and began preparing himself professionally.
By the Spring of 1948 he was enrolled in his firs t course in
reading under Professor Ernest R. Wood. Through this course he
became acquainted with the Committee on Diagnostic Reading Tests
and...its Chairman, Dr. Frances Oralind Triggs who proved to be
extremely helpful later. During the Summer of 1948 continued
study under Dr. Ilila B. Smith developed the reading interest
further. Beginning in September, 1943, and throughout the school
year 1948-1949, the w riter worked informally with a number of
students, who in the process of counseling had exprssea a feeling
of inadequacy in reading and a desire for improvement. During
this year tentative plans for a reading program were made and the
idea h it upon to use the self-adm inistering manual as a starting
procedure. In preparation for the work to be undertaken in Septem­
ber, 1949, the summer of that year was spent doing field work in
the Teachers College High School and College Reading Center under
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the supervision of Professor Ruth Strang. During the 1949-50
school year a pattern of evaluation was devised and the self-
administering technique tested. The reading improvement program
a t St. Francis is novj ready to move into the next phase of its
development.
For the inspiration ana assistance which uaae possible
the completion of this investigation and the progress described
in the St. Francis reading program, the writer is indebted to a ll
the persons and organizations mentioned, to Dr. naurice Ffadler,
who offered advice concerning statistical procedures, and the
members of his Sponsoring Committee: Professors Ex-nest R. Y/ood,
Chairman, Alonzo F. Dyers, and Robert Hoppock, He is p articu larly
grateful to Professor Hood, not only for the large contribution
he has made to the study but for the spirit of cooperation and
understanding with which he gave his time and effort.
T1BLE 03* CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. THE PROBLEM................................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem ........................................ 4
Subproblems......................................................................................... 4-
Del im itations.................................................... 5
D efinitions............................................................................... 7
Basic Assumptions.................................................................. 8
Need, for the S tudy............................................................. 8
II. RELATED STUDIES: DEVH0P1._1-.TAL ASPECTS...................... 21
Tne Reading Problem............................................................. 21
Nature of Reading........................................................................... 23
Reading As a Phase of Language Development. . . . 26
Basie Processes in Reading........................................ 27
Motor versus Mental Processes in Reading.. . . . 30
Four Steps in Reading................................................ 33
Word Perception ............................................ 34
Comprehension.................................................................. 40
Skills in Reading......................................................... 55
Effects of Reading.............................................................. 59
Promoting Personal and Social Development . . . . 60
B ibliotherapy........................................................................... 65
Interests in Reading ................................................................... 66
Teaching of Reading....................................................................... 75
Review of Methods of Teaching Reading. . . . . . 75
Teaching Beginning Reading....................................... 79
Course of Development in Reading.......................... 85
Reading Instruction in High School and College. . 88
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Chapter Page
Academic Achievement and Reading...................................... 92
Study Habits and Reading.......................................... 92
Content Subjects and Reading............................ 96
Achievement in School and R eading............................ 102
Prediction of Scholastic Success and Reading. . 105
Effect of G-eneral Education on Reading.......... 107
III. RELATED STUDIES: DIAGNOSTIC AND RELIED IAL ASPECTS. . 113
Causes of Reading D isability................................................ 113
Readiness for Reading...................................................... 115
Constitutional factors.............................................. 118
Intelligence and Reading Retardation....................... 123
Personality and the Emotions and Reading. . . . 133
Environmental Factors.............................................. 143
Educational and Methodological Factors.......... 146
Diagnosis of Reading D ifficulties...................................... 148
Areas Important in Reading Diagnosis............... 152
Appraising Reading Ability 155 •
Informal Techniques ........................................................ 156
Oral Reading Tests...................................................... 157
Auditory Comprehension Tests.......................................... 160
Silent Reading Tests. . . . . . . ............................. 162
Eye Movements in Reading.......................................... 187
Remediation in Reading.......................................................... 191
Remediation .As a Function of Student
Personnel Services................................................... 193
Phases of the Reading Improvement Program . . . 194
Motivation As a Factor in Remediation . . . . . 197
Instrumentation in the Improvement of Reading . 200
Surveys of Remedial Reading Programs in College 204
Analysis of Fifty Programs Reported in the
Literature................................................................... 211
Textbooks and Workbooks.............................................. . 216
Group versus Individual In stru c tio n ............... 218
Evaluation in Reading..................................................... 221
Major Contributions of Research in Reading . . . . 233
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Chapter page
17. PROCEDURE IN COLLECTING DATA ............................................. 236
Subjects of the Experiment........................................................ 236
Ivlaterials Used in the Experiment.................................... 242
A.C.E. Psychological Examination ........................... 243
Diagnostic Reading Tests ................................................... 245
Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study ........................ 255
Self-Administering M anuals............................................... 263
Organization and Procedure Pollowed with the
Personnel and M aterials........................................................ 275
Design of the Experiment............................................................ 280
V. RESULTS......................................................................................................... 281
S tatistical Techniques Used in the Treatment
of Data......................................................................................... 283
Basic Pattern of E valuation................................................... 288
Subproblsm ho. l* Relationship between Reading
and Scholastic A b ility ....................................................... 293
Subproblem No. 2:. Effectiveness of S elf-'
Administering Technique of Reading Improvement 296
Subproblem No. 3: Effect of Self-Administering
Technique of Reading Improvement on
Scholastic A b ility ................................................................. 315
Subproblem No. 4: Relationship between Scholas­
tic Ability and Reading Gains. . . . . . . . . 326
Subproblem No. 5: Effect of Various Combinations
of Linguistic and Quantitative A bilities on
Reading Skills .......................................................................... 327
Subproblem No. 6: Prediction of Reading Gain
from Scholastic Ability Scores ...................................... 364
Subproblem No. 7: Effect of Various Combinations
of A bilities in Comprehension and Rate of
Reading on Reading S kills........................................ 368
Subproblem No. 8: Effect of Self-Administering
Practice Exercises in Word Recognition on
Reading S k ills .............................................................. 400
Subproblem No. 9: Relationship between Scholas­
tic Ability and Word Perception................................... 409
Subproblem No. 10: Use of the Rosenzweig Picture-
^ Frustration Study in Predicting Reading Gains 410
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Chapter Page
VI. SU1.3 liRV, C0NCLL-8IJi:43, ..-aCO, 1 J&imTIol.S, DISCUSSION. . . 414
Summary......................................................................... 414
Conclusions............................................................................................... 415
Recorra.iendations................................................................................. 417
D iscussion.......................................................................................... 419
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................... 423
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................... 464
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LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I Intercorrelation of Pre-Test Scores ...................................... 294
II Matched Pairs Based on D.R.T. 3urvey-A Total Score. . 299
III Experimental Group Pre-Test Scores.......................................... 465
XV Control Group Pre-Test Scores .................................................... 466
V Experimental Group Post-Test Scores ...................................... 467
VI Control Group Post-Test Scores................................................... 468
VII Experimental Group Final Test Scores............................... . 469
VIII Control Group Final Test Scores ............................................... 470
IX Experimental Group P-F Study Scores ..................................... 471
X Five Per Cent and One Per Cent Values of t ..................... 472
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c hapter I
THE PROBLEM
Estimates of the number of students possessing reading sk ills
inadequate to do successful academic work at particular educational
levels range from ten to fifty-nine per cent in the surveys which are
reported in the ensuing pages. One study of college freshmen found
fifty-three per cent of them below the norm for th e ir grade. In addi­
tion to th is group, there is an even larger group of students who have
the potentiality for developing more effective reading sk ills which
would aid them greatly in their academic achievement.
While the situation described has been building up over the
years, it has been aggravated by the expansion of higjher education in
recent years which has brought with i t an increasingly heterogeneous
college population. As a result educators have become more aware of
the need for providing students with opportunities for the continued
growth of their reading sk ills, and have begun to take steps to meet
this need. Where there has been continued experience in coping with
this problem over a period of time, it has been found that an in stitu ­
tion-wide program is needed. This type of program includes (1) for a ll
students, guided reading in subject-m atter m aterials under the super­
vision of the classroom instructor, and (2) for those students whose
reading sk ills will not permit them to do successful academic work, a
special program to develop or reinforce basic reading sk ills to the