A Qualitative Analysis of Oral Reading Errors of Reflective and Impulsive Second Graders: A Follow-Up Study

Abstract

This study investigates differences between reflective (REF) and impulsive (IMP) second-graders in number and category of oral reading errors and their correction. Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures test (MFF) was employed in selecting extreme groups of 25 REF and 25 IMP Ss from all 166 second-graders in one midwestern city using the same second-grade basal reader for reading instruction. The Ss' oral reading and their answers to questions over two stories (of second- and third-grade readability levels) were audio-tape-recorded. Five scorers were trained to code the oral reading errors. The scores for each error category were based on the combined stories, and were means of the errors coded by the five scorers. Reliabilities of error scores ranged from .84 to .99. Results indicate: (a) more REF than IMP Ss with low error scores but insignificant differences in mean number of errors, (b) proportionately more graphically similar errors for REF than for IMP Ss but no significant differences in any other category, (c) more corrections by REF Ss overall and within the categories of graphically dissimilar errors and errors appropriate to the preceding but not the following context, (d) no significant differences between REF and IMP Ss in number of repetitions, rate of reading, nor in comprehension scores.