Phrase Reading Development Training with Fourth Grade Students: An Experimental and Comparative Study

Abstract

Phrase reading programs have been developed and used experimentally with students at the intermediate grade levels (Amble and Muehl, 1966 a; Amble and Muehl, 1966 b; Amble, 1966) and with poor readers and disadvantaged students at the junior high levels (Amble and Muehl, Experiment III, 1966 a; Amble and Butler, 1967; Amble, 1968). Phrase reading development training has been shown to be an effective supplement to the regular language arts-reading curriculum by helping students improve reading rate and reading comprehension. An analysis of the perception of phrases has recently been completed (Amble, 1969). Analyses of data from the studies reveal that subjects in the phrase reading programs made greater gains than control subjects in perceptual span, reading rate and reading comprehension without significant advantage or change in reading vocabulary. This was true for subjects at all levels of reading for their group, and the gains were durable once the skill had improved (Amble, 1967). Like other learned behaviors, reading behavior can be modified and changed. The present study was an attempt to determine if programs of phrase reading training would significantly enhance the educational development of fourth grade students. The