The effects of a strategy and sequenced materials on the inferential comprehension of disabled readers.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether teaching disabled readers a structured inferencing strategy using materials sequentially arranged from easy to more difficult would improve their ability to answer inferential questions. The subjects consisted of fourth and fifth grade poor readers who were randomly placed in one of four groups—strategy plus materials, strategy only, materials only, control. An analysis of covariance revealed that the strategy plus materials group scored significantly better than the other three groups on experimenter—designed inference questions. In addition, the strategy plus materials group and the materials only group scored significantly better than the control group on a standardized reading test. Results suggest that disabled readers' apparent lack of logical reasoning in answering inferential questions may exist because they do not have a successful strategy for attacking problems. Furthermore, a strategy may be enhanced by the use of materials sequentially arranged from easy to more difficult.