The Effects of Purpose on the Reading of Expositroy Mathematical Materials in Grade Eight

Abstract

TEST MAKERS have long given their attention to the measurement of speed and comprehension in reading. These measures have been summarized and the resultant measure has been called an estimate of a person's general reading ability. The existence of a general reading ability and, consequently, the ade quacy of its measure beyond the elementary grades has been questioned. The critics of the concept of general reading ability as ability to read all kinds of material have presented the argument that as the de mands for reading become more diversified s orne skills must take precedence over others according to the nature of the reading task. Thus, they say that general reading ability is a fiction and there are many, not one, reading abilities. It is their contention that ability to read is influenced by a number of factors, many of which are slighted or totally ignored in the construction of general reading tests. The study presented here** attempted to meet some of the criticisms that have been directed toward general reading tests. First, the general reading a bility tests have been criticized in their selection of content. The materials for this study were selected for their relation to one subject matte rare a--math ematics. A further refinement was the limiting of the materials to expository mathematical material. Sec ond, general reading tests have been criticized for basing their scores on relatively brief passages. The passages selected for this study were of more than one paragraph in lenth. They ranged from 174 to 444 words in total lenth, averaging 326 words. Third, gen eral reading tests have not consistently considered the reader's purpose for reading. The instructions for reading the passages included in this study set the purpose for which the passage was to be read-(1) to answer a specific question or (2) to get the main idea of the passage. A fourth criticism has been that the reader's background of information about the topic being discussed has caused the scores on the test to give an inaccurate picture of his ability to read. The topics of the materials selected for use in this study were not found in the arithmetic texts used in the school system in which the study was made. Purpose of the Study