Importance Of Reading Research Articles

Parental involvement in emergent literacy skills of urban Head Start children

The purpose of this study was two‐fold: to determine what parents of urban Head Start children are doing to help their children establish emergent literacy skills; and the role of the public library in their lives. Nine mothers were interviewed using a standardized open‐ended interview method and participants were audiotaped. Transcriptions and field notes were analyzed thematically. Results showed differences in the amount of parental involvement in literacy activities and the types of activities. Particularly interesting was the amount of involvement by mothers living in unsafe areas or under stressful conditions. Few mothers engaged their children in oral discourse and little effort was made to encourage children in writing or drawing except for academic skills. Mothers did feel that reading to their children was important and most felt children learned to read or write by mimicking them. Public library use was minimal due to the fear of damaging books, transportation problems, or a lack of time or effort. Complaints ranged from the need for regularly scheduled programs to the “drab” appearance of the library. Suggestions for improvement included home delivery of books and workshops for Head Start parents and staff on the importance of reading and sharing books with young children.

Pupil Performance in Data Manipulation and Its Relationship to the Skill of Interpretation

Abstract The ability to read data in graphical forms and to interpret it by looking for general patterns or trends is an important skill in children's science education. When viewed from a procedural basis, such skills become key areas of competence in science. The framework developed by the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) recognised the importance of reading and interpreting data as elements of a ‘process’ (i.e. content‐independent) science curriculum. However, secondary analysis of APU performance data suggests that data manipulation should not be seen as an independent process skill, since children respond to assessment items in a number of ways, which are difficult to predict. Indeed, pupil performance on different components of the same data handling question is often very variable; indicating that these questions carry ‘hidden’ cognitive demands for pupils. It is argued that in order to tackle these hidden demands, pupils require an integrated understanding of graphical representations based on...

Pupils’ Performance within the Domain of Data Interpretation, with Particular Reference to Pattern Recognition

Abstract The ability to read data in graphical forms, and to interpret them by looking for general patterns or trends is an important skill in children's science education. When viewed from a procedural basis, such skills become key areas of competence in science. The framework developed by the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) recognised the importance of reading and interpreting data, but saw them as discrete aspects of ‘process’ science. However, secondary analysis of APU performance data suggests that this separation is not reflected in the way children respond to assessment items. Indeed, pupil performance on different components of the same data‐handling question is often very variable, indicating that these questions carry ‘hidden’ cognitive demands.

Maria Edgeworth and the Construction of Gentlemanly Reading: Forester, Robinson Crusoe, and Benjamin Franklin

MARIA EDGEWORTH AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF GENTLEMANLY READING: FORESTER, ROBINSON CRUSOE, AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HEATHER MACFADYEN University o f Ottawa I THE woman reader plays a paradoxically central and marginal role in the history of the novel. Her centrality is evident in the frequency with which literary historians cite the increasing numbers of women readers as a causal factor in the emergence of the novel and its movement into cultural and literary prominence. In The Rise of the Novel (1957), Ian Watt suggests that middle-class women’s leisure led to a demand for suitable or rather “lighter reading” material and that this demand spurred the production of novels (171). Watt’s woman reader may be crucial to the development of the novel, but she is also held responsible for its inadequacies: “the domi­ nance of women readers” leads to the “characteristic kind of weakness and unreality to which the form is liable— its tendency to restrict the field on which its psychological and intellectual discriminations operate to a small and arbitrary selection of human situations” (340). In a rhetorical turn found in many histories of the novel, Watt transforms the woman reader into the female reader.1 The reading woman’s desires no longer encourage the emergence of the genre, but pollute it. In conflating the woman reader with her ideologically laden representation, the female reader, Watt draws upon a cultural trope that dominated the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries’ understanding of the genre.2The trope of female reading appears in many discourses, and the female reader is censured in novels, plays, poems, reviews, sermons, essays, caricatures, memoirs, and conduct manuals. The trope assumes that women’s read­ ing is an act of the body, not the mind, and that the novel is an agent of sexual corruption. Thus women’s responses to literature are frequently rep­ resented as forms of gluttony, intoxication, or sexual arousal.3 Confronted with the troubling associations of women, sexual irregularity, and novel­ reading, Maria Edgeworth constructed an alternate and opposing trope in which properly conducted reading becomes a sign of domestic sociability and stability.4 While this motif can be found in many of Edgeworth’s novels, one 395 of the most striking instances can be seen in Belinda (1801). Belinda, Lady Delacour, and Virginia St. Pierre are all characterized by reference to their reading habits. While Belinda is an exemplary domestic reader, Virginia is a female reader, and her unsupervised novel-reading disturbs her sexual imag­ ination and complicates her relationship to men. Similarly, Lady Delacour’s imagination and her marriage are disturbed by her responses to a variety of texts. Both women are re-integrated into their domestic circles once their reading habits are disciplined.8 Edgeworth, however, did not limit herself to a consideration of the problem the reading woman posed to an orderly society. Instead, she expanded her consideration of the cultural significance of reading by introducing and addressing the problem posed when men’s reading becomes socially disruptive. Edgeworth argues that the reading man is as prone to illegitimate modes of reading as the much more frequently condemned reading woman. Through­ out her work, she suggests that proper and desirable masculinity (like proper fem ininity ) is instilled by and manifested in certain kinds of reading. The importance of reading in the construction of a properly desirable and socially useful man is especially evident in “Forester,” a novella written for adoles­ cents and published in Moral Tales in 1801.® “Forester” is a minor text in Edgeworth’s canon, but in its depiction of its hero’s coming of age, the tale provides a clear and relatively uncomplicated demonstration of the role that reading plays in Edgeworth’s construction of masculinity.7 The action of “Forester” begins with the arrival of its eponymous hero at the home of his guardian, Dr. Campbell. Following the death of his father, Forester travels north to Edinburgh by carrier, refusing upon political principle to travel by the coach appropriate to his station. Arriving late, he forces his way into the house and bursts upon the assembled company “with dirty shoes, a threadbare coat, and hair that looked as if it never had been...

The Importance of Reading to Black Children

The Importance of Reading to Black Children

“Reading” with infants and toddlers

It is never too early to begin “reading” with infants. Early childhood professionals have known the importance of reading to preschool children, but sometimes we wait until after infancy to begin reading picture books. Reading with infants and toddlers contributes to the development of language and prereading skills. But more important, it encourages the interaction of the early childhood professional and the child.

Visual Characteristics of Low Vision Children

A retrospective survey of pediatric clinical files from the Kooyong Low Vision Clinic (LVC) showed that the major causes of low vision were congenital or inherited conditions and most children had 6/60 (20/200) or better distance acuities. A classroom evaluation of these children showed that overall, the clinically determined visual acuity corresponded with classroom performance. A high rate of use of prescribed low vision aids was found, and a reading evaluation on a standardized test showed poor performance with respect to reading speed and comprehension, but almost all the children had adequate reading accuracy. Considering the importance of reading in education, greater emphasis on reading evaluations in routine low vision examinations is recommended.

Do Basal Characters Read and Write in Their Daily Lives?

This study surveys the kind and frequency of reading and writing role models in grade 1, 4, and 7 texts of 6 major basal series. Role models were examined by species, age, and gender; by type of presentation (pictorial or print); by time and place setting; by the social or solitary nature of the reading or writing instances; and by type of reading or writing material. Both kind and frequency of role models were found to vary from text to text, although across basal series there was no statistically significant difference. It is concluded that basal authors should take into account not only the type and frequency of reading and writing role models but also the importance of reading or writing instances to plot or characterization. Teachers must point out basal role models in their instruction. Teachers who use basals that do not provide numerous models of reading and writing should ensure that their students receive this exposure in other ways, such as through selected literature or live modeling.

Reading Achievement and Attitude Productivity among 17-Year Olds

To probe the association of reading achievement and attitude with productive factors in learning, the scores of 2,300 17-year-old students from a National Assessment of Educational Progress sample were regressed on 18 indices of seven factors. The achievement correlations with the factors are close to the averages revealed by recent quantitative syntheses of bivariate studies. A considerable amount of the reliable or adjusted variance in achievement, 51%, is accounted for by motivation, frequency of spare time reading, radio listening, socioeconomic status, home environment, the use of English at home, race, and public-school attendance. Enjoyment of reading and self-concept as a reader are similarly accountable, but attitudes about the importance of reading and freedom to read are less predictable.

The Right Not To Read

Skill in reading is desirable. However, the importance of reading may be overemphasized in schools. Reading skills are determined relatively and not absolutely. Thus, relatively poor readers will persist. Schools cannot eradicate individual differences. Biological makeup and societal pressures are the important factors in determining reading skill. Present methods of reading remediation are of questionable efficacy and are traumatic to some children. Time with its associated normal development succeeds in remediating the majority of children with dyslexia. Most poor readers eventually attain reading levels that enable them to comprehend the types of printed materials commonly encountered. If a child finds reading difficult or distasteful, that child should be encouraged to read but should have the right not to be forced to read.

Differential Age Correlates of Reading Ability

To determine whether there may be differential age correlates of reading ability, 130 children in Grades 1 through 3 were tested on five component reading skills, with results correlated moderately with both teachers' ranking and objective reading test scores at each age. Greater involvement of auditory-sequencing skills was found in younger than in older readers, with visual-sequencing skills apparently being of importance in reading at all three ages. Visual and auditory space performance, although significantly correlated with reading at all age levels, tended to diminish in importance in later ages.

Relative Importance of “Mastery of Reading Skills” as a Goal of Public Education

No one can question the importance of reading as the basis for educational growth. There is, however, some question as to its relative importance to all public groupings with respect to other educational goals. This paper presents the findings of a major goals validation and needs assessment for Maryland, for the goal “Mastery of reading skills.” The data reveal that this goal is consistently rated as the most important or second most important of all educational goals. Furthermore, this consistency not only holds true for all public groups at the state level, but within each local school system, whether urban, suburban or rural. Some questions as to accountability of progress in reading and to its level of attainment are raised.

A Review of Research: Reading and the Educable Mentally Handicapped

This paper reviews the literature dealing with the importance of reading to educable mentally handicapped (EMH) children, the characteristics of EMH children which influence the acquisition of reading skills, and current approaches to teaching reading to the mentally handicapped. The implications of this research to the teaching of reading are summarized.

The Importance of Reading in the Life of Man

(1968). The Importance of Reading in the Life of Man. Kappa Delta Pi Record: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 9-14.

Point of View in Hawthorne

The introductory paragraphs of “Rappaccini's Daughter” pose an issue about understanding Hawthorne's fiction which readers are expected to resolve. Hawthorne states that he attempts only slight portrayal of “outward manners” and seeks instead to create interest by “some less obvious peculiarity” of his subject. Readers must take his stories in “precisely the proper point of view,” because from other vantage points the stories “can hardly fail to look excessively like nonsense.” Despite Hawthorne's warning that this unnamed point of view is of primary importance in reading his fiction, critics have paid little attention to the issue. Chapter headings and indexes of major critical studies of Hawthorne make no reference to point of view, and bibliographies list almost no essays on it in the journals. In this study, a brief and tentative essay in definition, I shall maintain that the point of view essential for reading Hawthorne is one of dream. Hawthorne ordinarily invokes it as a metaphor; readers see the action as what he terms a “conscious dream” (AN, p. 125). He often establishes his metaphor through use of the semblance of actual dream early in a story and heightens its effect by employing the apparition of real dream in later moments or scenes. Only rarely, however, does Hawthorne go beyond the bounds of his characteristic metaphor and cause readers to view all the events of his story as incidents in an actual dream. Hawthorne's fictional definition of the dream point of view is exact and full, his use of it imaginative and subtle. In his own phrase, from the preface to The Snow-Image, the dream mode leads readers to the center of his fiction by revelation of the “burrowing into the depths of our common nature for the purposes of psychological romance.” Hawthorne is the artist as conscious dreamer, often of dreams that turn into nightmares and bare the tragic realities of human existence.

Comments on Bormuth's 'Readability: A New Approach'

John Bormuth's paper, Readability: A New Approach, is an excellent contribution to the literature in this field. Bormuth not only suggests useful new ideas, he also presents valuable experimental research built around them. And there are few fields where this kind of imaginative contribution is more needed. Research in readability has lagged in recent years despite the increasingly widespread importance of reading and verbal learning. Bormuth attributes this lag in research to two problems: lack of valid methods for measuring the comprehension difficulty of written language, and lack of an organized body of basic research and theory upon which readability research could draw. He believes the development of the cloze test (or procedure) by Taylor (1953) presents the solution to the first problem. It is, he says, a valid, powerful, and flexible method of measuring comprehension difficulty. The organization of psycholinguistics as a discipline, he goes on to say, has solved the second problem by providing a link to research and theory in psychology, linguistics, and literary style. Thereupon he raises five questions for experimental investigation:

Readability Versus Reading Ability

THE INCREASED complexity of our society has resulted in a trend toward increasing the amount and changing the type of information available for in clusion as content in many subject matter fields. The industrial and mechanical phase of our soci ety, represented by industrial arts in the second ary school, is certainly no exception to this trend. Those responsible for choosing content in indus trial arts are placing more and more emphasis upon the acquisition of technical and related infor mation as developments occur in the form of new processes, materials, tools, and machines which increase the level of technology. There are various means of presenting techni cal and related information, but perhaps the one most commonly used is the textbook. The impor tance of reading to the acquisition of technical and related information presented by the textbook is obvious, but should not be minimized. In fact, the ability to read and comprehend instructional mate rials prepared for a given grade level or subj ect matter area has long been recognized as one of the important criteria for school success. Students who read poorly find the road to school success extremely difficult. The possible frus trations brought about by reading difficulties often result in failure and rejection of school. This fail ure and rejection often cause students to drop out of school and in turn may lead to delinquency and other major school and community problems. The causes of reading difficulties are many and varied, and the solutions to reading problems are not simple. One of these problems, that of incom patibility between the readability of instructional materials and the reading abilities of students was the focal point of the investigation** reported here.

A Study of Factors Related to Gains in the Reading Rate of College Students Trained with the Tachistoscope and Accelerator

LIFE IN modern America is becoming more complex daily. In order to discharge the duties of a citizen, the average American needs more and more information. In spite of the rapid growth of other means of communication such as radio, mov ingpictures, and television, the importance of read ing as a means of acquiring information is growing ever greater. Many individuals feel that they do not have sufficient time to read all they must to keep abreast of world affairs. Leaders in business, gov ernment, and the military feel the need for greater capacity to read. Research would seem to show that the reading rate of adults can be increased. Many questions, however, still remain to be answered. This study was initiated to gather information concerning some of these questions. Specifically, this study sought evidence concerning:

Classroom Problems in the Teaching of Reading

THE IMPORTANCE of reading in the development of children has been emphasized during the past decade. Teachers recognize that the child must learn to read successfully if he is to understand himself, his family, his friends, and the environment in which he lives; if he is to satisfy his needs, gain personal happiness, and fit into his rightful place in society. They feel the urgency of helping each child develop according to the pattern of his growth. Yet teachers who would most effectively guide the reading growth of children often feel inadequate to meet this challenge successfully. They encounter many difficult and complex issues in teaching every child to read to the limits of his ability.

The Importance of Reading in Business Education

The Importance of Reading in Business Education