Sight Vocabulary Research Articles

Emotionally loaded words and the acquisition of a sight vocabulary.

Emotionally loaded words and the acquisition of a sight vocabulary.

Language disability and mathematics

Let us bear in mind some of the manifestations of language dis ability — reversals, omissions of words, confusion of words of similar pattern, and a meager sight vocabulary, as we turn to a consideration of the difficulties in mathematics which are encountered by some of our students. Arithmetic is usually the one subject in which these pupils can achieve some measure of success, yet even here there are often signposts which point directly to a reading disability. The most com mon manifestation is the reversal of digits—reading or writing 12 as 21, 476 as 674, etc. Our first pupil was a girl who, in the first grade, had been told to write 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 on her paper and then copy this ten times. She had previously copied the figures correctly from the black board, but when they were reproduced from memory they appeared as 01, 02, .etc. It was not until the girl was in the fifth grade that her parents learned that she had a severe reading disability, yet the danger signals were clearly in evidence in the first grade. Also bear in mind that these youngsters who have reversal tenden cies have been struggling to train themselves to read from left to right, and have usually succeeded to an adequate degree. When, in arithmetic, they come to the addition of a column of figures, to multiplication, and to substraction, they are confronted by the apparent paradox that the proper procedure is now from right to left. Small wonder that they are confused, and this uncertainty of direction—one way for reading and the exact opposite for arithmetic—is responsible for many errors in addi tion, substraction, and multiplication. A public school third-grade pupil with a reading disability had, after prolonged practice and great effort, apparently conquered this problem of direction in addition. One day he came in tears to his remedial teacher and presented a test in addition in which he had been marked zero. The examples involved the addition of sums of money. The boy's remedial teacher was puzzled because she was confident that her pupil had mas tered the right-to-left procedure in addition, as his daily papers had for some time been consistently good. Adroit questioning on her part re vealed that because he read so-many-dollars and so-many-cents — for example, $1.59 as "one dollar and fifty-nine cents," he thought the dol lars' column should be added first and the cents' column afterward.

The Oral Reading Performance of a Second Grade Class Using an Informal Reading Test

THE USE OF the informal reading inventory has been recommended as a clinical diagnostic proce dure and as a regular classroom teaching technique (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16). Socher (12) reported that a study using an informal reading inventory with upper elementary school children is currently being con ducted at Temple University. No r e s e arch during the period 1930-1959 using the informal reading in ventory as here proposed could be found by the au thor in the professional literature (13, 14, 15, 5). Sheldon and Hatch (9, 10, 11) and Hatch and Sheldon (7) compared the individual reading performances of groups of good and poor readers in grades 2, 3, 4 , and 6 as measured by the Durrell Analysis of Read ing Difficulty. They found that: a. Word by word reading was a common charac teristic in good and poor readers i n second grade, and a common characteristic of only poor readers in grades 3, 4, and 6. b. Poor or scanty unaided recall was common to both good and poor readers after oral and silent reading. c. At second grade level, both good and poor readers tend to ignore punctuation. d. At the second gradelevel the error occurring in the greatest number of cases was the substitution of whole words which were similar in form. e. Low sight vocabulary was a common charac teristic of poor readers in grades 2, 3, and 4. Six ty-eight percent of second grade pupils, 81% of third grade pupils, and 68% of fourth grade pupils classi fied as poor readers were reported as having low sight vocabularies. No percentages were given for the good readers. Characteristics were reported only when 50% of a group had the characteristic. Durrell (3) reports that the average reading rates for children examined at the Boston University Clin ic were 45 words per minute for first grade, 80 words per minute for second grade, and 110 words per minute for third grade. He does not report how this was measured. The purpose of this study was to record the oral reading performances of thirty-six second grade children in reading materials below grade level, at grade level, and above grade level, and to compare the oral performances of the good, average, and poor readers.

An Investigation of an Experimental First Grade Phonics Program

CONSIDERABLE literature is available pertaini ing to various methods of teaching reading. One of the major areas of controversy has been the area of phonics. Questions of when to teach phonics, and of what kind of phonics to teach are of prime impor tance. Gates and Russell (5) and T?te, Herbert, and Zeman (6) find that formal phonics dr ill tends to be less effective than natural or intrinsic type phonics. Agnew (1) suggests that while the number of errors made by children who learn byphonetic methods is smaller, these children tend to read more slowly than others. The common conclusion from such data is that children should learn to read by means of developing a sight vocabulary at the outset; they should later learn some intrinsic phon ics. While a six and a half years mental age is gen erally recognized (3) as the age at which most child ren are ready to read by aphonie method, Gates (4), indicated that this may beafunction of the teaching method. The present study represents an experimental test of this position.

A Comparative Study of the Hearing and Reading Vocabularies of Retarded College Readers

WHAT IS THE relationship in size between the hearing and read ing vocabularies of retarded college readers? Many factors are in volved in consideration of this problem. We know that in normal language development, a hearing vocabulary precedes the building of a reading or sight vocabulary. And that an independent visual vocab ulary is held in check for quite some time (at least, until the third grade) because children sound the words they read. Later, the oral and aural counterpart disappear and a sight vocabulary grows inde pendently of a hearing vocabulary. Not infrequently, however, one finds retarded readers?even on the college level--who articulate during silent reading. It would appear that their reading vocabulary is still in an elementary stage of development. A student's ability to read and speak another language (bilingualism often is found among retarded readers on the college level) may have a bearing on the problem. In an unpublished observation, Ruhl1 of Los Angeles City College reports that foreign students comprehend better when they hear rather than read directions. Is it not possible that a significant difference exists between the size of the hearing and reading vocabularies of these students ? Let us consider, too, that during recent years auditory bombard ment has been on the increase in our lives. More and more hours are being spent listening to the radio and television. Now poor read ers in particular are exposed to more auditory word stimulation and less visual word stimulation than good readers because the former spend little time doing recreational reading. And when poor readers do turn to printed matter, they cover fewer pages per hour. This means less visual stimulation by words. In light of these consider ations, one might expect retarded readers to understand more words when they hear rather than read them.

Education of the Gifted Child: With Special Reference to Reading

lHIS report is concerned chiefly with the pattern of education that should be provided for gifted children. The character of such a program depends, in part, on how well the pupils are able to meet the demands currently made of all pupils and, in part, on their potentialities for greater achievement. Of large significance are the facts that, when they enter school, theSe pupils are far better able, as a rule, to adjust themselves to school requirements than are the less capable and that they usually excel throughout the grades and high school in the intellectual activities commonly required of all pupils. These facts have such an important bearing on the total provision made for gifted children that they will beillustrated by special reference to the field of reading. In the kindergarten and at the beginning of Grade I, most bright children are found to rank unusually high on reading-readiness tests. Detailed studies of their attainments show that their range of vocabulary, their command of language, their ability to express themselves, the extent of their information, their ability to deal with simple problem situations, and their powers of auditory and visual discrimination are significantly above those of their classmates. Experience shows also that by the time the unusually bright children enter Grade I, they are eager to learn to read, if, indeed, they have not already made definite progress in the art of reading. As a result of carefully planned guidance in the latter part of the kindergarten or early in Grade I, the gifted child makes rapid progress in beginning reading. With a minimum amount of help he develops a basic sight vocabulary; associates meanings with visual symbols; fuses the meanings of separate words into chains of related 736

A Study of the Difficulty of Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary in the Second and Third grades of the Rural Schools in Twenty-Two Counties of the State of Wisconsin

If a child has difficulty with word recognition in his reading, he also has trouble in comprehension. In such a case the child is apt to become discouraged and uninterested in the reading process. Would a greater knowledge of sight vocabulary needs be beneficial in the teaching of primary reading? What words are basic sight words? At what grade level should they be mastered? How many of these words are being

Types of Materials, Vocabulary Burden Word Analysis, and Other Factors in Beginning Reading. I

Previous articleNext article No AccessTypes of Materials, Vocabulary Burden Word Analysis, and Other Factors in Beginning Reading. IArthur I. Gates and David H. RussellArthur I. Gates Search for more articles by this author and David H. Russell Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Elementary School Journal Volume 39, Number 1Sep., 1938 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/457562 Views: 1Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Heidi Anne Mesmer, James W. Cunningham, Elfrieda H. Hiebert Toward a Theoretical Model of Text Complexity for the Early Grades: Learning From the Past, Anticipating the Future, Reading Research Quarterly 47, no.33 (Jul 2012): 235–258.https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.019E. Mesmer Heidi Anne Beginning Reading Materials: A National Survey of Primary Teachers' Reported Uses and Beliefs, Journal of Literacy Research 38, no.44 (Sep 2016): 389–425.https://doi.org/10.1207/s15548430jlr3804_2SHAILAJA MENON, ELFRIEDA H. HIEBERT A comparison of first graders' reading with little books or literature-based basal anthologies, Reading Research Quarterly 40, no.11 (Nov 2011): 12–38.https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.40.1.2 Elfrieda H. Hiebert State Reform Policies and the Task Textbooks Pose for First‐Grade Readers Hiebert, The Elementary School Journal 105, no.33 (Jul 2015): 245–266.https://doi.org/10.1086/428743Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Leigh Ann Martin, Shailaja Menon Are There Alternatives In Reading Textbooks? An Examination of Three Beginning Reading Programs, Reading & Writing Quarterly 21, no.11 (Feb 2007): 7–32.https://doi.org/10.1080/10573560590523621Rebecca Barr Classroom Reading Instruction from a Sociological Perspective, Journal of Reading Behavior 14, no.44 (Sep 2016): 375–389.https://doi.org/10.1080/10862968209547465Rose Sabaroff A Comparative Investigation of Two Methods of Teaching Phonics in a Modern Reading Program, The Journal of Experimental Education 31, no.33 (Jan 2015): 249–256.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.1963.11010772Richard H. Bloomer An Investigation of an Experimental First Grade Phonics Program, The Journal of Educational Research 53, no.55 (Dec 2014): 188–193.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1960.10882635Lois G. Nemec, Losinski Blanche A Study of the Difficulty of Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary in the Second and Third grades of the Rural Schools in Twenty-Two Counties of the State of Wisconsin, The Journal of Educational Research 35, no.33 (Dec 2014): 208–217.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1941.10881075William S. Gray Summary of Reading Investigations (July 1, 1938, to June 30, 1939), The Journal of Educational Research 33, no.77 (Dec 2014): 481–523.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1940.10880937

The First Step in Remedial Reading

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe First Step in Remedial ReadingE. W. DolchE. W. Dolch Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Elementary School Journal Volume 37, Number 4Dec., 1936 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/457461 Views: 1Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Lois G. Nemec, Losinski Blanche A Study of the Difficulty of Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary in the Second and Third grades of the Rural Schools in Twenty-Two Counties of the State of Wisconsin, The Journal of Educational Research 35, no.33 (Dec 2014): 208–217.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1941.10881075William S. Gray Summary of Reading Investigations (July 1, 1936, to June 30, 1937), The Journal of Educational Research 31, no.66 (Jan 2015): 401–434.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1938.10880766William S. Gray, Donald D. Durrell, Arthur I. Gates, Ernest Horn, Paul McKee Chapter VII: Reading, Review of Educational Research 7, no.55 (Jun 2016): 493–507.https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543007005493

A Basic Sight Vocabulary

Teachers of all grades, from Grade II on, find pupils who have very small or no sight vocabularies. The teachers wish to remedy this condition by drilling on the sight words that will be of most value to these children in their reading. But which are those sight words? The vocabulary of a particular primer will not do because the child's reading is now chiefly in books other than the basal series with which he started and also because the vocabularies of most primers contain many words that, though needed at the primer stage, are later not of general usefulness. No standard word list will do because all such lists contain five hundred words or more, too many to be given drill as a sight vocabulary. In view of these facts, it may well be assumed that the most essential of the words that are basic to children's reading, and therefore needed as a sight vocabulary, will surely be included in all the best lists of words used by children. A comparison of those lists was therefore the logical means of securing a basic sight vocabulary. The first list considered was naturally the vocabulary published by the Child Study Committee of the International Kindergarten Union,' which is a summary of many studies in this field. This list contains 2,596 words, which are the most frequent of 7,000 different words found to be known to children before entering Grade I. It was found that, if the words of a frequency of 1oo or more (inflected forms being combined) were chosen from this list, a total of 510 words was secured, which is about the number of words on the other two lists which were used. The second list was the first five hundred of the

Goals in Intermediate Reading

The goals of intermediate reading should be distinctly the goals of real reading, not those of the primary period. Unfortunately, a large number of children who are not actually readers reach Grade IV. They may have a sight vocabulary and considerable skill in guessing from context, but they are unable to attack, and therefore to read for themselves, the thousands of words that they know well from hearing but not by sight. Special tests are now being worked out to identify these handicapped children at once so that proper aid may be given to them. They form a distinct problem in Grade IV, where they often make up from one-fourth to one-third of the enrolment. Every supervisor needs to give these children prompt attention, since from this group come many of the conduct cases that try the patience and the souls of teachers and principals. Failures for three years and with failure apparently ahead of them, they naturally make defense reactions, and they cannot be blamed for doing so. Instead of being blamed, they should be taught to read. These children are still in the period of primary reading, and their difficulties are not here under consideration. The topic under discussion is the question of the reading goals toward which teachers should be striving during the intermediate grades. It will be assumed, therefore, that the children have a sight vocabulary, that they have ability to guess from context, and that they also have ability to work out for themselves the many words that will be known as soon as pronounced. With this equipment, what should lie ahead of them?

The Vocabulary of Children's Letters Written in Life outside the School

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Vocabulary of Children's Letters Written in Life outside the SchoolJames A. FitzgeraldJames A. Fitzgerald Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Elementary School Journal Volume 34, Number 5Jan., 1934 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/457033 Views: 1Total views on this site Citations: 5Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Helen E. Scott, Guy M. Wilson A Critical Examination of Spelling Words in One Speller in Relation to Four Standardized Tests in Spelling, The Journal of Educational Research 49, no.55 (Dec 2014): 331–343.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1956.10882292Lois G. Nemec, Losinski Blanche A Study of the Difficulty of Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary in the Second and Third grades of the Rural Schools in Twenty-Two Counties of the State of Wisconsin, The Journal of Educational Research 35, no.33 (Dec 2014): 208–217.https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1941.10881075Lester R. Wheeler A Study of the Relative Difficulty of a Primary Reading Vocabulary, The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology 52, no.11 (Mar 1938): 183–201.https://doi.org/10.1080/08856559.1938.10532520 Chapter IV: Curriculum Investigations, Review of Educational Research 7, no.22 (Jun 2016): 142–144.https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543007002142 Chapter X: Spelling, Review of Educational Research 5, no.11 (Jun 2016): 83–88.https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543005001083