The Relation of Reading Comprehension and Retention to Hearing Comprehension and Retention

This investigation was undertaken to pro vide data pertinent to the answering of the following major issue: What is the relation of comprehension and retention in reading to comprehension and retention in hearing? It was thought that data pertinent to this question would also prove helpful in answer ing a second: To what extent is reading abil ity a result of good language comprehension? The problem of this study is of fundamen tal importance, for its solution should imply the correct reading procedures both for first teaching and remedial work; for example: Should the pupil who is deficient in silent reading ability be given thought-getting train ing and language exercises or should he be given drills to facilitate the various phases of eye movements? Are the mechanical factors of the reading activity such as the duration of eye fixation pauses, the number of eye fix ation pauses a line, the return sweep of the eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next, and the like, to be attacked or taught directly, or are they in the large to be acquired as a result of language and reading growth? As can be seen from a review of studies in this field (particularly Yoakam's study),2 it is known that children get very little from a single silent reading. The small returns from a silent reading may be due primarily to low language comprehension on the part of the pupils or primarily to their lack of such proficiencies as are peculiar to the act of read ing the printed page. Some of these pro ficiencies may be connected with the mechan ical or motor skills. No one yet has given a clear picture of the abilities needed in reading over and above those comprehended in lan guage efficiency. How much do pupils who get very little from an unassisted silent reading obtain from an oral teacher presentation? This question the experimenter determined to answer. Even though the returns from a teacher oral presentation might prove to be small, quite as small as those found in other studies for the silent reading, definite conclusions would be dependent upon the scores being comparable. Hence, it was decided to con duct again the experiment of finding the effect of a silent reading and to conduct this experi ment with the same cases and the same read ing materials at approximately the same time to ascertain the comparative effects of differ ent modes of presenting various types of content.