The Development of the Use of Graphic and Contextual Information as Children Learn to Read

PRESENTS RESULTS from a study of oral reading errors made by 42 children in two first-grade classes from October to May. Errors were analyzed in terms of their contextual constraints (making sense in light of preceding context) and graphic constraints (graphic approximation of error response to printed word). Nonresponse errors were also studied. Three main phases of development were identified. The first is characterized by a predominant use of contextual information. The second phase is characterized by a predominance of non-response errors and a significant increase of graphically constrained errors (39 vs. 19 per cent of response errors.) The third phase is characterized by an increase in co-occurrence of graphic and contextual constraints (30 per cent of graphically constrained errors were contextually constrained in the first two phases; 70 per cent were in the last phase) and in most cases by a reduction of the frequency of nonresponse errors. It was suggested, and some evidence presented, that the early, context-using phase represents an attempt by the child to avoid using graphic information as much as possible. The non-response phase was interpreted as a shift by the child to attending primarily to graphic information. Possible factors involved in changes in phase and educational implications were discussed.