ERIC ED116172: In Search of the Major pdf

ERIC ED116172: In Search of the Major

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The purposes of this study were to identify the best predictor or predictors of paragraph comprehensibility and to attempt to interpret that predictor as a skill. Forty-two passages of differing readability (ranging from grade 2.5 to 10.0) were analyzed for within word, within sentence, and between sentence characteristics. The measures used for quantifying these characteristics were: index 1, average semantic load per word; index 2, average depth of within sentence modification; and index 3, average depth of between sentence modification. Each index represents a hypothesis as to the nature of the major skill of comprehension. A multiple regression analysis was conducted using indexes 1, 2, and 3 as predictor variables and passage readability as the criterion. Results show that index 2 was the only significant predictor of the criterion, that index 2 accounted for 76 percent of the variance in comprehension levels of the passages, and that indexes 2 and 3 are highly correlated with each other.

Thus, the major skill of reading comprehension can be described as one of identifying main and subordinate ideas within and between sentences. An empirical test of this single skill model should be conducted. (JM

• Creator/s: ERIC
• Date: 1975
• Year: 1975
• Book Topics/Themes: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Readability, Reading Comprehension, Reading Research, Reading Skills, Semantics, Sentence Structure, Structural Analysis, Syntax

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