Fundamental reading habits: a study of their development

Front matter

STORAGE- IT El'i 1AIM

LP9-L27F

U.B.C. LIBRARY

Table Of Contents

PAGE

List of Figures ix

List of Plates xi

Chapter I Fundamentals In Reading

In the silent reading of an easy paragraph, Barbara, a first-grade pupil, read at a rate of 39.6 words per minute, while Miss. W, a college Senior, read at a rate of 369 words per minute. A further analysis of the records of these two readers shows that the first-grade pupil has a very narrow recognition span, making an average of 21.3 fixation pauses per line, while the college student has a very wide span, requiring only 3.6 fixations per line. The first-grade pupil was not sure of her recognition of words even after her eyes had fixated upon them, and consequently found it necessary to make an average of 6.8 backward, or re-fixating, movements per line. The college student, however, did not make a single backward eye-movement in reading the entire paragraph. A further difference between the habits of these two readers can be seen in the duration of their fixations. In spite of the fact that the first-grade pupil had a very narrow recognition span, she required an average of 1 1.7 twenty-fifths of a second per fixation pause to get a clear perception of this small unit of material; while the college student recognized a much wider unit in an average fixation time of 8 twentv-fif ths of a second. The record of the first-grade pupil gave clear evidence of periods of mental confusion, but that of the college student was perfectly regular throughout. The eye-movement records of these two subjects are shown in Plates I and II.

The cases just described illustrate the wide difference between the reading habits of the beginner and the mature reader. The task of the school is to convert the habits of the one into those of the other. While the wide interval between these two extremes is perfectly evident, the detailed steps of growth from the beginning stages to ultimate mature habits are not ordinarily thought of by those who are planning school courses. However, it is with these detailed steps. that the teaching process is most concerned. An examination of the records in Plates I and II gives no indication of the nature of the route over which the college student has passed, nor of the manner in which the first-grade pupil may finally reach a similar degree of expertness in reading. What the records do show is the meaning of immaturity and of maturity. When the ultimate goal of reading instruction is known, the teacher is at liberty

PLATE I*

A boy libt og.

Ort day the dog ran imto php

WODd

The bDy I

'an niter th3 dog. He wii int(;c

8 i, r 5 T ir tie lit:le

13 10 12. (, dog to g3

01113.

2<. 4

Bk \tU dot would not go horn 3

rhen he began

) crv.

Silent reading by Subject 17, Grade I A

♦In all plates showing records of eye-movements the positions of the eye-fixations are indicated by the short vertical lines drawn across the lines of print. The serial numbers above the verticals indicate the order of the pauses; the number at the lower end of each vertical indicates, in twenty-fifths of a second, the duration of the fixation. A cross appearing instead of a number at the lower end of a vertical indicates that the duration of the fixation could not be determined with precision. An oblique line indicates a pronounced head-movement, the exact location of the fixation being at some point between the ends of the oblique.

FUNDAMENTALS IN READING

PLATE II

One ni|ght Pet^r went to bed eaifly. It wrs

4 9 «

L I

not dpk. The bright moon sJione in at ;he wijidow. Peter could see ek^erything in tlie

2. 3 4-

rooih. All at once he heard a noise. Pet^r opened his eyes. He saw that the room had grovv n dark. Somethi ng was outside the

Vv^iiidow.

Silent reading by Subject 174, college Senior

4 FUND-\]MENT.\L READING HABITS

to use whatever methods may be considered best, provdded always that the final outcome is in accord with the known characteristics of maturity.

The reading process is a complex made up of many elements. Although the mature reader has attained a high degree of mastery of all of these, he frequently does not progress uniformly in the various elements. The rate and order of development of the different reading habits depend largely upon the methods by which the subject is taught. The use of different methods simply means that pupils are being led over different routes in their journey toward maturity. In all probability these various routes are not equally economical, but they must be judged not by an observation of any particular point along the way, but rather by the manner in which they finally issue in attainment of the desired goal of maturity. The conviction that the various routes are not all equally economical leads one to ask what methods of education will ultimately be most desirable, that is, what methods carry the pupil from start to finish by the most advantageous route. The psychologist, however, is not concerned merely with the questions of advantage or disadvantage. He is concerned as a scientist with all the possible routes which are actually followed. His problem is broader than that of the practical teacher who is seeking economy. He is compelled therefore to study all varieties of reading. Regardless of which elements of reading are, in a particular case, developed first, he will take note of the common elements and will thus contribute to practical procedure because many methods of teaching without doubt dev'elop ultimately all the elements which are fundamental to the process.

Certain characteristics of the period of transition from immaturity to maturity may be described without the assistance of elaborate experimental investigation. One of the most conspicuous elements in the growth of reading habits is the ability to pronounce words. The beginner finds this a very difficult process. His method of attacking an unknown word depends upon the manner in which he has been taught, but whether he recognizes the word by general inspection or by phonic analysis, a considerable amount of mental effort is involved. As the child advances through the grades pronunciation becomes progressively easier, requiring, for the mature reader, only a minimum of consciousness. The teacher can determine progress in this element by a simple pronunciation test and can easily chart the normal growth curve for a class.

Another element of reading consists in the ability to recognize the meaning of words. This is a more difficult process than simple pronunciation since it involves not only a recognition of the word but

FUNDA]MEXTALS IN READING 5

also an extension of experience sufl&cient to provide a meaningful content with which the word may be associated. The word "radio" is not difficult to pronounce, but until the present year few elementary children were familiar with its meaning because it was not a part of their experience. Since a recognition of the meaning of words demands a breadth of experience which includes the word, it is clear that ultimate maturity in this element will be a difficult point to reach. However, the extension of the pupil's vocabulary' to provide for the recognition of common words is one of the fundamental requirements of the course in reading.

A third element, and one which involves still further difficulties, is the ability to interpret sentences or paragraphs. In this respect the difference between the immature and the mature reader is very great. The tendency of some beginners is to conceive of reading as the consecutive pronunciation of words. In so doing their consciousness is almost entirely focused upon the separate words rather than upon the thought of the sentence or paragraph. The mature reader, on the other hand, devotes practically his entire consciousness to the process of thought interpretation. Maturity in interpreting words in their relations involves the ability to fuse a number of words, in the particular order in which they occur, into a single thought whole. The demand is chiefly upon the higher mental processes rather than upon the eye, although until the eye has so mastered the perception of words that attention can be withdrawn from the act of fixation, it will be impossible to give maximum attention to the process of interpretation. Growth in this element is, as would be expected, a process which extends throughout the entire school period. It is complicated by the continuous presentation of increasingly difficult materials in the upper grades. Growth in ability to interpret the meaning of a passage has generally been regarded as tbe most vital element in reading. All teachers of reading have at least a general concept of the growth stages in this process; while some, by the careful use of tests of comprehension, have a very definite notion of the successive stages of progress. The recent emphasis on the teaching of silent reading is one indication of the recognition of the need of growth in interpretation.

The nature of the transition from immaturity to maturity has been described for three elements of the reading process, namely, ability to pronounce words, ability to recognize the meaning of words, and ability to interpret the meaning of sentences and paragraphs. ^lore detailed analyses of these and other elements need to be made. A number of methods are available.

One useful means of determining the stage of transition from immaturity to maturity is the measurement of the rate of reading. Rate has been widely studied, and the general norms of progress for each grade are well known. While individual variations are found, the fact remains that in general the mature reader is the rapid reader, showing the most striking contrast, in this respect, with the beginner. For the two cases described at the opening of this chapter, the rate of the college student was nearly ten times as great as that of the first-grade pupil. The measurement of rate is one of the simplest means of determining the maturity of the reading process.

Another method of analysis consists in measuring results by means of standardized educational tests. By this means reading has been studied in respect to such characteristics as rate, comprehension, ability to follow printed directions, etc. This method has proceeded by formulating various tj^es of tests from which mass data have been obtained. From these mass data grade norms are determined, in comparison with which individual cases may be studied. As instruments of analysis, standardized tests possess certain merits as well as certain marked limitations. Their most pronounced limitation is that they deal with results rather than with the processes back of the results; with complexes rather than elements. The tests give a comprehension score, but do not analyze the components of the mental processes involved. They measure rate of reading, but do not tell whether the rate is a product of a narrow recognition-span and a short average fixation time, or of a wide recognition-span and a long average fixation time, or of an average development of each. An adequate analysis must go back of a raw statement of rate to a measure of component elements of the reading process.

Still another method of analyzing the steps of transition to maturity in reading is by careful teaching. There is no doubt that the superior teacher can note with more or less precision the change from stage to stage in the progress of the pupils. Teachers who construct a definite scheme of methods for the express purpose of developing certain elements in a certain order are able to ascertain with a fair degree of accuracy when particular stages are reached. It would not be safe to assume, however, that what can be done by a superior teacher with a considerable fund of experience can be done by the average teacher of reading. From all observation, it is only the superior teacher who analyzes the progress of her pupils.

While some analysis of growth stages in reading can be made through the use of standardized tests and through the processes of superior teaching, it is clear that a detailed analysis of the reading process itself is beyond the reach of both. A satisfactory method of studying the

FUNDAMENTALS IN READING 7

growth of reading habits must rest upon the measurement, either directly or indirectly, of some aspect of the actual process of reading. Furthermore, this method must be objective in character, rather than dependent upon the subjective judgment of even a superior teacher. The method which most fully meets these requirements is that of photographing the eye-movements of a pupil during the process of reading. Eye-movements are by no means the whole of the reader's activity when looking at the printed page but they are parts of his nervous and muscular effort in reading. Furthermore, they furnish the most objective symptoms available of the mental processes of the reader.

The study of the reading process through the medium of photographic records of eye-movements is not a new method. However, since a summary statement of the meaning and significance of the data thus obtained has not appeared in the previous literature of reading, a somewhat detailed discussion here may be of value in interpreting the material presented in the following chapters.

Eye-movements as such are purely mechanical processes, being, at least superficially, the result of the contractions of the external muscles of the eye rather than of any central thought processes of the mind. And yet, just as hand-movements are necessary to writing, so also the processes of reading cannot be carried on without eye-movements; and just as good writing demands a careful control of hand-movements, so also mature reading demands a delicately co-ordinated type of eye-movements. Handwriting requires a fine control of finger, hand, and arm muscles which is unlike any co-ordination which the child learns in his ordinary activities. Therefore, the school attempts to teach him to meet the artificial demands of the handwriting process by a long series of formal drill exercises. Reading requires a delicate and continuous control of small eye-movements which is entirely different in character from any natural demands which the pre-school experience of the child has presented, but the school treats this matter in a very different manner from the similar situation in handwriting. There are at least two reasons for this difference in treatment. The first is the fact that writing seems to be the immediate result of hand-movements, while reading, as a process of recognition and interpretation, goes very much beyond the movements of the eyes. A second reason is the fact that eye-movements are not so easily subject to direct, conscious control as are hand-movements, it being necessary^ to develop the former in an indirect manner. Ordinarily teachers as well as pupils do not think at all about eye-movements. The adjustments involved are accomplished through ordinary reading processes.

However, the significance of eye-movements goes far beyond the mechanics of reading. The use of eye-movment records in the analysis of reading rests primarily upon the fact that they furnish an objective symptom of the character of the reading process. Unless the attention of the reader is specifically directed to them he is entirely unconscious of their nature. Consequently, a photographic record of eye-movements is based upon a reaction which cannot be consciously modified to suit the occasion of a test. It is as difficult to modify directly one's eye-movements while reading as it is to modify purposely the character of one's habitual gait in walking. A person walks in one manner when hurrying to catch a train, in another when strolling through the park, and perhaps in a still different manner when stepping to the speaker's desk upon a platform when a thousand eyes are focused upon him. His manner of walking is the unconscious expression of his whole nervous condition under such circumstances, a symptom of the purpose dominating his action. When we see a man rushing down the street we do not infer that he is taking a stroll. Furthermore, we do not confuse the toddle of the infant with the vigorous stride of the adolescent or the more dignified step of maturity. A person's walking furnishes a symptom of his stage of maturity. In a similar fashion a person's eye-movements furnish an index of the general nature of his reading process, a symptom of the stage of maturity of his reading habits. When we see a person making an average of 20 fixations per line in reading we know that he is not grasping the meaning easily or rapidly. In like manner, when we observe a person making an average of 4 fixations per line we know that he is either reading superficially or has reached a mature stage of reading. The making of only 4 eye-fixations does not cause maturity of reading; maturity causes the making of only 4 fixations per line. Eye-movements are effects, symptoms; but they are symptoms because they are themselves necessary phases of the process and hence very fundamental elements of reading. The fact that they are not subject to direct conscious control makes them reliable as a measure of reading abihty. The further fact that they are entirely objective in character, capable of yielding an accurate photographic record, makes the use of eye-movements one of the most significant methods for the analysis of growth in reading. It is this method of analysis which has been employed in securing the greater part of the data for this investigation.

A careful survey of the previous monographs dealing with eye-movements, as well as the data of the present study, will show the manner in which the eye-movements of a reader furnish a symptom of

the character of his thought processes. One of the first indications of such a relationship appeared in a study of the effect of size of t\'pe upon the habits of • eye-fixation. If eye-movements were purely sensor}- accommodations one would expect to find their number increased by an increase in size of type. However, change in the tyipe produced only a slight difference in the character of the eye-movements. The conclusion dra^vn was that the sensory conditions of reading were not of as great importance as the individual's habits of reading, and that the amount the reader recognizes depends upon his training. The unit of recognition is not determined by so many millimeters of space, but by certain meaningful units which remain fairly constant, even though the print may be enlarged in size.

Another indication of the close relationship between eye-movements and thought processes is furnished by the fact that a period of confusion in the recognition of meaning is accompanied by a corresponding confusion of eye-movements. A close checking of eye-movements with a dictaphone record of oral reading brings out this relationship very clearly. The same fact can be shown through introspective accounts of difficulties in silent reading, or through the introduction of words having a dual pronunciation and a dual meaning. An analysis of the eye-movement record gives a clear indication of where the reader experienced confusion in getting the meaning.

The introduction of strange or difficult words produces a marked effect upon the character of the eye-movements; and conversely, when these characteristic forms of eye-behavior are observed in a record, one feels justified in assuming that some difficulty in word-recognition has occurred. It is further found that increasing the difficulty of a selection tends to increase the number and duration of eye-fixations.

The character of the eye-habits is radically affected by reading varied types of material, the eye behaving differently when the material read is simple fiction than it does when the material is taken from an algebra or a rhetoric textbook. WTien the characteristic eye-movements are known, therefore, one may gain some idea of the relative difficulty of different kinds of material for a given individual. Likewise, a change in the purpose of reading is reflected by the eye-movements. During serious, careful reading such as occurs in the study process the number and duration of the fixations are increased.

An investigation of the eye-voice span in oral reading has sho\\Ti a definite tendency of the eye to modify its behavior according to sentence units. A disregard of sentence units by an immature reader can be noted from the character of the eye-voice relationship.

lO FUNDAIllENTAL READING HABITS

Using eye-movement symptoms as the basis of investigation, it is the purpose of this monograph to study the development of certain fundamental reading habits. Defining reading as the process of getting meaning from printed material, the first fundamental is the development, on the part of the chUd, of a correct attitude toward readingmatter. Although this attitude may be too complex to class as an "element," its requirements are that the child recognize that the groups of words, in the order in which they are printed, represent certain ideas, and that to get these ideas, the words must be read in the order in which they appear. Sooner or later the pupil takes the attitude that reading consists of gaining ideas from groups of words, rather than that it is an arithmetical process of adding word to word.

When this attitude has been adopted by the child, the process of growth toward maturity has been started. By way of general indication of the kind of changes which are discoverable through a study of eye-movements the following list of aspects or elements of the reading process and its development may be enumerated.

1. The development of a broad recognition unit, as measured by the average scope of eye-fixations.

2. The development of habits of quick recognition, regardless of the size of the unit, as measured by the duration of fixation pauses.

3. The development of precision of recognition and regularity of progress across printed lines, as measured inversely by regressive, or backward, eye-movements.

4. The development of habits of expression or recognition in terms of thought units, as measured, for the oral process, by timing the rhythm of pronunciation.

5. The development of independence in word-recognition.

An analysis of the steps of growth in these several elements makes possible a better understanding of the nature of the transition from immaturity to maturity in reading. The method of investigation consists of the taking of a cross-section view of the stages of development of a large number of subjects, selected from all of the grades of the schools Since ultimately all of the subjects will approximate the stage of maturity, an examination of the successive cross-sections will show not only the general trend of development in the different elements for the majority of the subjects, but also the variations of certain subjects from the general norms of growth. It is the purpose of this monograph to provide an analysis of these fundamental elements which will make possible a description of the normal growth curves and an explanation of the situations in which pronounced variations from the norms are apparent.

Chapter II

Problem.— The first problem with which the present investigation is concerned is the determination of the stages of growth for three fundamental elements of reading. These elements are, first, the span of recognition for printed material; second, the rate of recognition regardless of the size of the recognition unit; and third, the regularity or rhythmic progress of the perceptions along the printed lines. The basic data utihzed in determining the growth curves were secured from the measurement of the three primary characteristics of eye-movements, which are symptoms, respectively, of the fundamental elements just mentioned. These characteristics are, first, the average number of fixations per line; second, the average duration of fixations; and third, the average number of regressive movements per line.

Growth in these elements of reading will be measured, first, by noting the improvement in each element in the successive school grades, and second, by noting the improvement in each element which accompanies successive degrees of maturity in reading as measured by a standardized test of comprehension in silent reading and a standardized test of general achievement in oral reading.

The method of securing and plottmg the photographic records has been described rather fully in a previous monograph of this series' and need not be repeated in full here. A brief summary of the method may, however, be of some service. It consists of photographing a beam of light, generated by a high-power nitrogen bulb, reflected first to the cornea of the eye from silvered glass mirrors, and then from the cornea through a camera lens to the moving kinetoscope film. The direction of the pencil of Light is changed with each movement of the eye. While the subject reads a photograph is made which records the horizontal movements of the eye as a sharply focused fine upon the film, An electrically driven tuning-fork, with a vibration rate of twenty-five per second, is mounted in the path of the beam of Hght in such a manner that the pencil of Hght is intercepted at each vibration. These vibra-

' G. T. Buswell, An Experimental Study of the Eye-Voice Span in Reading, Supplementary Educational [Monographs, No. 17, pp. 3-7. Chicago- Department of Education, University of Chicago, 1920.

II tions produce on the film a line of dots rather than a solid line, each dot representing exactly one twenty-fifth of a second. Since the film moves continuously in a vertical plane, the record shows a vertical line of dots while the eye is fixated in a single position, and a short horizontal line when the eye is in motion in a horizontal or oblique direction. Vertical movements of the eyes are lost. A bright nickel-plated bead fastened to a pair of spectacle rims worn by the reader makes a second line upon the film, which furnishes an index of head movement and gives a constant point of reference for plotting the fihn. The method makes possible an accurate record showing the position and duration of each fixation of the eye while the subject reads.

The apparatus used in this part of the investigation is the same as that used by other investigators in the Chicago laboratory, with the exception of four rather important modifications. A complete description of the apparatus prior to these modifications may be found in a monograph by C. T. Gray.^

The first change in the apparatus consisted in substituting for the arc-lamp a 400-watt nitrogen bulb containing a series of sLx parallel filament coils. This bulb gave an intensity of light which was entirely satisfactory, and it possessed the added advantage of being absolutely constant in position and quality of light, since it required no continuous readjustments as are necessary with the carbons of an arc-lamp.

A second modification was the substitution of a tuning-fork time marker with a vibration rate of 25 per second in place of the previously used fork with a rate of 50 vibrations. This modification was made for the purpose of reducing the labor of counting the time dots on the films. Since the shortest fixations are considerably longer than one twenty-fifth of a second, the validity of the record is in no way impaired. The point should be carefully noted, however, that the duration of fixations in all data in the present monograph is given in terms of twenty-fifths of a second, while in the previous studies from the Chicago laboratory the time unit was one fiftieth of a second.

A third change in the apparatus was made in the film carriage. Previous to the present study the apparatus was limited to the use of a 48-inch film. At the rate of movement across the path of light, a film of this length allowed approximately one minute of reading time. The use of such a short film, therefore, seriously limited the amount of

' C. T. Gray, Types of Reading Ability as Exhibited through Tests and Laboratory Experiments, Supplementary Educational Monographs, Vol. I, No. 5, pp. 83-90. Chicago: Department of Education, University of Chicago, 1917.

material which could be read at a single sitting. It is desirable that a much longer sample of reading be secured. To make this possible, a new mechanism was installed by means of which kinetoscope film can be used. As the apparatus stands at present a two-hundred-foot spool of film can be inserted in one of the film boxes, which makes possible a continuous picture for any duration of time up to forty minutes. The practical uses of the apparatus are greatly increased by this modification.

The fourth change consisted in the construction of a special tachistoscopic device for holding the material to be read. It allows three selections of material to be presented to the reader by the simple pulhng of a lever, which causes the reader about the same amount of disturbance as turning the pages of a book. It makes possible the use of longer selections with no interruption of the reader.

Subjects. — In gathering data on this problem, photographic records were taken of the eye-movements of 186 different subjects selected from all grades of the elementary school and high school, and from an adult college group. With the exception of ten first-grade children and fifteen high-school students all were selected from the University of Chicago laboratory schools. The exceptions noted were drawn from public schools near the University. In selecting subjects below the high-school level for this part of the investigation exceptionally good and poor readers were eliminated, since the purpose was to find the normal growth curves. In Grades II to VI this elimination was based upon scores in standardized reading tests. In the first grade the teacher excluded the most mature and immature readers on the basis of their class work. The high-school and college group were not selected on the basis of reading ability since no reading scores were available. For the most part they were students of average scholarship, although in the high-school junior class some students were included who ranked as superior. The number of subjects from each grade and their individual eye-movement data are shown in Tables I and II.