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The Study of Reading Comprehension *

1968–1972

The study adopted, as measures of verbal ability, a test of reading comprehension, a brief test of speed of reading, and a brief test of word knowledge. Areas of inquiry for possible predictors of accomplishment in reading were out-of-school environment (including home environment, language in home, and exposure to mass media), availability of reading materials, educational practices and background (including instructional practices, resources and procedures for individualization of instruction, and size and type of school), the interests and attitudes of the students, acquired study and reading habits, and presence of eye, hearing, and speech deficits. The data were collected in 1970–1971.

Target Population

This was 10-year-old students, 14-year-old students, and students in the final grade of the secondary school.

Participating Educational Systems

Belgium (Flemish), Belgium (French), Chile, England, Finland, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, United States.

Key Findings

  1. There were very substantial differences in reading achievement between students in economically developed and those in developing countries. Within the developed countries, the differences were small at all school levels.
  2. There were only small differences between boys and girls in their average levels of reading achievement, with girls performing marginally better than boys. Girls and boys differed in their reading attitudes, with girls expressing greater interest in reading books for pleasure, and boys showing greater interest in reading magazines for information.
  3. The differences in reading achievement between students within countries were largely related to home background, and between schools to the characteristics of the students entering the schools, particularly their home background. Where the population of the school was drawn from homes in which the parents were well educated, economically advantaged, and able to provide an environment with reading materials and communication media, the school showed a generally superior level of reading achievement.
  4. School-based factors, such as teaching methods, played only a minor part in accounting for differences in reading achievement. There were few signs that schools provided instruction in reading beyond the initial school grades.

Major Publications

 

Thorndike, R.L. (1973).

Reading Comprehension Education in Fifteen Countries: An Empirical Study.

Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell.

 

Walker, D.A. (1976).

The IEA Six-Subject Survey: An Empirical Study of Education in Twenty-One Countries.

Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell; New York: John Wiley & Sons.

 

* Part of the Six-Subject Study

 

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