Are Learning Disabled Students "Test-Wise?": An Inquiry into Reading Comprehension Test Items

A standard reading comprehension test, modified by printing half of the material on medium grey paper to lower the contrast of print-to-page, was administered to 54 college students, 21 of whom had previously been diagnosed as learning disabled. Comprehension of the control group was little affected by the contrast, but the mean score for the learning disabled students was 10% higher on the pages with reduced contrast. This is congruent with Meares's 1980 clinical observations that reducing contrast significantly aids some readers.

Download Full-text

Learning Disabled Students' Spontaneous Use of Test-Taking Skills on Reading Achievement Tests

Learning Disability Quarterly ◽

10.2307/1510894 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 205-210 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Thomas E. Scruggs ◽

Karla Bennion ◽

Steven Lifson

Keyword(s):

Reading Achievement ◽

Achievement Tests ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

Achievement Test ◽

Strategy Use ◽

Disabled Students ◽

Test Items ◽

Test Taking ◽

Level Of Confidence ◽

Resource Rooms

The present investigation was undertaken to identify the type of strategies learning disabled (LD) students employ on standardized, group-administered achievement test items. Of particular interest was level of strategy effectiveness and possible differences in strategy use between LD and nondisabled students. Students attending resource rooms and regular third-grade classes were administered items from reading achievement tests and interviewed concerning the strategies they had employed in answering the questions and their level of confidence in each answer. Results indicated that (a) LD students were less likely to report use of appropriate strategies on inferential questions, (b) LD students were less likely to attend carefully to specific format demands, and (c) LD students reported inappropriately high levels of confidence.

Download Full-text

The Effects of Three Prereading Activities on Learning Disabled Students' Reading Comprehension

Learning Disability Quarterly ◽

10.2307/1510434 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 248-251 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Arlene Sachs

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Latin Square ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

Concept Analysis ◽

Disabled Students ◽

Preliminary Study ◽

Directed Reading ◽

Reading Activity ◽

Comprehension Tests ◽

Total Test

This study examined the effects of three prereading activities on learning disabled children's reading comprehension. Thirty-six children classified as learning disabled participated. The three prereading activities consisted of (a) a modified Directed Reading Activity, (b) a modified Concept Analysis Activity, and (c) a Worksheet Activity (control). To counterbalance for order of prereading activities and experimenter, a factorial/modified Latin-Square design was selected. Barrett's Taxonomy (1976) was used as a guide to develop the reading comprehension tests. Literal, inferential, evaluative, appreciative, and total test reading comprehension constituted the dependent measures. Repeated one-way analysis of variance and Newman-Keuls procedures were used to analyze the data. The results, which replicated and substantiated a preliminary study (Sachs, 1981), indicate that evaluative reading comprehension is affected by both a modified Concept Analysis Activity and a modified Directed Reading Activity compared to the effect of a Worksheet Activity.

Download Full-text

Adjectives as Information Sources for Reading-Comprehension Test Items

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1971.33.3f.1205 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 33 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1205-1206 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Bradley

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Random Error ◽

Information Sources ◽

Information Source ◽

Parts Of Speech ◽

Treatment Groups ◽

Test Items ◽

Comprehension Test ◽

Task Administration ◽

Made In

To replicate Bradley's (1970) investigation of various parts-of-speech as information sources for responses to reading-comprehension test items, 180 Ss in Grades 3, 4, and 5 were assigned to treatment groups which corresponded to grammatical deletions made in the reading paragraphs. Nouns were confirmed as the primary information source and adjectives were not confirmed as an information source. It was concluded that some artifact of task, administration, or random error was responsible for the previous finding of adjectives as information sources for responses to reading-comprehension test items.

Download Full-text

Improving Reading Comprehension by Using Paragraph Restatements

Council review ◽

10.1177/001440298705400107 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 54-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Joseph R. Jenkins ◽

James D. Heliotis ◽

Marcy L. Stein ◽

Mariana C. Haynes

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Transfer Test ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

Comprehension Monitoring ◽

Monitoring Strategy ◽

Disabled Students ◽

Near Transfer ◽

Strategy Condition

Thirty-two elementary learning disabled students were randomly assigned either to a condition in which they were trained to use a comprehension monitoring strategy or to a control condition. In the strategy condition, students were instructed to write brief restatements of the important ideas of paragraphs as they read. Following training, all students read and completed comprehension measures for narrative passages under conditions which constituted (a) a test of training, (b) a near transfer test, and (c) a remote transfer test. In all instances the strategy-trained students exhibited better comprehension than did the control students.

Download Full-text

Facilitating Reading Comprehension in Learning Disabled Students

Remedial and Special Education ◽

10.1177/074193259001100205 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 18-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Bonnie S. Billingsley ◽

Terry M. Wildman

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

Disabled Students

Download Full-text

Comparison of Teacher-Rated Achievement Levels of Behaviorally Disordered, Learning Disabled, and Nonhandicapped Adolescents

Behavioral Disorders ◽

10.1177/019874298901500105 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Jerry Luebke ◽

Michael H. Epstein ◽

Douglas Cullinan

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Learning Disabled ◽

Written Expression ◽

Disabled Students ◽

Behaviorally Disordered ◽

Instructional Needs ◽

Achievement Levels

Teachers rated the achievement levels of behaviorally disordered, learning disabled, and nonhandicapped adolescents in four different academic areas: reading recognition, reading comprehension, arithmetic, and written expression. Comparisons across the three groups revealed that behaviorally disordered and learning disabled adolescents were seen as performing significantly below expected levels of achievement. Differences found between behaviorally disordered and learning disabled students' rated achievement appeared to depend upon particular age levels. Results are discussed in terms of the instructional needs of behaviorally disordered and learning disabled students.

Download Full-text