The relationship between the written language of grade one and two children and their reading ability, IQ, and attitudes
Date
1982
Authors
Shook, Sandra Ellen
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Abstract
With the intent of investigating the relationship between the writing and reading abilities of the primary child, 108 Grade One and Two children, including 60 girls and 48 boys, were administered the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test in May of the school year. Writing was assessed through the syntactic, semantic, and holistic analyses of a creative writing sample supplied by each child. In addition an individual interview was conducted to gauge the child's attitudes toward the writing process, both specifically in the context of the classroom and more generally in the child's total environment. The attitudinal survey evolved through a pilot study involving 48 Grade One children. IQ and writing attitudes were considered to be important variables in conjunction with the writing/reading relationship.
Correlational analysis identified a positive relationship between writing ability and both reading achievement and IQ for Grade Two, but not Grade One children. A weaker link was demonstrated between writing ability and writing attitudes, for Grade One subjects only.
Analysis of variance techniques showed that age differences were much more prevalent than sex differences. Grade Two children had significantly higher scores in writing ability, reading achievement, and IQ as compared to the Grade One children. The only sex difference evident was in reading achievement, with the girls appearing to be the better readers.
Useful indices of writing ability were found in all categories - the syntactic, semantic, and holistic, Production length, syllabic count, and the number of uncommon words, T-units, and sentences, along with the ten category and quality ratings, were instrumental in identifying the ability of the individual, pinpointing age differences, and demonstrating relationships between skills.
Consistent with research findings in general, these results not only reinforce the link between writing and reading skills, but indicate the need for further study of the beginning writer and beginning reader using a variety of research paradigms.