Word acquisition and retention by kindergarten children : the effects of method of presentation
Date
1980
Authors
Rash, Judith Karen
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Abstract
Investigates the use of words in isolation and words in sentences for teaching word recognition to beginning readers. The methods chosen are representative of the contrasting theories of Samuels' focal attention hypothesis and Goodman's contextual hypothesis. Method effectiveness was measured by acquisition trials for eight target words, and retention scores on four tests administered twenty-four hours and three weeks after the initial teaching session.
Subjects were seventy-two kindergarten children randomly assigned to three experimental groups: isolated word treatment, sentence treatment, and control group. Preliminary screening of subjects revealed no prior knowledge of the target words. Subjects receiving treatment, twenty-four boys and twenty-four girls, were taught individually by one of the methods. Testing after twenty-four hours and three weeks included recognition tests of target words in taught conditions of isolation and sentences, in new contexts, and in word designation tasks. Control subjects received only preliminary screening tests and posttests of word recognition after three weeks.
Two-way analyses of variance revealed no significant differences in performance of boys and girls on the tasks of acquisition and retention, and no interaction effect between method of word presentation and sex of subjects.
Results indicated significant differences for methods of word presentation on trials to criterion (p < .001) and total long-term retention (p < .05); subjects taught by the sentence method required fewer trials and recognized more words after three weeks. No significant differences were found on total short-term retention (p < .075). Analyses of variance revealed no significant differences between treatment groups on recognition tests of words in isolation, new contexts, and word designation; however, at twenty-four hours and at three weeks, the sentence group performed significantly better on the sentence test (p ( .001). Analyses with repeated measures indicated that subjects taught by an isolated word method performed equally well on tests of word recognition under varied contextual conditions. However, children taught by a sentence method performed significantly better on a word recognition test which matched the learning condition (p < . 0001.)
Performance with specific target words varied (p < .0001) but was not significantly related to word meaningfulness (iii.) as established in this study using the procedures outlined by Noble (1952) and Mickelson (1967).
No significant gains were made by the control subjects, indicating that instructional method effected gains in word recognition by treatment subjects.
These findings were interpreted as support for Goodman's contextual hypothesis rather than Samuels' focal attention hypothesis. Implications for educational practice are that sentences can be used effectively to teach word recognition to beginning readers.