A Survey of Reading Ability

This survey was undertaken to meet a need which arose in connection with the work of the Educational Clinio at Glasgow University. When the staff of the Clinio desired to assess the reading ability of children from different schools, they found that there were no existing reading tests with adequate norms for Scotland. A reading test of a new type was therefore constructed by me, and with it a measurement was made of the performance of children at different ages, from different districts, and in schools of varying social level. At the same time, a new group test of intelligence was standardised. As a consequence the Clinic is now able to provide norms for the guidance of those who wish assistance in estimating the progress of their pupils in reading or in intelligence. There have been many investigations into reading ability, but this book as far as I can ascertain is the first to combine a survey of the performance of several thousands of pupils with an intensive study of backward children who have been referred to an Educational Clinic. It is thus able to provide evidence on a large scale as to the relationship between intelligence, skill in reading, age and social status. And (from smaller groups) it can offer data on the variations of reading ability with attendance at school, different methods of teaching, and differing rates of perception. The investigation was carried out at a time when methods of teaching in Glasgow were, in the infant-room, on phonic lines and, in the senior departments, qonfined to oral class-work. It has thus a value for comparative purposes when these teaching methods shall have been modified by the evidence which it contains, as to the low degree of success in silent reading which is consequent on such ways of teaching. The significance of the detailed case-studies which form the latter part of the volume is increased by the opportunity we have of comparing problem pupils with more normal children from the same districts and the same types of homes. In this respect, also, this investigation breaks new ground. Since completion of the work, the new reading tests which I devised have been adopted for use by the Scottish Council for Research in Education