The Relationships Between Auditory Processing, Oral Language and Reading in a Group of Third-Grade Children

119 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1981.The present investigation was concerned with examining the relationships and differences among the following factors in 25 good and 25 poor readers in the third grade: oral language as indicated by analysis of language samples using Developmental Sentence Scoring procedures, and auditory processing as indicated by the Flowers-Costello Tests of Central Auditory Abilities.The subjects were 50 normal children, ages 8;0 to 8;9, who attended an elementary school in Champaign-Urbana or Spartanburg, South Carolina. Each subject was characterized by the following criteria: (a) had hearing within normal limits; (b) received receptive vocabulary scores between 90 and 116 on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); (c) were identified and grouped as good and poor readers on the basis of their performance on the Standford Diagnostic Reading Test; and (d) demonstrated sufficient visual capabilities by passing the practice items on the reading test and picture vocabulary test. Children were tested individually and those who met the above criteria were then administered two tests used for comparing their performance: Lee's (1974) Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) procedures, and the Flowers-Costello Tests of Central Auditory Abilities. The data were then subjected to statistical analyses employing the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient procedure to investigate relationships, and t-test analyses to investigate differences.The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient analysis resulted in correlations that indicated no significant relationship was shown between the children's oral language scores and the Flowers-Costello Tests of Central Auditory Abilities. Results of t-test analysis revealed that the two reading groups were significantly different on the DSS procedures, but not on the test of auditory processing.When the children's PPVT scores were correlated with the reading scores, a significant relationship was found for the total sample, but not for either of the two sub-groups, the good and poor readers. Results also revealed: (a) a significant difference between good and poor readers performance on the PPVT. (b) no significant relationship was shown between PPVT scores and oral language scores for the total group or the two sub-groups, and (c) no significant relationship was revealed between the total group or the two sub-groups' performance on the PPVT and on the Flowers-Costello Tests of Central Auditory Abilities.The data obtained in the present study seem to suggest for future research the following concerns: (a) development of a better theoretical model of auditory processing; and (b) utilization of a measure that better evaluates several other aspects of auditory processing.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD