A study of the psycholinguistic abilities of inadequate readers

Psycholinguistics, the psychological study of language, is the science of the expression, reception, and integration of language and their complex interrelationships. Reading, a complex psycholinguistic process, has received national attention due to the failure of some children to adequately learn this important language skill. This study was designed to delineate psycholinguistic abilities which may affect reading achievement. Thirty children, eight to ten years of age, were selected for study on the basis of reading-related scores on the Stanford Achievement Test. The Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (Revised, 1968) was administered to selected children according to standardized procedure and the resulting scores were analyzed statistically. Analysis of variance, using a subject by treatments repeated measurement design, revealed a significant difference (.01) between inadequate readers and the theoretical normal expectancy on the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, 1968, (ITPA). Specifically, inadequate readers scored significantly lower on these subtests: auditory reception, auditory association, visual association, manual expression, and visual sequential memory. Contrary to previous studies, the results of this study indicate that inadequate readers score significantly lower than the theoretical normal expectancy on representional level tasks, while at the automatic level no significant differences were found. The findings are discussed and inferences made regarding the nature of language skills involved in the reading process