Journal Article Critique: Comparing the Reading Interest and Comprehension of Fifth Grade Students

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Comparing the Reading Interest and Comprehension of Fifth Grade Students

Part I- About the Article

            This older article investigates the connection between reading interest and reading comprehension. According to the article, at the time this was written there had been little research into the relationship between reading interest and reading comprehension, so it was probably a valuable piece of research when it was originally conducted. This was a worthwhile problem to examine since determining the existence of a correlational relationship between reading interest and comprehension encourages future researchers to determine the possibility and extent of a causal relationship. If a causal relationship exists, then strategies to benefit one of these aspects of reading could also benefit the other. This article contributes to research into reading interest and comprehension by determining that there is some relationship for further investigation.

            This is a quantitative correlational study. The researcher administered two quantitative tests, a survey based on the Wisconsin Reading Attitude Inventory, and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. The researcher then compared the relationship between the two scores using a Pearson Product-Moment Correlation statistical analysis.

Part II- The Critique

            The literature review for this article provides a great deal of background information. It begins by examining previous research into the relationship between reading attitude and reading achievement. There was not a great deal of research into the topic at the time of this article, so some of the literature reviewed includes studies that are tangentially related to the topic of this study. This overview seems to explain the state of the field at the time of publication very well.

            The sampling technique used for this study is not fully described. It appears that this was a convenience sample of students at schools close to the researcher in southeast Texas. This study cannot be generalized to any larger population than the original sample without more information about how the participating schools and students were chosen. The sampling could have been improved by drawing samples from schools in a larger geographic region and by randomly selecting the participating schools and students. A cluster sample design would be a good compromise between the need to randomly select participants and the need to keep the logistics of the study manageable.

            The researcher used two written instruments to conduct this study; a survey based upon the Wisconsin Reading Attitude Inventory, and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. The tests were administered by the students regular teachers. It is not indicated if the tests were administered at the same time or at different times. Without being familiar with these instruments, it is difficult to say if this research used them appropriately, but judging from their names and descriptions, they seem to have been used appropriately to address the question raised in the hypothesis.

            A survey based research method was a good choice for this study. Reading interest and comprehension could be measured using more qualitative methods, but use of qualitative methods would then limit the comparisons the researcher could perform. Threats to internal validity are limited by the fact that this is only a correlational study, but instrumentation, experimenter effects, and subject effects should still be considered.

            Raw scores from the two tests were compared using the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation. The researcher found a correlation score of r=.51 t(32)=3.29 and p<.01. This was the only test used in this study.

            The conclusion of this study is that there is a positive correlational relationship between reading interest and reading comprehension. The researcher indirectly recommends that more research be done to determine if there is also a causal relationship between the two. If interest in reading leads to better reading comprehension, then increasing interest in reading would be a possible method to increase reading comprehension levels. The conclusion of this article is overly enthusiastic about the possibility of a causal relationship, since the study was only a correlational study.

Part III- My Reflections

            One strength of this study is it’s simplicity. The basic correlational design used is hard to critique. The topic is of interest and valuable to the field. At the time it was important research to advance the research that others could perform. Weaknesses of this study include non-random sampling, and inadequate description of the sampling procedure. This study could have benefited from additional correlational analysis- for instance of demographic data versus reading comprehension and interest scores. The fact that there is a correlational relationship can be used as a springboard for future research into the causes of higher reading interest and comprehension scores. Outdoor education activities are generally perceived as being interesting, so an avenue of study for Outdoor Education as a field would be to see how that correlates to achievement levels for different activities. This information could allow Outdoor Educators to determine what skills and attitudes could be enhanced by increasing interest.

Reference

Bruneau, O. J. (1986). Comparing the reading interest and comprehension of fifth grade   students. (Reprinted from Reading Improvement 23(2), 100-102.) Retrieved     March 8, 2006, from http://hercules.gcsu.edu:8900/EDFS_6230_01/Articles/Correlation/tempcorr.htm