The development of analogical reasoning abilities in reading disabled students

Analogical reasoning is a very complex process which requires the learner to focus on the underlying relationships between two concepts. Numerous research studies have demonstrated the usefulness of analogy in the classroom. However, there are few research studies concerned with analogical reasoning in which the primary focus is the reading ability of the students. The overall purpose of this study was to examine the analogical reasoning abilities of reading disabled students. The specific research questions were; 1. Are reading disabled students able to develop or improve their ability to reason by analogy? 2. Is there a relationship between a reading disabled student's receptive vocabulary and his ability to solve analogy problems? 3. Is there a relationship between a reading disabled student's age and his ability to solve analogy problems? 4. Is there a relationship between a reading disabled student's general intelligence and his ability to solve analogy problems? 5. Is there a relationship between the severity of a student's reading disability and his ability to solve analogy problems? In the present study, data were collected through participant observation, audio taping, and objective testing. These different methods were utilized in order to obtain a more complete picture of the analogical reasoning ability of these reading disabled students. The following conclusions can be drawn from the findings of this research study: 1. Reading disabled students were able to improve or develop the ability to reason by analogy. 2. There was little, if any, relationship between a reading disabled student's ability to reason by analogy and his receptive vocabulary. 3. There was a strong relationship between a reading disabled student's age and his ability to reason by analogy. 4. There was little, if any, relationship between a reading disabled student's ability to reason by analogy and his general intelligence. 5. There was little, if any, relationship between a reading disabled student's ability to reason by analogy and the severity of his reading disability. A model of analogical reasoning, which is intended to explain how reading disabled elementary school students complete verbal analogy problems, was proposed. An instructional procedure for developing or improving the analogical reasoning abilities of reading disabled students was also proposed.