Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-1983
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Major
Curriculum and Instruction
Major Professor
Paul C. Burns
Committee Members
J. Estill Alexander, Lester Knight, Dewey Stollar
Abstract
The major purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness and applicability of listening comprehension as a tool for predicting reading and language arts achievement in the lower elementary grades. Additional purposes centered on locating the reading and language arts components most related to listening comprehension and to determine if these correlations would remain stable over time.
The investigation was conducted at the second, third, and fourth grade levels of the Johnson County School System, Mountain City, Tennessee. The reading and language arts strands from parallel forms JS and KS of The Metropolitan Achievement Test-Survey Battery were administered to 102 students during November 1982 and February 1983. The statistical techniques chosen to complement the purposes and research questions were Stepwise Multiple Regression, Pearson-Product Correlation Analysis, the Paired Differences t-Test, and a Run's Test.
The findings relative to the major purpose indicated that listening comprehension was not the single best predictor of reading and language arts achievement. Other language arts and reading components emerged as more substantial predictor of achievement than listening. The findings relative to the additional purposes indicated that the correlations between listening and the individual reading and language arts components did not remain stable over time. Further, punctuation, grammar, and study skills were the language components most related to listening comprehension. Inferential and literal specific comprehension were the reading components most related to listening comprehension.
The investigator concluded that a test of listening comprehension may not be viable for classroom use in predicting reading and language arts achievement. Further, the lack of stability in the correlational relationships may indicate that correlations should not be viewed as absolutes.
Further study might be concerned with the development of a listening test applicable for the lower elementary levels. Analysis of listening processes could possibly lead to an increased understanding of how lower elementary children perceive, assimilate, adapt, and apply linguistic constraints of language. Additional study of comprehension is needed to explore the commonalities of listening comprehension and reading comprehension.
Recommended Citation
Curd, Frances Sharon, "Listening comprehension : the prediction of reading and language arts achievement in the lower elementary grades. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1983.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/13034