Relationship of Reading Ability of Remedial Track University Freshmen to Text Readability and Instructional Methodology.

The purpose of this study was to compare the reading ability of university freshmen in two remedial track courses with the readability of the assigned texts and in light of the instructional methodology employed by the instructional staff of two courses. The investigations findings seemed to suggest that the reading ability of the students in the two remedial courses ranged from grade level nine to grade level twelve. The readability level of the texts, which ranged from grade nine to graduate level, tended to be higher than the mean reading ability of the students. While the teaching staff of the two remedial courses did attempt to modify their teaching methodologies to some degree to compensate for the reading ability of the students, no modifications were made for the readability levels of the texts. None of the instructors applied readability formulas in the selection of texts, nor were they cognizant of formal concepts of readability. Informal standards for book selection were applied, such as price and adequate vocabulary load. Those students who tended to score higher on the reading tests tended to have higher final grades than the students whose reading abilities were lower. (Author/MKM)