Hierarchical Organization of Reading Subskills: Statistical Approaches

Abstract

This article describes a number of alternate methodological solutions to the problem of isolating reading subskills and establishing the nature of their hierarchical organization. The authors briefly review and evaluate Stepwise Multiple Regression, Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Scaling Methods, Analysis of Variance and Transfer Designs, as potential tools in research on the hierarchical organization of reading subskills. With the exception of transfer-type experimental designs, none of the approaches seems satisfactory, the authors conclude.

Reading comprehension: skill or skills?

“…This 'conviction' (i.e. that reading comprehension during the first years of instruction is based on distinguishable and separately diagnosable and trainable 'subskills') is held by many authorities in the field (Weiss, 1961; Guthrie, 1973;McNeil, 1974; Spache a n d a a c h e , 1973; Harris and Sipay, 1975; Stennett, Symthe and Hardy, 1975; Ritz-Frohkh, 1978; Wedel-Wolff and Rappsilber-Kurth, 1978; Kalb, Rabenstein and Rost, 1980;Francis, 1980;Spache, 1981). Moreover, this conviction seems to have gained the status of unquestioned truth.…”