Journal of Education and Psychology

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore the relationship between word recognition and reading comprehension. Moreover, related factors, such as family surroundings, were investigated in the study.

The research sampled 16 elementary schools of Tainan County and the city of Kaoshiung. The subjects in this study included 267 boys and 244 girls. There were 5 different test materials: Raven’s Progressive Matrices (SPM), the Graded Chinese Characters Recognition Test, Reading Comprehension Test, Semantic Distinction Test and Family Surroundings Inventory.

The results of this study are as follows:

1. The relationship between family surroundings, semantic distinction and reading comprehension:
• There were significant differences on “the ability of word recognition”, “the semantic distinction”, “the atmosphere and habits of recognition” subscale between the city and the country.
• “The atmosphere and habits of reading”, “The parents caring about children’s academic achievement and their expectations” were significantly related to “word recognition” and “the semantic distinction” (r = .2262, .2382, .1846, .1239, .2134, .1665, p < .05).
• “The atmosphere and habits of reading” had significant a relationship with “word recognition”, “semantic distinction” and “reading comprehension” for Tainan County and the city of Kaoshiung.
• The correlation between “the parents caring about children’s academic achievement and their expectations”, “semantic distinction” and “reading comprehension” was significant for Tainan County and the City of Kaoshiung. However, the relationship between “the parents caring about children’s academic achievement and their expectations” subscale and “the ability of word recognition” was significant only for the city of Kaoshiung, not for Tainan County.
• Significant relationships existed between “the ability of word recognition”, “semantic distinction” and “reading comprehension” for the city and the country. The results were consistent with the findings in alphabetic writing systems.
• The relationship between the variables of the family surroundings for Tainan County is much closer than that for the city of Kaoshiung (z = 6.226, 2.475, 5.235, p < .05).
2. The predictive analysis on word recognition ability and on reading comprehension ability:
• Among family surroundings variables, “the atmosphere and habits of reading” subscale significantly predicted the ability of word recognition.
• Among family surroundings variables, IQ, the ability of word recognition, “the parents caring about children’s academic achievement and their expectations” subscale, IQ, and the ability of word recognition were significant predictors for the ability of reading comprehension and semantic distinction.

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