^ Ed. lib. i 5* 1 1 1 ^1 LD ' ■' 1573 ; I39r • i ■ I A^i 1 s 1 ^S 1 i 8 > 6 ^=g 4 — ^ 5^P ==^ — { 9=" Thorndike Reading as Reasoning / 1 ■ ^m^^a^^mg -^^^^^^^^^^H THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES The RALPH D. REED LIBRARY DEPAK'I'MKNT OK r.BOLOGY UNIVERSITY of CATJFORNIA LOS ANGELES. €ALtF. Reading as Reasoning: A Study of Mistakes in Paragraph Reading BY EDWARD L. THORNDIKE Teachers College, Columbia University REPRINTED FROM JUNE, 1917, JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY BALTIMORE WARWICK & YORK Inc. i263tk) UNIVERSITY of CALI?OftNiA AT LOS ANGELES V •;*.*.•. '0^1 READING AS REASONING: A STUDY OF MISTAKES IN PARAGRAPH READING EDWARD L. THORNDIKE Teachers College, Columbia University It seems to be a common opinion that reading (understanding the meaning of printed words) is a rather simple compounding of habits. Each word or phrase is supposed, if known to the reader, to call up its sound and meaning and the series of word or phrase meanings is supposed to be, or be easily transmuted into, the total ^ thought. It is perhaps more exact to say that little attention has been paid to the dynamics whereby a series of words whose meanings are known singly produces knowledge of the meaning of a sentence or paragraph. »y It will be the aim of this article to show that reading is a very •^ elaborate procedure, involving a weighing of each of many elements \ in a sentence, their organization in the proper relations one to another, V ^ the selection of certain of their connotations and the rejection of others, and the cooperation of many forces to determine final response. In fact we shall find that the act of answering simple questions about a simple paragraph like the one shown below includes all the features -^ characteristic of typical reasonings. Read this and then write the answers to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Read it again as often as you need to. In Franklin, attendance upon school is required of every child between the ages of seven and fourteen on every day when school is in session unless the child is so ill as to be unable to go to school, or some person in his house is ill with a contagious disease, or the roads are impassable. 1. What is the general topic of the paragraph? 2. On what day would a ten-year-old girl not be expected to attend school? (323) 324 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 3. Between what years is attendance upon school compulsory in Franklin? 4. How many causes are stated which make absence excusable? 5. 'VMiat kind of illness may permit a boy to stay away from school, even though he is not sick himself? 6. What condition in a pupil would justify his non-attendance? 7. At what age may a boy leave school to go to work in Franklin? Consider first the following responses which were found among those made to Questions 1, 2, 5 and 6 above by two hundred pupils in Grade 6. (All are quoted exactly save that capitals are used at the beginning here regardless of whether the pupils used them.) Number Fercents. per thousand J 1. Unanswered 18 180 Franklin 4^ 45 In Franklin 1 10 Franklin attendance 1 10 Franklin School IH 15 Franklin attending school 1 10 Days of Franklin }4 5 School days of Franklin >^ 5 Doings at Franklin 1 10 Pupils in Franklin H 5 Franklin attends to his school ^ 5 It is about a boy going to Franklin }4 5 It was a great inventor J^ 5 Because its a great invention }^i 5 The attendance of the chidren 3^ 5 The attendance in Franklin J^ 5 School 7K 75 To tell about school M 5 About school 4 40 What the school did when the boy was ill M 5 What the child should take }i 5 If the child is ill 2 20 How old a child should be }i 5 If the child is sick or contagious disease }i 5 READING AS REASONING 325 Illness 1 10 On diseases ^ 5 Very Ul 3 30 An excuse 2 20 The roads are impassable 1 10 Even rods are impossible M 5 A few sentences y% 5 Made of complete sentences K 5 A sentence that made sense H 5 A group of sentences making sense H 5 A group of sentences 3 30 Subject and predicate K 5 Subject Yt 5 The sentence M 5 A letter Yi 5 Capital 5K 56 A capital letter ^ 5 To begin with a capital 2 20 The first word ^^ 5 A general topic Y, 5 Good topic Y 5 Leave half an inch space 2J^ 25 The heading M 5 Period Yi 5 An inch and a half }^ 5 An inch and a half capital letter Y 5 The topic is civics Y 5 The answer Y 5 J 2. Unanswered 6 60 Unless the child is so ill as to be unable to go to school 41 410 Unless the child is unable to go to school Y ^ Unless she is ill or the roads are impassable 1 10 Roads are impassable 1 10 When his baby or brother have some kind of disease. . . 1 10 When a parent is ill Y ^ If her father or mother died Y 5 On her birthday 6H 65 On her fourteenth birthday Y ^ On every day 4 40 On any day Y 5 Expected every day \Y 15 On Monday and for 5 days a week Y 5 On Monday 1 10 On Friday 1 10 When school is in session 1 10 The beginning of the term Y 5 Fourteen year Y 5 Age 11 M 5 326 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY She is allowed to go to school when 6 j-ears 3^ 5 A very bad throat i^ 5 TMien better y^ 5 J 5. Unanswered 2 20 If mother is ill 51^ 55 Headache, ill 1^ 5 A sore neck y^ 5 Headache, toothache or earache J^ 5 WTien a baby is sick }/^ 5 Playing sickness J^ 6 Serious J^ 5 When the roads cannot be used J^ 6 Contagious disease, roads impassable IJ^ 15 He cannot pass the hall 3^ 5 A note 1^ 5 J 6. Unanswered 15 150 111 with a contagious disease 5 50 Seven years old }^ 5 By bringing a note 6 60 When going with his mother to his cousin J^ 5 Is to go his mother J^ 5 When he is well and strong J^ 5 To have a certificate from a doctor that the disease is all over ]^ 5 Somebody else must have a bad disease 3^ 5 Tom shoes 3^ 6 Neat attendance 3^ 5 When he acts as if he is innocent 3^ 5 Being good 3^ 6 By being early 3^ 6 Get up early 3^ 5 Come to school 13^ 16 Be at school every day 3^ 5 If he lost his lessons 3^ 5 Illness lateness or truancy 3^ 5 A bad boy 3^ 5 By not going to school 3^ 5 None 3^ 6 Not sick no condition and mother not ill 3^ 5 Not very good 3^ 5 When you come you get your attendance marked 3^ 5 Of being absent 3^ 5 His attendance was fair 3^ 5 Truant 1 10 If some one at his house has a contagious disease 63'^ 65 When roads 3^ 5 If he was excused 3^ 5 Not smart 3^ 6 READING AS REASONING 327 If his father or mother died K 5 By not staying home or playing hookey 3^ 5 In general in this and all similar tests of reading, the responses do not fall into a few clearly defined groups — correct, unanswered, error No. 1, error No. 2, and so on. On the contrary they show a variety that threatens to baffle any explanation. We can, however, progress toward an explanation, by using the following facts and principles: In correct reading (1) each word produces a correct meaning, (2) each such element of meaning is given a correct weight in compari- son with the others, and (3) the resulting ideas are examined and validated to make sure that they satisfy the mental set or adjustment or purpose for whose sake the reading was done. Reading may be wrong or inadequate (1) because of wrong connections with the words singly, (2) because of over-potency or under-potency of elements, or (3) because of failure to treat the ideas produced by the reading as provisional, and so to inspect and welcome or reject them as they appear. Everybody, of course, understands that (1) plays a part but it is not so clearly understood that a word may produce all degrees of erroneous meaning for a given context, from a slight inadequacy to an extreme perversion. Thus Franklin in the paragraph quoted (J) varies from its exact meaning as a local unit through degrees of vagueness to meaning a man's name (as in "Franklin attends to his school" as a response to question 1), or to meaning a particular personage (as in "It was a great inventor" as a response to question 1). Thus Contagious in paragraph J permits responses to question 5 (What kind of illness may permit a boy to stay away from school, even though he is not sick himself?) ranging from "Scarlet fever, chicken pox, measles or diph- theria," through "Scarlet fever," "Headache," "Serious," "Hay fever," "Pimple," to "Contagious or roads impassable," and "All kinds of disease." Thus Paragraph in J 1 when over-potent produces responses ranging from "A group of sentences making sense" through "A group of sentences," and "A few sentences," to "The sentence," "Subject and predicate," "Begin with a capital," "A letter," and "Commas and periods." In particular, the relational words, such as pronouns, conjunctions and prepositions, have meanings of many degrees of exactitude. They also vary in different individuals in the amount of force they exert. 328 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY A pupil may know exactly what though means, but he may treat a sentence containing it much as he would treat the same sentence with and or or or if in place of the though. The importance of the correct weighting of each element is less appreciated. It is very great, a very large percentage of the mistakes made being due to the over-potency of certain elements or the under- potency of others. Consider first the over-potency of elements in the questions. The first question about paragraph J was, "What is the general topic of the paragraph?" A large group of answers show over- potency of paragraph. Such are those quoted above to show variation in the understanding of the word. We also find an over-potency of ^op (in topic) combined with that of paragraph, resulting in such responses as; "Leave a half -inch space," "An inch and a half," "An inch and a half capital letter," "The topic of paragraph is one inch in," The second question was: "On what day would a ten-year-old girl not be expected to attend school?" We find under-potency of not resulting in answers like "When school is in session" or "Five days a week." We find under-potency of day resulting in responses like "She is allowed to go to school when 6 years," "Age 11," and "Fourteen years." We find over-potency of day shown by "Monday," "Wednes- day," and "Friday"; of ten-year-old girl in "The ten-year-old girl will be 5A." Ten-year-old is over-potent in an interesting way, namely, in the very large number of responses of "On her birthday." Over- potency of Attend school seems to be one part of the causation of "To attendance with Franklin," "Ever morning at half past 8," "She should," and "Because he did learn." Consider next over- and under-potency of the words or phrases in the paragraph. The following list of responses show that each of ten words taken from the paragraph is over-potent so as to appear clearly influential in the response to each of the first three questions (and in seven of the cases to the fourth question as well). These occur within five hundred responses made by children within grades 5 to 8. Cases of under-potency would be still easier to collect. The questions, I may remind the reader, were as follows: 1. What is the general topic of the paragraph? 2. On what day would a ten-year-old girl not be expected to attend school? 3. Between what years is attendance upon school compulsory in Franklin? 4. How many causes are stated which make absence excusable? READING AS REASONING 329 (The numbers refer to the question to which the words were the response.) Franklin 1. FrankHn. 1. FrankUn and the diseases. 1. FrankHn topic. 2. Franklin. 3. Because it is a small city. 3. Franklin was in school 141 years, attendance 1. Attendance. 2. To attendance with Franklin. 3. In FrankHn attendance upon school is required. 3. Attending school 130 days. school 1. School. 1. They must know their lessons. 2. In the beginning of school. 3. School in session. 3. In the years of school, seven 1. Seven and fourteen. 1. How old a child should be. 2. He should attend school at 7 years. 2. Between seven and fourteen. 3. Seven years. 4. Under seven. fourteen 1. Every child between seven and fourteen. 1. In Franklin how old they are. 2. Fourteen of every day. 2. Fourteen years. 3. Fourteen years. 3. Fourteen. 4. 7 to 14. every 1. Every child. 2. Expected every day. 2. On every day. 3. Every year. 3. Every child between fourteen or thirteen. 4. Every day. ill 1. Illness. 1. Very ill. 1. If the child is ill. 2. 111. 2. A very bad throat. 3. He cannot go to school unless ill. 4. When child is ill. 4. Must be sick, contagious 1. Contagious disease. 2. If she is sick or has a contagious disease. 3. Contagious disease. 4. Contagious disease. disease 1. Fever. 1. About disease. 2. Often sick. 3. Unless ill or contagious disease. 3. Disease. 4. A terrible disease going out. 4. Because when a boy has disease, impassable 1. The roads are impassable. 1. Snow. 2. When roads are impassable. 3. Seven to fourteen years or the roads are impassable. 4. Or the roads are impassable. To make a long story short, inspection of the mistakes shows that the potency of any word or word group in a question may be far above or far below its proper amount in relation to the rest of the question. The same holds for any word or word group in the para- graph. Understanding a paragraph implies keeping these respective weights in proper proportion from the start or varying their propor- 330 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY tions until they together evoke a response which satisfies the purpose of the reading. Understanding a paragraph is hke solving a problem in mathe- y matics. It consists in selecting the right elements of the situa- tion and putting them together in the right relations, and also with the right amount of weight or influence or force for each. The mind is assailed as it were by every word in the paragraph. It must select, repress, soften, emphasize, correlate and organize, all under the influ- ence of the right mental set or purpose or demand. Consider the complexity of the task in even a very simple case such as answering question 6 on paragraph D, in the case of children of grades 6, 7 and 8 who well understand the question itself. John had two brothers who were both tall. Their names were Will and Fred. John's sister, who was short, was named Mary. John liked Fred better than either of the others. All of these children except Will had red hair. He had brown hair. 6. Who had red hair? The mind has to suppress a strong tendency for Will had red hair to act irrespective of the except which precedes it. It has to suppress a tendency for all these children . . . had red hair to act irrespective of the except Will. It has to suppress weaker tendencies for John, Fred, Mary, John and Fred, Mary and Fred, Mary and Will, Mary, Fred and Will, and every other combination that could be a "TFAo," to act irrespective of the satisfying of the requirement "had red hair according to the paragraph." It has to suppress tendencies for John and Will or brown and red to exchange places in memory, for irrelevant ideas like nobody or brothers or children to arise. That it has to suppress them is shown by the failures to do so which occur. The Will had red hair in fact causes one-fifth of children in grades 6, 7 and 8 to answer wrongly, * and about two-fifths of children in grades 3, 4 and 5. Insufficient potency of except Will* makes about one child in twenty in grades 6, 7 and 8 answer wrongly with "all the children," "all," or "Will Fred Mary and John." Reading may be wrong or inadequate because of failure to treat the responses made as provisional and to inspect, welcome and reject them as they appear. Many of the very pupils who gave wrong responses to the questions would respond correctly if confronted with them in the following form : * Some of these errors are due to essential ignorance of "except," though that should not be common in pupils of grade 6 or higher. READING AS REASONING 331 Is this foolish or is it not? The day when a girl should not go to school is the day when school is in session. The day when a girl should not go to school is the beginning of the term. The day etc. ... is Monday. The day is fourteen years. The day is age eleven. The day is a very bad throat. Impassable roads are a kind of illness. He cannot pass the ball is a kind of illness. They do not, however, of their own accord test their responses by thinking out their subtler or more remote implications. Even very gross violations against common sense are occasionally passed, such as letting Mary give Tom a blue dog, or giving "Thought the man fat out " as an answer to 1 1. Usually, however, the irrelevance or inconsistency concerns something in the question or the paragraph and the failure to heed it is closely akin to the under-potency of certain elements. I. Nearly fifteen thousand of the city's workers joined in the parade on September seventh, and passed before two hundred thousand cheering spectators. There were workers of both sexes in the parade, though the men far out-numbered the women. 1. What is said about the number of persons who marched in the parade? It thus appears that reading an explanatory or argumentative paragraph in his text-books on geography or history or civics, and (though to a less degree) reading a narrative or description, involves the same sort of organization and analytic action of ideas as occur in thinking of supposedly higher sorts. This view is supported by the high correlations between such reading and verbal completion tests, Binet-Simon tests, analogies tests and the like. These correlations, when corrected for attenuation, are probably, for children of the same age, as high as +.80. It appears likely, therefore, that many children fail in certain features of these subjects not because they have understood and remembered the facts and principles but have been unable to organize and use them; or because they have understood them but have been unable to remember them; but because they never understood them. It appears likely also that a pupil may read fluently and feel that the series of words are arousing appropriate thoughts without really understanding the paragraph. Many of the children who made notable mistakes would probably have said that they under- 332 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY stood the paragraph and, upon reading the questions on it, would have said that they understood them. In such cases the reader finds satisfying solutions of those problems which he does raise and so feels mentally adequate; but he raises only a few of the problems which should be raised and makes only a few of the judgments which he should make. Thus one may read paragraph I with something like the following actual judgments: Fifteen thousand did something — there was a parade — September seventh was the day — there were two hundred ih'd.u^and something — there was cheering — workers were in the parade— both sexes in the parade — the men outnumbered the women. Contrast these with the following which may be in the mind of the expert reader: Nearly fifteen thousand — not quite, but nearly — of the city 's workers — people icho worked for a living — joined in the parade — a big parade of nearly 16,000— on September seventh — the parade was in the fall — they passed before two hundred thousand cheering spectators — two hundred thousand saw the parade — they cheered it — there were workers of both sexes — there were men workers and women workers in the parade — the men far outnumbered the women. Many more men than women were in the parade. In educational theory, then, we should not consider the reading of a text-book or reference as a mechanical, passive, undiscrim- inating task, on a totally different level from the task of evaluating or using what is read. While the work of judging and applying doubt- less demands a more elaborate and inventive organization and control of mental connections, the demands of mere reading are also for the active selection which is typical of thought. It is not a small or unworthy task to learn "what the book says." In school practice it appears likely that exercises in silent reading to find the answers to given questions, or to give a summary of the matter read, or to list the questions which it answers, should in large measure replace oral reading. The vice of the poor reader is to say the words to himself without actively making judgments concerning what they reveal. Reading aloud or listening to one reading aloud may leave this vice unaltered or even encouraged. Perhaps it is in their outside reading of stories and in their study of geography, history, and the like, that many school children really learn to read. -i l)i^6{)^ nit; lAJKKAKt >TT OF CAUFORNIJI __E^PHIETB ■ Syracuse ZZ^Z^. Stockton tuu III O'^T 1 9 M UCLA-ED/PSYCH Library LB 1573 T39r '!i! mill i^'iii" II' III' ill III L 005 640 762 \ISlSZ^^?'on., A/\ .'■'fifMfiy °°"83 645 ^ACILITY University of California Library Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. / ^yj^ ^^.,. % i i :;, • «^-^