The Intelligence Examination for High-School Freshmen

Abstract

This study examined the reading achievement patterns of impulsives and reflectives under varying phonics approaches in beginning reading instruction. The study used 170 second grade students who were classified as having an impulsive or reflective cognitive style and as receiving phonics instruction via an analytic or synthetic approach. Achievement in vocabulary and comprehension was measured by the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. As such, the investigation was a post-hoc aptitude-treatment interaction study employing a step- down analysis model. Results supported the existing body of research which indicates that reflectives tend to be better readers than impulsives. However, multivariate analyses indicated reflectives in the synthetic approach performed significantly better than impulsives only in vocabulary. Under an analytic approach, the reverse was true; reflectives were significantly better only on the variable of comprehension. While the limitations of the study should be considered, it was suggested that the word recognition and vocabulary skills of reflective readers could be enhanced by beginning reading programs emphasizing a more intensive phonics approach.