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Acoustic And Associative Variables In The Retention Of Words By Children With Learning Disabilities

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Acoustic And Associative Variables In The Retention Of Words By Children With Learning Disabilities

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Xerox University Microfilms
300 North Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
K R A M O N , Daniel Louis, 1943- I
A C O U S T IC A N D ASSO CIATIVE V A R IA B LE S IN T H E I
R E T E N TIO N O F W O R D S B Y C H IL D R E N W ITH LE A R N IN G I
DISABILITIES. |
University of Southern California, Ph.D., 1974 J
Education, special f
Xerox University Microfilms r Ann Arbor, M ichigan 48106
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
ACOUSTIC A N D ASSOCIATIVE VARIABLES IN THE RETENTION
OP W O RD S BY CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
by
Daniel Louis Kramon
A D isse rta tio n P resented to th e
FACULTY OP THE G RADU ATE SCH O O L
UNIVERSITY OP SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In P a r tia l F u lfillm e n t o f th e
Requirements fo r th e Degree
D O C TO R OP PHILOSOPHY
(Education)
September 1974
UNIVERSITY O F SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
D an i el .. L o u i a .Kr am o n..............................
under the direction of Zt.i.s.. Dissertation Com
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by The Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements of
the degree of
D O C T O R OF P H IL O S O P H Y
Dean
Date Junfii.lA ,...1.974
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE,
TABLE OP CONTEN TS
Page
LIST OP TABLES........................................................................ v
LIST OP FIG U RES................................................................... vi
LIST OP APPENDIXES................................... v ii
Chapter
I . INTRODUCTION.................................................... . 1
Background • • • • • .................................... 1
The Problem o f Learning D is a b ility . • 2
Problem Areas ............................................. 3
Purpose o f th e 3tudy .................. 11
D efin itio n o f Terms ....................... 11
Scope and D elim itatio n s .................. 13
P o te n tia l L i m i t a t i o n s ........................... . . 14
I I . REVIEW OP THE LITERATURE................................ 16
I n t r o d u c t i o n .......................... 16
A ssociations Replace A coustic
R etention P rocesses w ith Age . . . . 16
A ssoclational v s. A coustical
A ttrib u te s in th e F a c ilita tio n
o f R e t e n t i o n ................................................. 21
S hort-term Memory S t u d i e s ...................... 24
LTM i s A s s o c i a t i v e ......................................... 28
A ssociation and R e te n t io n ........................... 32
Learning D is a b ility and Verbal
A ssociation ................................ 34
The Learning p r o c e s s .................................... 35
P erception . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
M ediation and Concept Formation . . 39
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4l
Motot Response . . . • • • • • • « • 44
Summary ......................................................... 46
I I I . METHODOLOGY............................................................... 50
Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Dependent and Independent V ariables • • 51
i i i
C hapter Page
S electio n o f S u b j e c t s ........................ 52
C r i t e r i a ............................................... 52
M e t h o d ................................... 55
S electio n o f P rio r T e s t s ............... 53
S electio n o f Stimulus M a terials . . . . 59
Experimental Procedure . . . . . . . . 65
P r e p a r a t i o n ...................................... .. 65
Day 1 (Learning T a s k ) ............... 66
Day 2 (R etention T e s t ) ...................... . . 69
S c o r in g ....................................................... 70
IV. RESULTS A N D ANALYSIS............................. 71
In tro d u c tio n ......................................... 71
Procedure ................................................ 71
The H y p o th e s e s ..................................... 74
Hypothesis I . • • • • • • • • • • • 74
Hypothesis I I ................................. 75
Hypothesis i l l • • • • • • • • • • • 75
The Wepman Test ........................... 75
Summary ........................................................... 76
V. SU M M A RY , DISCUSSION A N D CONCLUSIONS . . . 79
Summary....................................................... 79
D i s c u s s i o n ..................................................... ..... 31
The H y p o t h e s e s .......................... 31
D i s c u s s i o n ............................................. 34
C o n c l u s i o n .......................................• • • • • 83
APPENDIXES................................................................................. 91
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................ 97
i v
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
I Age a t Which A coustical and A ssoclatlonal
P a tte rn s Dominate a s Seen by D iffe re n t
I n v e s tig a to rs ...................................................... 48
I I A sso ciativ e Frequency o f Experimental
A ssociative Words wl th Stimulus Words • 61
I I I Frequency and Rante o f Use o f Test Words
by Normal 7-Year-01ds, a s Determined
by Wepman.....................................................• • . 63
IV R e su lts o f Two-Way A nalysis o f V ariance • 73
V Comparison o f Wepman Scores fo r Each
G ro u p .................................................................. 77
v
LIST OF FIGURES
F ig u re Page
1 . Comparison o f a s s o c ia tiv e v ersus a c o u stic
e rro rs fo r RC and LD ch ild ren • . . . * 72
vi
LIST OP APPENDIXES
Appendix Page
I P aren ta l Consent Form Facsim ile . . . . 92
I I Stimulus Words Used on R etention Test
In Order o f p r e s e n t a t i o n ....................... 93
I I I Order o f P re se n ta tio n o f R etention
Test S t i m u l i ................................................. 94
IV Frequency o f Responses o f EH and RC
S ubjects to Each W o rd ............................... 95
v i i
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background
More than a decade a f t e r th e term "learn in g
d is a b ili ty " has taken on i t s p rese n t general meaning,
i t i s s t i l l in th e process o f being measured. But
th e concept was welcome and much-needed fo r d escrib in g
a massive m a laise: prev io u s to th a t tim e, "parents o f
te n s o f thousands o f ch ild re n in th e United S ta te s
knew what they had, even i f p ro fe ssio n a l educators
and p sy c h o lo g ists and p e d ia tr ic ia n s did not" (Cruickshank,
1972, p 3 8 l).
The e f f e c ts o f le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y have lik e w ise
not been f u lly assessed . Evidence e x is ts to suggest
th a t i t i s a temporary problem indigenous to e a rly
childhood and n e ith e r perm anently damaging (Robinson
and Smith, 1962; Rawson, 1968) nor very responsive
to treatm en t anyhow (Balow and Blom quist, 1965; Hinton
and K nights, 1971).
But th e bulk o f work in th e area co rro b o rates
th a t reading d i s a b i l i t y , w hile disappearing during
th e adolescent y e a rs, le a v e s lif e lo n g scars (S ilv er
and Hagln, 1964; Balow and Blom quist, 1965; Adams,
1967). Furtherm ore, i t does respond well to c lin ic a l
treatm en t (Robinson and Smith, 1962; Adams, 1967;
Rawson, 1963).
Given th e c o n tra d ic tio n s between th e v arious
in v e s tig a to r s , t h i s te n ta tiv e conclusion seems most
Ju d ic io u s:
Some ch ild re n w ith severe reading
d i s a b i l i t i e s can, in tim e, and in
p ro p o rtio n s roughly p a r a lle l to those
i n th e general youth p o p u la tio n , le a rn
to read w ith s u f fic ie n t competence
to graduate from high school, to enter
c o lle g e , and to engage in w h ite -c o lla r
occupations. At the same tim e, a
reading d is a b ili ty i s a handicap which
...s la c k e n s educational pace, li m i t s
academic a s p ira tio n and u ltim a te
academic achievement, and consequently,
narrows vocational p o s s i b i l i t i e s .
(Preston and Y arington, 1967, pl28)
The problem o f Learning D is a b ility
In v e s tig a to r s in the f ie ld have observed th a t
le a rn in g d isa b led (LD) ch ild ren tend to remember
inform ation in is o la te d b i t s and p ie c e s .(M ille r,
1956; Johnson and Myklebust, 1967; Mylilebust, 1968).
This suggests th a t le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y and fragmented
memory stra te g y may be c o rre la te d : th a t remembering
b i t s and p ie c e s , such as th e phonemes in th e word
" c a t," may be an in f e r io r method o f re te n tio n to
a s s o c ia tin g one word w ith an o th er, such as ’’ca t"
w ith **dog.n A fu rth e r p o s s i b ilit y i s th a t th e
d e le te rio u s e f f e c ts may be cum ulative over tim e.
Moreover, th e form ation o f concepts may he
dependent on th e form ation o f r e la tio n s h ip s between
e x is tin g a s s o c ia tio n s . I f th e a s s o c ia tio n s do not
e x is t i n i t i a l l y , t h i s may i n h i b i t th e form ation o f
concepts th a t are e s s e n tia l fo r le a rn in g to ta k e p la c e .
I f th e re te n tio n system o f le a rn in g -d isa b le d
ch ild re n i s not based on a s s o c ia tio n , on what i s i t
based? The study th a t serv es as th e p ro to ty p e fo r th e
experiment reported In t h i s paper (Bach and Underwood,
1970) found th a t s ix th grade re g u la r c la s s ch ild ren
remembered new words m ostly through t h e i r "verbal
a s s o c ia tiv e a t t r i b u t e ," o r o th e r words which they may
e l i c i t . But second g rad ers remembered more through
"aooustic a t t r i b u t e s ," o r sound p a tte rn in g .
This study r e p o rts an experiment designed to t e s t
whether le a rn in g -d isa b le d ch ild ren u t i l i z e th e a c o u stic
a t t r i b u t e in re te n tio n .
Problem Areas
Before proceeding to a review o f p rev io u s work
in t h i s and r e la te d a re a s, i t i s necessary to ela b o ra te
on two problem s: l ) the free-w heeling s ta te o f th e
d e f in itio n o f le a rn in g -d is a b le d ; and 2) th e in c lu sio n
in th e review o f stu d ie s w ith re ta rd e d su b je c ts .
L eft undiscussed, the f i r s t tends to ob fu scate the
fin d in g s rep o rted and th e second tends to in v a lid a te
th e conclusions.
The f i r s t generation o f sp ecial education rese arch
studied ch ild re n w ith th e most obvious le a rn in g
problem s: th e p h y sic a lly handicapped. Then followed
a concentration on s lig h tly l e s s obvious and id e n tif ia b l
d iso rd e rs such as mental re ta rd a tio n and, l a t e r ,
b ra in i n j u r i e s ( E l l i o t t , 1966). I t I s only in the
l a s t decade th a t sp ecial educational rese a rc h has
focused on a group o f ch ild re n who, w hile scoring
w ithin th e normal range on standard IQ t e s t s , and
showing no d isa b lin g emotional problem s, p e r s is te n tly
"underachieve" by scoring s ig n ific a n tly behind th e ir
m ental-age p ee rs in t e s t s o f standard sc h o la stic
achi evement.
This f i e l d has not been w ithout confusion,
a s i s evidenced by th e p le th o ra o f d if fe re n t terms
used to id e n tif y th ese c h ild re n . One scholar re p o rts
22 d if fe re n t la b e ls in use by only 35 re se a rc h e rs,
in c lu d in g "u nderachievers," "remedial education,"
"e d u catio n ally handicapped," "brain In ju re d ," "minimal
b rain d y sfu n ctio n ," "language d is o rd e rs ," "learning
d i s a b i l i t i e s , " "problem read ers" and "reading d is a b ili ty
(McDonald, 1967).
For a study w ith an educational foous, "learning
d is a b ili ty " seems to be th e most s u ita b le term .
Educational l i t e r a t u r e concerning th e se kind o f
5
ch ild re n now uses I t as a standard, and d iffe re n t
re se a rc h e rs use I t to r e f e r to a r e la tiv e l y homogenous
and c o n siste n tly -d e fin e d group. The p le th o ra o f terms
and th e confusion r e s u lt s from th e recency o f te s tin g
techniques so p h istic a te d enough to recognize and
I s o la t e th e paradoxical symptoms o f le a rn in g d is a b ili ty
from those o f o th e r problem le a r n e r s . Thus, the
l i t e r a t u r e before th e m id-1960's I s r i f e w ith referen ce s
based on superseded l i n g u i s t i c orthodoxies which
did not always make t h i s d is tin c tio n . Indeed, the
term ''learn in g disabled" i s s t i l l young enough to
be su b ject to varying d e f in itio n s by those most
concerned w ith I t and la c k o f understanding by those
In r e la tiv e l y d is ta n t a re a s o f sp ecial education.
For example, w hile p h y sician s and p s y c h ia tr is ts
emphasize b ra in damage, educators s tr e s s le a rn in g .
Areas o f performance c r i t e r i a tend n a tu ra lly to
concur w ith sp e c ia lty area s o f the re sp e c tiv e educators.
For th e p rese n t study, which i s set in the f ie ld of
language, a d e f in itio n of le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y such
as Batem an's, whose sp e c ia lty i s language and whose
concepts "already are accepted widely by many educators
and p sy c h o lo g ists" (Myers and Hammill, 1969, p 2 ),
seems th u s suggested.
According to Bateman, le a rn in g d is a b ili ty I s
m anifested i n :
. . . a n ed u catio n ally s ig n ific a n t
discrepancy between estim ated
i n te lle c tu a l p o te n tia l and a c tu a l
le v e l o f perform ance, r e la te d to
b asic d iso rd e rs in th e le a rn in g
p ro cess, which may o r may not be
accompanied by dem onstrable c e n tra l
nervous system dysfunction, and
which are not secondary to
g eneralized mental r e ta rd a tio n ,
educational o r c u ltu ra l d ep riv a tio n ,
severe emotional d istu rb a n ce, or
sensory loss* (Bateman, 1965, p220)
Even w ith t h i s best o f a v a ila b le d e f in itio n s ,
problems may a r is e both in reviewing previous l i t e r a t u r e
and in methodology* Bateman s k i r t s th e is s u e of
b rain damage, probably w isely since "b ra in -in ju re d "
ch ild ren are o fte n c la s s if ie d as such by educators
simply because they score average on IQ t e s t s and
subnormal on achievement t e s t s . The u n te sted assumption
i s th a t organic damage causes the behavioral d e f i c i t ,
hinders Impulse control and breaks down concept
formation* Oruickshank (1966) n o tes th a t th e term s
" b ra in -in ju re d " and " s p e c ific le a rn in g d is a b ility "
may be used interchangeably* O thers have found
th a t not only b ra in -in ju re d but em otionally d istu rb e d
c h ild re n , excluded from t h i s d e f in itio n o f le a rn in g -
d isa b le d , have sim ila r le a rn in g and behavioral problems
th a t respond to sim ila r teaching techniques (Lambert
and Grossman, 1964; Oruickshank et a ^ . , 1961)*
Indeed, th e same techniques may even work fo r
schizophrenics ( H a v e ll, 1958).
Another problem w ith Bateman's d e f in itio n I s
th a t w hile I t embraces b ra ln -ln Jured c h ild re n , her
actu al experiment excluded th o se w ith demonstrable
CNS dysfunction. Such an exclusion I s probably
unnecessary. As Myers and Hammlll s ta te , "Inadequate
fu n ctio n in g o f a p ro cess, whether caused by organic
o r nonorganlc f a c to rs , can r e s u lt In le a rn in g
d is a b ili ty " (Myers and Hammlll, 1969, p6 ). Furtherm ore,
whether a read in g -d isab led ch ild has cereb ral le s io n s
"w ill not e s s e n tia lly a l t e r th e methods o f teaching
him" (Myers and Hammlll, 1969, p5)*
Bateman's d e fin itio n also encompasses d y sle x ia ,
which I s g e n e ra lly regarded as a form o f b ra in dysfunction
(Myers and Hammlll, 1969, p299). As w ith o th e r
b rain d y sfu n ctio n s, i t I s not always p o ssib le to
d is tin g u is h whether d y slex ia i s e tlo lo g lc a lly lin k e d
to reading d is a b ili ty In younger c h ild re n , o r whether
th e c h ild re n su ffe r from i n f e r io r form p e rc e p tio n ,
visuomotor s k i l l s o r d ire c tio n a l sense (Benton,
1972). The d iffe re n c e s become apparent as the ch ild ren
age, however.
Given th e p o te n tia l fo r confusion in h e re n t
i n applying a predeterm ined y a rd stic k o f le a rn in g
d i s a b i l i t y , even such an a u th o rita tiv e one as Batem an's,
to th e te s tin g p ro cess, an o p eratio n al d e fin itio n
was form ulated before th e l i t e r a t u r e was reviewed.
This not only assured a consistenoy with, the
methodology to be p resented l a t e r In th e study,
but provided c r i t e r i a fo r s i f t i n g out n o n tra n sfe ra b le
fin d in g s from th e l i t e r a t u r e .
The experiment described In Chapter I I I uses
fo r I t s " le a rn in g -d isa b le d ” su b je c ts ch ild re n from
"e d u catio n ally handicapped" (SB) c la s s e s I n G lendale,
C a lifo rn ia . The standard C a lifo rn ia a d m in istra tiv e
d e f in itio n o f SH ch ild ren I s as fo llo w s:
E ducationally handicapped m inors are
minors who, by reason o f marked le a rn in g
o r behavior d is o rd e rs , o r bo th , re q u ire
th e sp e cia l education programs w ith
th e In te n tio n o f f u l l re tu rn to the
re g u la r school program. Such le a rn in g
o r behavior d iso rd e rs sh a ll be asso cia ted
w ith a n eu ro lo g ical handicap o r emotional
d istu rb an ce and sh a ll not be a ttr ib u ta b le
to mental r e ta r d a tio n . (C a lifo rn ia
L e g is la tu re , 1969, p296)
Thus any o p e ra tio n a l d e f in itio n must be ta ilo r e d
to 1) be c o n siste n t w ith a standard d e fin itio n from
th e academic f i e l d , such as Batem an's; and 2) meet
th e o f f i c i a l d e f in itio n o f BH c h ild re n in C a lifo rn ia .
The o f f i c i a l C a lifo rn ia wording makes i t im possible
to elim in a te b ra in -ln Ju re d c h ild re n . BH c la s s e s
also In clu d e ch ild ren diagnosed as em otionally
d istu rb e d (ED), but they were screened out o f th e
te s tin g procedure by means o f te ach e r ev alu atio n .
Beoause o f th e v a s t number o f psychological stu d ie s
9
th a t e x is t and because t h e i r c lin ic a l focus bears
only I n d ir e c tly on educational techniques fo r le a rn in g -
disab led c h ild re n , stu d ie s o f H D ch ild ren a re om itted
from th e review o f th e l i t e r a t u r e . To keep theory
c o n siste n t w ith p r a c tic e , ED's were also screened
out o f th e experim ent.
S tudies w ith ex clu siv ely dyslexic su b je cts
are also om itted from th e l i t e r a t u r e review. However,
given th e d i f f i c u l t y in sep aratin g young d y slex ics
from young le a rn in g -d isa b le d ch ild re n , some o f the
l i t e r a t u r e rep o rted probably in c lu d e s, in a d v e rta n tly
o r o th erw ise, su b je c ts who are d y sle x ic . None o f th e
su b je c ts in th e p rese n t study was diagnosed as d y sle x ic ,
b u t, as discussed previously* d iagnosis i s d i f f i c u l t .
With th e se fa c to rs in mind, the follow ing
o p e ra tio n a l d e f in itio n o f le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y was
a rriv e d a t :
Those who are placed in c la sse s
designated E ducationally Handicapped
(EH) and who show no signs o f primary
behavior problems a s confirmed by
te a c h e r in te rv iew s and who furtherm ore
showed no sig n s o f au d ito ry d is a b ili ty
e ith e r on Wepman t e s t s o r on th e ir
medical reco rd s.
In e le c tin g to ignore th e body o f work concerned
w ith SD 's, i t i s im portant to consider th a t educational
re se a rc h e rs conditioned by th e i r own term inology
and I n t e r e s t s may overlook th e ro le played by emotional
1 0
fa c to rs in reading d i s a b i l i t y (Lachman, I9 6 0 ).
The very fa c t th a t a ch ild l e a slow le a r n e r c re a te s
emotional problems fo r him which soon form a c ir c le
where cause and e ffe c t become b lu rre d . For example,
motor d iso rd e rs among b ra in -in ju re d c h ild re n may
o re a te prolonged dependency on th e ir m othersf and
p ercep tu al problems may o reate f r u s tr a tio n s ,
m is in te rp re ta tio n s o f r e a l i t y and "b iz a rre behavior
p a tte rn s " (Bender, 1949).
Another problem in v o lv es th e use o f stu d ie s
o f th e re ta rd e d . Because re ta rd e d ch ild re n are
r e la tiv e l y easy to I d e n tif y when one u ses th e sin g le
c r ite r io n o f IQ, they have been probed thoroughly
since th e second "generation" o f sp ecial education
studies* S p e c ific le a rn in g d is a b ili ty i s a more
com plicated phenomenon, p arad o x ically ch a racterized
by IQ comparable to normals and achievement more
comparable to reta rd e d c h ild re n . The l i t e r a t u r e
on le a rn in g d is a b ili ty i s In many a re a s e ith e r too
skimpy fo r any conclusions to be drawn o r r e la tiv e ly
n o n e x iste n t. S p e c ific a lly , w hile re se arch in the
are a o f re ta rd a tio n I s p r o lif e r a te on th e key fro n ts
o f memory and concept form ation, more re se a rc h i s
needed in th e area o f le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y .
In th e se areas* th e research w ith the retard ed
i s re p o rte d . E a r lie r , a ju s t i f i c a t i o n was advanced
11
fo r tra n sp o sin g r e s u l t s from stu d ie s w ith b ra in -
in ju re d c h ild re n , namely th a t BI *s a re taught In th e
same c la s s e s a s LD 's. That J u s tif ic a tio n cannot
be advanced here. C a lifo rn ia re ta rd e d ch ild ren
w ith IQ 50 to 75 a re o fte n placed In educably m entally
re ta rd e d (EMR) c la s s e s and those below IQ 50 in
c la s s e s designated tr a in a b le m entally re ta rd e d (TMR).
However, th e reasoning behind sep aratin g the
EMR's from th e TMH's i s th a t EHR's a re a s educable
as le a rn in g -d is a b le d c h ild re n . Both read in g -d isab led
and E M R ch ild re n ex h ib it sim ila r symptoms o f reading
d i s a b i l i t y , and they both b e n e fit from th e same language
in s tru c tio n a l tech n iq u es.
Purpose o f th e Study
I t 18 th e purpose o f t h i s study to in v e s tig a te
whether th e re te n tio n o f words by ch ild re n w ith
le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t i e s I s in flu en ced more by an a c o u stic
a t t r i b u t e than by a verbal a s s o c ia tiv e a t t r i b u t e .
Dependent upon confirm ation o f t h i s th e s is by th e
experim ent, ap p ro p ria te teach in g techniques are
proposed.
D efin itio n o f Terms
A coustic a t t r i b u t e —In th e memory o f a word, i t i s
th e sound p a tte rn in g o f th e word when i t i s pronounced
(Bach and Underwood, 1970).
A sso ciativ e a t t r i b u t e —In th e memory o f a word, I t
c o n s is ts o f one or more o th e r words whioh may he
e l ic i te d by i t (Bach and Underwood, 1970), ( I t
i s o f value to n o te th a t a word i s a symbol, and
th a t o th e r •'words1 ' e l ic i te d by th e stim ulus word
rep rese n t o b je c ts , f a c ts o r e x p e rie n tia l a s s o c ia tio n s .)
EH— ed u c atio n ally handicapped minors are minors
who, by reason o f marked le a rn in g o r behavior d iso rd e rs,
o r bo th , re q u ire th e special education programs
w ith th e in te n tio n o f f u ll re tu rn to th e reg u la r
school program, such le a rn in g or behavior d iso rd e rs
sh a ll be asso c ia te d w ith a neurological handicap
o r emotional distu rb an ce and sh a ll not be a ttr ib u ta b le
to mental r e ta rd a tio n (C a lifo rn ia L e g is la tu re , 1969).
Learning d i s a b i l i t i e s (ch ild ren w ith )—m anifest
an ed u c atio n ally s ig n ific a n t discrepancy between t h e i r
estim ated in t e l l e c t u a l p o te n tia l and actu al le v e l
o f perform ance, re la te d to b asic d iso rd e rs i n th e
le a rn in g p ro c e sse s, which may o r may not be accompanied
by dem onstrable c e n tra l nervous system dysfunction,
and which a re not secondary to generalized mental
r e ta r d a tio n , educational or c u ltu ra l d e p riv a tio n ,
severe emotional d istu rb a n c e , o r sensory lo s s
(C a lifo rn ia L e g is la tu re , 1969).
Long-term memory—memory fo r what has been presented
prev io u s to th e p a st few seconds (K intsch, 1970),
13
R etention—th e fa c t th a t an organism continues to
perform a c e rta in le arn ed a c t a f te r an In te r v a l
In which th e performance has not taken p lace (stan d a rd ).
Short-term memory—memory fo r what has been presented
w ithin th e p a st few seconds (K lntsch, 1970).
Scone and D elim itatio n s
T h irty ch ild ren were se le c te d from EH c la s s e s
and 30 from re g u la r classroom s In th e Glendale 01 ty
School D ls tr io t In Eos Angeles County. Subjects
w ith IQ o f l e s s than 90 on both the verbal and performance
sc a le s o f th e Wechsler I n te llig e n c e Scale fo r Children
(HISC) were excluded. The EH su b je c ts showed
d isc re p a n c ie s o f two to th re e years between th e i r
chronological age grade equ iv alen t and th e i r actu al
grade achievement, according to th e c r i t e r i a used
fo r p la c in g them In EH c la s s e s . S ubjects were fu rth e r
screened through records exam ination, te s tin g and
te ach e r conferences and elim inated I f they showed
emotional o r au d ito ry d i f f i c u l t i e s .
The study was d elim ited to p u p ils between th e
chronological ages o f 9& and 11 y e a rs. While th e re
were no c o n tro ls regarding sex, EH c la s s e s tend to
be d isp ro p o rtio n a te ly m ale, and o f th e 30 SH su b je c ts,
2. 5 were boys. The imbalance i s In s ig n if ic a n t since
concept form ation a b i l i t y i s not a sex v a ria b le
14
(D arnell and Bourne, 1970; p a lz e re , 1967; W ivlott,
1970). I n o rd er to avoid entanglem ents w ith socio
economic e tio lo g ie s , th e sample was chosen from a
m id d le-cla ss Caucasian p o p u la tio n .
P o te n tia l L im ita tio n s
Several c o n sid e ra tio n s l i m i t g e n e ra liz a tio n s
o f th e fin d in g s :
1 . While th e experiment used ch ild re n p re te s te d
to meet th e o p e ra tio n a l d e f in itio n o f th e
study, th ese c h ild re n a re drawn from c la sse s
la b e le d "e d u catio n ally handicapped" ra th e r
th an "learn in g d is a b le d ." As discussed
p re v io u sly , th e term "le a rn in g disabled"
i s applied somewhat f le x ib ly throughout
educational c i r c l e s . Assessment r e s u lt s
a re dependent on th e v a lid ity o f the
screening methods not only o f th e experim enter
but o f th e schools. Some schools a re not
p re c is e in th e ir sp e cia l c la s s assignm ents.
2. The word re c o g n itio n s c a le , w hile considerably
Improved over Bach and Underwood's, has
n o t been e n tir e ly v a lid a te d by rese a rc h .
Sixteen o f th e 20 t e s t words and 23 o f
40 response words a re ra te d by Wepman
(See Appendix I ) .
The a s s o c ia tiv e frequency sc a le , while
lik e w ise Improved over Bach and Underwood's,
also has re se a rc h gaps. Sixteen o f th e
20 a s s o c ia te s rank a s top a s s o c ia te s according
to Palermo and Jenkins (1964) o r E ntw istle
(1 9 6 6).
The Wechsler I n te llig e n c e Scale fo r Children
(WISC) was given only to th e le a rn in g -
d isa b led sample.
T esting was conducted on eig h t d if fe re n t
days a t two d if f e r e n t tim es in four d if fe re n t
schools, p ro h ib itin g equal t e s t con d itio n s
fo r a l l su b je c ts .
Confusion in th e f ie ld makes im possible
a p re c is e c o rre la tio n between th e l i t e r a t u r e
reviewed and th e experim ent. This I s
p a r tic u la r ly tr u e In th e area o f re ta rd a tio n ,
where c e rta in fin d in g s a re transposed to
apply to le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y .
Test words were p resented v is u a lly as well
a s a u r a lly , p u ttin g le a rn in g -d isa b le d
re a d e rs a t a p o s s ib le disadvantage.
CHAPTER I I
REVIEW OP THE LITERATURE
In tro d u c tio n
This chapter surveys th re e a re a s o f th e l i t e r a t u r e .
The f i r s t two w ill e s ta b lis h : 1) th a t c h ild re n ,
a s they grow o ld e r, tend to u t i l i z e more and more
co n cep tu ally a s s o c ia tiv e fa c to rs as opposed to ac o u stic
f a c to r s In t h e i r re te n tio n o f words; and 2) th a t t h i s
u t i l i z a t i o n o f word a s s o c ia tio n s , as opposed to
sound f a c t o r b, f a c i l i t a t e s long-term re te n tio n .
The th i r d area c o n s is ts o f th e pioneer work
th a t has la i d th e cornerstone fo r th e p re se n t experiment.
This work t e s t s th e hypothesis th a t le a rn in g -d isa b le d
ch ild re n r e ta in words more a c o u s tic a lly and l e s s
through word a s s o c ia tio n than do norm als.
A ssociations Replace Acoustic
d e te n tio n P rocesses w ith Age’
i!he d e f in itiv e re se a rc h e s ta b lis h in g th e emerging
dominance o f a s s o c ia tiv e over a c o u stic re te n tio n
w ith age was done by Woodrow and Lowell (1916),
McGehee (1938), E n tw lstle (1966), A l-Iss a (1969)
and Bach and Underwood (1970).
16
17
The f i r s t re se a rc h e rs to look a t c h ild re n 's
word a s s o c ia tio n s from a developmental p e rsp e c tiv e
were Woodrow and Lowell (1916). A fter studying
a s so c ia tio n p a tte rn s o f 1000 grammar school ch ild ren
in th e M inneapolis P u b lic Schools and comparing them
w ith a d u lt norms, they concluded th a t th e fre e
a s s o c ia tio n s o f ch ild re n d i f f e r markedly from those
o f a d u lts . Their r e s u lt s in d ic a te d th a t ch ild re n
tend to a s s o c ia te more words by "sound s im ila rity "
than do a d u lts . This was more tr u e o f c h ild re n in
e a rly grade school (age 9) than o f o ld e r ch ild ren
(age 1 2 ).
MoGehee (1938) rep o rted th a t th e number o f
"normal responses" on a fre e a s s o c ia tio n ta s k tends
to In c re a se w ith age. Among responses considered
not normal was responding to a stim ulus word w ith
a "sound r e a c t i o n ," In which a t l e a s t h a lf th e phonemes
were id e n tic a l and arranged i n th e same o rd e r. Sound
re a c tio n s were more c h a r a c te r is tic o f young c h ild re n ,
o ccu rrin g w ith l e s s frequency w ith age.
A comparison o f two s tu d ie s , one w ith k ln d e rg a rtn e rs
(Kendler and Kendler, 1958) and one w ith a d u lts
(Kendler and D'Amato, 1956) found "an o n to g en etic
p ro g ressio n in concept and achievem ent" {Rieher
et a l . , 1968).
E n tw istle (1966) re p o rts th a t young c h ild re n
use sound s im ila r it ie s a s "markers" fo r a s s o c ia tin g
one word w ith an o th er. She c i t e s th e example th a t
f i r s t grade ch ild ren commonly respond to th e word
" t i e ” w ith "h ig h ," but n o te s th a t such responses
sharply deorease as ch ild re n grow o ld e r.
In another study, a b s tra c t word d e f in itio n s
began predom inating over "concrete" and fu n ctio n a l
d e f in itio n s a t age 9 ( A l- I lla , 1969).
Other I n v e s tig a to r s In th e 1 9 6 0 's p o site d
s y n ta c tic a s s o c ia tio n s as an Interm ediary developmental
stage between a c o u stic and conceptual a s s o c ia tio n s .
Brown and Berko (I960) found th a t ohlldren have fewer
p a rts-o f-sp e e c h responses In t h e i r word a s s o c ia tio n s
than do a d u lts . The tendency to a s s o c ia te words
by p a rt o f speech r i s e s w ith age and I s a "consequence
o f th e c h i l d 's gradual o rg a n iz a tio n o f h is vocabulary
In to th e s y n ta c tic c la s s e s c a lle d p a r ts o f speech."
L a te r in v e s tig a to r s (Brvin, 1961; Palermo and
Jenkins, 1963; S n tw lstle , 1966) found th a t "paradlgm atl
(conceptual) a s s o c ia tio n s began rep la cin g sy n ta c tic a l
ones a t ages 5 to 6, but a f t e r f i f t h grade sy n ta c tic a l
a s s o c ia tio n s made some comeback.
Combining t h i s fin d in g w ith another re p o rt
th a t young ch ild re n give many more responses to
a stim ulus word than do a d u lts (S n tw lstle , 1966),
Cramer (1968) th e o riz e d th a t response h etero g en eity
19
mushrooms u n til th e fo u rth o r f i f t h grade and then
low ers u n t i l co lleg e age. M ille r and McNeill (1965)
propose a th eo ry o f "sem antic markers" to explain
t h i s . To i l l u s t r a t e , th e word "flow er" in c lu d e s
such semantic markers a s " p la n t," "physical o b je c t,"
" liv in g ," e tc . These markers tend to r e s t r i c t the
number o f paradigm atic words th a t can be e l i c i t e d
by th e stim ulus word, "flo w er." Since ch ild ren
have l e s s markers than a d u lts , they a re fre e to
have more a s s o c ia tio n s fo r a stim ulus word.
In 1969 Underwood th e o riz e d th a t inform ation
o r events are stored in memory and re trie v e d by
means o f v ario u s a t t r i b u t e s . These a t t r i b u t e s re p re se n t
d if fe re n t ty p es o f encoded inform ation th a t d isc rim in a te
memories from each o th e r and a c t a s r e tr ie v a l meohanisms
fo r p a r tic u la r memories.
As c h ild re n grow o ld e r , Underwood claim ed, the
dominant a t t r i b u t e they use in e s ta b lis h in g verbal
memory changes from th e a c o u s tic , which he defined
a s a w ord's "sound p a tte rn in g when pronounced," to
th e a s s o c ia tiv e ("one o r more words which may be
e l i c i t e d by i t " ) .
I n 1970, Bach and he conducted th e f i r s t
developmental study te s tin g t h i s claim by comparing
re te n tio n through an a c o u stic a l a t t r i b u t e to re te n tio n
20
through an a s s o c la tio n a l a ttrib u te * They rep o rted
th a t th e a c o u stic a t t r i b u t e i s more dominant fo r
second g rad ers than fo r s ix th graders* whose re te n tio n
was more in flu en c ed by th e a s s o c ia tiv e a t t r i b u t e .
Because Bach and Underwood's study i s in more
than one way a p ro to ty p e f o r th e p rese n t one* i t
w ill be described in d e t a i l . A l i s t o f 40 words
was presen ted to four groups (two each o f second
g rad ers and s ix th g rad ers) o f 27 su b je c ts each.
During word learning* each word was presented fo r
fiv e seconds on a sin g le t r i a l . Both th e experim enter
and th e su b je ct pronounced each word as i t was
p rese n ted . On th e re c o g n itio n tasks* th e su b ject
was asked to s e le c t th e c o rre c t o r ig in a l words from
four choices. For example* fo r th e o rig in a l word
"cat*" th e follow ing four a lte r n a tiv e s were o ffe re d :
" c a t," "dog*" "put*" and " s a t." Underwood intended
"dog" to correspond to th e a s s o c ia tiv e a ttrib u te *
"put" to be n e u tra l and "sa t" to correspond to th e
ac o u stic a t t r i b u t e .
Saoh grade (second and s ix th ) had a few-second
and a 48-hour re te n tio n in te r v a l a f t e r le a rn in g
!
th e words. Underwood noted th a t the s ix th g raders
had a s t a t i s t i c a l l y s ig n if ic a n tly sm aller r i s e in
a c o u stic e rr o rs over 48 hours than did th e second
g ra d e rs. This suggests th a t a s s o c ia tio n rep la o es
21
a c o u stic re te n tio n -with m a tu rity .
A l a t e r experiment (Freund and Johnson* 1972)
c r i t i c i z e d Bach and Underwood's methodology* questioning
whether th e a c o u stic a t t r i b u t e dominated among th e
second g rad ers because th e words they chose combined
o rth o g rap h ic w ith ac o u stic a t t r i b u t e s . Underwood's
choice o f "put" as a n e u tra l word fo r "cat" was
said to q u estio n h is awareness o f orthographic
c o n sid e ra tio n s.
Freund and Johnson added orth o g rap h ic d is tr a o to r s
to t h e i r t e s t l i s t s and found th a t f ir s t- g r a d e ch ild re n
made th e most e rro rs i n t h i s f i f t h category. T hird-
grade su b je c ts made equal numbers o f orthographic
and a c o u stic e r r o rs . Freund and Johnson's o v e ra ll
r e s u l t s supported Bach and Underwood's contention
th a t the a c o u stic a t t r i b u t e g ives way to th e a s s o c ia tiv e
a t t r i b u t e w ith age.
A sso clatio n al v s. A coustical A ttrib u te s
in th e F a c ilita tio n o f Retention
S u b sta n tia tio n th a t a s s o c la tio n a l r a th e r than
aco u stio a t t r i b u t e s o f m a te ria ls to be le arn ed aid
long-term r e te n tio n grew out o f a preceding body
o f l i t e r a t u r e examining sh o rt-term memory (STM) and
long-term memory (LTM) •
One hurdle th a t has never been su c cessfu lly
leaped i n t h i s l i t e r a t u r e i s a pio n eer study showing
th a t p aired a s s o c ia te s p resen ted onoe before le a rn in g
a re le arn ed a s ra p id ly a s th o se repeated u n t i l le arn ed
(Hook, 1957). Hook's conclusions, th a t mnemonic
devices a re constru cted a t one t r i a l o r n o t a t a l l ,
imply th a t th e a c t o f a s s o c ia tin g i s a device o f
short-term memory. I t suggests a t th e l e a s t a tr a n s f e r
system between STM and I*TM , and p re s e n ts a challenge
to th e e n tir e body o f educational and psychological
l i t e r a t u r e th a t assumes th e i r se p arate e x iste n c e .
A follow-up team re p o rte d :
These r e s u l t s stand in d ir e c t
o p p o sitio n to th e modern a s well
a s to th e tr a d it io n a l th e o rie s
o f le a rn in g . From A r is to tle
through th e A s s o c ia tlo n is ts ...
r e p e t i t i o n ...h a s been regarded
aB th e p rin c ip a l b a s is o f le a rn in g .
W e d u p licated Rock's r e s u l t s
but a re s t i l l u n w illin g to acoept
th e conclusions. (Clark e t a l . ,
I960, p40)
d a r k et a l . proposed no a l te r n a ti v e s , only fu rth e r
study.
While Rook has never been disproved, subsequent
stu d ie s have e ith e r a s sim ila te d h is conclusion o r
rep o rted fin d in g s in c o n f lic t w ith i t . Some have
tr e a te d STM and LTM a s a sin g le continuum b e st stu d ied
w ithin th e th e o r e tic a l framework o f in te rf e re n c e
th eo ry (Keppel and Underwood, 1962; Melton, 1963;
Postman, 1964). Murdock (1963) discussed th e probable
23
in te r a c tio n o f th e two. Myers and Hammill cautioned
th a t memory i s a p o stu la te d p ro c e ss, d iv is io n o f which
i s th e o r e tic a l, a r b itr a r y and im p recisely defined.
"Most a c t i v i t i e s , " they w rote, "are s u f f ic ie n tly
oomplex to in clu d e both lo n g - and short-term memory
elements" (Myers and Hammill, 1969, p23).
But th e body o f d e riv a tiv e work in th e f ie ld
simply ig n o res Book w h lli accum ulating data th a t
c l a r i f y s p e o lfic d iffe re n c e s between STM and LTM.
The follow ing paragraph l i s t s th e se works and th e
follow ing two subseotlons summarize them.
A prim ary d iffe re n c e i s th a t whereas STM u t i l i z e s
a o o u stlc fa c to rs (Obnrad, 1964; Oonrad and H ull,
1964; W ickelgren, 1965? HLntzman, 1965; Murray, 1967;
Norman, 1969; K intsch and Buschke, 1969), LTM does
not (Underwood and Goad, 1951; Baddeley, 1966; Baddaley
and B ale, 1966). B ather, LTM r e l i e s on a s s o c la tio n a l
connections (MoGeoch and McDonald, 1931; B o u sfield ,
1953, 1955, 1958; Biohardson and Voss, I960; geppel
and Underwood, 1962; Gardner, 1961; M elton, 1963;
Wickens e t a ^ . , 1963; Triesman, 1964; postman, 1964;
Baddeley and B ale, 1966; Eagle and O rto f, 1967;
Adams, 1967; N elser, 1967; Wickens et a l . , 1968a;
and Wickens et a ^ ., 1968b). F in a lly , rece n t com parative
t e s t s have confirmed th e s u p e rio r ity o f a s s o c la tio n a l
to a c o u stic memory techniques over tim e (Biohardson,
24
1958; Bourne et a],,., 1964; Eagle and O rto f, 1967;
Underwood, 1968; Drew and prefam, 1970; Bach and
Underwood, 1970)*
S hort-term memory stu d ie s
In feren o ea as to th e r e l a t i v e e ffe c tiv e n e ss
o f a c o u stic and a s s o c ia tiv e a t t r i b u t e s fo r re te n tio n
can be drawn from a p le th o ra o f stu d ie s o f short-term
memory, many o f them stemming from a landmark "white
n o ise" experiment by Oonrad In 1964* Conrad's su b je c ts
memorized homophones which were p resen ted v is u a lly
to sonic accompaniment o f w hite noise* He found
th a t su b je o ts tended to subvocallze th e homophones
during p re s e n ta tio n , and th a t t h e i r m istakes In sh o rt
term r e c a l l , which he termed "a co u stical co n fu sio n s,"
were based on sound. A follow -up study yielded th e
o o rre la ry conclusion th a t th e Inform ation contained
In Item s to be remembered had no e ff e c t on memory
span (Conrad and H ill, 1964)* i n o th e r words, Oonrad
said th a t STM does n o t use a s s o c ia tiv e s tr a te g ie s ;
r a th e r , I t r e l i e s on sensory s tr a te g ie s , u t i l i z i n g
a coding process a sso c ia te d w ith th e au d ito ry m odality.
Confirm ation oame from N lckelgren (1965), who
showed th a t l e t t e r s tend to be confused w ith one
another I f th e re i s a sim ila r phoneme in th e i r names.
For example, th e l e t t e r s F, L and M a l l begin w ith
25
th e same phoneme ( / e / ). tn 'g lo k alg ren 's study,
th e se l e t t e r s tended to be more confused w ith one
another In r e c a ll than l e t t e r s o f d is s im ila r phonemes*
Taking Oonrad as a d ep artu re p o in t, more recent
stu d ie s have elab o rated upon h is findings* Klntsch
and Buschke (1969) re p o rt th a t even v is u a lly presented
stim uli a re sto red a c o u s tic a lly In prim ary memory*
U nrelated words may be re c a lle d b e tte r than homophones
because when homophones a re encoded in a u d ito ry memory,
they may be confused w ith o th e r sim ila r sounding
stored u n its* The authors s ta te th a t "primary memory
appears to be a temporary a c o u stic sto re w ith lim ite d
c a p a c ity ."
Norman (1969) c a r r ie s th e a n a ly sis fu rth er*
He w rite s :
Oonrad's experim ents imply th a t during
th e process o f decoding th e incoming
item , we sto re I t tem p o rarily in
a u d ito ry form. Early In th e process
we must have some image o f th e a c tu a l
p h y sical word, be i t i n i t i a l l y v isu a l
o r a u d ito ry . L a te r in th e primary
memory i t g e ts tra n s fe r re d to an
a u d ito ry form, th en s t i l l l a t e r , in
secondary memory, th e meaning g e ts
estab lish ed * * . (pl28)
Murray (1967)* basing h is work on Conrad's
o b se rv a tio n s th a t h is su b je c ts subvocalized, found
th a t mouthing words as they a re read makes th e words
e a s ie r to r e c a ll imm ediately afterw ard than does
s ile n t read in g . Another study, which found th a t
26
s u b je c ts tend to c lu s te r e rr o rs in to a r tlc u la tio n a i
s i m i l a r i t i e s , p o s tu la te s th a t STM coding s tra te g y
i s probably subvocal o r a u ra l re h e a rsa l (Hintzman,
1965).
With th e exception o f Norman, a l l o f th ese
in v e s tig a to r s drew t h e i r conclusions before two
s tu d ie s appeared which sh a tte re d th e assumption
o f a u d ito ry e x c lu siv ity in STM (Wlokens and Simpson,
1968; Wlckens and E ck ler, 1968). They found th a t
STM may complement a c o u stic f a c to rs w ith semantic
f a c to r s . In one t e s t , su b je c ts were p resen ted semantic
and num erical trig ram s ('‘a t e ," "to o ," "won" and
8, 2, 1) and in th e o th e r they le arn ed consonants
and t h e i r homophones ("pea," "kay," "bee" and p ,
K, B ). They remembered words b e t te r than numbers
a t p > ,01 and b e tte r than l e t t e r s a t p > .0 2 5 «
While i t seems l e s s than firm ly e sta b lish e d
th a t STM o p e ra te s ex c lu siv e ly a o o u s tic a lly , th e
Importance o f th e a u d ito ry m odality in STM i s ev id en t.
This suggests th e p o s s i b ilit y th a t a c o u stic s tr a te g ie s
may be r e la tiv e l y i n e f f i c i e n t fo r LTM. Complementing
th e STM work I s a slim but d e f in itiv e body o f researo h
showing th a t LTM does not employ a c o u stic coding
(Anderson, 1965; Baddeley, 1966; Baddeley and Dale,
1966).
Baddeley and Dale gave in te rfe r e n c e t e s t s and
26
su b je c ts tend to d u s t e r e r r o rs in to a r tlc u la tlo n a l
s i m i l a r i t i e s , p o s tu la te s th a t STM coding stra te g y
i s probably subvocal o r a u ra l re h e a rsa l (Hintzman,
1965).
With th e exception o f Norman, a l l o f th ese
in v e s tig a to r s drew t h e i r conclusions before two
stu d ie s appeared which sh a tte re d th e assumption
o f a u d ito ry e x c lu s iv ity in 3TM (Wlckens and 3impson,
1968; Wlckens and E ck ler, 1968). They found th a t
STM may complement a c o u stic f a c to rs w ith semantic
fa c to rs . In one t e s t , su b je c ts were presen ted semantic
and num erical trig ram s ( " a t e , ” ”t o o , ” "won” and
8, 2, 1) and in th e o th e r they le arn ed consonants
and t h e i r homophones (" p e a ,” "kay," "bee” and p ,
K, 6 ) . They remembered words b e tte r than numbers
a t p > .01 and b e tte r than l e t t e r s a t p > .0 2 5 .
While i t seems l e s s than firm ly e sta b lish e d
th a t STM o p e ra te s ex c lu siv e ly a c o u s tic a lly , th e
Importance o f th e a u d ito ry m odality in STM i s ev id en t.
This suggests th e p o s s i b i l i t y th a t a c o u stic s tr a te g ie s
may be r e l a t i v e l y i n e f f i c i e n t fo r LTM. Complementing
th e STM work i s a slim but d e f in itiv e body o f researo h
showing th a t LTM does not employ a c o u stic coding
(Anderson, 1965; Baddeley, 1966; Baddeley and Dale,
1966).
Baddeley and Dale gave In te rfe re n c e t e s t s and
27
found th a t when in te rp o la te d words were sim ila r in
meaning to th e f i r s t words to he le a rn e d , su b je c ts
forgot more over tim e than when th e words were d if f e r e n t.
Short-term memory, on th e o th e r hand, worked equally
well w ith both word l i s t s . They concluded, "For
verbal membry, STM appears to r e ly on a c o u stic ooding,
while LTM appears to code words i n term s o f th e ir
meanings. "
Baddeley and Dale acknowledged precedence fo r
t h e i r fin d in g s to Underwood (1951) and Underwood and
Goad (1951), but w hile a covert im p lic a tio n may be
drawn from those t e s t s th a t SUM does not employ a c o u stic
coding, t h e i r only a c tu a l fin d in g s th a t apply here
a re th a t h ig h -s im ila rity l i s t s tak e more t r i a l s to
le a rn and are re ta in e d l e s s than l i s t s where no such
a s s o c ia tiv e in te rfe r e n c e can occu r. The same
im p lic a tio n s may be a s e a s ily drawn from Deese (1959)
and l a t e r from A nisfeld and Knapp (1968) and probably
from numerous o th e r works.
Baddeley also cedes precedence to Anderson (1965),
who found th a t a c o u s tic a lly sim ila r l e t t e r sequences,
w hile le arn ed l e s s e a s ily , a re re ta in e d b e t te r than
a co n tro l sequence in LTM but not i n STM.
Whereas t e s t s up to t h i s p o in t sought to reproduce
LTM e f f e c ts in STM, B addeley's follow-up t e s t (1966)
28
was th e f i r s t to measure STM devices In LTM. His
su b je c ts le arn ed a l i s t o f a c o u s tic a lly sim ila r words
more slowly than sem antically sim ila r o r control
H a t s but a f t e r 20 m inutes they remembered th e f i r s t
l i s t b e s t. "Unlike STM," Baddeley a s s e r te d , "LTM
proved to be im paired by semantic s im ila rity but
not by a c o u stic s im ila r ity ."
These stu d ie s e s ta b lis h d e f in itiv e d iffe re n c e s
in th e re s p e c tiv e o p e ra tio n s o f STM and LTM; as
Baddeley concluded, "STM and LTM employ d if f e re n t
coding system s."
The two s tu d ie s by Baddeley draw a c o rre la ry
conclusion th a t sh o rt-term memory does not employ
semantic coding, p rev io u sly c ite d in v e s tig a tio n s
have suggested an acoustic-sem antic-conceptual
a s s o c la tio n a l h ierarch y w ith m a tu rity (Brown and
Berko, I9 6 0 ; I r v in , 1961; Palermo and Johnson, 1963;
S n tw ls tle , 1966). The In fe re n c e may be drawn th a t
sh o rt-term memory appears to be p rim a rily a c o u stic
in i t s o p e ra tio n , whereas long-term memory i s p rim a rily
a s s o c ia tiv e .
LTM i s a s s o c ia tiv e
While work im plying th a t long-term memory i s
a s s o c ia tiv e can be tra c e d a l l th e way back to Jung,
not u n t i l re c e n tly has th e assumption been te s te d
29
(Richardson, 1958; Brown et a l . , 1964; Samuels, 1968,
1969* Underwood, 1968; Drew and Prehm, 1970). Some
o f th e e a r l ie r work i s illu m in a tin g in th a t i t suggests
some o f th e mechanisms o f LTM and c e rta in behavioral
c o r r e la te s o f LTM dysfunction.
In S tudies i n Word A ssociation (1918), Jung
found th a t d istu rb an ces in a tte n tio n caused by
d is tr a c tio n s o r fa tig u e caused people to make
a s s o c la tio n a l responses th a t sounded l i k e th e stim ulus
words ("clang" r e a c tio n s ) . Not u n til th e l a t e 1 9 5 0 's
did anyone e s ta b lis h fu rth e r documentation o f th e
im portance o f a tte n tio n in re te n tio n (Kohler and
Adams, 1958; Gardner et a l . , 1959). Gardner (1961)
followed up h is f i r s t t e s t by fin d in g th a t counting
backwards w hile looking a t designs In h ib ite d r e c a l l .
L a te r su b s ta n tia tio n came from Trlesman (1964), who
concluded th a t in a tte n tio n causes h a ltin g o f stim ulus
a n a ly s is a t a r e la tiv e l y ea rly p o in t; e .g ., p rio r
to deciphering i t s meaning. This assumes a hierarchy
i n depth o f grasp where sound a s s o c ia tio n s are le s s
adhesive than cereb ral connections.
S im ila rly , a host o f in te rfe r e n c e stu d ie s (McGeoch
and McDonald, 1931; M elton, 1963; Keppel and Underwood,
1962; Postman, 1964; Wlckens et a l . , 1963, 1968;
Baddeley and Dale, 1966; Adams, 1967; N eisser, 1967)
a l so suggest th a t a c o u stic a t t r i b u t e s are l e s s deeply
30
le arn ed than a s s o d a ti v e s . But a more rece n t te e t
q u estio n s t h i s premise (W allace, 1968). Wallace
found th a t perform ing a ta sk between le a rn in g two
l i s t s made I t harder to le a rn words w ith formal (aco u stic
and o rth o g rap h ic) s im i l a r i t i e s but not words w ith
high l n t e r - a s s o d a t i v e responses (IAH's).
The concrete fin d in g o f th e In te rfe re n c e work
(excluding W allace's) I s th a t ac o u stic a t tr i b u te s
cause l e s s In te rfe re n c e than a s s o c ia tiv e ones.
The paradoxical Im p licatio n th a t th e more a s s o d a tlo n a lly
re la te d th e m a te ria l, th e l e s s I t I s le a rn e d , I s
e a s ily dism issed—to begin w ith , most o f th e stu d ie s
Involve short-term memory—but th e evidence they
o f fe r regarding an a c o u s tic -a s s o c ia tiv e hierarchy
can a t b est be la b ele d I n d ir e c t.
The a s so c ia tio n s them selves are h ierarch ized
from synonyms through antonyms, u n re la te d a d je c tiv e s ,
nonsense s y lla b le s and f i n a l l y numbers (McGeoch
and McDonald, 1931). Recent confirm ation o f Ju n g 's
fin d in g s supports th e assumption o f hierarchy (Eagle
and O rto f, 1967). Ragle and O rtof noted th a t reduced
a tte n tio n tends to block a n a ly s is o f Incoming s tim u li,
fo rc in g th e memory to code more o f I t on th e b a s is
o f sound than on meaningful a s s o c ia tio n s . None
o f th e se s tu d ie s , however, t e s t s th e ac tu al assumption.
The l i t e r a t u r e confirm ing use o f contextual
31
( i . e . , grammatical and s y n ta c tic a l) a s so c la tio n a l
s tr a te g ie s le n d s fu rth e r support to th e LTM-is-
as so d a t i v e h y p o th esis. While an ea rly In v e s tig a tio n ,
showing th a t contextual dependendes extending over
fiv e o r six words p erm its p o s itiv e t r a n s f e r , concludes
th a t th e se are more Im portant than word meanings
In th e understanding pro cess (M iller and S e lfrid g e ,
1950), a follow-up study by Richardson and Voss In
I960, In which nonsense words were re c a lle d from l i s t s
more o fte n p ro p o rtio n al to t h e i r s t a t i s t i c a l approximation
to E nglish suggests th e o p p o site . The syntax stu d ie s
discussed e a r l i e r (Brown and Berko, I960; Erwin,
1961; Palermo and Jenkins, 1963; S n tw lstle , 1966)
a l l weigh ag a in st M iller and Sel frid g e .
A f in a l supportive but in co n clu siv e Inference
oan be drawn from th e well-documented observation
th a t most c h ild re n spontaneously a s s o d a t e or " c lu s te r"
as a le a rn in g s tra te g y . A fter su b je c ts were given
11 s t 8 o f randomly arranged ite m s, during r e c a ll
they tended to c lu s te r th e item s In to ca te g o rie s
(B ousfield, 1953, 1955, 1958).
B o u s fie ld 's t e s t m a te ria ls co n sisted o f four
conceptually r e la te d word l i s t s (anim als, v eg e tab les,
names, p ro fe s s io n s ). These l i s t s were l a t e r used
to show th a t normal ch ild ren c lu s te r b e tte r than
do re ta rd e d ones (R ossi, 1963). Normals also c lu s te r
32
sem antically re la te d word p a ir s s ig n ific a n tly more
o fte n than do th e reta rd e d (stedman, 1957).
A ssociation and R etention
Richardson (1958), Bourne e t a l . (1964), Samuels
(1968, 1969)» Drew and prehm (1970), Underwood (1968)
and Bach and Underwood (1970) have d ir e c tly su b sta n tia te d
th a t people r e ta in m a te ria l b e tte r p ro p o rtio n al to
i t s degree o f a sso cl a b i l i t y . Richardson found th a t
c la s s r e la tio n s h ip s among stim ulus words f a c i l i t a t e d
PA le a rn in g (1958). Bourne g t aO,. (1964) found
s u b je c ts le arn ed l i s t s o f conceptually r e la te d words
more e a s ily than random words o r words o f th e same
p a r t o f speech. Samuels (1968), using normal and
f i f t h and s ix th g ra d e rs, found th a t su b je c ts re c a lle d
a paragraph w ith stro n g er a s s o c ia tiv e r e la tio n s h ip s
between words b e tte r than a paragraph w ith weaker
word a s s o c ia tio n s . Drew and prehm (1970) found
th a t a s so c la tio n a l m a terial was re ta in e d s ig n ific a n tly
b e tte r a f t e r 15 days than n o n -asso c iatio n al m a te ria l.
Underwood*8 t e s t s are p ro to ty p es fo r th e methodology
ap p lied in th e p rese n t study. In 1968 he devised
a reco g n itio n t e s t fo r re te n tio n composed o f p rev io u sly
given words* words w ith clo se a s s o c ia tio n s to those
words* words w ith formal s i m i l a r i t i e s (rhymes) and
n e u tra l words* u n re la te d in e ith e r meaning o r sound.
33
Though th e o b je c tiv e o f h is t e s t was to show th a t
a c o u stic a l p ro p e rtie s o f words were a n e g lig ib le
fa c to r I n r e c a ll le a rn in g , he also found th a t th e
a s s o c la tio n a l property I s among th e more dominant
long-term memory fa c to rs .
Surveying th e d ata a v a ila b le In th e follow ing
year (1969), Underwood concluded:
Roughly, th e g re a te r th e m eaningfulness
o f th e m a terial being stored as
memory, th e g re a te r th e domlnanoe
o f th e verbal a s s o c ia tiv e a t t r i b u t e ;
hence, the l e s s prominent th e r o le
o f th e aco u stlo a t t r i b u t e . (p567)
He stre sse d th e work o f Conrad and W ickelgren, and
made p a r tic u la r referen ce to Baddeley and D ale 's
1966 fin d in g th a t those a t t r i b u t e s most u se fu l fo r
d isc rim in a tio n purposes a t the tim e o f le a rn in g are
not n e c e s s a rily those most u se fu l to re te n tio n over
tim e.
The purpose o f Underwood's 1968 t e s t , as p rev io u sly
s ta te d , was to discount th e r o le o f ac o u stic connections
in long-term r e c a l l . The 1970 Bach and Underwood
study, fo r which the p ro to ty p e experiment fo r th e
p rese n t study was devised, has been discussed e a r l ie r
in th e treatm en t o f a s s o c ia tio n s In c re a sin g w ith
age. Using the four word l i s t s developed fo r th e
1968 t e s t , I t sought to d ir e c tly t e s t whether a s so c ia tin g
aided re te n tio n . Bach and Underwood found th a t
34
both second and s ix th g rad ers remembered more
a s s o c ia tio n a lly - re la te d than a c o u s tic a lly sim ila r
words over 48 hours* This In d ic a te s th a t words
le a rn e d a c o u s tic a lly a re fo rg o tte n more ra p id ly than
words le a rn e d a sso o ia tio n a lly *
Learning D is a b ility and Verbal As so ol at ion
The meohanlsms employed in forming v e rb a l,
semantic and a c o u stic a s s o c ia tio n s are o f obvious
relev an ce to t h i s study. These a re highly th e o re tic a l
a re a s , however, and a thorough treatm en t o f them
would re q u ire summarizing th e e n tir e ouvre in such
m assively explored a re a s as p erc e p tio n , co g n itio n ,
a tte n tio n and memory* Since th e l i t e r a t u r e on each
would overwhelm a sin g le r e p o r t, t h i s se c tio n w ill
confine i t s e l f to two more s p e c ific q u e stio n s:
1* What a re th e re s p e c tiv e mental p rocesses
underlying "normal" c h ild re n 's co n stru ctio n
o f r e te n tiv e a s s o c ia tio n s when presented
new m a terial to be le a rn e d , and th e r e la tiv e ly
s u p e rfic ia l a c o u stic a l markers o f le arn in g *
d isa b led ch ild ren ?
2. i t what stage i n th e le a rn in g process do
le a rn in g -d isa b le d ch ild re n f a l l behind
th e normal p a tte r n o f achievement?
In adherence to th e se lim ita tio n s , only th a t
35
work which focuses s p e c if ic a lly on le a rn in g -d isa b le d
c h ild re n o r ch ild re n In s im ila rly defined c a te g o rie s
w ill be examined.
The le a rn in g prooess
Jfo one knows fo r sure what the sequence o f
mechanisms I s th a t o ccu rs to produce le a rn in g . An
a r b itr a r y working model I s proposed here c o n s istin g
o f th e follow ing ste p s: p erc e p tio n , concept form ation
through m edlatlonal p ro c e sse s, memory sto rag e and
motor response. While support can be provided th a t
t h i s sequence re p re s e n ts an aoourate paradigm o f th e
le a rn in g prooess (H olers, 1970), no such claim I s
made. I t I s Introduced merely beoause I t encompasses
th e body o f rese arch here In v e stig a te d concerning
th e events oocurrlng behind th e cereb ral c u rta in
w hile le a rn in g tak es p la o e .
Focus w ill cen ter on the f i r s t two sta g e s, those
o f p ercep tio n and m ediation. The l i t e r a t u r e on
memory I s form idable and re le v a n t a re a s o f I t have
been adequately tre a te d In previous se c tio n s on sh o rt
term and long-term memory. I t I s e s s e n tia l to glance
a t th e motor response stu d ie s only fo r confirm ation
th a t le a rn in g d i f f i c u l t i e s encountered a t e a r l i e r
sta g e s are re fle o te d th e re .
36
P erception
Word p erce p tio n may be defined as "the reco g n itio n
o f the form o f words and th e a b i l i t y to d is tin g u is h
small d e t a il s o f shape" (Vernon, 1958). Marchbanlcs
and Levin (1965) suggest th a t th e small d e t a il s o f
shape a re more Im portant than th e word forms. They
found th a t s p e c ific l e t t e r s form th e b a s is fo r word
re c o g n itio n , w ith the f i r s t l e t t e r being the most
Im portant one.
Kolers (1970) proposes a h ierarch y In le a rn in g
to read , o f p erceiv in g f i r s t c h a ra c te rs (visual
o p e ra tio n s ), then syntax ( s e n s itiv ity to grammar)
and f in a lly d ir e c t p ercep tio n o f the meanings o f
words. While such a hierarchy agrees both w ith
p re v io u s ly -c ite d e a r l ie r I n v e s tig a to rs (Brown and
Berko, I960; E rvin, 1961; Palermo and Jenkins, 1964;
S n tw lstle , 1966) and w ith th e te n e ts o f th e p resen t
th e s is , th e use o f th e word "p e rcep tio n ," given
Vernon's d e f in itio n , seems sem antically Incom patible.
Does a read er ever " d ire c tly " p erceiv e such complex
u n its as words and sentence p a r ts o r are the m edlatlonal
p ro cesses Just speeded up to a p o in t where they are
unnoticed?
Bender (1949) was th e f i r s t to suggest th a t
p erceptual re ta rd a tio n might be a fa c to r In reading
d i s a b i l i t y . More cu rren t rese arch narrows th e scope
37
o f t h i s p ercep tu al re ta rd a tio n to d i f f i c u l t i e s in
v isual-m otor p ercep tio n (Koppitz, 1970). When B ender's
suggestion was f i r s t te s te d , a m ajo rity of reading-
d isab led su b je c ts proved to be 10 months or more
p e rc e p tu a lly reta rd e d (Ooleman, 1953). Their perceptual
growth lagged ap p reciab ly behind th e i r in te llig e n c e
development. While Ooleman's study Included su b jects
ranging up to 46 years in age, most were under 13*
He found th e re ta rd a tio n was cum ulative w ith age
throughout th e form ative years but did not carry
over in to adulthood.
In a study o f young ch ild ren e x c lu siv e ly , retarded
boys from grades 3 to 6 performed more poorly on two
p ercep tu al ta s k s in v o lv in g form reco g n itio n than
did average and advanced re a d e rs (W alters et a l . .
1961).
A fin d in g th a t young read in g -d isab led ch ild ren
may have in f e r i o r d ire c tio n a l sense has perceptual
im p lic a tio n s (Benton, 1962). Boor d ire c tio n a l sense
c re a te s such e a rly reading problems as d i f f i c u l t i e s
in l e f t - t o - r i g h t eye coordination and confusions
over sym m etrically r e v e rs ib le ch a ra cte r dyads such
as b-d and m-w.
Ooleman, noting th a t many o f th e disabled children
he studied had compelling ab so rp tio n s in o th e r areas
th a t involved using th e ir hands, p o sited th e existence
38
o f p ercep tu al ’‘types'*—th e v isu a l type and the
k ln a e s th e tic , o r " h a p tic ," type.
Ooleman'8 th e s is remained in th e realm of
sp ecu latio n fo r more than a decade, u n t i l a sim ila r
one, concerning th e p o s s i b i l i t y o f Id n a e s th e tlo fa c to rs
a t work i n STM coding s tra te g y , was proposed (Hlntzman,
1965). "What have been c a lle d 'a u r a l ' o r 'a u d ito ry '
co n fu sio n s," Hlntzman w rote, r e f e r r in g to Conrad's
work o f th e year b efo re, "are r e a lly klnaesthfctic
confusions, a r is in g from sim ila r m uscular feedback
p a tte rn s produced by subvocal r e h e a rs a l."
However, h is subsequent (1967) fin d in g th a t
both voicing and p lace o f a r tic u la t io n o f consonants
in nonsense s y lla b le s In creased confusion e rro rs ,
he concluded, was in c o n s is te n t w ith hypotheses e ith e r
o f m ediation by a u d ito ry images o r by k ln a e s th e tic
cues a r is in g from subvocal re h e a rs a l.
Other I n v e s tig a to r s fe e l th a t m aturatlonal
and k ln a e s th e tic foci Ignore the ro le th a t emotional
fa c to rs p la y s in p ercep tu al problems (J a rv is , 1958;
Lachman, I960; W alters e t al^., 1961). Psychoanalysis
a t t r i b u t e s p ercep tu al handicaps to a fe a r and avoidance
o f looking ( J a r v is , 1958). However, W alters et a^.
(1961) found th a t fan ta sy d ata from re ta rd e d boys
did not support th e hypothesis o f "fea r o f lo o k in g ."
The re se a rc h e rs p re fe rre d an explanation s tre s s in g
39
p a re n ta l suppression o f exploratory behavior over
c la s s ic a l psychoanalytic th e o ry . A l a t e r non-perceptual
study In which re ta rd e d re a d e rs a c tu a lly le arn ed
f a s t e r than normals under a reward system supported
t h i s l a t t e r th e s is (W alters and Kosowski, 1963)*
Mediation and Concept Formation
During th e f i r s t p a r t o f th e century, le a rn in g
was commonly expressed by th e formula S-R (stim ulus-
response) popularized by Watson and Skinner. But the
h ie ra rc h ie s o f le a rn in g re fe rre d to e a r l ie r (Eagle
and O rto f, 1967; K olers, 1970) suggest th a t people
spontaneously use some form o f verbal m ediation
during th e process o f encoding stim uli fo r l a t e r
r e c a l l . The m e d ia tlo n lsts p ro ffe r a formula of
S -r-s-R (where th e small l e t t e r s may re p re se n t any
number o f fu rth e r dim inishing I n t e r i o r p ro cesses)
f i r s t proposed by Hull In 1970 to re p re se n t th e
"micro gene s i s ” o r s e rie s o f events presumed to occur
in th e human b ra in during a conceptual or p erceptual
a c t.
The r e s u lt o f th e m edlational process i s to
encode th e stim u li in s id e concepts by which they
may be more e a s ily stored and r e c a lle d . Bruner
et a l . (1956) d efin e conoept form ation a s :
The a b i l i t y fo r one to go beyond a
se t o f observed p ro p e rtie s o f an
40
o b je c t, to th e c la s s I d e n tity o f
th e o b je c t and presumably to
a d d itio n a l In fe re n c e s about o th er
unobserved p r o p e r tie s o f th e
o b je c t, (p244)
Like most coneept-form ation d e f in itio n s , i t
Im p lies th a t a s s o c la tio n a l techniques a re used.
The hypothesis th a t le a rn in g -d is a b le d ch ild ren are
slower o r weaker a t a s s o c ia tin g w ill be in d ir e c tly
supported i f th e l i t e r a t u r e on r e ta rd a te s shows
th a t they a re slower or weaker a t forming ooncepts.
A siz a b le body o f l i t e r a t u r e e x is ts on concept
form ation. A pioneer study by S trau ss and Werner
(1942) showed th a t low-IQ b ra in -in ju re d ch ild ren
did worse on p ic tu re so rtin g than low-IQ no n -b rain -
in ju re d c h ild re n . Subsequent stu d ie s produced
d ia m e tric a lly c o n flic tin g r e s u l t s . Support came
from S trau ss and Kephart (1955), Ernhart et t&.
(1963) and Si gel (1964). Weatherwax and B enoit,
on th e o th e r hand, found no d iffe re n c e s in ooncept
form ation between re ta rd e d norm als and b ra in -in ju re d
ch ild re n (1957). N eith er did G allagher (1957),
K eller (1962) o r Cruse (1962). Quay, surveying th e
l i t e r a t u r e i n 1963, concluded th a t b rain in ju r y could
not be considered a f a c to r in language conoept form ation.
The concept-form ation l i t e r a t u r e w ith reta rd e d
ch ild re n i s equally equivocal. Several in v e s tig a to r s
have found no d iffe re n c e s between retard ed and normal
c h ild re n o f equal mental age in nonverbal concept
form ation (Bensberg, 1953; M artin and Blum, 1961;
Mllgram and F u rth , 1963). Several subsequent comparisons
o f verbal m ediation p ro c e sse s, however, have found
re ta rd e d c h ild re n I n f e r io r to norm als (O'Conner and
Hermelin, 1959; Pevzner, 1959; L u rla , I960; R ieber,
1964). Both Pevzner and L u ria noted th a t i n a b i l i t y
to u t i l i z e verbal m ediation re s u lte d in poorer discrim
in a tio n le a rn in g fo r re ta rd e d c h ild re n . Rieber
found re ta rd e d su b je c ts l e s s ab le to use p re tra in in g
in a m ediational fash io n . These stu d ie s not only
argue th e v a lid ity o f m ediational theory but support
th e assumption th a t th e re ta rd e d a re r e la tiv e l y
d e fic ie n t i n IA R 's.
The discovery th a t s u b je c ts do not make use o f
mnemonic devices made a v a ila b le to aid r e c a ll r a is e s
th e q u estio n o f whether m ediational theory i s a
v a lid approach to studying le a rn in g (Beese, 1959).
This d isco v ery , combined w ith th e high c o rre la tio n
Beese found between in te r - ite m a s s o c ia tiv e stre n g th
and words re c a lle d per l i s t (.3 3 ), supports the
unorthodox contention o f Rook (1957). Beese r a is e s
th e p o s s i b i l i t y th a t fre e a s s o c ia tio n in r e c a ll
in v o lv e s no verbal m ediation.
Memory
42
The survey o f short-term and long-term memory
im p lies th a t th e d i f f i c u l t i e s experienced by le a rn in g -
d isab led ch ild ren occur before m a te ria l i s stored
in th e memory; th a t i s , th e inform ation never reaches
beyond sh o rt-term memory. One view i s th a t th e
problem i s p o ssib ly a f a ilu r e to r e c a l l inform ation
which i s a c tu a lly in sto rag e (N eisser, 1966). N eisser
w rite s : "The executive p ro cesses o f r e c a ll may be
d ire c te d elsew here, e ith e r d e lib e r a te ly o r because
o f a misguided s tra te g y o f search ." Of sid e i n t e r e s t
i s N eisser*s analogy between memory f a ilu r e and
e rro rs in a c o u stic r e c a l l : memory f a ilu r e s a re
" lik e f a i l u r e s to n o tic e something in th e v isu a l
f ie ld o r f a ilu r e s to hear something th a t has been
sa id ."
Drew and Prehm, comparing r e s u l t s between retard ed
and non-retarded c h ild re n , found th a t non-retarded
ch ild re n remembered ap p reciab ly more a f t e r 15 days
than did th e re ta rd e d s (1970).
Several stu d ie s suggest th a t verbal a s so c ia te
a t t r i b u t e In te rfe re n c e causes In a c c u ra te memory
i n r e c a ll t e s t s (Wickens e t a l . , 1963; W allace,
1967; A nisfeld and Khapp, 1968; Loess, 1968).
The f i r s t re p o rt s ta te d only th a t p ro a c tiv e
In te rfe re n c e I s a funotlon o f c la s s membership o r
s im ila r ity o f item s (Wickens e t a l . , 1963). Wallace
43
(1967) found th a t normal subjects* w hile making l e s s
o v e ra ll e r r o rs than re ta rd e d su b je c ts on o r a lly
presen ted l i s t s as expected, committed more a s s o c ia tiv e
e rro rs than reta rd e d ones* He concluded th a t retard ed
ch ild re n make fewer and weaker IAR's when presented
w ith verbal u n its*
A nlsfeld and Knapp (1968), using a methodology
o f o r a lly presen ted l i s t s sim ila r to W allace's,
noted more In c o rre c t r e c a ll o f a s s o c ia te s and synonyms
o f preceding words than control words* Loess (1968)
found th a t tra n s p o s itio n e rro rs in word t r i a d s occurred
more o fte n in stu d ie s u sin g taxonom ically homogeneous
ite m s, and th a t indeed the m a jo rity o f o v ert In tru s io n s
were a ttr i b u ta b l e to p r io r item s o f th e same category*
In c o n tra s t to th e fin d in g s o f previous research es
(Including h is own), Wallace (1968) discovered th a t
perform ing an o rie n tin g ta sk did n o t cause e rro r
r a te s to r i s e for experim ental words presumed to
have been e l ic i te d e a r l i e r as IA R 's, though i t did
c re a te in te rf e re n c e fo r words w ith formal s im ila ritie s *
This exception notw ith stan d in g , th e bulk o f
memory re se a rc h shows th a t le a rn in g -d isa b le d ch ild ren
are l e s s ab le to form a s s o c ia tlo n a l memories than
normals*
44
Motor Response
I f le a rn in g d i f f i c u l t i e s have alread y appeared
a t e a r l i e r stag es in th e p ro c e ss, in v e s tig a tio n s
foousing on motor response can provide no more than
confirm ation th a t th e d i f f i c u l t i e s e x is t. As yet
th e l i t e r a t u r e i s n e ith e r s u f f ic ie n tly thorough
nor s e n s itiv e enough to show whether in c re ase d
d i f f i c u l t i e s are encountered a t the response le v e l.
Pevzner (1959) and L u ria (i960) no;te th a t re ta rd e d
c h ild re n e x h ib it a d is s o c ia tio n o f speech and motor
r e a c tio n s . They le a rn simple verbal stim uli a t th e
same r a te as normals, but tend to emit th e se verbal
responses Independently o f motor responses. Lachman
(I960), adm inistering th e Bender g e s ta lt t e s t to
read in g -reta rd e d (lea rn in g -d isa b le d ) and normal
c h ild re n , found the reading reta rd e d ch ild re n made
s ig n if ic a n tly more d is to r tio n s in angle c o n stru c tio n ,
r o ta tio n o f f ig u re s , p rim itiv a tio n o f f ig u re s , sep aratio n
o f adjacent p a r ts of fig u re s and ir r e g u la r s la n ts
than did norm als. The d iffe re n c e between read in g -
disab led and em otionally d istu rb e d ch ild re n i n th ese
re s p e c ts was s lig h tly l e s s than s ig n ific a n t.
A p au city o f re le v a n t research e x is ts on th e
to p ic o f a c o u stic v ersus a s so c la tio n a l fa c to rs in
th e r e te n tio n o f words o f c h ild re n w ith le a rn in g
d i s a b i l i t i e s . In fe re n ces can be drawn from in d ir e c tly
45
r e la te d works.
F em ald (1943) c i t e s a case study o f a n in e -
y ear-o ld underachieving boy who had no d if f i c u lt y
recognizing words th a t he had le arn ed th re e months
e a r l i e r by a s so c ia tin g them w ith o th e r words. However,
he had s ig n ific a n t d i f f i c u l t y In th e re te n tlo n o o f
two words th a t were a c o u s tic a lly s im ila r. No r e l i a b i l i t y
can be rep o rted w ith a sin g le oase h is to ry , and
th e conclusions must be considered In th a t l i g h t .
I n a study o f 2900 elem entary school c h ild re n , Otto
(1961) re p o rts th a t th e slow re a d e rs o f th a t sample
req u ired s ig n if ic a n tly more t r i a l s to le a rn p aire d
a s s o c ia te s than good re a d e rs (the I n te llig e n c e v a ria b le
was co n tro lle d fo r a l l su b je o ts, w ith IQ 's between
f a s t and slow re a d e rs not s t a t i s t i c a l l y s ig n ific a n t
I n t h e i r d if fe re n c e s ). Poor re a d e rs gave more
a s s o c ia tio n s to In d iv id u al stim uli o f a pal re d -a s s o c ia te
l i s t than did good re a d e rs . I t I s o f I n te r e s t to
note t h a t , in another study, k in d erg arten p u p ils
also gave more responses to a stim ulus word (see
S n tw istle , 1966). This suggests th e p o s s i b ilit y
th a t poor re a d e rs in th e Otto study may have
a s s o c ia tiv e c h a r a c te r is tic s more sim ila r to kindergarten
stu d en ts than to th e i r chronological p e e rs .
This b rin g s u s to th e co n sid eratio n th a t the
re te n tio n o f ch ild re n w ith le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t i e s
may be more sim ila r to th e re te n tio n o f younger
pupils* In many c a s e s * th e academic achievement
o f le a rn in g d isab led stu d e n ts i s more than two years
below t h e i r age lev el* I t seems worth In v e s tig a tin g
th a t th e i r method o f word r e te n tio n also resem bles
th a t o f younger pupils* Johnson and MyKLebust (1967)
re p o rt th a t some ch ild ren w ith le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t i e s
can r e c a ll " e ja c u la tio n s* 1 1 such a s "okay" o r " a ll
r ig h t" but cannot remember words th a t a re necessary
to r e la te an idea* While a c o u stic f a c to rs a re not
discussed* both words re ta in e d a c o u s tic a lly and
word " e ja c u la tio n s " a re Is o la te d b i t s o f Inform ation
and can be considered a s words re ta in e d on a non-
a s s o c ia tiv e basis*
Since th e re a re no stu d ie s exploring a c o u stic
versus a s s o d a tlo n a l f a c to rs In o h lld ren w ith le a rn in g
d is a b ili tie s * i t seems im perative* in l i g h t o f th e
above research* th a t such a study be in itia te d *
Summary
The bulk o f th e l i t e r a t u r e examining a s s o d a tlo n a l
a b i l i t y w ith re sp e c t to age v e r i f i e s a m aturatlonal
f a c to r m anifested In a p ro g re ssiv e a b i l i t y to r e ta in
verbal m a te ria l through meaningful storage systems*
w ith some in d ic a tio n o f su b p a ttern s w ith in the o v e ra ll
steady growth* a t tr i b u ta b l e c h ie fly to th e emergence
47
o f s y n ta c tic a l and semantic r e te n tio n p attern s*
S p e c ific a lly , although re se arch in t h i s area
I s f i l l e d w ith gaps, i t appears th a t normal ch ild ren
le a r n new words by th e way they sound u n t i l about
age 5 to 7 and th e r e a f te r employ more e f f ic ie n t
conceptual a s s o c ia tio n s (see Table I )• L earning-
d isab led and re ta rd e d c h ild re n do not make th e changeover
as ra p id ly . While t h i s re se a rc h does not in d ic a te
a t what age le a rn in g d isab led ch ild re n reach t h i s
m atu ratio n al mark, a reasonable hypothesis fo r fu tu re
study i s th a t a c o rre la tio n e x is ts between t h i s
discrepancy and M A d isc re p a n c ie s between normal
and LD c h ild re n .
While verbal a s s o d a tlo n a l a b i l i t y has l i t t l e
o r no In flu e n ce on sh o rt-term memory, which uses
a wholly or p rim a rily a c o u stic r e te n tio n system,
i t 18 an In v alu a b le c l a s s i f ic a ti o n device fo r inform ation
sto ra g e , and a v i t a l f a c to r In th e growth o f long-term
memory.
I t appears th a t some cases o f le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y
a re a ttr i b u ta b l e to p ercep tu al problem s. This may
ex p lain th e c o n flic tin g r e s u l t s o f th e concept-form atlon
studies* I f some c h ild re n a re handioapped a t the
le v e l o f re c e iv in g Inform ation w ith which to form
conoeptlons, they w ill n a tu ra lly have more tro u b le
w ith th e conceptual p ro cesses. I f o th e r le a rn in g -
48
TABLE I
AGE AT W HICH ACOUSTICAL A N D ASSOOIATIONAL PATTERNS
DOM INATE AS SEEN B Y DIFFERENT INVESTIGATORS
In v e s tig a to r
5
6 7
Agl
8
9
9
1° .
11 12
Woodrow and
Lowell (1916) Asc Asc Asc Asc
M iller and
McNeill (1965)
-
Asc Asc
Palermo and
Jenkins (1964) Ac Ac Asc
E n tw istle (1966) Ac Ac Asc
A l-Iss a (1969) Ac Ac Asc
Bach and
Underwood (1970) Ac Asc
Freund and
Johnson (1972) Ac
-
Asc Asc
Mean a c o u s tic a l: 7 years
Mean a s s o d a t l o n a l : lO i years
d isa b led ch ild re n p erceiv e a s v e il a s norm als, they
e n te r th e conceptual pro cess v i t h no handicap.
Sinoe th e concept stu d ie s f a i l to uncover the pro cesses
involved and indeed in tim a te th a t m ediation i s not
a m easurable process a t a l l , attem p ts to o o n tra st
normal and le a rn in g -d isa b le d ch ild ren a t t h i s stage
may y ie ld r e s u l t s based only on p ercep tu al d iffe re n c e s .
B esides p e rc e p tio n , the c h ie f d i f f i c u l t y fo r
le a rn in g -d isa b le d ch ild re n seems to l i e in th e area
o f long-term memory form ation.
CHAPTER I I I
M ETH O D O LO G Y
This chapter s ta te s th e hypotheses being te s te d .
Then i t summarizes th e experiment conducted, in c lu d in g
d e s c rip tio n s o f th e follow ing m ethodological
c o n s id e ra tio n s: 1 ) se le o tio n o f su b je c ts ; 2) se le c tio n
o f p r io r t e s t s ; 3) se le c tio n o f stim ulus m a te ria ls ;
and 4) te s tin g procedures.
Hypotheses
The experiment was designed to determ ine whether
re te n tio n by le a rn in g -d is a b le d (LD) ch ild re n i s
Influenced more by an a c o u stic v a ria b le as opposed
to an a s s o d a tlo n a l v a ria b le than i s re te n tio n by
normal c h ild re n . Since th e l i t e r a t u r e has ln d lo a te d
th a t normal ch ild re n make th e ohangeover from aco u stio
to a s s o d a tlo n a l r e te n tio n p a tte r n s a few y ears e a r l i e r
than le a rn in g -d isa b le d c h ild re n , i t was decided
to t e s t an age group in which normal ch ild re n had
presumably made th e sw itch but LD ch ild re n were ju s t
beginning to do so. This age was 114 to 132 months*
Three hypotheses were form ulated.
Null Hypothesis I : L earning d isab led ch ild re n
50
51
(LD's) and ch ild re n from re g u la r classroom s (RG's)
w ill make th e same number o f a s s o c ia tiv e e rro rs
as a c o u stic e rro rs on a re te n tio n ta s k .
Research Hypothesis I : LD and RO ch ild re n
aged 114 to 132 months w ill make more a s s o c ia tiv e
e rro rs than a c o u stic e rro rs on a re te n tio n ta s k .
Null Hypothesis I I : RO ch ild re n aged 114 to
132 months w ill make th e same number o f a s s o d a tlo n a l
e rro rs on a re te n tio n ta sk a s LD ch ild re n o f th e
8ame age*
Research Hypothesis I I : RC ch ild re n aged 114
to 132 months w ill make more a s s o d a tlo n a l e rro rs
on a re te n tio n ta sk than L Z > ch ild ren o f th e same
age*
Null Hypothesis I I I : LD ch ild re n aged 114 to
132 months w ill make th e same number o f aco u stlo
e rro rs on a re te n tio n ta sk as RC ch ild re n o f th e
same age*
Research Hypothesis I I I : LD c h ild re n aged
114 to 132 months w ill make more ao o u stlc e rro rs
on a re te n tio n ta sk than RC ch ild ren o f th e same
age.
Dependent and Independent V ariab les
The a s s o d a tlo n a l and a c o u stic a l m a terlal used
In te s tin g th e hypotheses was word l i s t s composed
52
in a manner to be desorlbed In th e se c tio n , "se le c tio n
o f Stim ulus M a te ria ls." Acoustio dominance was
o p e ra tio n a lly defined as fo llo w s: on a three-w ord-
choice re te n tio n t e s t , th e tendency to choose a
word th a t has an ending th a t rhymes w ith th e word
p resen ted during th e o rig in a l le a rn in g taste* fo r
example, m istaking "oat" fo r th e le arn ed word " h a t."
A ss o d a tlo n a l dominance was described a s fo llo w s:
on a three-w ord-choice re te n tio n t e s t , th e tendenoy
to choose a word which i s commonly e l ic i te d by th e
word p resented during th e o rig in a l le a rn in g t a s k :
fo r example, m istaking "night" fo r th e learn ed word
"day" when presented w ith both words on th e re te n tio n
t e s t .
The independent v a ria b le was th e type o f Subject
(LD o r RC). The dependent v a ria b le was S u b je c ts'
e rro rs on th e re te n tio n t e s t .
S electio n o f Sub.leots
C r ite r ia
The control (RC) group co n sisted o f su b je c ts
drawn from re g u la r c la s s e s . The experim ental (LD)
group was comprised o f le a rn in g -d isa b le d c h ild re n .
These c h ild re n were taken from "educably handicapped"
(BH) c la s s e s . The follow ing c r i t e r i a were considered
in s e le c tio n :
R a cia l, c u ltu ra l and so d o economic e q u a lity .
All su b jeo ts were Caucasian and drawn from
four elem entary sohools lo c a te d in Glendale,
C a lifo rn ia , i n n o n -c u ltu ra lly deprived
neighborhoods. To r e c t i f y p o ssib le
unobservable so do-econom ic d iffe re n c e s
among schools, th e number o f RO su b je c ts
chosen from each elem entary school equaled
th e number o f LD s u b je c ts : n in e LD and
nine RO su b je c ts were from Dunsmore, 10
each were from F ran k lin , six each were
from Lowell and fiv e each were from Columbus.
Sex. Although sex has been shown to be
Independent o f concept form ation (P alzere,
1967; D arnell and Bourne, 1970; W ivlott,
1970), i t can be argued from c h ild r e n 's
word a s s o d a tlo n ta b le s (Palermo and Jenkins*
1964; E n tw istle, 1966) th a t some word
a s s o c ia tio n s having to do w ith sex r o le s
and a t titu d e s a re s e x -c o rre la te d . For
example, more g i r l s than boys re p ly to
"king" w ith "queen," th e top a s s o c ia tiv e ,
w hile more boys than g i r l s re p ly w ith
" ru le r" o r "man," th e number two and th re e
a s s o d a t i v e s . The LD sample i s d isp ro p o rtio n
a te ly male (25 boys a s compared to only
54
fiv e g i r l s ) . Since th e la rg e pool o f
RC's made i t easy to equate th e number
o f m ales in each group and th e number o f
fem ales in each group w hile allow ing more
males than fem ales in each group, i t was
deemed ad v isab le to observe t h i s p re c a u tio n .
3. I n te llig e n c e . The le a rn in g -d isa b le d c la s s e s
had p rev io u sly been te s te d fo r in te llig e n c e
using th e Wechsler I n te llig e n c e Scale
fo r Children (WISC). In o rd er to elim in ate
in te llig e n c e a s a fa c to r in th e experim ent,
two ch ild re n who had not scored 90 o r above
on both th e verbal and performance sc a le s
were elim in ated . IQ 's o f su b je c ts chosen
ranged from 90 to 136, w ith a mean o f
99.36.
4. Age. A ll su b je c ts chosen were between
9il and 11 y ea rs old (114 to 132 months),
previous re se a rc h e rs (see Table I ) have
determined th a t t h i s i s th e age in normal
c h ild re n when th e a s s o d a tlo n a l a t t r i b u t e
o f re te n tio n te n d s to dominate.
Within t h i s range, age matching occurred
n a tu r a lly : th e mean age was 123.30 months
fo r LD su b je c ts and 123.83 months fo r
RC su b je c ts .
5. Emotional s t a b i l i t y . Although EH ch ild ren
a re n o t supposed to be em otionally disturbed
according to Board o f Education p o lio y v
n o n eth eless te a c h e rs o f a l l su b je c ts were
asked to s ta te which p u p ils displayed
any "problem b eh av io r." One RC boy was
ellm inat ed.
6. Adequate au d ito ry d isc rim in a tio n . Because
i t was conceivable th a t e rro r wcores were
produced because o f au d ito ry d isc rim in a tio n
d i s a b i l i t i e s , i t was im portant to t e s t
a l l s u b je c ts , e s p e c ia lly since d i f f i c u lt y
in au d ito ry d isc rim in a tio n i s common to
many stu d en ts w ith le a rn in g problems (Wepman,
1958).
Auditory d isc rim in a tio n was te s te d
on Day 2 w ith th e Wepman Auditory D iscrim ination
Test im m ediately follow ing th e re te n tio n
t e s t . This t e s t u se s p aired words which
e ith e r sound a lik e o r d if f e r in only one
phonemic q u a lity .
Method
The Experim enter s o lic ite d perm ission o f th e
Supervisor o f Special Eduoatlon fo r th e Glendale,
C a lifo rn ia City School D is tr ic t to conduct the
56
experiment In th e Glendale schools. The Supervisor
obtained th e necessary te s tin g approval from th e
Board o f Education. The Board also supplied th e
names o f th e four elementary schools in Glendale
w ith EH c la s s e s : Oolumbus( Dunsmore, Franklin and
Low ell. The Supervisor obtained verbal perm ission
over th e phone from each o f th e se sc h o o ls' p r in c ip a ls ,
and th e p rin c ip a ls Introduced the Experimenter to
th e classroom te a c h e rs , who agreed to cooperate w ith
th e re se a rc h program.
F in a lly , each p o te n tia l s u b je c t's p a re n ts received
and signed a standard p aren t consent form supplied
by th e schools, accompanied by a b r ie f d e s c rip tio n
o f th e study (See Appendix 1 ) .
Since eduoationally-handicapped c la sse s are
r e s t r i c t e d to a maximum o f 12 stu d e n ts, th e four
schools combined produced a t o t a l pool o f only 48
LB c h ild re n . Twelve were elim inated because they
did not f a l l w ithin th e req u ired age category.
At t h i s p o in t, i t was deemed more ad v isab le to lim it
group siz e to 30 r a th e r than broaden th e age range,
i n which case d iffe re n c e s in scores might be due
to a m aturational e f f e c t.
Two more su b je c ts were re je c te d because o f
low WISG sco res. Teacher conferences determined
th a t E nglish was not th e primary language o f two
57
others* and they too were elim in ated .
The 30 su b je c ts used were chosen from th e 32
rem aining ch ild ren by p la cin g t h e i r names in s id e
a box and drawing two names to d esig n ate a lte r n a te
su b je c ts In case o f absences on Test Day. Randomization
was achieved by w ritin g down th e f i r s t name and
re p la c in g i t in th e box before drawing th e second
name.
In t h i s manner* nine s u b je c ts —seven boys and
two g i r l s — -were chosen from Dunsmore. Ten su b je c ts—
n in e boys and one g i r l —were selected from F ran k lin .
Lowell supplied six boys, and Columbus yielded fiv e
s u b je c ts—th re e boys and two g i r l s .
S electio n o f control su b je c ts was made se p arate ly
fo r each school i n o rd er to equalize th e LD and RC
group from each school.
Dunsmore had a re g u la r fo u rth grade c la s s o f
32 stu d e n ts and a f i f t h grade c la s s o f 3$ stu d e n ts.
A fter d isa ard in g fo u rth g rad ers under 114 months
and f i f t h g rad ers over 132 months, 27 boys and 24
g i r l s remained. One g i r l who was f a ili n g was elim inated.
The rem aining pool o f 50 names was w ritte n on separate
cards and placed in a box* then drawn a t random
u n t i l seven boys* two g i r l s and one a l te r n a te fo r
each sex were se le c te d .
The fo u rth grade a t F ranklin had 27 stu d en ts
58
and th e f i f t h grade had 33 stu d e n ts. E lim ination
by age l e f t 23 boys and 28 g i r l s . Randomized drawing
produced nine boys and one g i r l to matoh th e LD sample
from th a t school, p lu s a male and female a lte r n a te .
The same process was repeated fo r Low ell, where
29 fo u rth g rad ers and 35 f i f t h g ra d e rs, o f whom
23 boys and 30 g i r l s met th e age requirem ent, were
pared down to six su b je c ts , a l l boys, and an a lte r n a te .
In Columbus, 31 fo u rth graders and 35 f i f t h
g rad ers provided a pool o f 52 su b je c ts—26 boys and
26 g i r l s —a f t e r age e lim in a tio n . One boy was f a llin g
and another boy showed behavior d is o rd e rs . Of th e
remaining 33, th re e boys and two g i r l s were se le c te d
by random drawing.
Thu8, o f a t o ta l RC pool o f 258, 51 were elim inated
on th e b a s is o f age, two fo r p o ssib le f a lli n g marks
and one fo r behavior d is o rd e rs . T h irty control
su b je c ts and seven a lte r n a te s were se lec ted from th e
remaining 204 p o s s i b i l i t i e s through random drawing.
S electio n o f P rio r Tests
No screening t e s t s per se were adm inistered.
As s ta te d b efo re, experim ental s u b je c ts ' I n te llig e n c e
had been p rev io u sly te s te d w ith th e WI3C, and those
w ith below 90 IQ on e ith e r th e verbal o r performance
scale were weeded o u t in o rd er to co n tro l a g a in st
59
what one re se a rc h e r term s "m u ltip le Involvements"
(Myklebust, 1968).
The Wepman Auditory D iscrim ination Test was
not adm inistered u n til a f t e r th e experim ental t e s t
sessio n on Day 2. I t was used not as a screening
device but to t e s t whether r e s u l t s supporting th e
experim ental hypothesis could have another explanation.
I f a higher pro p o rtio n o f a c o u stic e rro rs on the
re te n tio n ta s k c o rre la te d w ith weak au d ito ry
d isc rim in a tio n , t h i s would suggest th a t ac o u stic
e rr o rs may be due to poor a u d ito ry d isc rim in a tio n .
S election o f Stim ulus M a terials
Bach and Underwood (1970) had se le c te d th e ir
stim ulus words from th e i r s u b je c ts ' th re e second
grade readers* which had a combined word population
o f 537 words. Then they consulted word a s so c ia tio n
ta b le s compiled by E n tw istle (1966) fo r th e ir
a s s o c la tlo n a lly re la te d words. They re p o rt using
th e word a s s o c ia tio n ta b le s "and o th e r Inform ation"
from E n tw istle (1966) In choosing a s s o c ia te s . Of
t h e i r 40 stim ulus words, only seven appeared In
E n tw istle . In only four o f th e se seven cases was
t h e i r a s s o c ia te th e most common one given by f ir s t*
t h ir d and f i f t h g rad ers. The most common a s so c ia te
fo r Bach and Underwood's stim ulus word CLEA N I s
6 0
" d i r t y , ” w ith 134 th ird -g ra d e responses a s opposed
to only th re e fo r t h e i r choice, "neat*" For th e
word CHAIR, " s i t " i s more frequent than " ta b le ," and
"fly " i s one o f many a s s o c ia te s ahead o f "oage"
fo r BIRD. C learly Bach and Underwood's l i s t was
u n s u ita b le fo r th e p re se n t study*
A l i s t o f p o s s ib le stim ulus words and a s s o c ia tiv e s
was drawn from th e a s s o c ia tio n ta b le s compiled by
Palermo and Jenkins (1964), E n tw istle (1966) and
Bach and Underwood (1970). As Table I I shows, in
each a p p lic a b le case the most common a s s o c ia te accorfllng
to E n tw istle was chosen* The same i s tru e fo r Palermo
and Jenkins w ith two ex cep tio n s, SIT-stand and TELL-
talk* These re p re se n t th e top a s s o c ia te s having
th e same p a rt o f speech a s th e stim ulus word. Moreover,
they rank a s th e top re s p e c tiv e a s s o c ia te s in E n tw is tle 's
study*
For stim ulus words se le c te d from Bach and Underwood,
Bach and Underwood's a s s o c ia te was also ohosen*
The Experim enter v e r if ie d them a s top-ranked a s s o o la tiv e s
through a fre e -a s s o e la tio n t e s t adm inistered in h is
o f f ic e i n Maroh, 1971* S ubjects were 20 8- to 10-
year o ld m id d le -c la ss Caucasian children* N ineteen
were boys and only one was a g irl*
Twenty stim ulus words were used fo r th e t e s t in
th e p re se n t experim ent. Since fo u rth -g rad e c h ild re n
61
TABLE I I
ASSOCIATIVE FREQUENCY OF EXPERIMENTAL
ASSOCIATIVE W O R D S WITH STIMULUS W O R D S
Stim ulus word
and a s s o c ia te
Number and i
to stim ulus
S h tw lstle
(5th grade)
N: 280
M F
lex ol
word
Asc.'
Rank
r ch ild re n responding
w lth _ a jso e la te giver
Palermo "as^JenHns ~
4 th grade 5th grade
N: 250
M F ' M F
5
L ,
A8C.
Rank
APE-monkey
BATH-water 102 82 96 94 1
BED-sleep 139 135 137 152 1
BEE-sting 26 32 1
BOY-girl 132 140 112 136 1
CAT-dog
OHAIR-table
34 48 1 84 90 65
98 1
DAY-night
GIVE-take 54 45 1
HAND-arm
27 30 1
40 22 30 34 1
HOUSE-home 52 52
56 50 1
KING-queen
101 152 102 146 , 1
MAN-woman
59
68 1
44
39
42 52 1
MOON-sun 54
57
46 52 1
RACE-run
RIDE-oar
SALT-pepper 56 69 1 82 108 73 102 1
SIT-stand 41 54 1 25
30 20
35
4
TELL-talk
21 15 1 34
23 27
28 2
WISH-hope 24
27 30 36 1
62
w ith le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y read a t no b e t te r than
second-grade l e v e l , I t was necessary to ohoose words
common a t th e second grade l e v e l . To t h i s end,
th e l i s t o f stim ulus words and a s s o c ia te s was oheoked
on th e Wepman Spoken Word Oount (Wepman et a l . , 1969).
As Table I I I shows, 16 o f th e 20 words se le c te d
and 15 a s s o c ia te s appeared. The o th e r n in e words
were a l l found among s u b je c ts ' o ra l responses, according
to t h e i r te a o h e rs.
Bach and Underwood's choices o f a c o u s tic a lly
sim ila r words re s u lte d simply "from th e ex p erim en ter's
judgm ent." Although 36 o f t h e i r 40 a c o u stic word-
p a lr s rhyme, many o f th e "rhymes," such a s NBW-who,
a r e In a c c u ra te an d /o r bear l i t t l e v isu a l s im ila rity .
Besides th e rhymes, two dyads are homonyms (W OOD-
would, CBNT-sent) and two d i f f e r In th e l a s t l e t t e r
only (BAD-bag, LAMP-lamb). T herefore th e more p re c is e
o p e ra tio n a l d e f in itio n o f "a co u stic domlnanoe" was
form ulated fo r th e p re se n t study and a l l ac o u stic
words chosen were exact rhymes.
A o o u stlcally sim ila r words In th e p re se n t study
were o r ig in a lly chosen from Wepman's l i s t and from
s u b je c ts ' v o cab u laries as confirmed by t h e i r te a c h e rs .
All o f them rhyme w ith stim ulus words, and w ith one
exoeptlon (BBS-head), a l l follow th e same sp e llin g
a f t e r th e f i r s t sound. This t a c t i c was deemed necessary
63
TAILS I I I
FREQUENCY A N D RANK OF USE OF TEST W O RD S BY
N O R M A L 7-YEAR-OLDS, AS DETERMINED BY W E PM A N
^ _____________________ v
TEST W ORD,
ao o u stio and
a sa o c ia tlo n a l
words
Frequency o f u s e /
10,000 spoken words
Rank o f u se (blank
spaces in d i o ates
not in f i r s t 994)
APE
grape
monkey
BATH
p a th
w ater 7.22 181
BED 10.04 141
head
5.95 2 d
sleep 12.21
129
BEE .58
729
tr e e 14.33 115
s tin g
BO Y 42.27 46
to y .58 738
g ir l 36.38 52
O A T .49 784
hat
4.95 228
dog 1.39 488
CHAIR 2.57 345
h a ir 3.80 271
ta b le 2.66 338
D A Y 46.46 43
way 6.31 193
n ig h t 18.26
93
GIVE 1.58 449
l i v e 16.74 100
tak e 9.86 144
H A N D 8.27 159
sand
arm 2.86 320
TABLE I I I
(continued)
64
TEST W O HD,
a c o u stic and
a s s o d a tlo n a l
words
Frequency o f u s e /
10,000 spoken words
Rank o f u se (blank
spaces in d ic a te s
n o t In f i r s t 994)
HOUSE 49.19 37
mouse 2.11 394
home 20.62
81
KINO 1.98 406
rin g
queen
M A N 101.76
19
pan
woman 17.21 98
M O O N 1.88
415
spoon
sun
3.55
284
RACE
face 3.15 306
run 5.59 207
RIDE 2.60 342
side 1 .5 5 452
car
3.27 297
SALT
m alt
pepper
SIT 13.00
123
h it 1 .1 0 556
stand
4.39 242
TELL 9.95 142
f e l l 5.41 216
t a lk 7.27 180
WISH 2.11
395
f is h 9.42 152
hope
65
alnoe th e words would be shown a s w ell a s sppken.
T hirteen o f th e words a re among Wepman's top 1,000
spoken words o f sev en -y ear-o ld s. The r e s t , b esid es
being common words In s u b je c ts ' v o c a b u la rie s, were
also found in t h e i r re a d e rs .
By observing tig h t e r o p e ra tio n a l d e f in itio n s
fo r a s s o d a tlo n a l and a c o u stlo s im ila r ity , th e p rese n t
study improves on Bach and Underwood's word l i s t s .
Experimental Prooedure
P re p aratio n
A fter th e words were s e le c te d , each o f the
20 stim ulus words was typed in lower case l e t t e r s
on a se p arate 3x5 card, to be used on Test Bay 1.
For Test Bay 2 , th e p re s e n ta tio n sequence o f
stim ulus words and a s s o o la tlo n a lly and a c o u s tic a lly
sim ila r words had to be randomized in o rd er to avoid
an o rd er e f f e c t . In p rep arin g t h i s sequence fo r
each t r i a d , th e words " c o rr e c t," " a s s o d a tlo n a l"
and "a c o u stic a l" were w ritte n on th re e s lip s o f paper
and placed in a box. For eaoh o f th e word t r i a d s ,
th e s li p s o f paper were drawn. Each tr i a d was typed
in lower case on se p arate 3x5 cards i n th e o rd er
d io ta te d by th e s li p s . For example, fo r th e tr ia d
CAT-dog-hat, th e s li p s were drawn i n t h i s o rd e r:
a c o u s tic a l, c o rre c t, a s s o d a t l o n a l . The t r i a d was
6 6
then typed on th e card In t h i s o rd e r: h a t, c a t,
dog. The sequence o f t r i a d s a s i t appeared during
th e re te n tio n t e s t i s d u p licated in Appendix I I I .
S e ria l e f f e c t was avoided by randomizing the
o rd er o f stim ulus words. The 20 3x5 cards were
placed in a box and drawn out to determ ine p re se n ta tio n
o rd er o f th e t r i a d s .
A d o cto ral candidate In th e f ie ld o f speech
recorded th e 20 stim ulus words on a high q u a lity
Memorex ta p e . A Craig c a s s e tte reco rd er was used.
The man was a p ro fe ssio n a l speaker and th u s h is
d ic tio n and c l a r i t y were o f top q u a lity . He received
a p ro fe ssio n a l fee fo r h is s e rv ic e s .
Scoring sh e e t8 were then d u p lic a te d , l i s t i n g
th e 20 t r i a d s in th e o rd er o f p re s e n ta tio n . S u b je c ts'
names were w ritte n on th e sh e e ts, to be used fo r
recording answers given during th e re te n tio n ta s k .
Day 1 (Learning Task)
The Experimenter e n lis te d th e aid o f a q u a lifie d
female re se a rc h a s s is ta n t i n t e s t ad m in istra tio n
to a c t a s T ester and conduct th e le a rn in g and re te n tio n
ta s k s . The reasons fo r t h i s were tw ofold: 1) using
a T ester elim inated p o ssib le Experimenter b ia s ;
2) th e E xperim enter's p rev io u s oontact w ith s u b je c ts '
names and reco rd s made i t im possible fo r him to
67
avoid knowledge o f which su b je c ts were le a rn in g -d is a b le d .
Only by u sin g a T ester could a "blind" oondition
be se t up whereby the T ester did not know which
s u b je c ts were from which group.
The le a rn in g ta s k was conducted a t Dunsmore
on Wednesday, A pril 25, 1973, between 9 a.m. and
11:00 a.m. S ta rtin g a t 9 a .m ., th e EH c la s s te ach e r
sent th e nine LD su b je c ts to th e Guidance O ffice
a t five-m inute in te r v a ls ; s ta r t in g a t 10 a.m ., th e
re g u la r c la s s teach er sent th e nine c o n tro ls . The
Guidance O ffice was a small o f f ic e designed fo r
small groups ra th e r than a la r g e classroom f i l l e d
w ith d is tr a c tio n s . D is tra c tin g v isu a l stim uli were
removed from th e w a lls.
The T ester met th e Subject a t th e Guidance Room
door. Only she and th e Subject were p re s e n t. In
o rd er to minimize Subject a n x ie ty , th e T ester oailed
and spoke s o f tly .
Once in s id e th e o f f ic e , she and th e Subject
s a t facing each o th e r. She then informed th e Subject
o f th e n a tu re o f the ta s k . The in s tr u c tio n s were
not tap e recorded because i t was f e l t th a t d lre o t
S u b jec t-T e ster communication would fu rth e r a l le v i a te
Subject a n x ie ty . The T ester spoke th e follow ing
w ords:
P lease l i s t e n c a re fu lly to th e m em
on t h i s tap e re c o rd e r. H e's going
to say some words. I w ill be back
on F riday. When I come back. I w ill
ask you to s e le c t th e words you hear
today from among some o th e r words*
The man w ill say each word ttrioe and
then ask you to say I t . I w ill show
you th e word on a card w hile he I s
saying I t . So you have any q u estio n s?
(Pause) Ready, here we go.'
S ubjects asked no q u e stio n s.
Accompanied by th e taped p ro n o u n d a tio n s . the
TeBter presen ted th e 20 t e s t words one a t a tim e.
She showed each card w ith th e word typed on I t fo r
fiv e seconds. The ta p e recording observed an
a d d itio n a l four-second space between each word to
allow th e T ester to re p la c e card s. Thus th e e n tire
le a rn in g ta s k took only th re e m inutes per su b je o t,
p lu s a minute o r so fo r th e In tro d u c to ry explanation.
The same procedure was followed a t F ranklin
School a t 9 a.m. Wednesday. May 2. The Guidance
O ffice u sed , although la r g e r than the one a t Dunsmore,
was s t i l l small enough to be com fortable and non-
di s tr a c tin g .
The follow ing Wednesday (May 9 ). six LD's and
six c o n tro ls were te s te d a t Lowell School. The
le a rn in g ta s k concluded May 16 w ith f iv e experim ental
su b je c ts and fiv e c o n tro ls a t Oolumbus School.
P ic tu re s hung on th e Guidance O ffice wall were
non-removable but n o t n o tic e a b ly d is tr a c tin g .
69
Day 2 (R etention Test)
At Dunsmore School, th e re te n tio n t e s t was
p resen ted in th e same o f f ic e a s the le a rn in g ta sk
48 hours follow ing th e i n i t i a l a c q u is itio n , a t 9
a.m. F riday, A pril 27. S ubjects were sent a t s ix -
minute in te r v a ls .
S ubjects were shown th e 20 randomized s e ts
o f word t r i a d s typed in lower case on 3x5 cards.
Both th e Subject and th e T ester pronounced each
word on each card . F i r s t th e T ester pronounced the
word w hile th e Subject looked a t i t , and then th e
Subject pronounced i t . The Subject was then asked
which o f th e th re e words he had been p resented on
Day 1 , and th e T ester c irc le d th e a p p ro p ria te response
word on th e scoring sh e et.
No tim e lim ita tio n was imposed, but S ubjects
were req u ired to make a choice fo r each word t r i a d .
As answers were u s u a lly immediate, th e average time
consumed by the re te n tio n ta sk was only four to
fiv e m inutes.
The same procedure was followed a t F ranklin
School a t 9 a.m. F riday, May 4, 1973, a t Lowell
School May 11 and a t Oolumbus School May 18.
Immediately follow ing th e re te n tio n t e s t , each
Subject was given th e Wepman Auditory D iscrim ination
T est, The T ester stayed facin g th e Subject w hile
speaking th e follow ing words:
Now I am going to read some words
to you two words a t a tim e. I
want you to t e l l me whether I
read th e same word tw ice o r two
d if f e r e n t words.
Remember, i f th e two words are
ex actly th e same, you say "yes'*
o r "same"; i f they are not
ex actly th e same, you say "no"
o r " d if f e r e n t."
The T ester then d ire c te d th e Subject to tu r n around
so th a t he was no lo n g er facing th e T ester.
As responses were immediate, S ubjects completed
th e 40-word t e s t in about two m inutes each.
Scoring
For th e re te n tio n t e s t , th e T ester ta b u la te d
r e s u l t s from th e score sheets by marking l i n e s a f te r
each word on a m aster l i s t . T otals were ta b u la te d
and entered in th e margin beside th e word. Final
t o t a l 8 were obtained by adding th e t o t a l s on a fin a l
m aster sh e et.
The Wepman t e s t s were scored by marking th e
a p p ro p ria te column on a standardized score sh eet.
CHAPTER IV
RESULTS A N D ANALYSIS
In tro d u c tio n
Tills chapter p re se n ts th e d ata obtained from
th e experim ent, o u tlin e s th e s t a t i s t i c a l methodology
and re p o rts the r e s u lt s o f the an aly ses used to
t e s t th e experim ental hypotheses.
Procedure
The data re le v a n t to th e hypotheses were summarized.
This summary I s recorded In Appendix IV and diagrammed
in Figure 1.
The data were then subjected to a two-way a n a ly s is
o f v aria n c e . The r e s u lt s o f th e a n a ly sis o f variance
are summarized in Table IV. A s ig n ific a n t in te r a c tio n
e ff e c t appeared (F • 4 .0 9 ).
This le d to th e a p p lic a tio n o f four F -ra tio s
In o rd er to I s o la t e s ig n if ic a n t e f f e c ts . The independent
v a ria b le was th e type o f subJect— le a rn in g -d isa b le d
o r re g u la r. The dependent v a ria b le was s u b je c ts '
e rro rs on the re te n tio n t e s t . Comparisons were
made between RC's and LD's and between types o f
e r r o r s .
71
MCDtntSOTJcQ®** >-40 C O O' 9 d t2*
FIGURE 1
Group
Comparison o f a s s o c ia tiv e versus a c o u stic
e rro rs fo r RC and LD ch ild ren
450 r
400
350
300 f
250
200
150
100
50
404
130
&
364
109
127
Regular c la s s Learning disabled
A coustic e rro rs
A ssociative e rro rs
Correct
73
TABLE IV
RESULTS OP TW O -W A Y ANALYSIS OP VARIANCE A N D P-RATIOS
Source No. o f
e rro rs
df
M S P
Total A nalysis
Groups 1 13.33 3.09
E rro rs 1 56.03 13.00#
In te r a c tio n 1 17.64
4.09#
E rror 116
4.31
RO only
A coustic 66 1
68.26 15.84#
A ssociative 130
1
LD only
A coustic 109 1
5.4 1.28
A sso ciativ e 127 1
A sso ciativ e e rro rs
LD 130 28
.19
.04
RO 127 28
A coustic e rro rs
LD 109
28
30. Si 7.15*
R O 66 28
* S ig n ific a n t a t ^ .01
74
As Table IV shows* th e stro n g est e ffe c t proved
to be between a c o u stic and a s s o c ia tiv e e rro rs made
by re g u la r o la ss su b je c ts. RC's made only 66 ac o u stic
e rro rs as opposed to 130 a s s o c ia tiv e errors* y ie ld in g
an F r a tio o f 15.84, s ig n ific a n t a t th e .01 le v e l
o f confidence. By comparison* le a rn in g disabled
c h ild re n made 109 ac o u stic e rro rs and 127 a s s o c ia tiv e
e r ro rs , w ith F = 1 .2 8 being below sig n ific a n c e .
A sso ciativ e e rro rs were v ir tu a l ly equalized
between th e two groups, 130 fo r RC's and 127 fo r
LD 's, producing an in s ig n if ic a n t F r a tio o f .04.
For a c o u stic errors* on th e o th e r hand* th e number
was f a r low er fo r RC's (66 to 109). This y ielded
an F r a tio o f 7.15* s ig n ific a n t a t th e .01 le v e l.
Hypotheses
H ypothesis I
H ypothesis I questioned whether a l l su b je c ts
combined made more a s s o c la tio n a l e rro rs than a c o u stic
e rro rs .
Of 432 In c o rre c t responses, 257 were a s s o c la tio n a l
and 175 were a c o u stic . F -r a tio s determined th a t
th e d iffe re n c e between a s s o c la tio n a l and ac o u stic
e r r o rs was s ig n ific a n t fo r RC's (F “ 15.84) but
n o t fo r LD's (F « 1 .2 8 ).
75
Hypothesis I I
Hypothesis I I examines whether e ith e r group
w ill show more a s s o c ia tiv e e rro rs than th e o th e r.
Table IV shows th a t o f 257 a s s o c ia tiv e e rro rs
committed, 130 were by the ID sample and 127 by the
RO sample. These two n early id e n tic a l fig u re s yielded
an T r a tio of .0 4 , which i s not s ig n ific a n t.
Hypothesis I I I
H ypothesis I I I s ta te s th a t the le a rn in g -d isa b le d
sample w ill show more a c o u stic e rro rs than th e RC's,
Table IV shows th a t o f 175 to ta l ao o u stic e rro rs ,
LD's made 109 and RC's made only 66, The 51 r a tio
between LD a c o u stic and RC a c o u stic was 7,15, which
i s s ig n ific a n t a t th e ,01 le v e l o f confidence.
The hypothesis was s u b s ta n tia te d .
The Wepman Test
A fter analyzing th e t e s t d a ta , th e p o s s ib ility
o f a s ig n if ic a n t r e la tio n s h ip was examined 1) between
groups and e rro rs on the Wepman Auditory D iscrim ination
T est, and 2) between Wepman e rro rs and ac o u stic
e rr o rs on th e r e c a ll t e s t . I f the f i r s t case were
borne o u t, a c o u stic d iffe re n c e s between groups might
be explained by Wepman d iffe re n c e s . In the second
case, in d iv id u a l ac o u stic e rro rs might be a t tr ib u ta b le
to hearing d i f f i c u l t i e s .
76
Two Pear so n r c o e ff ic ie n ts were computed to
determ ine th e degree o f c o rre la tio n between Wepman
scores and a c o u stic e rro r sco res. S ubjects from
re g u la r c la s s e s showed a p o s itiv e c o rre la tio n (.36)
n o t s ig n if ic a n t a t th e .01 le v e l . The c o rre la tio n
fo r le a rn in g d isab led ch ild re n was .02, also below
s ig n ific a n c e .
S ubjects from re g u la r c la s s e s committed a to ta l
o f 94 e rr o rs on th e Wepman t e s t ; su b je c ts from le a rn in g -
d isab led c la s s e s made 122 e r r o r s . A t - t e s t o f th e
d iffe re n c e between means showed th a t th e higher
e rro r t o t a l fo r le a rn in g -d isa b le d su b je c ts (t = 1.78)
was not s ig n ific a n t and did not in d ic a te g re a te r
au d ito ry d isc rim in a tio n d i f f i c u l t y fo r them than
fo r normals (See Table V).
Summary
This chapter p resented th e experim ental data
and th e r e s u l t s o f th e an aly ses to which i t was
su b jected .
Both le a rn in g -d isa b le d and re g u la r su b je cts
made s im ila r numbers o f a u d ito ry d isc rim in a tio n
e rro rs on th e Wepman t e s t . N eith er group showed
a s ig n ific a n t c o rr e la tio n between Wepman scores and
a c o u stic e rro r scores a t th e .01 confidence le v e l.
The a n a ly s is o f v arian ce yielded a s ig n ific a n t
/■
77
TABLE V
COM PARISON OP W E PM A N SCORES FOR BACH G RO U P
i
Group N Score Mean t
RC 30 94
3.13
1.78
LB 30 122 4.06
78
e f f e c t. Four F - r a tlo s In d ic a te d th a t th e only s ig n ific a n t
d iffe re n c e was between th e a c o u stic e rro r soores
fo r re g u la r su b je c ts and le a rn in g -d is a b le d su b je c ts .
The f i r s t h y p o th esis, th a t t o ta l a s s o c la tio n a l
e rro rs would be higher than a c o u stic a l e rro rs fo r
both groups combined, was supported fo r RC's but
n o t fo r L D 's,
The n u ll was not re je c te d in th e second h y p o th esis:
a s s o c ia tiv e e rr o rs were divided f a i r l y evenly between
th e two groups.
F in a lly , th e le a rn in g d isa b le d sample made
s ig n if ic a n tly more a c o u stic e r r o rs than the re g u la r
sample, supporting Hypothesis I I I .
The next chapter summarizes th e experim ent,
d isc u sse s th e se r e s u l t s and o f f e r s some conclusions.
CHAPTER V
SU M M A RY , DISCUSSION A N D CONCLUSIONS
Summary
This study attem pted to explore whether le a rn in g
d isa b led o h lld ren tend to u t i l i z e more a c o u stic
s tr a te g ie s a s opposed to a s s o c ia tiv e s tr a te g ie s than
do normal c h ild re n In the re te n tio n o f words*
Before examining p rev io u s l i t e r a t u r e re le v a n t
to th e experim ent, two I n i t i a l o b s ta c le s had to
be overcome: l ) an o p e ra tio n a l d e fin itio n o f le a rn in g
d i s a b i l i t y needed form ulation which both agreed
w ith th e wide v a rie ty o f e x is tin g concepts o f le a rn in g
d i s a b i l i t y and met th e needs o f th e study; and 2)
a r a tio n a le was needed fo r applying r e s u l t s from
stu d ie s o f re ta rd e d ch ild re n In c e rta in a re a s o f
th e l i t e r a t u r e .
While v ir tu a l ly no p revious work ex isted e ith e r
d ir e c tly affirm in g o r c o n tra d ic tin g t h i s assumption
(the study i s based on a sin g le In q u iry conducted
by Bach and Underwood In 1970), several bodies o f
e x is tin g l i t e r a t u r e form a cohesive statem ent o f
in d ir e c t support and la y th e groundwork fo r th e
79
80
hypotheses to be form ulated and te s te d .
F i r s t was th e work a t t e s t i n g th a t ch ild re n
employ a s s o c ia tio n s ! s tr a te g ie s as they mature and
develop sto rag e systems based on meaning. Although
in c o n c lu siv e , i t suggested th a t normal ch ild ren
u s u a lly sw itch from a c o u stic a l to a s s o c ia tiv e storage
systems a t approxim ately age 7, perhaps as l a t e as
age 9, whereas le a rn in g d isab led ch ild re n r e ta in
t h e i r a c o u stic a l p a tte rn s lo n g e r.
Second, stu d ie s o f short-term and long-term
memory showed th a t ac o u stic s tr a te g ie s are p rim a rily
a to o l o f short-term memory while long-term memory
employs a s s o c la tio n a l system s. Thus re te n tio n o f
any u se fu l d u ratio n i s dependent upon a s so c la tio n a l
a b i l i t y .
The l i t e r a t u r e fu rth e r su b sta n tia te d th a t ch ild ren
whose re te n tio n o f words i s Influenced more by an
a c o u stic a t t r i b u t e tend to r e ta in l e s s than those
who r e ta in a s s o o la tlv e ly . Furtherm ore, th e se ch ild ren
a re more l i k e l y to confuse a word w ith another word
sim ila r in sound.
The connection between le a rn in g d i s a b ili ty and
in e p t concept form ation was q u estio n ab le a t b e s t.
In v e s tig a tio n s th a t li n k th e two may have overlooked
p o s s ib le p ercep tu al problems o f t h e i r le a rn in g -d isa b le d
81
sub jeots*
An experim ental group o f 30 le a rn in g -d isa b le d
9- 10- and 11-y e a r-o ld c h ild re n o f normal IQ was
s e le c te d . T h irty normals o f sim ila r r a c ia l and
c u ltu ra l background, w ith in th e same age range and
matched as to sex, were chosen as th e control group*
Both groups were te a c h e r-a sse sse d fo r behavioral
problems and te s te d fo r hearing a b ility * S ubjeots
were shown and asked to l i s t e n to 20 words. On th e
re te n tio n t e s t , they were req u ired to se le o t th e
c o rre c t word from among a c o u s tic a lly and a s s o c ia tlo n a lly
sim ila r words. Acoustic and a s s o c la tio n a l e rro rs
were ta b u la te d fo r each group*
1* r a t i o s performed a f t e r an a n a ly s is o f variance
o f e rro r scores confirmed one o f th e th re e experimental
hypotheses and p a r t i a l l y confirmed an o th er.
D iscussion
The Hypotheses
The fin d in g s re le v a n t to th e th re e hypotheses
shed some l i g h t on th e n atu re o f le a rn in g d is a b ility *
The s ig n if ic a n tly higher a s s o c ia tiv e e rro r
scores fo r normal su b je c ts a s opposed to aco u stlo
scores fo r normals (130 to 6 6 ) supports th e fin d in g s
o f p revious in v e s tig a to r s th a t a s s o c ia tiv e p a tte r n s
dominate by th is age in norm ally le a rn in g children*
82
But whereas norm als made p rim a rily a s s o c ia tiv e
e r r o r s y EH su b je c ts made both a s s o c ia tiv e and aco u stio
errors* This fin d in g in d ic a te s th a t th e dysfunotion
known a s le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y m a n ife sts i t s e l f not
so much in amount o f knowledge r e ta in e d v a s could
be concluded by th e d if f e r in g to ta l e rro r scores*
a s in kind*
Furtherm ore, th e v i r t u a l l y id e n tic a l a s so c ia tio n
e rro r scores between th e LD and H O groups (130 to
127) argues stro n g ly th a t norm als and le a rn in g -d isa b le d
c h ild re n a s s o c ia te eq u ally w e ll. This Contention
i s seen not as c o n tra d ic to ry to th e th e s is th a t
LB ch ild re n r e ta in more a c o u s tic a lly a s opposed
to a s s o c ia tio n a lly than do norm als but as supportive
o f it* F i r s t , when se t next to th e s ig n ific a n t
d iffe re n c e in a c o u stic sco res (EH “ 109, N * 6 6 ),
i t backs th e contention th a t le a rn in g -d is a b le d ch ild ren
a re more fix a te d on a c o u stio p a tte r n s . Second, i t
in tim a te s th a t whereas normal ch ild re n sw itch over
from a c o u s tic to a s s o c ia tiv e p a tte r n s before t h i s
age, le a r n in g d isa b led c h ild re n do not*
Table I , summarizing th e approximate ages a t
which v a rlo u e re se a rc h e rs assig n th e changeover,
a ffirm s th e f i r s t p a r t o f t h i s intim ation* I t shows
th a t a c o u s tic a l p a tte r n s p re v a il u n t i l a t l e a s t
age 7 , and th a t a s s o c ia tiv e s tr a te g ie s u s u a lly dominate
83
by about age 1 0 ,
However, several f a c to rs m itig a te ag a in st drawing
any unequivocal conclusions from th e inform ation in
Table I . The f i r s t i s th a t many o f th e in q u ir ie s
c ite d were examining o th e r problem s. This means
t h a t : a) d if fe r e n t te rm in o lo g ie s, d escrib in g phenomena
o f sometimes q u estio n ab le synonymity, had to be
circum scribed under sin g le headings; b) th e age
c h a rts derived a re secondary to the main concern
o f th e se s tu d ie s . In two cases (Woodrow and Lowell,
1916; Bach and Underwood, 1970), the ex tra p o la tio n
was made a t a c e rta in age only because th a t was the
age being studied and th e dominant type o f reco g n itio n
p a tte r n seemed to be c le a rly reco g n izab le.
Second, th re e re se a rc h e rs note re la p se s a f te r
attain m en t o f a s s o c la tio n a l p a tte r n s (Palermo and
Jen k in s, 1964; X ntw lstle, 1966; A l- I ll a , 1969).
T hird, several o f the I n v e s tig a to r s p o s tu la te a
tr a n s i tio n a l period between a c o u stic and a s s o c la tio n a l
p a tte r n s (Palermo and Jen k in s, 1964; M iller and
M cNeill, 1965; E n tw istle, 1966). This i s one way
o f m eeting th e fin a l and most se rio u s challenge to
th e fig u re s as presented i n th e ta b le : th e fa c t
th a t th e change does not happen m iraculously overnight
but over a period o f y e a rs.
I f th e age a t which th e changeover occurs fo r
normal ch ild re n I s In q u e stio n , even l e s s I s known
about when I t occurs among LD c h ild re n . The fin d in g s
t h a t they make equal numbers o f a s s o c ia tiv e e rro rs
but more a c o u stic a l e r ro rs than normals show th a t
le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y r e f e r s to not a d if fe re n t degree
o f r e te n tio n but a d if f e r e n t kind. E x trap o latin g
r e s u l t s from sep arate stu d ie s suggests th a t LD ch ild re n
u t i l i z e th e same le a rn in g p ro cesses as norm als, only
more slowly (O tto, 1961; E n tw istle , 1966; Johnson
and Myklebust, 1967)* From t h i s we may suspect
th a t LD c h ild re n w ill make th e same sw itchover two
o r more y ea rs a f t e r norm als.
This suspicion was th e r a tio n a le fo r s e le c tin g
th e 9 i- to -11 -y ear-o ld age group fo r th e experiment.
Using t h i s age group, i t was hoped th a t th e LD sample
could be caught In th e midst o f th e changeover.
The I n s ig n if ic a n t d iffe re n c e between a s s o c ia tiv e
and a c o u stic scores (127 e rro rs to 109) fo r th e
LD sample Im p lies th a t t h i s expectatio n was f u l f i l l e d .
D 1 Bcusslon
The experim ental r e s u lt s and th e d iscussion
o f them p in p o in t two d ire c tio n s fo r fu tu re in q u iry ,
one In which l i t t l e experim entation has yet been
done and one in which as yet no t e s t s have been
conducted.
85
Since Table I illu m in a te s as much what i s unknown
a s what i s known about when normal ch ild re n mature
a s re a d e rs , any attem pt to assig n a mean age a t
which one s tra te g y re p la c e s another would a t t h i s
tim e be su b ject to challenge. C e rtain ly fu tu re
work could address I t s e l f to lo c a tin g more p re c is e ly
th e age a t which t h i s m aturatlonal advance o ccu rs.
The d isc lo su re th a t LD su b je c ts made comparable
aco u stio and a s s o c ia tiv e e rro r t o t a l s suggests th a t
the bulk o f LD ch ild re n approach th e changeover process
from a c o u stic a l to a s s o c ia tiv e p a tte r n s between th e
ages o f 9k and 11 y ea rs. Thus, fu tu re in q u ir ie s
sim ila r to th e p resen t experiment might focus most
p r o fita b ly on t h i s age group. Moreover, no work
e x is ts in t h i s f ie ld w ith which to compare th e r e s u l t s
o f t h i s study. A whole new area i s opened up in
which no te s tin g whatever has been conducted. I f
le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y means delayed a s s o c la tio n a l p a tte r n s ,
does t h i s delay match th e la g in M A 7 When i s th e
age o f change and how narrowly can i t be pinpointed?
These q u e stio n s need answering.
And f i n a l l y , o f course, more than a deoade
a f t e r th e p re se n t form ulation o f th e term "learn in g
d i s a b i l i t y ," i t i s s t i l l u n c le a r ju s t what phenomenon
i t d e sc rib e s and whether th e amount o f tim e and
money spent on i t i s being spent w isely . Evidence
8 6
6 z l8 ts th a t o fte n tim es adolescence marks a disappearance
o f symptoms o f le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y (Robinson and
Smith, 1962; Rawson, 1968). o th e r stu d ie s imply
th a t no treatm ent i s th e b est treatm en t (Balow and
Blom quist, 1965; Hinton and K nights, 1971).
The preceding paragraph i s not meant to minimize
th e problem o f le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y . I t i s alarm ing
t h a t , o f th e several follow-up stu d ie s o f reading
o lin ic p u p ils quoted in the in tro d u c to ry ch ap ter,
th e most p e s sim is tic fin d in g s were those o f Balow
and Blomquist (1965), whose su b je c ts most c lo se ly
met th e d e f in itiv e c r i t e r i a o f le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t y .
While n o tin g th a t over th e y ea rs, "a minor m iracle
did develop" (p48) in th a t most o f th e i r 32 ad u lt
male su b je c ts had ra is e d th e i r reading a b i l i t y to
n in th to te n th grade le v e l , clo se to th e a d u lt average,
they discovered th a t th e men also had in co rp o rated
some d is tu rb in g psychological p a tte r n s : n eg a tiv e ,
d e f e a tis t a t titu d e s toward l i f e , vague p la n s and
l i f e g o a ls, and a fe e lin g o f being "awash in a sea
o f fo rc e s fashioned by o th e rs" (p48). Only th re e
o f th e 32 were m arried and a la rg e p ro p o rtio n held
Bern!s k ille d o r u n sk ille d jobs.
While Balow and Blomquist were unable to draw
any cau se-an d -effect c o r re la tio n between e a rly reading
d i s a b i l i t y and l a t e r psychological problems, they
87
r a i s e some d istu rb in g q u e stio n s th a t to date o th e r
re se a rc h e rs have not dared to explore.
I n q u ir ie s In to what percentage o f d isab led
re a d e rs had experienced school f a ilu r e s reveal r a te s
ranging from 50 p ercen t (Hinton and Knights* 1971)
a l l th e way to 97 p ercen t (Hardy, 1968), as opposed
to a n a tio n a l average o f about 17 p e rc e n t. Nearly
a l l th e f a ilu r e s come in th e f i r s t th re e grades.
This means th a t few ch ild re n a re diagnosed a s le a rn in g -
d isa b led u n til a f t e r they have experienced th e disg race
and h u m iliatio n o f f a i l i n g . The phy sician o r psy ch o lo g ist
i s brought in as an emergency band-aid, not as a
p rev en tiv e measure. Perhaps th e psychological damage
described by Balow and Blomquist has alread y been
done.
In a d d itio n to follow ing th e abovementioned
d ir e c tio n s o f p u r s u it, new in v e s tig a to r s in th e
f i e l d may w ith to note c e rta in m ethodological lim ita tio n s
i n th e p rese n t study i n o rd er to avoid r e p e titio n .
These occur in th e s e le c tio n both o f su b je c ts and
o f stim ulus m a te ria ls , and in th e actu al te s tin g
procedure.
The fa c t th a t a ch ild i s making passin g grades
i n a re g u la r classroom i s not su b s ta n tia tio n th a t
he has a normal IQ. Regular c la s s c h ild re n should
be IQ -te ste d to e s ta b lis h a v a lid match between
8 8
groups on in te llig e n c e . Secondly* in discovering
behavior problems th a t might a f f e c t t e s t scores*
te ach e r ev alu atio n should be more s tru c tu re d . A
b ehavioral c h e c k list fo r each student would lower
s u b je c tiv ity and help standardize ev a lu a tio n s.
The choice to use Baoh and Underwood's word
l i s t a s a b a s is fo r forming a new one i s seen in
re tro s p e c t a s in e f f i c i e n t and a source o f confusion.
D espite rev isio n * unresearched t r i a d s such a s APE-
grape-monkey appeared in th e study. Another method
would have been to devise a new l i s t d ir e c tly from
Wepman's word frequency l i s t s (1969) and th e a s s o c ia te s
from Palermo and Jenkins (1964) and E n tw lstle (1966).
A p o s t- te s t item a n a ly sis o f th e responses
o f each word would f u rth e r determ ine th e e ffic a c y
o f each word as a te s tin g in stru m en t.
Three ste p s could be taken to uniform lze te s tin g
procedure: 1) Test a l l su b je c ts in th e same room.
2 ) E qualize th e tim e o f day between LD's and RC's
so th a t a l l o f one group does not begin a t one tim e
o f day and a l l o f the o th e r group a t another tim e.
3) Tape record th e in s tr u c tio n s . In ad d itio n to
unlform lzlng procedures* t h i s would perm it the
Experimenter to conduct h is own t e s tin g .
Conclusion
89
The experiment has corroborated th e supposition
suggested by previous re se a rc h , th a t le a rn in g disabled
c h ild re n tend to r e ta in words more a c o u s tic a lly as
opposed to a s s o c la tlo n a lly than do normal ch ild re n .
This fin d in g w arrants extensive experim entation
w ith rem edial programs th a t s tr e s s word a s s o c ia tio n s .
Such a conclusion i s n o t, o f course, o r ig in a l;
i t has been p ro ffe re d by a v a r ie ty of re se a rc h e rs,
some w ith d if fe re n t v o cab u laries and approaches to
reading problems (O hall, 1967, p215; Glebink and
G oodsell, 1968; B ilsky and Evans, 1970).
The id e a o f a s s o c la tio n a l remedial programs,
however, does not meet w ith unanimous approval in
th e f i e l d . A Canadian scholar suggests th a t a young
c h ild who makes "contextual" (read: " a sso c la tio n a l" )
reading e rro rs may be avoiding th e use o f "graphic"
(approxim ates "aco u stic") inform ation (B lem iller,
1969).
B lem iller p o s tu la te s th re e phases o f le a rn in g
to re a d : an e a rly contextual phase, then a graphic
phase, then a re tu rn to contextual inform ation.
Hi8 experiment u t i l i z e d f i r s t g rad ers. He acknowledges
evidence th a t a c o u stic e rro rs a re more common among
o ld e r c h ild re n w ith reading problems (Weber, 1968).
The im p lic a tio n i s th a t perhaps a phase two period
e x is ts during which a s s o c ia tiv e le a rn in g techniques
90
may be c o n tra -in d ic a te d . B ut, he concludes, as
ch ild re n show evidence o f usin g graphic inform ation
through a c c u ra te reading out o f co n tex t, they should
be given contextual m a te ria l to read.
Examples o f e f fe c tiv e teaching techniques
emphasizing a s s o c ia tiv e v a ria b le s are those th a t
in c lu d e use of pictogram s, o r p ic tu re clu es to te ach
a b s tra c t concepts (Woodcock, 1967; Banas and W ills,
1971).
While th e p rin c ip le o f a s s o c ia tiv e le a rn in g
i s c u rre n tly acknowledged in the classroom to th e
p o in t th a t i t may be c a lle d a pedagogical tru ism ,
i t i s another truism th a t d if fe r e n t stu d en ts have
d if f e r e n t le a rn in g s ty le s . As one re se a rc h team
su g g ests, "Perhaps c e rta in ty p es o f ch ild re n w ith
reading problems can be a s s is te d by s p e c ific kinds
o f m edlational tr a in in g to improve t h e i r a s s o c ia tiv e
a b i l i t y " (Giebink and G oodsell, 1968).
I t may be p la u s ib le th a t th e le a rn in g s ty le
o f c h ild re n w ith le a rn in g d i s a b i l i t i e s i s such th a t
i t w arrants in te n s iv e rem ediational tr a in in g in
th e a re a o f word a s s o c ia tio n . This i s a most Im portant
a re a th a t w arrants f u rth e r in v e s tig a tio n .
APPENDIXES
91
• GLENDALE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
C olum bus Elem entary School
425 W est Milford Stroot
G londafo, Calif. 91203
242-772.2
92
EURTIS E. TAYtOft
S u p e rin te n d e n t
OR. RICHARD L . MARTIN
P rin c ip a l
March 23, 19?3
Dear
Wo are roqueating permission for your child to participate in a
research study being conducted by Mr. Dan Kramar from the University
of Southorn California,, The study trill explore how children bast
renombor uords. The study tri.ll take tip approximately nine minutes
of each pupil's time, divided into two days. Sour child's responses
trill not be mado public or bocoma part of the Classroom or school
records in anyt/ay. Tho study trill taka place at Columbus school and
has boon approved by tho school district. Than!: you for your con
siders ta.on.
Sincerely,
o£. c
Kichard L. Martin
Please return to school as soon as possible.
Yea, may participate in tho study,
may not participate in tho study.
Signature (Parent or guardian)
93
APPENDIX I I
STIMULUS W O R D S USED O N RETENTION
TEST IN ORDER OP PRESENTATION
Order Word
1 cat
2 moon
3 race
4
Hi sli
5 rid e
6 s i t
7 man
8
house
9 king
1 0
t e l l
11 day
12 hand
13 ape
14 ch a ir
15 bed
16
boy
17 give
1 8
bee
19 bath
20 s a lt
APPENDIX I I I
ORDER
D A Y 1
cat
moon
race
wi sh
rid e
si t
man
house
king
t e l l
OP PRESENTATION OP RETENTION TEST STIMULI
D A Y 2 D A Y 1 D A Y 2
hat way
cat day day
dog n ig h t
sun hand
spoon hand arm
moon sand
race
run
face
hope
wish
f is h
side
car
rid e
s i t
h i t
stand
man
pan
woman
mouse
house
home
rin g
queen
king
ta lk
t e l l
f e l l
ape
c h a ir
bed
boy
give
bee
bath
s a l t
grape
ape
monkey
h a ir
ta b le
ch a ir
bed
head
sleep
boy
g i r l
toy
tak e
l i v e
give
tr e e
stin g
bee
water
bath
path
pepper
m alt
s a lt
APPENDIX IY
FREQUENCY OF RESPONSES OF EH A N D
RO SUBJECTS T O EACH W O R D
W O R D S EH RO
C A T
17 15
dog 8 8
hat
5 7
M O O N
1 8 20
sun
5 7
spoon
7 3
RACE 14 16
run
11 11
face
5 3
WISH
17
1 8
hope
5
6
f is h 8 6
RIDE 1 8 18
car 8 10
side 4 2
SIT 22 28
stand
3
0
h i t
5 2
M A N
25 27
woman 2 2
pan
3 1
HOUSE 10
19
home 12 7
mouse 8 4
KING
17 20
queen 4 4
rin g 9 6
TELL 13 9
ta l k 10
15
f e l l 7 6
D A Y 21
17
n ig h t 8
9
way 1 4
96
APPENDIX IV
(continued)
W O H D S EH RO
H A N D 15 16
arm 5 12
sand 1 0 2
APE 22 24
monkey 5 5
grape 3 1
CHAIR 17 23
ta b le 7 3
hai r 6 4
BED 21 23
s i eep 4 5
head 5 2
BO Y 19 21
g i r l 6 5
toy 5 4
GIVE 19 16
tak e 6 1 0
l i v e 5 4
BEE 19 26
s tin g 2 l
tr e e 9 3
BATH 1 8 20
wat er 1 0 9
p ath 2 1
SALT 22 28
pepper 6 l
malt 2 1
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Creator Kramon, Daniel Louis (author)

Core Title Acoustic And Associative Variables In The Retention Of Words By Children With Learning Disabilities

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, special,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor McIntrye, Robert B. (committee chair), Meyers, Charles Edward (committee member)

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