DIFFERENCES IN CRITICAL READING PERFORMANCE BETWEEN PUPILS IN SIXTH AND EIGHT GRADES

This study examines the area of critical reading in which pupils are to judge the truth value of statements related to social studies passages. A total of 526 subjects, 250 sixth grade and 276 eighth grade pupils were required to judge 45 statements, six statements for each of the seven passages, as either “true” (T), “probably true” (PT), “not enough facts” (NE), “probably false” (PF) or “false” (F) based upon passage information. Pupils differed significantly on 11 of 42 statements (X = 4.25, p<.05 to 51.65, p<.001). Findings support previous research that shows older pupils to be more aware of organizational structure, more precise in assessing information and better able to deal with logical relationships. Younger pupils respond more impulsively to ambiguous statements. When judging conclusive statements, the majority of sixth appear to rely upon their own belief system rather than upon passage information.