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The perceived causes of early reading failure as identified by adults with impaired reading skills
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify reasons why adults with impaired reading skills did not learn to read while in elementary or secondary school and to verify their perceptions of the nature of their reading difficulty. The importance of being able to read in today's society has been the topic of many articles, books, and speeches the last few years. The costs to the nation of poorly educated adults is in the billions. To solve this problem, the government provides free literacy classes for adults, but only a small percentage take advantage of the offerings because these adults believe the classes take too long to improve their reading skills. This study is based on the premise that in order to develop literacy classes that are relevant for participants, the causes of reading problems must be known. An analysis of the perceptions of adults with impaired reading skills was conducted. An in-depth semi-structured interview technique was the methodology used to discover the possible causes of reading failure. Also, accompanying diagnostic reading tests were used to evaluate the adults' perceptions of their reading difficulty. Twenty-one subjects between ages 30 and 50 were interviewed. The findings of the study demonstrated the substantive reason for the subjects' reading failure was their adverse home environments in which emotionally harmful experiences transpired such as abusive parents, alcoholic parents, feeling unwanted, frequent moving, divorce, family quarrels, violence in the home, or death in the family. Also, respondents' parents did not provide an environment in which reading and learning were considered important, namely they did not read to their children, encourage reading in the home, nor did they push their children to learn. The results also indicated that though subjects had only a basic level of reading (ability to read simple signs and texts), most were able to accurately describe their reading deficiencies. This finding should enable Adult Basic Education teachers to expedite diagnostic procedures and establish effective programs for the adult basic learner.
Subject Area
Adult education|Continuing education|Curricula|Teaching|Elementary education|Literacy|Reading instruction|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Sullivan-McCoy, Kathleen Louise, "The perceived causes of early reading failure as identified by adults with impaired reading skills" (1989). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9023003.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9023003