A TEST OF TWO MODELS OF NON-SUICIDAL SELF-INJURY A thesis submitted To Kent State University in partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

The main purpose of t h i s study was to e m p i r i c a l l y e s t a b l i s h c r i t e r i a f o r the i n s t r u c t i o n a l l e v e l of an Informal Reading Inventory using o r a l sight reading. A secondary purpose was to investigate the r e l a t i o n s h i p between o r a l word recognition, o r a l reading comprehension and s i l e n t reading comprehension on an I.R. I. One hundred and twenty c h i l d r e n were administered an Informal Reading Inventory i n grades one through s i x . Twenty chi l d r e n i n each of the s i x grades were randomly selected i n a school that can be described as being populated by middle class c h i l d r e n . A 60 percent minimum was chosen i n t h i s thesis for o r a l reading comprehension. Each p u p i l ' s inventory was examined and the graded o r a l reading passage that had the greatest number of word recognition errors within t h i s 60 percent minimum was the one used for future computations. In the primary grades 60 percent comprehension was associated with 89 percent word recognition accuracy; and i n the intermediate grades 60 percent comprehension was associated with 97 percent word recognition accuracy. A d d i t i o n a l l y , an unexpected fi n d i n g was that the average s i l e n t reading comprehension percentage at a l l grades was s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c andtly lower than the average o r a l comprehension percent. A multiple regression analysis conducted between word recognition accuracy, o r a l reading comprehension and s i l e n t reading comprehension and 2 s i l e n t reading comprehension i n d i c a t e d that the R of . 049 was not s i g n i f i c a n t when a l l grades one through s i x were combined. The f i r s t conclusion was that with the exception of Word Recognition Accuracy for the intermediate grades the t r a d i t i o n a l c r i t e r i a presented by Betts and K i l l g a l l o n and many subsequent inv e s t i g a t o r s underestimated a pupi l ' s reading a b i l i t y . Second, i t was hypothesized by t h i s i n v e s t i g a t o r that perhaps there might be an overemphasis on o r a l reading as the p u p i l progresses i n t o the intermediate grades which may i n f a c t be i n t e r f e r i n g with h i s s i l e n t reading. Such an hypothesis of course could only be v a l i d ated through further research. T h i r d , that by knowing word recognition accuracy and o r a l comprehension, one could not accurately p r e d i c t s i l e n t reading performance. I t was therefore concluded that s i l e n t reading should be included as a necessary component of the I.R. I, f o r grades one through s i x . i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Introduction 1 The Purpose of the Study 3 Operational D e f i n i t i o n s 3 J u s t i f i c a t i o n f o r the Study 8 The Hypotheses 9 II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction 10 The Need f o r an I.R. I 10 The D e f i n i t i o n of the I.R. I 10 Development of the I.R. i 12 R e l i a b i l i t y and V a l i d i t y of the I.R. I 19 Oral and S i l e n t Reading on the I.R. I 21 I.R. I, and Reading Rate 22 Al t e r n a t i v e s to the I.R. I 22 III METHOD Select i o n of Subjects 27 Materials 27 Testing Procedures 35 IV STATISTICAL PROCEDURES AND RESULTS Determination of Word Recognition Accuracy (W.R.A.) and Oral Comprehension (O.C.) for the I n s t r u c t i o n a l Level . 38 Relationship Between W.R. A. , O.C, and S i l e n t Comprehension (S.C.) 47 Correlations and Mu l t i p l e Regression Analysis Between W.R. A. , O.C. , and S.C 48 V DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 55 Implications For Further Research 58 REFERENCES 60 APPENDIX 64