DOCUMENT RESUME - ERIC

[Pages:23]ED 191.016

DOCUMENT RESUME

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TITLE .

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INSTITUTION

REPORT NO

PUB _DATE :

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AVAIIABLE FR

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EDRSf PRIC

DESCRIPTORS

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IDENTIFIERS

'Thorpe, W. ,Graham: And Others The Burt Word Reiding Test. 1974 Revision. Manual.

,Scottish Councj.l.' for Rgsearch in Educatioh:

ISBN-0:340-20195-1: SCE -66

,

76

23p.

The Scottish Council for Research in Education, 15

St. "John St.., Edinburgh EH8 8JR, Scotland

(0,9Opence)

.

iii.

.

%

,

MF01 Plus -,-_., PPostage. PC Not Available from EDRS. Elementary Secondary Education: Guides; *Oral

Reading; *Reading Tests: -Standardized ;Tests: Test

Norms: *Word Lists: *Word Recognition ..,

*Burt -Word Reading Test

r ,ABSTRACT

Noting that the'1574 revision and standardiZation of

the Mitt Wcrd Reading Test resulted in a reordering of .some-"of" the

words in accordance with current levels of difficulty,-this manual

includes directions for administering and(scoring the new test fOrm,.

provides age and class norms; and offers: advice on the use and _

c interpretation of `The. scoreS.4Information .orstfie stazdardization and

the reliability of the, Scores is alSo given. Appendixes contain

copy of tft words used in the test' and tables of norms. (FL)

.

4ra ts%

4,

* Reproductions supplied by EDRS),a,re the best thtt can be mad

*

from the original 4ocument.

*

*******;:c****Io***************************************,:c******0**********

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION &WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF' EDUCATION

THIrr-DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY QS. RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE.OF EDUCATION POSsITI011 OR POLICY

THE BURT WORD READING TEST

1974 REVISION

MANUAL

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS,

MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY

J

HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

SrattLS13-CCILllaraLICW-.

Rasear-rhinEdt-ton

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTE /(ERIC)."

s

Hodder, & StoUghtOn Ltd

The Scottish Council for'Research in Education

4

-f

SCRE PUBLICATION 66

1976 Scottishpiuncil. for R search in Education

is reserved 316:;Part of this pub]. atiol, may be reproduced

ransrn,itted in'a0,iorm orby'any eans, electronic.or

.

echanical;;incitAins phoi6CO)y,_re ording, or any information

storage and retrieval systerni.1,4itho t permission in writing from

the publish.er.. Printed and bound in Great Brit in for

I"... Hodder: and Sioughlon Educar opal,

.

L la divisiOn of Hodder and Sto ghton Ltd, Lon ion,

by Lindsay & Co Ltd, 17 B1 ckfriars Stree:. Edinburg:. EH1 1ND

CONTENTS

Introduction

Acknowledgments . . ...... .

Chapter I: The BUrt Reading Test Chapter II: Directions for Applying the Reading Test .... Chapter III: The 1974 Test NorniS Chapter IV: Some Technical Notes:: Appendix A: The Burt, Readingti (1974 Revision) Appendix B: Tables of NormS 1

INTRODUCTION

This 1974 revision and standardisation of the /Bizet Word Reading' Test has resillted in a re-ordering Rf some/of the words in accord=;

ance with the relative difficUltieg\fou d in the course of the standardisation. This revised order is given in Appendix A (page 15). Cards containing the t t, which are sold in packets

/ of 20, are,pUblished by 'Hodder arid Stoughton L L.

;/,

This manual is intende for the gen , userrteachgr,

psychologist etc.. It includes directions' for adMinistration and

scoring, Age and Class' norms, and advice 'oni//the use and

interpretation of score Limited information on ithe standardiSation and the reliability

of scores is also, -.Gen. 1 pamphlet giving a technical deScription of how the standardisation was carried out, together with / full statistical ppendices is in preparation and' will be available shortly dire y from The Scottish COuncil for Research in

,' Education 6 Moray Plaice, Edinburgh,E1-13 6DR.

-)

76

III

,.

"Tbet work of starglardisatio of an educatiOnal test is eSsentinallv:;.

a co- operative entepprise" was _pioneering study of this test in

how 'P E Vernon ev 1938. ,The.,,same is

It:ated ,his . d7iliee of. '(the, ,,

present', stud -y. Indeed insofar as the sample'net wa fast:wiclef /

on :this co-ope.-,

ro:a' tcion

of

,it is probably more true., The ssistancepeople IhrOughout the ,eduCational system.

or of

Scotla'il was required. in order to test. the larger, number of

children involved, and the Council waS;,l'Ortunat,6 ' in that:. all

approached responded mosi Willingly.

,

/

,

';// Thanks are' due to the Directors of Education / Headteachers

/and Teachers responsible for the pupils tested. /,A., ll were, _m, ost

helpful in which for

facilitating access many must have

,to the child'ren at been particularly

aintimceonofnthte.

year

As

the demand upon school time-for studies of this nature increases

research workers are grateful for the continuing good-Will of the

schools. i

'''

/. The bulk of the testing

-. .

..

,

, ',I

was, organised, and carried /On( by

the

staff and students of the Colleges of Edtication. If their assistance .

and cOntaci with local schools had not, been, available the size

of theStuds,-would have been much sit-faller-and the findings less reliable:/ it is hoped that there was4suffiCient;interest in the work itself to recompense the students, and the staff as well, for their

expenditure of energy and time. The Council is also in.::..L.-h-...-.:d in

this aspeci-of the work to the personnel of several child iii:.:..:atice centres;- their help with testing children in the mere rernlote

schools was invaluable.

,

The organisation of the data collection, the manager:nem: of the

data, and the statistical analysis have been the rest :-:asi-...2:i.:: of

Nir NV Graham Thorife (Research rlficer, SCRE). . 7 -:7!7:17Z J

Pollock (Depute Director, SCRE) s .--r:vised the ge7.-_:e :::-..nceIct

:If the prbject. He, also played a :IL_ or role in tE:- for:7oiat.on.

of the sampling design and subsequent anal:ysis. 'In -:-;,;a::inz '.he

text of this Manual, Mr Thorpe had the stance Dr .71:c A

V

VI

.

.

Walker (formerly Director, SCRE) and Mr John L Powell

(Assistant Director, SCRE). Advice, particularly on the form of: presentat.i.o. n of the information contained in 'this.- manual, was

provided by Dr W Bryan Dockrell (Director, SCRE). The text

was edited by. Mr Powell.

Inevitably the , authors of this report have been particularly

indebted to Professor P E Vernon as the author of the previous

manual and standardisation gublished by SCRE. In particular

the directions for applying the. reading test are quotedFv4rbfatim

froM the earlier manual. It is- gratifying. to note that r essor

Vernon still has dn active interest in the Burt test, having

recently conducted afresh standardisation in Alberta -(Canada).

Chapter

- THE BURT READING T ST

This,test, which:Was devised by Burt over fift yeIrs ago, is still a.most useful educational tool. The secent r ort of the Bullock .Confifiittee stated that -the test as currently employed in one

third of all primary ;schools and fifteen per cent of secondary

schtiols. The test- is- also freautirdkused by child psychologists ,

.;,...,_a

research workers. ,nd

"---ft--c-onsists of 110 words graded in aftproxiniate order of 'diffi-

culty nd is given individually, the child being told to read as

many words as he can, at his own. speed. Be continues until he

has at empted and failed at _least IQ consecutive words: it is

then presumed that the remainder are too difficult for him, but

. he is allowed to look aheac and pick out another. words he

.... th.ink he can manage. Frc the total number of words which

can spontaneously prer lnc without error his reading age

be immediately c;:"

9 he norms Provided.

idence produ 0,2d 1.

-)f researc:n has shown that

rmaic

have little weight. At first,

the test a_Triears :o

o rt and simple to be either

re

or valiL some

that several of the correct

:.Jrthiatiuns ma:

s; zit

::fiance; that the child would

.enable

later occasion: Some would

po:nt out t!

have been recently covered

fn class we

m:;ht c:

.,:kby many factors other than

the

tc 1 -;

And many would object

that the s lro--!7%-onouncin,,:

::its= upon which the test depends

is one o iitie leak yr.--

aspects of reading -ability; that

*sj,leed, fit2,'ney aid co:

nurmbei- of

:ion 'are entirely omitted by it. s is sufficiently gredt to cancel out

-

'f0;

!, A Language , or Lije, HMSO .1975 (ISBN 0 11 2703267), pages 381 and

4426. The surv'y was confined to England. Figures for Scotland and Wales

4-- are not available.

tb

2

THE BURT READING TEST

_ - -

the chance factors which might help or hinder the pronunciation

of a few individual words. The test has a high degree of

reliability, and produces scores 'which correlate well with other

measures of reading abilityie, it has a satisfactory validity.

The test possesses additional value, both for the teacher and

the psychologist*, in that it is an individual c:7e.. The child's

manner and voice may give usUul hints as to 's nervousness

and tension or confidence and. social adjusts . ;

or carelessness, and his. persistence when

\wi'' diffi-

culties. Furthermore, the main types of error 11,

:_ward-

reader makes will help in a preliminary diagnoL. , !ti

lily.

Nevertheless, the teacher must realise that

L-ad -ore

specific to is e required to identify the probler..1 facec.' 1r :his -

type of child.t

The 1974 revision of the BuEt Test has not or jade._ ....43-to-

date norms (see Chapter III) but a revised .-d orccr that

takes into aceount changes that have occurre the retatiye

_difficulties of the ,Words. .Additional info:771a ,;Rp on the

re-ordering of the words is given in Chapter IV, Se:, 3.

..

t See for example -Special. Provision /or Read; NFER. 1975 (ISBN 85633 0639).

vid Moseby,

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