II 



Revision and Extension of Reading Scales 



CORRELATION OF TWO SCALES 



It has been frequently objected that the vocabulary test, 

 the mere abilty to recognize words, is not a measure of reading 

 ability. The objection is twofold. The vocabulary measure tests 

 too much; it tests too little. In support of the latter contention 

 it is pointed out that reading involves not only the recognition of 

 words but of the relations of words in a sentence. That there is 

 truth in this objection no one doubts. All who have tried to 

 translate a foreign language like Latin or German know per- 

 fectly well that it is not enough to recognize the English equiva- 

 lent of the foreign words, and manj^ a person will know all the 

 words of English sentences without understanding the sentence. 

 ''He found law dear and left it cheap" does not contain a word that 

 is not more or less familiar to a tweh^e-year-old child, yet few 

 twelve-3^ear-olds will have any adequate understanding of the 

 passage. The grammatical relation of the words and the range 

 of personal experience are determinative factors lying outside the 

 limits of mere word knowledge. 



With equal justice, it must be admitted that the vocabulary 

 test sometimes demands more than would be required from a sen- 

 tence containing a word. About 900 out of 1,000 children did 

 not know the word ''philanthropic," yet it would have offered little 

 difl&culty in a setting like this: 



"]\Ir. Rockefeller has given large sums of money to schools 

 and colleges. He has also given money to medical research. 

 Mr. Carnegie has given money to found libraries in cities and towns 

 and Airs. Harriman has given money to charitable institutions. 

 These are but a few of the persons in our country who have given 

 money from their private fortunes for the benefit of their fellow- 

 men. Such philanthropic endeavor is one of the things which 

 characterize our men of wealth." 



In such a context "philanthropic'', tho seen for the first time, 

 would hardly offer difficulty. Clearh^ a child might succed with 

 this passage, tho he had failed on the vocabulary test as such. 



Despite, however, the CAudently variable functions measured 

 by the vocabulary and understanding of sentence tests, there 

 is some relation between a person's knowledge of words and his 



(35; ■ 



