sex differences and strategies for successful early reading
TRANSCRIPT
Michigan Reading Journal Michigan Reading Journal
Volume 15 Issue 1 Article 16
April 1981
Sex Differences and Strategies For Successful Early Reading Sex Differences and Strategies For Successful Early Reading
Audrey Fretty Heath
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Heath, Audrey Fretty (1981) "Sex Differences and Strategies For Successful Early Reading," Michigan Reading Journal: Vol. 15 : Iss. 1 , Article 16. Available at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/mrj/vol15/iss1/16
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for Educational Research and Development, San Francisco, Fall 1978.
"Educational Programs That Work, Sixth Edition," prepared for the National Diffusion Network Division of Educational Replication Department of Education Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development, San Francisco, Fall, 1979.
Hartford Public Schools I. R. I. T. 1973-74 Evaluation Report. Hartford, Connecticut, 1974.
Hartford Public Schools I. R. I. T. 1974-75 Evaluation Report. Hartford Connecticut, 1975.
Hartford Public Schools 1975-76 Compensatory Education Program Evaluation, Intensive Reading Instructional Teams, Hartford, Connecticut, 1976.
Hartford Public Schools, Evaluation for Title I/SADC Funded Projects for 1976-77. Hartford, Connecticut 1977.
"Intensive Reading Instructional Teams, Project Information Package." prepared by RMC Research Corporation under U.S.O.E. Contract 300-76-0002, 1976.
Park, Jeanne S., Editor. WINNERS, ALL! 41 OUTSTANDING EDUCA-
TION PROJECTS THAT HELP DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978.
Superintendent of Documents. IT WORKS, INTENSIVE READING INSTRUCTIONAL TEAMS; HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT; ELEMENTARY PROGRAM IN COMPENSATORY EDUCATION. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969.
"Title I Exemplary Programs," Connecticut State Department of Education. Hartford, Connecticut, March 1979.
Sex Differences and Strategies For Successful Early Reading
Audrey Fretty Heath Audrey Heath teaches first grade
at Posen Consolidated School, Posen, Michigan. The importance of sex differences
as they influence learning to read is generally recognized. Low reading groups consist primarily of boys, and more boys than girls are retained. Some boys with average intelligence seem less ready for prereading and reading instruction in kindergarten and first grade than girls of similar ability and chronological age. Teachers of young children are therefore confronted with the practical consequences of sex differences in reading achievement.
Boys mature more slowly than girls and are often nearly a year behind physically by school age (7). Dramatic differences in male and female brain functioning give girls an advantage in language, linguistic abilities, and fine motor performance while boys show superiority is visual acuity and gross total body activities (9). Research clearly has determined that a developmental lag does exist; however, the disparity in reading achievement appears to be a phenomenon of the Western world rather than a universal occurence.
CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH Johnson examined sex differences
in reading across English-speaking cultures and found boys in grades two, four, and six scored higher than girls on most reading tests in England and Nigeria; in Canada and the United States girls generally scored higher than boys (6). Preston researched the reading achievement of fourth grade German children and found boys' reading scores were higher than those of girls (8). Gross studied sex-role standards and reading achievement among Israeli Kibbutz children in kindergarten, grade two, and grade five. No significant difference was found in the reading performance level of boys and girls. Gross noted both sexes perceived reading as sex-appropriate ( 4).
The correlation of the slower physical maturing of boys and the later age at which they learn to read may have been improperly interpreted as cause and effect. Crosscultural studies suggest matura- • tional lag might not be the single cause of the sex differential in early
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reading progress. An environmental explanation must be considered.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN
Available data indicate that boys differ from girls in needs, interests, and characteristics (10, 3). Attitudes, motivation, and behavior of boys and girls in early formalized education are perceived as partially a reflection of cultural expectations and sex-stereotyping. Johnson and Greenbaum report that a conflict exists between the student role and the sex role for some boys because "boys receive a double message; be passive, quiet and conforming as a student but also be aggressive, active, achieving and independent socially. Therefore, some boys will experience conflict and stress in school, and this could result in dissatisfaction, lower achievement, and/or lower self-esteem" (5, p. 494). They observe that the student role and sex role are congruent and reinforcing for girls. "However, the danger for girls is that while achieving they will be socialized too greatly into behavior not compatible with effective adult functioning" (5, p . 494).
RESTRUCTURING THE CURRICULUM
Sex differences can provide a base for curriculum change and accomodation leading to improved achievement by all students. Dechant and Smith focused on the importance of individualizing the curriculum: "It is not enough to know what is best for the group. It is not enough to know what type of reading program would benefit most boys or girls. The teacher must prescribe for the individual boy and girl, and as soon as he attempts this, he realizes that differences between boys and girls and between one boy and another ... differences other than sex ... play a significant role in reading achievement" (1, p.100). Rather than advocating a "best single approach" to the reading, teachers should employ teaching strategies which reflect an awareness of and a concern for sex differences.
Restak recommends that educators restructure the elementary grades so boys might find their initial contacts less stressful: "The male brain learns by manipulating its environment, yet the typical student is forced to sit still for long hours in the classrooms. The male brain is primarily visual, while classroom instruction demands attentive listening. Boys are clumsy in fine hand coordination, yet they are forced at an early age to express themselves in writing. Finally, there is little opportunity in most schools, other than during recess period, for gross motor movements or rapid responses. In essence the classrooms in most of our nation's primary grades are geared to skills that come naturally to girls but develop slowly in boys" (9, p. 205).
Dowing and Thomson examined sex-sterotyping and cultural expectations and concluded that boys tended to view reading as a feminine activity. Early reading, then, must be made sex-appropriate (2).
STRATEGIES FOR READING SUCCESS
In a first grade classroom in Posen, Michigan, a masculineoriented approach was employed by a female teacher. Parent ' involvement, and especially the cooperation of fathers, was encouraged to reinforce school efforts to increa~t:; boys' reading achievement by modifying their sex-role standards of
reading. An informal survey of what first graders' fathers read at work was tallied, duplicated, and sent home with a message urging fathers to read aloud to their children. As the fathers demonstrated that they valued the printed page as a source of information and pleasure, they were encouraged to read not only children's literature but also bits and pieces of printed matter that was of interest to them. In addition, fathers were urged to listen to their children read aloud.
Males were involved within the classroom, and their participation was structured to change attitudes regarding the sex-role definition of reading. Fathers observed, conferred, and shared special hobbies or professions with the class. Recruiting males to assist on a parttime basis in the classroom provided a masculine influence in first grade and created male-role ·models for reading. A male librarian read a non-sexist book to the class during weekly scheduled library visits. A senior high school athlete read a male-oriented story aloud each week. A male social worker interacted with the children as he presented a brief weekly program to build self-concepts. The custodian assisted with special projects such as winter bird feeding stations and creating a sugar bush in the woods behind the school.
The teacher captialized on male interests in reading by having available material that was actionoriented, problem-solving, comic, and experimental. USSR (Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading) was scheduled weekly in the spring, and adult male readers were invited to join the class for fifteen minutes of recreational reading.
Science and social study units became "hands-on", "manipulative activities. The first Thanksgiving was re-created with a teepee, costumes, cooking, language experience stories, and dramatization. Ben Franklin's birthday was celebrated with candle-dipping. Science had a discovery orientation, with live animals (snakes, salamandars, lizards, tadpoles, chicks, birds, etc.) to observe and relevant books available to "read to find out." Dinosaurs fascinated many boys and provided impetus for • cctc..iuiy and art activities. A solar energy unit involved cooking a hot dog on a solar reflector, construc-
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ting a solar motor, making sun tea, and investigating earth shelter housing. "Hobby Week" provided an opportunity for children to display collections and write language experience stories.
Sex segregation of informal small group allowed interested children to listen to Richard Scarry' s Cars and Trucks and Things That Go or a special Ranger Rick article. Language experience stories dictated by a segregated group focused on that group's interests. Monthly vocabulary lists of important words suggested by the children were posted and read daily.
Creative writing, dictated or written by a student, was encouraged. Using hard-covered books to publish the final draft provided extra writing incentive. Surprise notewriting by the teacher to individual children usually elicited a response in writing. Invitations to special first grade activities and thank-you letters were composed frequently by the class.
Teaching became a parent-teacher partnership with the organization of a volunteer parent reading-aide program. The seven mothers involved worked individually with children on the immediate recognition of 220 basic sight words. A monthly newsletter kept parents informed of academic focus and special activities in the classroom, thereby increasing home-school communication.
Gross motor activities were incorporated in the curriculum using "sound parades" to reinforce phonics and movement games as part of reading. A structured, sequential program remained flexible enough to follow children's interests in curriculum planning.
The strategies noted seemed to make a difference in the reading achievement of 11 boys and 8 girls in the first grade classroom. The California Achievement Test, administered to the class at the 1.8 grade level, resulted in a Total Reading Mean of 2. 4 and a Language Mean of 2.3. The sex differential in early reading progress was not eliminated, but both boys and girls learned well. The boys' Total Reading Mean was 2.2 and the girls', 2. 7; the boys' Language Mean was 2.2 and the girls', 2.7. Capitalizing on the recognized sex differences meant accomodation, adjustment, and individualization
within the curriculum. This resulted in successful early reading achievement for each first grade student.
REFERENCES 1. Dechant, Emerald V. & Henry P. Smith. PSYCHOLOGY IN TEACHING READING. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1977. 2. Dowing, John & Doug Thomson. "Sex Role Stereotyping in Learning to Read," RESEARCH. IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH, II(Fall, 1977), 149-55. 3. Gentile, Lance M. Merna M. McMillan, "When Johnny Can't Read by Mary Can, Men Can Help," THE READING TEACHER, (May, 1976), 771-75.
ffiRA'S Parent ln-Seruice Guide
4. Gross, Alice Dzen. "Sex Role Standards and Reading Achievement: A Study of an Israeli Kibbutz System," THE READING TEACHER, 32 (Nov., 1978), 149-56. 5. Johnson, Carole Schulte & Gloria R. Greenbaum, "Are Boys Disabled Readers Due to Sex-Role Stereotyping?" EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP, 37 (Mar., 1980), 492-96.
6. Johnson, Dale D. "Sex Differences in Reading Across Cultures," READING RESEARCH QUARTERLY, (1973-1974), 67-86. 7. Moore, Raymond S. & Dorothy N. Moore. SCHOOL CAN WAIT. Provo, Ut.: Brigham Young University Press, 1979.
8. Preston, Ralph C. "Reading Achievement of German Boys and Girls Related to Sex of Teacher," THE READING TEACHER, 32 (Feb., 1979), 521-26.
9. Restak, Richard M. THE BRAIN AND THE LAST FRONTIER. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1979. 10. Stranchfield, Jo M. "Differences in Learning Patterns of Boys and Girls," William, K. Durr (Ed.), READING DIFFICULTIES: DIAGNOSIS, CORRECTION AND REMEDIATION. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1970.
More than one hunJreJ classroom observations in each of three school Jistricts, across graJe levels anJ subject areas, revealeJ an almost total absence of instruction in or use of "appropriate" reference materials anJ research/stuJy skills.
The mchigan Reading Association s Parents and
Reading Committee is pleased to announce the auailability
of the Parent ln-Seruice Guide . The Guide is designed to
help school districts or reading councils :
ln-Jepth analysis of M'EJlP Jata in one local Jistrict revealeJ that stuJents who haJ Jone poorly on the comprehension objectives of the fourth graJe reaJing test hao been aomitteo to
* Recruit and hold the interest of parents
* Assess parent in -seru1ce needs
* Plan eff ect1ue in-seru1ce for parents
* educate parent on child growth and deuelopment in
reading
* Secure appropriate speakers for parents
* Find (using the extens1ue bibliography) appropriate
books. pamphlets. etc .. for use with parents
A uariety of forms and transparency originals are in
cluded to use directly with parents Ready-made needs
assessment instruments . facilities and arrangements
checklists. and the "Reading Growth Guide · can be
duplicated for local use .
Orders can be placed by sending a check or money
order for $10 oo to : Parent ln-Seruice Guide . m1ch1gan
Reading Assoc1at1on . PO Box 7509. Grand Rapids . ml
49510. All orders must be prepaid
kinoergarten at an appreciably younger age than that of their classmates.
[]he replies of the reaJing consultants of one school oistrict when askeJ to oescribe their jobs ano responsibilities were strikingly unlike the replies of the aJministrators ano faculty of that oistrict when they were askeo to oescribe the jobs ano responsibilities of their reaoing consultants.
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