California state University Northridge
Reading Achievement and Cognitive Style
A thesis/project submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of' lVIaster of Arts in
Education
by
Joanne Ruth Frankel
September, 1972
The thesis/project of' Joanne Ruth Framcel is approved:
California State University Northridge
August, 1972
ii
ACKNOWLEDGl.VIENTS
Many thanks are due to the people who helped
during the course of this thesis/project:
Dr.
Philip Hansen for his assistance in conceptualizing this project, Dr. Augusto Britton for his
suggestions on statistical design, and rJis. Dorothy
Chinnici who sparked my initial interest in
cognitive style, and gave me access to her
professional library.
iii
'l'ABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
I
•
Vi
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1
CHAPTER
I
II
III
IV
IN'l'RODUCTION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ,
I"'ETHODS • ,
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 14
FINDINGS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
19
DISCUSSION • • • • • • • • • • • •
23
REFERENCES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
28
iv
TABLES
1.
Analysis of Variance of Cognitive Style
for School, Sex, and Reading Groups • • . • • 20
2.
Mean Cognitive Style scores for Each
variable . . •
J.
...
'
•
•
It
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
20
•
Mean Cognitive Style scores for
Interaction Effects . . . .
v
It
a
It
It
II
It
It
21
ABSTRACT
COGNITIVE STYLE AND READING
by
Joanne Ruth Frankel
Master of Arts in Education
September, 1972
To clarify the contention that reading programs
should take the cognitive style of students into account,
this investigation studied the relationship of cognitive
style to reading achievement, and, in addition, to sex and
school.
Using ANOVA in a 2 by 2 by J factorial design, th
problem was studied among 83 high, average, and low
readers in the sixth grade at two Los Angeles schools.
Cognitive style was defined using Witkin's (1962) globalanalytic continuum and measured using his sophisticationof-body-concept scale.
Among both sexes and at both
schools, cognitive style was significantly related at the
.05
level to reading achievement, with high achieving
groups being more analytic than low ones.
These findings
gave further support to the conclusion that there is a
significant difference in cognitive style among reading
achievement groups.
Vi
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
In recent years, urban public school systems, particularly those with large minority populations, have been
increasingly concerned with the failure of their reading
programs in bringing children up to national norms.
In
Los Angeles, for example, the 1971 median percentiles were
only 27 for third grade and J7 for sixth grade (Young,
197ly.
A variety of special programs has been tried in an
attempt to improve urban reading scores.
Title I funds
have been provided by the federal government for special
reading teachers to work in "inner-city" schools.
state
governments have follow·ed suit with such programs as the
Miller-Unruh Act which, in 1971, authorized $18 million in
California for the prevention and correction of reading
disabilities (The Special Teacher of Reading, Winter,
1970).
Finally, private concerns have gotten into the act
through performance contracts in which payment is dependent on the children achieving minimum reading gains which
are set beforehand.
Yet, despite these large expenditures of time and
money, none of these programs has been particularly effective.
The l"iiller-Unruh Act, for example, resulted in no
L---------------------------------------------------------------~·
1
2
increase for the lower quartile children during the years
1966-69 (Ruddell, 1970).
Corporation
A recent survey by the Rand
(1971) of six major performance contracts con-
cluded that private performance contracts w·ere no more sue
cessful than the programs of urban school districts.
Statement of Problem
Why has it been so difficult for both public and private agencies to design successful reading programs?
Harsch
(1972) of Educational Testing service felt that the
problem might be due, at least partially, to the fact that
all of these programs have ignored the variable of cognitive style, the unique style of each individual in his
perceptual and intellectual functioning.
Harsch claimed
that cognitive style affects the learner's reaction to
teaching materials and methods and that it must therefore
be taken into account in any reading plan.
Harsch's contention that reading programs have failed
because they have ignored the cognitive style of students
seemed to be a reasonable explanation.
Since they did pro
vide a possible solution to a difficult problem, the
investigator felt that Harsch's ideas merited closer stuc'ly.
Thus, the present research was designed to investigate
whether or not a relationship between reading achievement
and cognitive style does indeed exist.
3
The present study used the concept of cognitive style
as formulated by Witkin (1962).
Therefore, to provide
back ground information, Witkin's theory and two other
major theories as they relate to it are described at this
point.
Later, studies relating cognitive style and reading
achievement are summarized.
Review of Literature
Witkin (1962) held that each individual has a characteristic style of functioning in a variety of perceptual
and intellectual tasks.
This cognitive style is a function
of his psychological differentiation, that is, the analysis
and structuring with which he organizes his experiences.
Since it helps the individual selectively view his environment, cognitive style is reflected not only in perception
and cognition, but also in personality, particularly in
body concept and defense and control mechanisms.
Witkin first developed the concept of cognitive style
using empirical findings from his studies of perception.
As a result of tilting room experiments, the rod and frame
test, and embedded figures test, he found that people
differ in their ability to separate a figure from an embedding background or field.
Field independent people have no
difficulty with this, whereas field dependent ones do.
Field dependence-independence seems to carry over to
intellectual activities as well.
.['lleasures of' perceptual
4
field dependence correlate highly to three subtests on the
weschler Intelligence scales:
block design, object
assembly, and picture assembly.
All seem to be measuring
the same ability, but the latter in an intellectual contex
involving symbols and meaning rather than pure perception
{Witkin, 1962).
Since individuals function consistently in both these
types of activities, Witkin combined them in his definition of two cognitive styles, analytic and global, which
are the extremes of' a perceptual-intellectual continuum.
(Although Witkin did make this distinction, some studies
have used the terms analytic-field independent and globalfield dependent interchangeably).
The analytic person,
having little trouble separating items from context or
imposing structure on a disorganized field, experiences
both himself and the world in a clear organized way.
The
global person, submitting passively to the influence of
the prevailing background, experiences the world in a disorganized, diffuse way.
These personality correlates of cognitive style are
reflected particularly in body concept and defense and con
trol mechanisms.
Judged from their drawings of human fig-
ures, analytic people have a highly articulated body concept, an "impression of the body segregated from the field
and of parts of the body as discrete and interrelated into
a structure l~htkin and Oltman, 1967, p. 1267. 11
They draw
5
human figures realistically, including body parts, sexual
characteristics and role representation.
The drawings of
global individuals do not include these details, since they
have a less articulated body concept.
Similarly, the
defense mechanisms of' global people are less specific and
discrete than those of their analytic counterparts.
They
use indiscriminate mechanisms such as massive repression or
denial.
I~~oreover,
just as they are unable to keep things
separate in perception, global people's feelings strongly
influence their thoughts and perceptions; they are unable
to separate them either.
Analytic individuals have no
difficulty doing this, and may even use overintellectualization as a defense mechanism (Witkin, 1962).
In addition to Witkin's work, there are two other
major schools of investigation of cognitive style.
The
first is led by Jerome Kagan, the second by George Klein.
Kagan's (1970) theory came about as the result of
dental discoveries
[p. 2047.
11
11
acci-
Giving subjects the task of
grouping pictures of human figures, he found that some
analyzed them and applied labels to particular parts of
the whole, while others perceived the stimuli as an undifferentiated, global body of information.
He called the
first an Analytic (and later Reflective) Cognitive Style,
the second a Non-Analytic (and later Impulsive) Cognitive
style.
6
As Santostefano
(1969) pointed out, the parallels to
t-Jitkin's categories are evident.
Both Kagan and Witkin's
analytic individuals can separate a part or figure from
the whole or background.
The analytic person, as conceived
by both men, is active, independent, forms distinct
Rorsharch images, and can resist the effects of distracting stimuli.
Kagan's non-analytic and Witkin's global
individuals are similar in that both respond to the field
as a whole, rather than analyzing it into its discrete
parts.
The behavior of both is passive and dependent.
Kagan and Witkin agree that cognitive style is a continuum of increasing differentiation or specialization and
complexity in psychological functioning, and have found
that many diverse behaviors can be related using this concept.
Like the others, Klein
(1964) was interested in
explaining consistencies in behavior.
psychoanalytic framework.
However, he used a
According to Klein, cognitive
style consists of four "cognitive controls" which may
cluster together in the individual.
These controls of
focal attention, field articulation, leveling-sharpening,
and equivalence range determine the amount and organization
of information which becomes available to the individual.
They act as ego regulating and control mechanisms by selecting stimuli to create a "fit" between the individual's
internal impulses and his environment.
As santostefano
7
( 1969) pointed out, Klein differed from Kagan and Witkin
in that he tried to clarify the process unique to each cognitive control, whereas the others searched for the one
principle underlying each cognitive style.
With this background in mind, the relationship between
reading achievement and cognitive style as conceptualized
by Witkin was described in two ways:
first, by synthesiz-
ing statements made by several investigators to explain
why the variables may possibly be related, and secondly,
by summarizing the experimental research that has been
done to find out if they are in fact related.
Robbins (1967) has pointed out the many reading tasks
that require analytic abilities, lncluding separating
irrelevant f'rom relevant details, finding main ideas, and
analyzing words into sounds to decode through phonics.
Since analytic individuals have more analytic ability than
their global counterparts, it may be expected that they
will be better readers.
A second link explaining the hypothesized relationship between cognitive style and reading achievement is
the mechanisms of lateral dominance, or preference of one
side of the body over the other.
An individual who show-s
weak lateral dominance, or no strong preference, may feel
unclear about the axes of his body.
This, in turn, may be
projected outward to a lack of clarity of the directional
axes in space,
shm~·ing
up in the word or letter reversals
8
observed among disabled readers.
It is plausible that the
global individual, with his poorly articulated body concept, would also have poor lateral dominance and direction
al clarity (Witman and Oltman, 1967).
Silverman, Adeval,
and McGough (1960) confirmed this possibility, finding
that field dependent (or global) individuals do show less
lateral dominance, and, additionally, that disabled
readers are more field dependent.
Thus, a field dependent
or global approach, weak lateralization, and reading difficulty appear to go together.
A third contributing factor may be the difficulty of
global individuals in handling distracting and contradictory background information.
Witkin's (1962} studies usin
the Rorsharch Test indicated that while analytic individuals eliminated distracting features from the blot, global
individuals allowed the intrusion of these features to
distort the images originally seen.
The inability to deal
with distractions has been implicated in reading disabilit
by two researchers.
santostefano (1965), relating Klein's
concept of cognitive controls to reading achievement, discovered that the most important cognitive control in reading is "the manner in which an individual operates when
faced with distracting ••• background information
/p. 617. 11
Goins (1958), who studied the reading achievement of young
children according to their scores on fourteen different
perceptual tests, concluded that the factor most indicative
9
of reading achievement is the ability to retain a figure ir:
a distracting field.
Thus, judging from this evidence, it
might be expected that global people, having difficulty
handling distractions, will be poor readers.
A fourth possible factor, one that has not been
adequately researched, is that of memory.
Kass
(1963) con-
cluded that one of the major deficiencies of the twenty one
severely dyslexic children he studied was their inability
to reproduce a visual image from memory.
Witkin
(1962)
suggested that global individuals have poor memories of
their life experiences, since they are unable to structure
and therefore remember them.
Witkin did not explain, how-
ever, whether or not global individuals also have poor
visual memories.
If they do, they might then possibly
show the dyslexic deficiency Kass described.
The visual
memory of global individuals thus needs further clarification.
The connections between reading achievement and cognitive style described above are all still more or less
hypothetical and must be subjected to experimental verification.
Fortunately, however, the literature does yield
some controlled research concerning this problem.
one researcher, Epstein
(1965), found no relationship
betw·een reading achievement and cognitive style, as measured by the Hidden Figures Test.
However, the small size
10
of his sample, nineteen sixth grade boys, l'ras a defect
which may have critically weakened his design.
In contrast to Epstein's study, several researchers
have found a significant relationship between reading
achievement and cognitive style as conceptualized by
Witkin, although the details of their findings differ in
important respects.
Fiebert (1967) studying cognitive
style among ninety deaf twelve to eighteen year olds, found
a low order relationship between increasing field independence (analytic style) and increasing reading ability for
girls, but not for boys.
He did not explain this sex dif-
ference, but did feel that more testing is needed.
Carden
(1958) got the opposite results, finding a positive and
significant relationship between reading ability and. field
independence for boys, but no relationship for girls.
stuart (1967), on the other hand, found no sex difference
at all.
Using Witkin's Embedded Figures Test with eighty
three children above the age of eleven, he found a strong
positive relationship between field independence and reading achievement for both boys and girls.
Two other researchers at least partially confirmed the
relationship between an increasing analytic approach and
increasing reading ability, and also added some other
information.
Robbins (1967), who studied ninety five fifth
grade Negro boys, not only found that a global approach
was correlated with retarded ability in reading, but, in
11
addition,
show~d
that cognitive style is class related.
He felt that the fact that lower class children are significantly more global than middle class children may
explain their poorer reading achievement.
Wineman (1971) found a developmental difference in
cognitive style and reading ability, with a moderate relationship between analytic approach and increasing reading
ability for boys and girls within the fourth and sixth
grades, but no relationship for either sex among fifth
graders.
However, a basic weakness of his study was his
use of different reading tests for different grade levels,
making comparisons between grades difficult.
Poloni-de Levie (1960) show·ed that non-readers are
more global than readers, but only on the timed task of
the Children's Embedded Figures Test.
The relationship
did not hold true for tasks with no time limit.
In sum, it has been shown that some investigators
have found a significant relationship between reading
achievement and cognitive style, but that three researchers
Epstein, Wineman, and Poloni-d.e Levie, had opposite
results.
Moreover, much of the research done so far has
been clouded, some by methodological problems, and much by
contradictory findings for boys and girls.
Because of
these difficulties, furthur research is needed.
This stud
attempted to provide additional data by investigating the
question:
What is the relationship between cognitive style
12
as conceptualized by Witkin (1962) and reading achievement
among sixth grade boys and girls in tw·o san Fernando Valle
schools?
Definitions
Cognitive style was operationally defined as the subject's score on Witkin's five point sophistication-of-body
concept-scale, w·i th a score of one being most analytic
(least global), and a score of five being least analytic
(most global).
Reading achievement was defined as the subject's
stanine score on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills.
Three categories of readers were used:
low (stanines 1-J),
average (stanines 4-6), and high (stanines 7-9).
These
were the classifications used by the Los Angeles City
School District when recording the scores on cumulative
record cards.
Hypotheses
It was hypothesized that:
1.
At both schools, there would be a significant {p ( • 05)
difference in cognitive style among low, average, and
high readers of both sexes;
2.
Significant differences in cognitive style would not
occur between schools; and that
13
J.
Significant differences in cognitive style would not
occur between the sexes.
CHAPTER TWO
Ivrethods
To carry out the investigation, it was necessary to
locate subjects and to choose both appropriate measuring
instruments and an appropriate statistical design.
This
chapter describes the subjects, measuring instruments, and
designs used, as well as the procedures followed in
col~
lecting data.
Subjects
The Ss were 8J sixth grade boys and girls at tvm San
Fernando Valley schools.
Forty seven subjects were from
the first school, and J6 were from the second one.
This
represented the total sixth grade populations of each
school, with the exception of a few children at both
schools for whom there were no reading scores, and with the
exception of a few· children who w·ere absent at the second
school,
The schools were somewhat different in their make-up,
the first with
54% Spanish surname students, the second
with only 27%.
The first was classified as a poverty
inner-city school; the other was not.
Both schools, how·-
ever, had all social classes represented in their student
bodies.
Thus, it was hoped that the choice of these
14
15
schools would allow· cognitive style to be studied using
subjects from various social groups.
Instruments
Cognitive style was measured using Witkin's (1962)
sophistication-of-body-concept scale for evaluation of
figure drawings.
This test was first developed for use
with drawings of ten year olds, but has also been applied
to drawings of children between nine and twelve years, and
thus was deemed appropriate for use with sixth graders
(Goodenough, 1965).
Validity of' this scale as a measure of
cognitive style was based upon the following rational:e:
Witkin's concept of cognitive style, as described above,
has three components, perception, cognition, and personality (especially body concept and defense mechanisms).
No
one test measures all three, but the measures of each component, the Embedded Figures Test, the three subtests of
the WISC, and the sophistication of body concept rating
scale, correlate highly with each other.
For example, in
a study of twelve year olds a correlation of .76 was
obtained between the sohpistication scale and EFT scores.
In another study of twelve year olds, the sophistication
scale had a • 79 correlation with the \HSC (Goodenough,
1965).
Since there was a high correlation between the
three measures, and since no one test measures all three
16
factors, it was suggested that the sophistication-of-bodyconcept scale is an adequate measure of cognitive style.
The adequacy of' this scale was further supported by
its reliability, and stability.
of the scale is high.
made by
The interjudge reliabilit
In one study in which the drawings
104 children were rated by tw·o different judges,
the correlation between the ratings was
1965).
.91 (Goodenough,
other studies yielded similar high interjudge
reliability.
The test-retest reliability of the scale was
.977 in a study by Reitman and Cleveland (1964).
The long
term reliability or stability of the scale, as studied by
testing the same group of boys and girls at ages ten and
fourteen, was
(Goodenough,
.73
for the girls, and
.84
for the boys
1965).
Reading achievement was measured using the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills.
This test was given to all
sixth graders throughout the Los Angeles School District
during the month of October,
1971.
Procedure
The entire sixth grade populations of both schools
were used as the sample, with the exception of a few
children at the second school who were absent, or, at both
schools, for whom there were no reading scores.
The read-
ing stanine, sex, and school of each subject was noted.
16
factors, it was suggested that the sophistication-of-bodyconcept scale is an adequate measure of cognitive style.
The adequacy of this scale was further supported by
its reliability, and stability.
of the scale is high.
The interjudge reliabilit
In one study in which the drawings
made by 104 children were rated by two different judges,
the correlation between the ratings was .91 (Goodenough,
1965).
Other studies yielded similar high interjudge
reliability.
The test re-test reliability of the scale was
• 977 in a s tud.y by Reitman and Cleve land ( 1964) .
The long
term reliability or stability of the scale, as studied by
testing the same group of boys and girls at ages ten and
fourteen, was .73 for the girls, and .84 for the boys
(Goodenough, 1965).
Reading achievement was measured using the Comprehensive rrest of Basic Skills.
This test was given to all
sixth graders throughout the Los Angeles School District
during the month of october, 1971.
Procedure
The entire sixth grade populations of both schools
w·ere used as the sample, with the exception of a few
children at the second school who were absent, or, at both
schools, for whom there were no reading scores.
The read-
ing stanine, sex, and school of each subject was noted.
17
During Ivrarch, 1972, the subjects w-ere administered th
test of' cognitive style by asking them to first draw a
person, and then to draw another person of the opposite
sex.
Both pictures were given a single rating of' from 1
(most analytic) to 5 (most global) using Witkin's scale.
There was no time limit placed on the test, in accordance
w·i th T;Ji tkin 1 s procedures.
The test was given by the two
sixth grade teachers at one school, and by the author at
the other.
In both cases, the tests were administered to
each class as a whole.
All the drawings were scored by the
author, before the reading stanine of the subject was
known.
Statistical Design
The investigation used a 2 (school), by 2 (sex), by
3 (reading) factorial design, with the independent variables of school, sex, and reading achievement, and the
dependent variable of cognitive style.
Analysis of vari-
ance was used to assess the relationship of each independent variable to cognitive style, as well as their interaction effect.
summary
This investigation of the relationship of reading
achievement to cognitive style, sex, and school, used as
its subjects 83 sixth grade students from two san Fernando
18
Valley schools.
Their cognitive style was measured during
Narch, 1972, using Witkin's (1962) sophistication-of'•bodyconcept-scale for evaluation of figure drawings.
The Ss'
reading achievement was measured during october, 1971,
using the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills.
The data
were analyzed using ANOVA in a 2 (school), by 2 (sex), by
3 (reading groups) factorial design.
CHAPTER THREE
Findings
This investigation measured the relationship of three
independent variables, school, sex, and reading achievement, to the dependent variable of cognitive style.
To
assess the effect of each independent variable upon cognitive style, as WBll as their interaction effect, an ANOV
2 (for two schools), by 2 (sex), by 3 (for high, average,
and low reading groups) factorial design was used.
are displayed in:
Results
Table 1, which show-s the F ratios and
probabilities for school, sex, and reading, as well as
their interaction effects; Table 2, which shows the mean
cognitive style scores for school, sex, and reading groups;
and Table 3, which shows mean scores for interaction
effects.
19
20
TABLE 1
Analysis of Variance of Cognitive Style
for School, Sex, and Reading Groups
£11. s .
Source
-
D.F.
F-Ratio
p
Total
l. 049
82
Between
0.877
11.
School (A)
0.410
1.
0.3813
0.5459
sex (B)
0.463
1.
0.4308
0.5208
Reading (c)
3.375
2.
3.1384*
0. 04-80
AB
0.019
l.
0.0174
0.8908
AC
0.488
2.
0.4537
0.6429
BC
0.495
2.
0.4603
o.6388
ABC
0.022
2.
0.0207
0.9803
Within
1.075
71.
*
p
<. 05.
--------------------------------------TABLE 2
Mean Cognitive Style scores for Each Variable
School
sex
Reading
1
2
2.1385
2.3468
Nale
Female
2.3534
2.1319
Low
Average
High
2.7119
2.3286
1.6875
21
TABLE 3
Mean Cognitive Style scores for Interaction Effects
Sex
l"'ale
Female
1
2.2714
2.0056
2
2.4353
2.2528
School
Reading
Low
Average
High
l
2.6333
2.4071
1.3750
2
2.7904
2.2500
2.0000
School
Reading
Low
Average
High
Male
2.6529
2.6571
1.7500
Female
2.7708
2.000
1.6250
sex
From these tables, it can be seen that:
1.
There was a significant relationship (p
<. 05)
between
reading achievement and cognitive style (Table 1).
As
reading achievement increased so did analytic ability.
That is, the highest reading group was more analytic
than the middle group which was more analytic than the
low group (Table 2).
This was true at both schools and
for both sexes, w·i th the exception of low and average
22
reading males whose scores w·ere about the same ( 2. 65).
These two groups were, however, less analytic than hig
achieving males (Table 3).
Thus, the first hypothesis
was supported, with the one exception just noted.
2.
There were no significant differences in cognitive
style
betw~en
schools, or
betw~en
the sexes (Table 1).
Thus, the second and third hypotheses were supported.
J.
There were no significant interaction effects upon cog
nitive style either for school and sex, school and
reading, sex and reading, or all three combined
(Tables 1 and
4.
J).
No segment of the sample achieved an average cognitive
style score of' 3. 0 or more, show·ing that the sample
was skew·ed towards an analytic cognitive style (Tables
2 and J).
summar;y
The findings of this investigation show·ed a significant relationship at the
.05 level between reading achieve-
ment and cognitive style, with higher achieving readers
being more analytic than lower achieving readers.
No other
significant relationships were found either for single
variables or for interaction effects.
How·ever, the sample
was found to be skewed towards an analytic cognitive style.
CHAPTER FOUR
Discussion
To clarify the contention that reading programs
should take the cognitive style of students into account,
this research studied the relationship of cognitive style
to reading achievement.
Using ANOVA in a 2 by 2 by 3
factorial design, a significant relationship at the .05
level betw·een reading achievement and cognitive style was
found among 83 sixth grade boys and girls at tw·o Los
Angeles city schools.
Subjects in the high achieving read-
ing group w·ere more analytic than subjects in the middle
group, who, in turn, were more analytic than the low group.
This finding held true in both schools studied, and for
both boys and girls, with the exception of low and average
reading boys who achieved the same cognitive style scores,
but were less analytic than high reading boys.
In addi-
tion, the results showed that the sample was skewed
towards an analytic cognitive style.
The significant relationship found between reading
achievement and cognitive style supported the results of
much of the research previously reported, i.e., Fiebert
(1967), Wineman (1971), Carden (1958),
Stuart (1967),
Robbins (1967), and Poloni-de Levie (1960).
Moreover, the
finding that high achieving readers are more analytic than
low· achieving ones among both boys and girls supported
23
24
stuart's (1967) results for seventh and eighth graders and
Wineman's (1971) for fourth and sixth graders.
The fact that this research substantiated several
previous studies and that it found a significant relationship at both schools observed adds credence to the conclusion that there is a difference in cognitive style among
reading achievement groups, with the highest achieving
readers having the most analytic ability.
Assuming that
further studies continue to support this generalization,
it could have significant implications for the field of
reading instruction.
If it is accepted that reading
achievement groups do differ in their cognitive styles, it
can plausibly be contended that analytic individuals are
the highest achievers because they benefit most from the
reading techniques presently used in schools.
If this is
so, it can be concluded that cognitive styles influence
the learning that comes from reading instruction.
There-
fore, it seems sensible to return to Harsch's (1972) contention that reading instruction should be designed to
teach particular cognitive styles.
Implementation of this
idea would require additional research in at least three
areas:
1.
A definitive definition of cognitive style, pulling
together the contributions of major theorists, would
need development so that educators could be sure they
were assessing the same abilities in their students,
25
and so that students could be classified using a uniform standard.
2.
New· tests would be needed to measure the agreed upon
definition.
Existing tests could be used only if a
presently formulated concept of cognitive style were
accepted, which, given the present confusion (Santostefano, 1969), does not seem likely.
To have practi-
cal use in school systems, these tests could preferably
be administered to groups.
J.
After cognitive style was defined and could be measured, research to develop specific materials and techniques for use with particular styles could be started.
To develop -v·rorkable techniques, the mechanisms relating reading achievement and cognitive style would need
better explanation.
For example, using Witkin's (1962)
definition, the following questions would need clarification:
Do global individuals have trouble handling
distracting material as Robbins (1967) and santostefanc
(1965) suggested?
Do they have less lateral dominance
and directional clarity as Witkin (1967) pointed out?
What other deficiencies do they have?
If global indi-
viduals do indeed have several weaknesses, what techniques and materials could be developed to minimize
them and to capitalize upon their strengths?
These
considerations make it obvious that the development of
26
(
instructional procedures for use w·i th particular styles
would not be easy.
An effort carrying through some of the above suggestions has already been made by Nunney and Hill (1972).
Using a procedure called cognitive style mapping, they
assessed the cognitive style of students and placed them
into one of five instructional modes on the basis of the
results.
Unfortunately, Nunney and Hill did not explain
their definition of cognitive style, nor was their technique specifically being used for reading instruction.
Despite these drawbacks, their project, which is still ongoing at the present time (1972), is an interesting one
which should be vfa tched.
An additional finding of the present study, the fact
that the sample was skew·ed towards an analytic style, has
significance for furthur research using Witkin's (1962)
definition.
The literature search done for this investiga-
tion failed to uncover any studies showing whether or not
the global-analytic continuum is normally distributed.
Thus, a study of the distribution of cognitive style seems
a fertile area for further research.
Until such a study is
completed, how·ever, it is suggested that future research
include a non-parametric statistic as part of its analytic
technique.
27
Summarz
In an attempt to explain the failure of reading programs which had ignored the variable of cognitive style,
this investigation studied the relationship of cognitive
style to reading achievement, and, in addition, to sex and
school.
Using an ANOVA 2 by 2 by 3 factorial design, the
problem was investigated among 83 high, average, and low
readers in the sixth grade at two Los Angeles schools.
Cognitive style was defined using Witkin's (1962) globalanalytic continuum, and measured using Witkin's (1962)
sophistication-of-body-concept scale for evaluation of
figure draw·ings.
at the
.05
Cognitive style was significantly related
level to reading achievement, with the high
achieving groups being more analytic than the low ones.
This relationship held. true at both schools studied, and
for both boys and girls, with the exception of low and
average reading males who had the same cognitive style
scores, but w·ere less analytic than high achieving males.
No other significant relationships
w~re
uncovered, but the
sample was found to be skewed suggesting the appropriateness of non-parametric statistics for future research.
other proposed areas for future research included a definitive definition of cognitive style, testing procedures, and
the development of instructional techniques in reading for
use with particular styles.
28
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