Results of the Survey of OU Students' Reading Skills. Text and Readers Programme Technical Report No. 3.

A study investigated the reading skills of entering students at the Open University. Just over 2,000 of the 3,000 students (representing 107. of all students taking courses at the foundation level) completed questionnaires that were mailed to them. Subjects completed 3 cloze tests, graded in difficulty, and a vocabulary test. Results indicated that (1) most students showed at least partial comprehension on the 2 simpler cloze tests; (2) 957. of students showed some degree of inadequacy in their comprehension of the cloze passage that represented fairly typical academic prose; (3) to be comfortable with prose in the most difficult cloze test, students would need to score about 707. or more on the vocabulary test--most scored below the 707. level; and (4) arts students had the highest scores, and technology students the lowest (differences were slight but statistically significant). Future research will follow the students through their careers at the Open University. (Contains 21 references, and 8 tables and 12 figures of data.) (RS) ****)%****************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***************************ic***************************************** * Text & Readers Progran2me Technical Report #3 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY khaLdo-oic\TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION O5C0 01 EduLal Orld RoseatCn Ind Impr000men1 EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER 'ERIC) /This document has bee.-1 reproduced as received from the person or organization onginating it 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in tNs document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy Results of the survey of OU students' reading skills Michael Macdonald-Ross Bernard Scott Institute of Educational Technology The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Results of the survey of OU students' reading skills Abstract As explained in our previous report (Scott and Macdonald-Ross 1995), we used a postal survey to test the reading skills of a sample of students entering the Open University at foundation level. The sample was structured to include approximately equal numbers from the five foundation courses (Arts. Social Sciences, Mathematics, Science, Technology) and from four levels of 'educational qualifications on entry'. The test materials were sent out to 3000 students; just over 2000 completed forms were returned. The data has now been collated and analysed. Results suggest that many entering students may have some difficulty comprehending academic texts. The results also show significant differences between students grouped by faculty and by level of educational qualification. The progress of the cohort of students sampled is being monitored throughout the foundation year.As explained in our previous report (Scott and Macdonald-Ross 1995), we used a postal survey to test the reading skills of a sample of students entering the Open University at foundation level. The sample was structured to include approximately equal numbers from the five foundation courses (Arts. Social Sciences, Mathematics, Science, Technology) and from four levels of 'educational qualifications on entry'. The test materials were sent out to 3000 students; just over 2000 completed forms were returned. The data has now been collated and analysed. Results suggest that many entering students may have some difficulty comprehending academic texts. The results also show significant differences between students grouped by faculty and by level of educational qualification. The progress of the cohort of students sampled is being monitored throughout the foundation year. Introduction During the first 25 years of the Open University's existence, no assessment of entering students' basic skills was carried out. In fact, almost no psychometric data exists for any of the ou's student population. One exception is a study of younger ou students (Woodley and McIntosh 1980) and we refer to some of that data later in this report. Social and personal data about students and courses is gathered routinely by the ou application form and by IET's Student Research Centre. Each year many students withdraw from or fail their courses (though in general few students fail if they survive to take the exam). Surveys of students' reported reasons for withdrawal have been carried out (Woodley and Parlett 1983, Woodley D94). Rarely do students say they found courses too difficult, or the prose too difficult t ) read. Most frequently. they cite workload or domestic problems. Without objective data, which the present work starts to provide for the first time, any assessment of the importance of good basic skills levels (as a factor in student success and course retention rates) could only be speculative. As a first step in gathering relevant data, we surveyed the reading skills of a large sample of students entering the Ou at foundation level and are monitoring their progress through the first year of their studies with the Oti. The tests we used have been described in detail in Scott and Macdonald-Ross 1995. In this report, we describe the structure of the sample and analyse the data so far gathered and discuss the implications. Michael Macdonald-Ross, Reader in Textual Communication. Bernard Scott. Research Fellow.