AN ANALYSIS OF THE LANGUAGE PATTERNS

OF STANDARDIZED READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

AND THEIR EFFECT ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE

Eugene Jongsmaa

College of Education, University of New Orleans

Abstract. A random sample of passages was drawn from standardized reading

comprehension tests for fourth grade students. The number and types of language
patterns found in the test passages were determined through a method of
linguistic analysis. The patterns identified on the tests did not reflect the patterns
used most frequently in the oral language of fourth grade children. When the test
passages were rewritten using a larger percentage of high frequency oral language
patterns, and administered to comparable groups of students, no significant
difference in comprehension performance was observed between those students
taking the revised test and those taking the intact standardized test passages.

INTRODUCTION

How one conceives of the reading process, determines what factors are of
importance and, ultimately, what aspects are taught. If reading is viewed from a
linguistic perspective, one must consider the characteristics of language, as well as
the abilities of the reader. In describing the psycholinguistic nature of the reading
process, Goodman (1968) proposed that the act of reading should be considered an
interaction between the reader and the written language.
While many of the early investigations into reading comprehension explored
factors within the reader, more recent studies have begun to examine factors within
the material. In identifying information gaps in research in reading comprehension,
Jenkinson (1970) expressed the need for further study of the problems inherent
within reading material. She suggested further linguistic analyses of the language
variables within material and their relationships to reading comprehension.
In a major study, Strickland (1962) identified the basic language patterns that
are most frequently used by children in their oral language. Table 1 contains a
listing of the high frequency patterns she identified for fourth grade students.
a
Request reprints from the author. College of Education, University of New Orleans, Lake
Front, New Orleans, Louisiana 79122.
 Table 1

High Frequency Language Patterns Used

in the Oral Language of Fourth Grade Students'3

Pattern Number Structurar Pattenl Rank Frequency Emission

1. 1 2 4 . 1 202
2. T 1 2 4 2 156
3. 1 2 4 + T 3 123
4. 1 2b 5 4 108
5. T 1 2 4 + T 5 84
6. 1 2 4 T 6 64
7. T 1 2b 5 7 63
8. 1 2 Mi + T 8 51
9. T 1 2 4 T 9 41
10. T 1 2 Mj 9 41
11. 1 2 Mi 10 37
12. 1 2b 5 T 11 33
13. 1 2b 5 + T 12 31
14. M3 1 2 4 13 29
15. T 1 2 13 29
16. M3 1 2 4 + T 14 28
17. 1 2 4 M, 14 28
18. 1 2 4 M2 15 27
19. T M3 1 2 4 16 26
20. T 1 2 M2 17 25
21. T 1 2 4 Mt + T 17 25
22. M3 1 2 M, 17 25
23. 1 2 18 23
24. T 1 2 4 Mt 18 23
25. T 1 2 + T 18 23

b
STRICKLAND, R. G. The language of elementary school children: its relationship to the
language of reading textbooks and the quality of reading of selected children. Bulletin of the
School of Education, Indiana University, 38, No. 4, July, 1962, p. 29.
Key to, Strickland's Symbol System:
1 - Subject slot
2 - Verb slot
2b - Verb slot which denotes passive verb, linking verb of "to be" class, or copulative verb
4 - Outer complement (direct object)
5 - Complement of a linking verb
M, - Movable grammatical element which is an expression of place
M2 - Movable grammatical element which is an expression of manner
M3 - Movable grammatical element which is an expression of time
T - Indicates that a pattern was either preceded or followed by another pattern within the
same phonological unit
+ - A connector which joins structural sentences or sentence segments together, such as
and and but
Jongsma 355

Studies by Loban (1963) and Riling (1965) corroborated the patterns identified.by
Strickland. Building directly upon the findings of Strickland, Ruddell (1963)
investigated the effect of the similarity of oral and written patterns of language
structure on the reading comprehension of fourth grade children. Two sets of
passages were written, one containing high frequency language patterns and the
other containing low frequency patterns. Important variables such as content,
number of words, and readability were equated across passages. Using the cloze
procedure to assess comprehension, Ruddell found that students scored significant-
ly higher on passages containing high frequency patterns. Tatham (1970) obtained
similar results when assessing comprehension at the sentence level.
In short, evidence seems to indicate a relationship between reading
comprehension and the frequency of oral language patterns used by elementary
school children. Other factors being equal, it appears that children can better
comprehend material which contains language patterns similar to those used in their
oral language. This seems to suggest that one aspect of the construct of reading
comprehension may be familiarity with the language patterns used to measure it.
Although Ruddell (1963) and Tatham (1970) have investigated the effect of
the similarity of oral and written language patterns on reading comprehension using
project-developed instruments, no studies have been identified which have
examined standardized reading tests in such a fashion.
This study sought to answer the following questions:
1. What patterns of written language are used on standardized reading
comprehension tests, and what is the frequency of their use?
2. What is the degree of correspondence between the written language
patterns of standardized reading comprehension tests and the patterns
used most frequently in the oral language of children?
3. Does the similarity between the written and oral language patterns have
an effect upon a student's performance on standardized reading
comprehension tests?
In addition to the major questions above, the effects of the selected
classification variables of sex, chronological age, and reading ability were also
investigated.

METHOD

Phase One

The first phase of the study involved the identification of the written
language patterns found on standardized reading comprehension tests. The
following criteria guided the selection of the standardized tests to be used in the
study:
1. The major purpose of the test should be the assessment of reading
comprehension.
2. The test should be intended for fourth grade students.
356 Journal of Reading Behavior 1974 VI, 4

3. The test should have been developed or revised within the past ten
years.
4. The test should use a multiple-choice format.
5. The test should be designed for group administration.
A current and comprehensive bibliographic source (Fan and Summers, 1969)
was consulted for the actual selection of the tests. The following eight tests satisfied
the criteria for inclusion in the study:
1. California Reading Test, Elementary level, Forms W, X, by E.
W. Tiegs and W. W. Clark, Monterey, California: California Test
• Bureau-McGraw Hill, 1957-1963.
2. Developmental Reading Test, Intermediate level, Forms A, B, by Bond,
Balow, and Hoyt, Chicago: Lyons and Carnahan, 1968.
3. Diagnostic Reading Test, Survey Section: Lower level, Forms A, B, C,
D, Mountain Home, North Carolina: Committee on Diagnostic Reading
Tests, Inc., 1957,1966.
4. Gray-Votaw-Rogers General Achievement Test, Reading Compre-
hension section, Intermediate level, Form Q, by H. Gray, D. Votaw,
and J. Rogers, Austin, Texas: The Steck Co., 1948> 1963.
5. Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Reading Comprehension section, Multi-level
edition, Forms 1, 2, 4, by E. F. Lindquist and A. Hieronymus, Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1955,1964.
6. Metropolitan Achievement Test, Elementary Reading Test, Forms A, B,
C, by W. Durost, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, 1959,
1963.
7. Nelson Reading Test, Paragraph Comprehension section, Forms A, B,
by M. J. Nelson, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1962.
8. Sequential Test of Educational Progress. Reading, Level 4, Forms A, B,
Princeton, New Jersey: Cooperative Test Division, Educational Testing
Service, 1957,1963.
The individual passages on the eight tests were numbered consecutively across
the different forms of each test. Five passages were then randomly selected from
each of the tests, making a total of forty passages. Passages containing poetry or
plays were excluded because they did not lend themselves to the purposes of the
study. Strickland's Level I analysis of slots and movables was employed to identify
the patterns of syntax in the forty passages. This system of analysis is a linguistic
scheme used to analyze the sentences into their constituent or syntactic parts.
Although the application of the Strickland analysis was relatively straight-
forward, some subjective judgments were necessary at times. To validate the
analysis, ten percent of the passages were randomly selected and given to an outside
evaluator for a Level I analysis. The evaluator was a doctoral student in linguistics
and was familiar with the Strickland system. The two independent analyses agreed
on 91 percent of the patterns.
Jongsma 357

Phase Two

The second phase of the study was concerned with the degree of similarity
between the written language patterns found on standardized reading compre-
hension tests and the oral language patterns used most frequently by fourth grade
children. The twenty-five most frequently used patterns of fourth graders,
as identified in the Strickland study (1962), were considered "high" frequency
language patterns. All other patterns were considered "low" frequency patterns. A
"Frequency Index" was determined for each of the forty analyzed passages. This
index represented the proportion of high frequency patterns found in a passage,
and thus served as a measure of similarity between written and oral language
patterns.

Phase Three

The third phase of the study investigated the effect of the similarity of oral
and written language patterns on the reading comprehension of fourth grade
students. To investigate this aspect of the study, two parallel comprehension tests
were developed. Ten passages were randomly selected from the forty passages that
had been analyzed. These ten passages, along with their corresponding multiple-
choice items, formed the Conventional Reading Comprehension Test (CRCT),
which consisted primarily of low frequency language patterns. Each of the ten
passages was rewritten, using high frequency language patterns so that a minimum
Frequency Index of .80 was reached. The revision process was further restricted by
controlling the following variables: number of language patterns, number of words,
number of sentences, mean sentence length, and the difficulty and diversity of
vocabulary. The ten revised passages, along with the original multiple-choice items,
were combined to form the Syntactically Controlled Reading Comprehension Test
(SCRCT), a test of high frequency language patterns. The product of this phase of
the study was two parallel comprehension tests containing forty-five items each.
The CRCT consisted of original, intact standardized reading comprehension
passages; the SCRCT consisted of passages equivalent in meaning, content, and
difficulty, but containing a greater proportion of high frequency language patterns.
The same original multiple-choice items were used for both tests to prevent
confounding the results with changes in test items. The order of the passages was
the same for both tests.
The control of such a large number of variables made the rewriting of the
passages quite restrictive. The revision was carried out pattern by pattern rather
than undertaking a total reworking of the entire passage. The high frequency
patterns in the original passages were left intact, but the low frequency patterns
were revised. At times, the revision simply entailed rearranging the word order, as in
the following example:
358 Journal of Reading Behavior 1974 VI, 4

Original Pattern (low frequency):

Camels live most of their lives on the desert.
~1 2 Mi M~i
Revised Pattern (high frequency):
Most of their lives camels live on the desert.
M^ I ^ Mi
At other times, the revision was more subtle and involved a restructuring of
the sentence, as in the following:

Original Pattern (low frequency):

A long, long time ago in England there were
M! M7~~ \~
many powerful nobles who wanted to be King.
1
Revised Pattern (high frequency):
A long, long_ time ago, many powerful
. nobles wanted
_ to be King_of England.

The following samples illustrate the difference between an original (low

frequency) passage and a revised (high frequency) passage:

Original Passage (Frequency Index = .22)

Camels live most of their lives on the desert. They have feet that
are padded, nostrils that can be closed in a storm, and thick, bushy
eyebrows and lashes that help protect their eyes from the sand. Their
bodies are covered with soft, wooly, brown hair. This hair is used to
make fine cloth.
Their stomachs and humps are made up of specialized cells which
store water and food for future use on their long journeys through the
desert wastes. Camels can go for three days without water. They usually
drink from five to seven gallons of water a day. These characteristics
enable them to thrive in the extremely hot and dry areas in which they
live.
On caravans in the Sahara Desert, the camel provides transpor-
tation, milk, meat, and clothing for the Arabs.

Revised Passage (Frequency Index = 1.00):

Most of their lives camels live on the desert. They have feet that are
padded, nostrils that can be closed in a storm, and thick, bushy
eyebrows and lashes that help protect their eyes from the sand. Soft,
wooly brown hair covers their bodies. This hair makes fine cloth.
Jongsma 359

Their stomachs and humps are made up of specialized cells which

store water and food for future use on their long journeys through the
desert wastes. For three days camels can go without water. Most days
they drink from five to seven gallons of water. Camels manage to thrive
in the extremely hot and dry areas in which they live.
When on caravans in the Sahara Desert, the Arabs' camels provide
transportation, milk, meat, and clothing.

A summary of passage characteristics comparing the original and revised

passages is found in Table 2. Examination of Table 2 will reveal that the mean
Frequency Index of the ten original passages, .30, was boosted to a mean of .92 for
the ten revised passages, while the other variables were held virtually constant.
A panel of eight judges consisting of doctoral students and faculty members
in reading education were asked to compare the meaning of each pair of passages.
The results of their judgments indicated: (1) that the pairs of passages had the same
general, overall meaning; (2) that in a few cases, some specific details had been
altered; and (3) that in no instance did the slight change in details affect the
response to the multiple-choice questions.

Subjects

The entire population of fourth grade students from an urban school district
in northern Indiana was selected for this study. This group consisted of 225 fourth
grade students in five elementary schools. Because of absences during the test
administration, only 176 students were included in the study. The population was
comprised of a variety of ethnic groups, including transients from the South, and
could probably be characterized as lower-middle class.

Data Collection

All tests were administered by the author during a two day period in the
spring of the school year. The CRCT and the SCRCT .were distributed in an
odd-even fashion. It was assumed that this method of distribution would constitute
a random assignment of students to treatments or test forms. To insure uniform
administration, a standard set of directions was read to each group. Students were
advised that they would be allowed to consult the passages while answering the
questions. They were given as much time as needed to complete the task but were
encouraged to work as rapidly as possible, without making mistakes. All students
finished within 45 to 60 minutes.
A personal data sheet was also completed by each student tested. The
information on this form consisted of the student's name, school, sex, birthdate,
and the form of the test taken.
 Table 2

A Comparison of the Characteristics of the Original and Revised Passages

Frequency No. of No. of No. of Mean Sent. Type/Token Non-Dale No. of

Passage Index Patterns Words Sentences Length Ratio Words Comp. Quest.

Pair 1
Original .22 9 134 9 14.89 .71 12 8
Revised 1.00 9 125 9 13.89 .66 11 8

Pair 2
Original .20 10 144 6 24.00 .70 14 3
Revised .91 11 151 6 25.17 .68 13 3

Pair 3
Original .40 15 220 11 20.00 .53 12 5
Revised .88 17 223 11 20.27 .50 11 5

Pair 4
Original .39 18 192 15 12.80 .65 24 4
Revised .95 20 189 15 12.60 .64 24 4

Pair 5
Original .17 6 91 4 22.75 .85 3 4
Revised 1.00 7 90 4 22.50 .80 3 4

Pair 6
Original .66 6 34 6 5.67 .91 0 3
Revised .83 6 37 6 6.16 .87 0 3
Pair 7
Original .14 7 147 7 21.00 .73 21 3
Revised .89 9 149 7 21.29 .73 22 3

Pair 8
Original .24 17 237 16 14.81 .60 10 5
Revised .96 23 244 17 14.35 .57 10 5

Pair 9
Original .39 18 215 15 14.44 .65 11 5
Revised .90 21 222 15 14.80 .62 11 5

Pair 10
Original .14 22 281 17 16.53 .47 5 5
Revised .85 26 265 17 15.59 .44 4 5

Total Orig.
Mean .30 12.8 169.5 10.6 16.69 .68 11.2 4.5
S.D. .15 5.87 73.83 4.84 5.46 .13 7.47 1.51
Minimum .14 6 34 4 5.67 .47 0 3
Maximum .66 22 281 17 22.75 .91 24 8

Total Rev.
Mean .92 14.9 169.5 10.7 16.66 .65 10.9 4.5
S.D. .06 7.33 72.49 4.97 5.63 .13 7.67 1.51
Minimum .83 6 37 4 6.16 .44 0 3
Maximum 1.00 26 265 17 22.50 .87 24 8
362 Journal of Reading Behavior 1974 VI, 4

In addition to the above data, the author consulted the permanent record
files to obtain a standardized reading score and an intelligence quotient for each
student. The standardized reading score used was the Paragraph Meaning grade
score from the Stanford Achievement Test, Intermediate Level 1. The intelligence
test scores were based on the California Test of Mental Maturity, Short Form.

RESULTS

Phase One

As a result of the Level I analysis, a total of 447 language patterns were

identified in the forty passages. This included 244 different patterns. The frequency
of occurrence ranged from 1 to 39. Five patterns with frequencies ranging from 10
to 39 accounted for 21 percent of the total number of patterns. Because of space
limitations the complete results of this aspect of the study cannot be included in
this report. They are available, however, from the author.

Phase Two

The Frequency Index represents the proportion of high frequency patterns to

the total number of patterns. Therefore, a high Frequency Index indicates a high
proportion of frequent patterns. The Frequency Indices of the forty analyzed
passages ranged from .11 to .66. The mean Frequency Index was .32. This indicates
that approximately one-third of the language patterns found on standardized
comprehension tests are high frequency patterns.
The patterns occurring most frequently on the written passages were the same
basic patterns that occurred most frequently in oral language in the Strickland
study. They are the "subject-verb-object" and the "subject-passive or linking
verb-subjective complement" types. However, these patterns do not seem to occur
as frequently in standardized tests as they do in the oral language of children.

Phase Three

The analysis of the data is based on the results of 176 fourth grade students
with 88 students taking each form of the test. Reliability estimates of internal
consistency were obtained with the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 and also through
the split-half method, corrected by the Spearman-Brown formula. Complete test
characteristics are found in Table 3.
Validity was considered by assessing whether the two forms of the test were
actually measuring reading comprehension. The students' test scores were corre-
lated with their scores on the Paragraph Meaning section of the Stanford
Achievement Test. This standardized test had been administered in the fall of the
 Jongsma 363

Table 3

Means, Standard Deviations, Standard Errors of Measurement,

and Reliability Coefficients of the CRCT and the SCRCT

Test Test Form

Characteristic CRCT SCRCT

Mean 24.52 22.28

Standard Deviation 8.69 8.33
Standard Error of Measurement 2.87 2.91
KR-20 .89 .88
Spearman-Brown .91 .86

same school year and, for purposes of a validity check, was accepted by the author
as a criterion measure of reading comprehension. The CRCT correlated .69 with the
criterion, while the SCRCT correlated .62. Both coefficients were significant at the
.01 level.
Preliminary analysis revealed that the odd-even distribution of tests did not
adequately equate the two treatment groups. The group of students taking the
CRCT had significantly higher (t=l .74, df=l 32, p < .05) intelligence test scores than
those students taking the SCRCT. Because past research has shown intelligence to
be positively related to reading comprehension, the dependent variable of this
study, it was decided to employ a one-way analysis of covariance design with
intelligence test scores as the covariate. Intelligence test scores were not available
for all students so some subjects had to be discarded.
The F ratio for the variation between group means was not significant at the
.05 level (F=.30,df=l,131). The null hypothesis was not rejected since the findings
indicated that there was no significant difference in the comprehension perform-
ance of students on standardized test passages as compared with their performance
over passages using a high proportion of frequent oral language patterns.
A two-way analysis of covariance design was used to test each of three
exploratory hypotheses. One factor consisted of the experimental tests, CRCT and
SCRCT, while the other factor was a breakdown by levels of each of the
classification variables (sex, chronological age, and reading ability). All factors were
considered fixed. Particular attention was focused on observing significant
interactions which would indicate that for particular types of students, the control
of language patterns would be more or less effective.
A significant difference (F=l 8.90, df -=1,129, p < .001) in favor of females was
found between the comprehension scores of males and females. This finding
364 Journal of Reading Behavior 1974 VI, 4

supports a large body of research which indicates that, at this stage of 'the
elementary school curriculum, girls are usually better readers than boys. No
significant differences were found between the test forms or for the interaction
between sex and test forms.
No significant differences were found among children of different ages,
between test forms, or in the interaction between age and test form. It should be
noted that all students were from the same grade level making the range in ages
quite restrictive, thus reducing the effects of blocking on age.
A significant difference (F=22.69, df-=l ,124, p < .001) was found between the
comprehension scores among students of varying reading abilities. This was to be
expected because of the strong relationship between the blocking variable and the
dependent variable. Quite naturally, the "better readers" outscored the "poorer
readers". No significant differences were found between the test forms or for the
interaction between reading ability and test forms.

DISCUSSION

On the basis of the findings of this study, the following conclusions can be
drawn in response to the three research questions cited at the outset of this report:
1. The written language of standardized reading comprehension tests is
comprised of a large number of diverse language patterns. The complexity of such
patterns varies as much within passages as between passages. Evidence of such
variation suggests that syntactic complexity is not a factor which is systematically
controlled by test developers in the construction of standardized reading tests for
the upper elementary grades.
2. For the most part, the language patterns found on standardized reading
comprehension tests do not reflect the language patterns used most frequently in
the oral language of fourth grade children. Only about one-third of the total
patterns found on such tests are high frequency language patterns. The patterns
with the highest frequency of occurrence on standardized reading tests are the same
basic patterns that occur most frequently in the oral language of children, however,
these basic patterns do not occur in the same proportion.
3. There is no significant difference in the comprehension performance of
fourth grade students on standardized reading comprehension tests with a relatively
low proportion of high frequency patterns as compared with performance on tests
of equal difficulty and content but containing a greater proportion of high
frequency language patterns. The lack of significant interactions between compre-
hension of low and high frequency language patterns and the classification variables
of sex, chronological age, and reading ability, suggests that rewriting passages so
that they are structurally more like oral language does not even benefit particular
types of students.
Studies cited previously (Ruddell, 1963; Tatham, 1970) have indicated that
students comprehend material better when it is written with frequent oral language
Jongsma 365

patterns. The findings of this study do not seem to support these previous research
results. In this study the similarity between oral and written language patterns did
not significantly affect the reading comprehension of fourth grade students. The
apparent contradiction in findings may be explained by examining important
differences among the studies in question and by exploring rival hypotheses.
The method of measuring the dependent variable, reading comprehension,
was different in each of the studies. In this study, standardized multiple-choice
items which accompanied the passages were used to measure comprehension.
Ruddell (1963) used the cloze procedure by making every-fifth word deletions in
passages of high and low frequency patterns. Tatham (1970) measured compre-
hension at the sentence level by having students select the one picture, from among
three, which best corresponded with the sentence. These differences in measuring
reading comprehension could possibly account for differences in overall results.
Another important difference among the studies concerned is the ambiguity
surrounding the independent variable—the degree of similarity between written and
oral language patterns. All three studies were based on the results of the Strickland
study (1962), but the concept of high frequency language patterns was arbitrarily
defined by each of the investigators. Although all definitions were based on the
twenty-five most frequent patterns found by Strickland, the operational definitions
varied across studies. Tatham, for example, considered only the top five patterns as
high frequency patterns while Ruddell selectively chose thirteen of the twenty-five.
The broadest definition was that used in the present study which accepted all
twenty-five as high frequency patterns. The outcome of this arbitrariness is a vague
and often conflicting view of the frequency of language patterns. As a result, it is
extremely difficult to make comparisons among the studies.
Still another important difference between this study and the two similar
preceding ones is the degree of difference between experimental conditions. In the
Ruddell study, the high frequency passages contained only high frequency patterns,
and the low frequency passages contained only low frequency patterns. The same
was true of the two sets of sentences constructed by Tatham. However, in the
present study the syntactically controlled passages were comprised, on the average,
of 92 percent high frequency patterns, with proportions ranging from 83 to 100
percent. The standardized test passages, on the other hand, also included a range of
14 to 66 percent high frequency patterns. Thus, the degree of difference between
treatment conditions was not as great in this study as in the two previous studies.
A factor that was not controlled in this study was the awkwardness in style
that resulted from rewriting passages in the form of oral language. Oral language is
not as stylistic as written language. Consequently, passages written with high
frequency language patterns appear stilted and awkward by adult standards. It is
uncertain what effect this difference in style has upon the reading comprehension
of children.
Another rival hypothesis that may explain the lack of significant differences
pertains to the problem of using multiple choice items to assess comprehension. As
366 Journal of Reading Behavior 1974 VI, 4

Tuinman (1974) has demonstrated, a significant proportion of multiple choice

items can be answered by students without reading their corresponding passages.
The lack of passage dependency is a source of invalidity on many standardized
reading comprehension tests and could influence efforts to assess treatment
differences regarding passages.
Lastly, it is possible that Strickland's findings regarding the oral language of
children were not applicable to the population used in this study. The language
patterns used most freqeuntly by children could change over time and/or the
frequency of the patterns used may vary with socio-economic background,
geographic region, and the like.
Whatever the cause of the difference in findings among these studies, the
results of this study suggest that writing reading comprehension tests with a large
proportion of high frequency oral language patterns does not significantly affect
children's performance over original standardized comprehension tests.

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GOODMAN, K. S. The psycholinguistic nature of the reading process. In K. S.
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JENKINSON, M. D. Information gaps in research in reading comprehension. In G.
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TUINMAN, J. J. Determining the passage dependency of comprehension questions
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