Training Non-Readers in “Listening Achievement”

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to determine whether listening experience for children resulted in improved ability to recognize information heard. Subjects were five-year-old children randomly selected from five kindergartens of an average population and randomly assigned to three groups.

Between pretests and posttests different amounts and kinds of training in listening were applied for each of the three groups. Resulting data indicated that different treatments did not make for a difference in performance.

Comparison with data of another study by the author, in which the subjects were culturally deprived children, indicated that immediate feedback seemed to produce comparable levels of listening achievement regardless of whether the subjects are culturally deprived or of the general population. No feedback to culturally deprived Head Start subjects resulted in their significantly lower listening achievement level.