An investigation into the relationship between level of reading and level of English achievement, with intelligence held constant

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between level of reading and level of English achievement, with the effects of intelligence held constant. A sample of 107 freshman English students at the University of Houston was secured. The Iowa Silent Reaping Test; the Revised Beta Examination; and Test A; Mechanics of Expression, and the vocabulary section of Test Cl, Reading Comprehension, Cooperative English Test, were administered to each student in the sample group. Zero-order correlations were run between reading level and English achievement level, between reading level and intelligence, and between English achievement level and intelligence. Then a partial correlation was computed between English achievement level and reading level, with intelligence held constant. Highly significant results were obtained in all of the zero-order correlations, and also in the partial correlation. The investigator concluded that, although a causal relationship between English achievement level and reading level is not definitely indicated by the above results, the relationship is so strong as to warrant further investigation into such a possibility.