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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor. Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks. England HP10 8HR 77- 21,411 STEPHENS, Frances Driskell, 1917- A STUDY OF THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH THE DOLCH BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARIES OCCURRED IN THE LANGUAGE-EXPERIENCE STORIES OF FIRST GRADE CHILDREN. The University of Oklahoma, Ed.D., 1977 Education, curriculum and instruction X©rox Univorsity Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan4sios THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE A STUDY OF THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH THE DOLCH BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARIES OCCURRED IN THE LANGUAGE- EXPERIENCE STORIES OF FIRST GRADE CHILDREN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION BY FRANCES DRISKELL STEPHENS Norman, Oklahoma 1977 A STUDY OF THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH THE DOLCH BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARIES OCCURRED IN THE LANGUAGE- EXPERIENCE STORIES OF FIRST GRADE CHILDREN APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMUTE ACKNOWLE DGME NTS To Dr. Richard P. Williams, Chairman of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee, the writer expresses sincere apprecia tion and respect for his expertise and guidance throughout the development of the study. To Dr. Charlyce King, Dr. Omar J. Rupiper, and Dr. Lloyd E. Williams, members of the Doctoral Supervisory Committee, grateful recognition is due for reading the manuscript and making helpful suggestions. To the classroom teachers who collected the many language-experience stories of their beginning readers, indebtedness is acknowledged and appreciation is expressed. Without the stories, there could have been no study. To Dr. Bette Roberts and the staff and faculty of the Central State University Reading Department and to Dr. Mari Scott of the Central State University School of Education, appreciation is expressed. Without their encouragement and consideration, there might have been no study. To Dr. Edgar Petty of the School of Education of Central State University, a special acknowledgment is due. His skilled and patient guidance has proved invaluable and will always be remembered. To my husband, Lewis, and to my son, Roger, a most special acknowledgment is offered. Their love and support made the completion of the study a reality. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ......................................... V LIST OF, ILLUSTRATIONS ........... vii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION AND P R OBLEM ..................... 1 Introduction ................................ 1 The Problem .................................. 9 Organization of the Dissertation ...... 20 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..................... 22 The Language-Experience Approach to Beginning Reading Instruction ........... 23 The Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary ..... 38 The Johns Revision of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary ............ 49 The Preliminary Investigation .............. 55 Summary ....... ....................... 65 III. DESIGN AND PROCEDURES .......................... 69 Research Design .............. 71 Research Procedures ............ 73 Summary .................. 85 IV. FINDINGS ....................................... 88 Summary of Findings ......................... 112 V- SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . - 117 S u m m a r y ............. 117 Conclusions . .......... 125 Recommendations .............. 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................... 130 APPENDIX A ...........•......................... 137 APPENDIX B .............................................. 141 LIST. OF TABLES 1. Percentage of the Basic Sight Vocabulary in Running Words in School Textbooks ....... 42 2. A Comparison of the Percentage of Dolch Basic Sight Words in the Present Investigation With Dolch's Original Findings ........ 45 3. Proportion of Dolch Words and Corpus Words on the Wepman-Hass Spoken Word Count ..... 46 4. Number and Per Cent of Words in the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary Not Among Four Recently Published Word Lists ......... 53 5. Words in the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary Not Among At Least Three of Four Recently Published Word Lists ............. 54 6. A Revision of Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary Based on Four Recently Published Word Lists . 56 7. Frequencies and Percentages of the 220 Dolch Words and the 189 Revised Dolch Words as They Occur in 4,000 Language—Experience W o r d s ................ 62 8. Frequencies and Percentages of the 220 Dolch Words and the 189 Revised Dolch Words Represented in 4., 000 Language—Experience W o r d s .............................................. 63 9. Frequencies and Percentages Observed in the 1941 Dolch Study, the 1971 Johns Study, and the Preliminary Investigation ....... 64 10. Systems Approach to the Design and Procedure of the Study .............................. 72 11. Frequency of Occurrence of the 220 Words of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary in Four, 4,000-Word, Groups of Language—Experience W o r d s ...................... 91 12. Frequency of Occurrence of the 189 Words of the Johns Revision of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary in Four, 4,000-Word, Groups of Language—Experience Words ........... 96 13. ' Frequencies and Percentages of the 220 Words of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary and the 189 Words of the Johns Revision of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary as They Occurred in Four, 4,000—Word, Groups of Language— Experience Words ............... 102 14. Frequencies and Percentages of the 220 Words of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary and the 189 Words of the Johns Revision of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary Represented in Each of the Four, 4,000—Word, Groups of Language-Experience Words ........... 104 15. Frequency and Percentage of Each of the Four, 4,000—Word, Groups of Language-Experience Words That Were the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary and the Frequencies and Percent ages of 4,000 First Reader Words Published Prior to 1941 and 4,500 First Reader Words Published Prior to 1970 That Were the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary ......... 107 16. The First 25 of the 16,000 Language-Experience Words That Were Included in the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary and the First 25 Words of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary as Ranked by Dolch ........ ....................... 110 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. A Comparison of the Percentages of the 220 Dolch Words and the 189 Revised Dolch Words As They Occur in 4,000 Language- Experience Words ............... 62 2. A Comparison of the Percentages Observed in the 1941 Dolch Study, the 1971 Johns Study, and the Preliminary Investigation ....... 64 3. Comparison of the Percentages of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary and the Johns Revision of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary as They Occurred in Four, 4,000—Word, Groups of Language- Experience Words ............... 103 4. Comparison of the Percentages of the 220 Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary Represented in Each of the four, 4,000—Word, Groups With the Percentages of the 189 words of the Johns Revision of the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary Represented in Each of the Four, 4,000-Word, Groups ....................... 105 5. Comparison of the Percentage of Each of the Four, 4,000-Word, Groups of Language- Experience Words That Were the Dolch Basic . Sight Vocabulary with the Percentages of 4,000 First Reader Words Published Prior to 1941 and 4,500 First Reader Words Pub lished Prior to 1970 That Were the Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary ............ 109 A STUDY OF THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH THE DOLCH BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARIES OCCURRED IN THE LANGUAGE- EXPERIENCE STORIES OF FIRST GRADE CHILDREN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM Introduction Historically, many changes have taken place in the methods