The impact of reading competence on the ability to take a perspective

Abstract

Students grouped as good or poor readers on the basis of a vocabulary test were asked to read a story from a certain perspective or with instructions to read carefully. While the groups given a perspective recalled more information than the control groups, the most interesting results came from the significant interaction of reading ability, reading instruction and type of information. Relative to good readers in the control condition, good readers given a perspective responded with greater recall of information related to the perspective. The poor readers appeared unable or unwilling to use the perspective in differentially processing the perspective relevant sentences. © 1979, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.