Cloze has a rich and interesting history as a method for encouraging reading achievement as well as for use as on approach to measuring reading competence. Cloze can be used effectively in instructional programs in many ways, including ( 1) paired or small group wo;k, (222)  crossword cloze  type activities, and (3) multiple-choice type formats. The  doze informal  contains a series of graded passages which presents reading instructors with a method for matching students with appropriate instructional materials. In the  cloze informal , students\u27 scores are obtained from performance on a series of cloze  passages. Scores can be used to assess competence at various levels of difficulty and further can be compared at a later date with scores obtained from readmission of the set of cloze passages

Dwyer, Edward J.

English

East Tennessee State University

East Tennessee State UniversityDigital Commons @ East Tennessee State UniversityETSU Faculty Works Faculty Works1-1-1980Keeping a Clozed Mind on ReadingEdward J. DwyerEast Tennessee State University, dwyer@etsu.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-worksPart of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, and the Language and Literacy EducationCommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in ETSU Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For moreinformation, please contact digilib@etsu.edu.Citation InformationDwyer, Edward J.. 1980. Keeping a Clozed Mind on Reading. Reading Improvement. Vol.17(3). 170-174.Keeping a Clozed Mind on ReadingCopyright StatementThis document was published with permission by publisher. It was originally published in the ReadingImprovement.This article is available at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University: https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/3350KEEPING A CLOZED MIND ON READING EDWARD V. DWYER East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee 37601 Cloze has a rich and interesting history as a method for en-couraging reading achievement as well as for us,e a·s ·on approach to measuring r,eading competence. Cloze can be used effectiv-ely in instructional programs in many ways, including ( 1) paired or small group wo;k, (222) "crossword cloze" type activities, and (3) multiple-choice type formats. The "doze informal" contains a series of graded passages which presents reading instructors with a method for matching students with appropriat,e instruc-tional materials. fn the "doze informal", students' scores are obtained from performance on a series of clnze passages. Scores can be used to assess comoetence at various levels of difficulty and further can be comoar~d at a later date with scores obtained fro~1 readmission of the ;et of doze passages. Since the nse of the cloze procedure as a tool for the evaluation of reading achievement was introduced by Taylor (1953), much research has been under-taken which suggests that implementa-tion of this procedure can be a valuable asset in measuring reading achievement (Jongsma 1971 a). For example, group administered cloze measures can serve as adequate substitutes for the highly valuable, though cumbersome and time consuming informal reading inventory, which must be individually administered (Alexander, 1968, Ransom, 1970). Concerning content oriented reading matedal, doze tests can be used to accur-ately assess mastery of material as cap-ably as well constructed multiple choice tests. but with the advantage of being even more objective and much easier to construct (Rankin and Culhane, 1969). Further, Rankin and Culhane suggested that because doze measures provide ex-treme variation in possible scores, they can very accurately differentiate among students relative level of mastery. Re-garding determining the level of difficulty on content area texts for individual stu-dents, Jones and Pikulski ( I 979), sug-gested that cloze measures could be used to help match students with the appropri-ate material. Valuable and extensive though the re-search has been, it appears that cloze has not become widely utilized in other than research projects. In this light the question is raised, "How does a teacher use cloze advantageously within the class-roomT' As demonstrated below, the an-swers to this question are neither com-plex nor mysterious. Cloze and Reading Instruction Introduction of cloze systems to young children inevitably presents some prob-lems. Primary school students generally work in materials over which they ca:i. respond accurately 80 or 90 or even 100 per cent of the time. Meeting success, of course, is highly desirable. Cloze work, on the other hand, can cause consterna-tion among children in that they frequent-ly might feel that they are "wrong". It is, therefore, vital that children with whom the cloze procedure is used either as a teaching technique (Jongsma, 1971 b) or later as a testing method, be thorough-ly familiar with the relative differences in response procedures between cloze sys-tems and more conventional reading stra-tegies. In other words, in working with cloze, the student must have an apprecia-tion of success which is quantitatively dif-ferent from that associated with more ty-170 pical reading instruction. Due to the potential for excessive stress, it appears highly inadvisable to in-troduce students to doze while using it to evaluate their reading achievement. Therefore, before using cloze to measure the level of reading competence, it is suggested that methods of teaching using cloze techniques be implemented. A rep-resentative, though by no means compre-hensive, sample of instructional proce-dures using cloze is presented below: l. Students can work in pairs to de-termine which words have been deleted from a cloze passage. Discussion with classmates and/ or instructor concerning suggested replacement words then fol-lows. The students are told the exact words that were deleted. 2. The "maze" technique (Gutherie, Seifert, Burnham, and Caplan, 197 4) in-volves the use of a multiple choice cloze format. That is, instead of encountering blank spaces, the reader finds several words from which to select the word which he or she thinks was deleted. 3. Also using the multiple choice for-mat, Silky ( 1979) suggested that cloze be introduced on a continuum as an in-structional procedure in the content areas. Students at first would work on selections with a multiple choice format to help them determine words deleted. The num-ber of choices is gradually increased, re-quiring more efficient use of the context to dete1mine the deleted word. Silky suggested that most students would even-tually gain sufficient competence so that they would not need the multiple choices at all. 4. Quillen and Dwyer (1979) pro-posed that students could gain in compe-tence and confidence in using cloze through procedures involving the use of answer sheets, in which responses are made on blank spaces corresponding to letters on each deleted word, some or none of which might have letters form the deleted word. For example, if the first Clozed Mind on Reading . I 171 deleted word is "school", the response line might be 1 __ h o _ I. Quillen and Dwyer also suggested using a cross-word puzzle type grid in which deleted words are represented in the grid by a series of boxes, each of which corres-ponds to a letter in a deleted word. 5. Thomas (1978) provided an exten-sive examination of methods in which cloze could be valuably utilized in read-ing instruction. This researcher included strategics for using cloze type activities to help develop student competencies in (1) using context clues, (2) determining the relationship of pronouns and pro-nouns referents, ( 3) understanding cause and effect and ( 4) comparing and contrasting. It is evident that there are numerous ways to profitably use cloze type activi-ties to promote reading competence. An imaginative approach to using cloze in a teaching environment undoubtedly would yield countless additional varia-tions depending on students evident needs. The Cloze Informa,1 Once the students have become famil-iar with the cloze technique in an instruc-tional environment, it can also be used efficiently to evaluate reading achieve-ment. Researchers have suggested that standardized tests, although they may have useful purposes, tend to overestimate instructional level (Sipay, 1962); Davis, 1970). Consequently, it appears that re-liance on grade equivalent scores derived from the ad1ninistration of standardized tests tends to place students in materials that are at frustration rather than instruc-tional level. The best measure for plac-ing students at an appropriate instruc-tional level would be by using a well con-structed informal reading jnventory made over the materials intended for use in instruction (Beldon. 1969; Powell, 1968; Betts, 1957). As suggested earlier, utili-zation of the individually administered l 72 / Reading Improvement informal reading inventory is usually so time consuming as to be impractical for use by a teacher with all members of a class. Yet replacement of students in ma-terials at which they can profit substan-tially from reading instruction is central to the process of reading instruction. The concept of doze informal presents the possibility of determining appropriate instructional leve]s for an entire class in an efficient manner. The cloze informal can be easily and comprehensively de-signed as demonstrated below: 1. Locate selections within proposed instructional materials which appear to be representative of the content. 2. Select gradually lengthening pas-sages at various levels which con-tain messages which, while not nec-essarily comprehensive, contain re-lated thoughts. 3. Make doze selections over the pas-sages. Leave the first sentence in-tact. Starting with a randomly se-lected number from one to five, proceed to delete every fifth word in the remainder of the selection. 4. Prepare student response sheets. On a typed copy, replace the de-leted words with numbered blanks of uniform length. Besides the se-lection, list numbered blank spaces for the students to enter their re-sponses. See Figure One. Once a series of cloze passages has been obtained, they can be administered to groups of studeuts. For example, four selections ranging from primer to the 22 level could be attempted by students at one sitting. Evaluation of the results would indicate which students should continue with the cloze series. It is im-portant to note that older and more cap-able students might respond with relative-ly few exact word replacements at levels substantially below their achievement FlGURE 1 A Sample Page from a Series of Cloze Passages. In Livia, visitors are usually most impressed by the beautiful coast of the kingdom. Surronnded by 1 mountains, people have lived 2 Livia for centuries, farming 3 fertile land and fishing 4 great ocean. One day 5 the history of Livia, 6 were dark clouds broken 7 and there were rays 8 sunlight ... capabilites simply because the develop-ment of their language skills leads them to provide more sophisticated responses than are warranted in the easier selec-tions. Snch happenings are to be over-looked with emphasis placed on examina-tion of performance on more difficult ma-terial. In order to facilitate scoring, only exact replacement responses are counted as correct. Errors in spelling can be over-looked provided that it is evident that I. -------------2. -------------3. ----------~--4. -------------5. ------------6. ------------7. -------------8. the misspelling was an attempt to spell the exact word deleted. There have been various sets of cri-teria proposed for determining independ-ent, instructional, and frustration levels using the cloze measures. Further, Alex-ander (1968) condnded that ratios des-ignating independent, instructional, and frustration levels might vary based on classroom experiences. While certainly not only usable figures, Ransom (1970) determined criteria which appears satis-factory for use with the cloze informal. See Figure Two below. Level Independent Instructional Probable Frustration Frustration Percent Correct 50% 30-49% 20-29% Below 20% FIGURE 2 Ransom's Cloze Criteria Scores at various grade equivalents can be easily obtained and recorded for comparative purposes. Figure Three pre-sents a sample record sheet. The exami-Ciozed Mind on Reading .. / l 73 ner can determine the relative degree of success at various levels of difficulty. In-dividual student responses could also be examined to determine various compe-tencies including: 1. the relationship of responses made to the overall content of the mes-sage 2. use of context clues in determining the deleted word 3. spelling capabilities 4. sense of grammatical structure The cloze informal could be readrninis-tered at a later time to determine ad-vances made. Gains, or lack of them, could be observed at various levels of dif-ficulty. FIGURE 3 Sheet for Recording Student's C!oze Scores NAME CLASS CLOZE SCORES DATE, ______ _ DAT~------PRETEST Cloze Passages 1. ____ % 2. _____ % 3. % LEVEL (PP) (P) (12) POSTEST C!oze Passages 1. ____ % 2. ____ % 10. ____ % (6) 10. ____ % COMMENTS:. _____________________ _ Summary Use of the doze procedure, frequently with modifications, can provide reading instructors with an interesting and in-strnctionally sound approach for supple-menting the basic reading program. Cloze techniques can be used advantageously, both for teaching people how to read more competently and in evaluating their reading achievement. References Alexander, H. W. An Investigation of the Cloze Procedure as a Measuring Device Designed to Identify the Independent, Instruction, and Frustration Reading Levels of Pupils in the Intermediate Grades, Dissertation Abstracts, VoL 29, No. 12, part one, pp. 4314-4315. Beldin, H. 0. Informal Reading Testing: His-torical Review and Review of Research, The Validity of Informal Reading Testing. Sym-posium IV, International Reading Associa-17 4 / Reading Improvement tion Annual Convention; Kansas City, Mis-souri, May, 1969. Betts, E. A. Foundations of Reading Instruc-tion. San Francisco: American Book Com-pany, 1957. Rlacbowicz, C. L. Z. Cloze Activities for Pri-mary Readers, The Reading Teacher. Vol. 31, No. 3 (December, 1977), pp. 300-302. Davis, W. Q. Functional Use of Standardized Tests, Reading Diagnosis and Evaluation. Ed. D. L. DeBoer. Newark, Delaware: In-ternational Reading Association, 1970, pp. 286-287. Guthrie, J. T., M. Seifert, N. Burnham, and R. Caplan. The Maze Technique to Assess and Monitor Reading Comprehension, The Reading Teacher. Vol. 28, No. 2 (November, 1974), pp. 161-168. Jongsma, E. R. The Cloze Procedure as a Teaching Techniqur!. Newark, Delaware: In-ternational Reading Association, 1971b. ----. The Cloze Procedure: A Survey of the Research, Occasional Papers in Reading. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana, The Reading Program, 222 Pine Hall, 1971a. Jones, M. B., and Pikulski, J. J. Cloze for the Content Area Tea,eher. Reading World. Vol. 18, No. 2 (March, 1979), pp. 253-258. Powell, W. R. Reappraising the Criteria for Inter.prating Informal Inventories, Dorothy L. DeBoer (ed.). Reading Diagnosis and Evaluation: Proceedings of the 13th Annual Convention, International Reading Associa-tion, VoL 13, Part 4, pp. 100-109, 1968. Quillen, H. J ., and Dwyer, E. J. Cloze Modi-fications, Journal of Reading. Vol. 22, Nv. 3 (December, 1978), pp. 200-201. Rankin, E. F., and Culhane, J. W. Comparable Cloze and Multiple-choice Comprehension Test Scores-A Replication, Journal of Read-;ng, Xllf, pp. 193-198, 1963. Ransom, P. E. H. A Survey to Determine the Reading Levels of Elementary School Chil-dren by Cloze Testing. Unpublished Doctor's Dissertation; Ball Sta,te University, Muncie, fndiana, 1970. Silky, W. D. Cloze for Instruction: A Con-tinuum, Journal of Reading. Vol. 22, No. 6 (March, 1979), p. 487. Si.pay, E. R. A Comparison of Standardized Reading Test Scores and Functional Read-ing Levels, Dissertation Abstracts. Vol. 22, pp. 2, 629, 1962. Taylor, W. L. Cloze Procedure: A New Tool for Measuring Readability, Journalism Quar-terly. XXX, pp. 415-433, 1953. Thomas, K J. ]nstructional Applica,tions of the Cloze Technique, Reading World, Vol. 18, No. 1 (October, 1978), pp. 1-12. The Practical Vedanta: Selected Works of Swami Rama Tirtha. Brandt Dayton (Editor) The Himalayan International 'Institute. Honesdale, Pennsylvania. 1978. 340 pp. Th~ editor maintains that the strong, free words of Swami R,ama Tirtha spread hope throughout East and West at the turn of this century. The short career of :this brillian scholar and sage Jed him from the sublime heights of the Himalayas to Japan, Egypt, and to the United States. It was he who translated the ancient philosophy of Vedanta into practical, modern terms. This bo-ok represents a selection of the lectures, poems, and notebook collections left by this great scholar. Here the great truths of Eastern thought are taught with simple reason and illustrated with profound humorous tales. Essays from his personal journal describe spiritual experiences in deep mountain solitude. The editor maintains that Rama Tirt.ha's spirit soared in the pure beauty of nature, and that his playful and far-ranging thoughts reflect the wisdom of God. THE SINGLE VOWELS REVl'SITED FOR TEACHING OF READING LOUIS GATES* 2809 Saffron Way, Stockton, California 95210 This study was designed (1) to unify much of the discrepancy between open and closed syllables, (2) to increase the percentage of utility for the terminal single vowel-consonant-e genernlization, and (3) to reanalyze the final consonant-l-e generalization. In order to do this the author identified certain letter combinations or frequently occurring bases which lowered the percentage of utility for the innumerated items above. With these isolated, the percentages of utility for the generalizations covering the remain-ing words were increased. The implications of this research, in conjunction with selected single vowel .generalizations as dealt with by Burmeister ( 1968), is such that the Englil'lh language yields a phonic fitness for single vowels which many have con-sidered impossible to obtain. Statement of the Problem Reading teachers were surprised to dis-cover that many phonic generalizations which they assumed were above dispute were fonnd to be suspect by a 1963 pub-lication of Clymer entitled "The Utility of Phonic Generalizations in the Primary Grades" (1963). Since that time many studies have addressed not only the 45 generalizations which he addressed but also other generalizations dealing with various aspects of graphemic relation-ships in the English language. Although some generalizations have been demon-strated to have consistently high utility, many of the generalizations have not. The Purpose of the Study The general purpose of this study 1s to determine whether selected generali-zations for a single vowel, be it in a closed syllable, and open syllable, or the terminal vowel of a word, become inefficient when the vowel is accom-panied by particular letters or letter com-binations or if there is no apparent pat-tern to their inconsistency. A secondary purpose of this study is to increase the sample size and then to reanalyze the consonant-l-e generalization as reported by Burmeister ( 1969), Review of the Related Literature A review of the literature will reveal that phonics instruction had its concep-tion in the United States by the publica-tion in 1783 of the Blue Back Spelling Books by the patriotic zealot Noah Web-ster, who offered it not so much for use as a pedagogic technique, but as a ges-ture to somewhat nnify the dialectical · patterns of the post Revolutionary War era (Smith, 1955). Many teachers, who sensed certain possibilities in teaching phonics even though research had not been conducted, began using a phonics approach in the teaching of reading. It was not until the 1920's that reported studies in the reading literature, such as those conducted by Vogel (1928), Cor-dits (1925), Osburn (1925), Atkins (1926), and Washburn (1938), began dealing with word structure. These studies, however, dealt more with the relative frequency of phonograms, how-ever, rather than with the notion that phonics in general or selected elements of phonics offered statistical importance The author, Louis Gates, has taught as both a homeroom teacher and as a reading teacher in elementary schools for ~everal years. Cur-rently he is a graduate student at the Uni-versity of the Pacific. 175 ' 

Keeping a Clozed Mind on Reading

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Keeping a Clozed Mind on Reading

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