The effect of the length and structure of sentences upon the silent reading process

The extent to which the length and structure of sentences affect the processes involved in silent reading is a problem which has received little attention in the fundamental investigations of reading. This study is an attempt to deal experimentally, by means of an analysis of photographic records of eye movements, with certain phases of this problem. The specific questions and problems to which attention will be given are as follows: (1) Will an analysis of the photographic records of eye movements reveal differences in the reactions of subjects to complex or compound sentences and to simple sentences containing the same content? (2) What effect does a dependent clause at the beginning of a complex sentence have on the reading process as compared with the effect of a simple sentence containing the same content? (3) Are compound sentences read in the same manner as simple sentences which contain the same words? (4) In what respects does the reading of a long sentence differ from the reading of a group of short sentences having the same content? In brief, what is the effect of the length and the structure of sentences on the processes involved in silent reading by subjects selected from different school grades?

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Texas at Austin

Year dc:date.issued

1931

Author dc:creator

• Holland, Benjamin F.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gray, Clarence Truman, 1877-1951

• Silent reading
• Reading physiology
• Reading research
• Eye tracking
• Eye movements
• Reading and sentence structure
• Reading and sentence length
• Reading eye movement

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/46001

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/119123