Predicting Reading and Arithmetic Achievement with Measures of Reading Attitudes and Cognitive Styles

The predictive validity of eight dimensions of reading attitude, field independence, and locus of control was investigated for 324 inner-city Detroit fifth graders. Analysis consisted of determining the regression of reading and arithmetic achievement criteria on students' responses to A Survey of Reading Attitudes, Group Embedded Figures Test, Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale, and demographic variables of age, sex, and race. The results were encouraging since the multiple Rs were not only significant but also accounted for a substantial proportion of achievement criterion variance. The regression equations accounted for the following criterion variance: reading, 36%; arithmetic concepts, 23%; and arithmetic computation, 19%. The Expressed Reading Difficulty reading attitude was the most important predictor in two equations and second most important in the third equation. Field independence contributed consistently to all three equations and locus of control (1+) made substantial contributions to the criteria of reading and arithmetic computation.