The impact of a computerized method of teaching latin and greek root words on the verbal scholastic aptitude test score

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effectiveness of using a computer program to teach high school students to use Latin and Greek root words to decipher English terms so as to increase their scores on the verbal portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). This coaching program lasted six weeks, during which subjects were scheduled to employ the program for two 45-minute sessions per week. A Solomon four-group design was employed. Group one took a pretest, employed the computer program, and took the posttest. Group two took the pretest and the posttest. Group three employed the computer program and took the posttest. Group four took the posttest. A significance level of.10 was selected. An analysis of variance using pretest scores as the dependent variable indicated there was no significant difference between the two pretested groups. Another analysis of variance using accumulative grade percent averages as the dependent variable indicated there were no significant differences among the four groups. Two retired SAT verbal portions were employed as the pretest and posttest. Scores on the tests could range from 200 to 800. A two-way analysis of variance of the posttest scores indicated there was no significant effect from the pretest, and that there was no significant interaction between the pretest and the treatment. There was a significant main effect of the treatment. The mean posttest scores of the treated subjects exceeded those of the non-treated students by 39 points, about.40 standard deviations for the SAT verbal portion. Previous research into the question of SAT coaching has been so mixed in results that any conclusions must be tempered with considerable caution, but using the combination of a computerized method and Latin and Greek root words may provide a gateway to improving SAT verbal scores.