Dissertation Information for William A. Younglove NAME: - William A. Younglove
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Education
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1983)
ADVISORS: - None COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected
Title: BEHAVIORISTIC MEASUREMENT OF ENGLISH COMPOSITION IN UNITED STATES PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 1901-1941: AN HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
Abstract: This study was an historical analysis of attempts by behavioral psychologists to measure pupil English composition justly, between 1901-1941.
Documents surveyed, revealed that behaviorists, under Edward L. Thorndike, successfully challenged the prevailing faculty psychology, instituted their own composition measurement scales; then saw their instrumentation decline as its theoretical base was successfully questioned.
Thorndike's challenge to faculty psychology's central tenet, formal discipline, not only fostered the replacement of classical language study with English, but also changed the role of grammar in the composition curriculum. These forces, plus the changing school makeup, caused English teachers to search for new, appropriate objectives.
Meanwhile, Thorndike's animal researches led him to construct a theory of human learning, consisting of connection-producing responses to created situations. After he added sophisticated statistical concepts to measure the formation of such connections, the composition measurement scales were developed. They were based upon the perception of general merit in composition specimens, as agreed upon by three-quarters of the experts who judged them.
The scales' development caused a vigorous effort to ensure fair measurement. They were to objectify the personal weightings that teachers used in determining percentage scores. Since scalar validity was largely approached through the selection of expert judges, primary efforts were made to increase the consistency of judgments. Through Thorndike's help or influence, approximately twenty composition scales were employed by thousands of teachers, with several million pupils. Teachers simply matched their pupils' composition samples with scale specimens closest in merit. The problem, still, was: Of what did merit consist?
Failure of the scales to answer this question adequately caused their decline. Researches, by prominent measurement persons themselves, revealed that composition merit was a heterogeneous quality, not capable of validation by quantification, even under standardized conditions. The critics also probed writer and scorer reliability factors, showing that pupils' responses in composition were but a sampling of performance and that teachers depended upon classroom context to help shape their perceptions of composition excellence.
As learning redefinition occurred, composition appraisal shifted to social aspects, emphasizing corrective feedback. The lasting legacy of scalar research, however, included its exploration of variables underlying composition appraisal.
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MPACT Scores for William A. Younglove A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2009-05-24 20:45:57
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