Teacher Behavior toward Boys and Girls during First Grade Reading Instruction

Abstract

The observation that girls demonstrate superior achievement in reading is generally acknowledged by teachers and substantiated in the research literature on school achievement. Girls seem to gain in reading achievement over boys during initial instruction (Gates, 1961; Stroud and Lindquist, 1942) and their superiority appears to persist through the secondary school (Loughlin and others, 1965; Stroud and Lindquist, 1942). More boys attend reading clinics than do girls (Durrell, 1956; Newton, 1959). Even so, systematic research on sex differences is not as conclusive as expert opinion and some representative studies would suggest. Stroud and Lindquist (1942), in their review, noted a conspicuous absence of significant differences, and some recent studies (Kowitz, 1964; Parsley and others, 1963; Sinks and Powell, 1965) have reported generally non-significant sex differences. In this ambiguous situation, belief in girls' superiority in reading, and efforts to both account for this difference and to act on it continue. Various factors such as growth and maturation have been advanced to explain girls' higher reading achievement (Chronister, 1964; Clark, 1959; Kowitz, 1964; and Nicholson, 1957). Elements of the general culture, expectations, and attitudes have been suggested (Dechant, 1964; Gates, 1961; Mazurkiewicz, 1960; and Preston, 1962). Also, for many years, the nature of the school and teacher behaviors have been asserted to contribute to boys' lower scholastic achievement in general, and reading achievement in particular. Ayres (1909) commented that our schools as they now exist are better fitted to the needs and natures of the girl than of the boy pupils. The feminized school was attributed to the behaviors of