THE EFFECT OF EFFECT OF READING TO A UNBORN CHILD

Published as a separated and in The Journal of Education, 2000, 86, 59-67

THE EFFECT OF READING TO A UNBORN CHILD
ON THE CHILD'S INTELLIGENCE AND RATE OF READING AND WRITING SKILLS¹

Department of Education and Child Development, Sunshine University

ANDREA L. WIXIOM, Kristopher Ludwig, Tina C. Labby, Nick Willams, and Kate Buck²

SUMMARY

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of reading to an unborn child has on the chills developmental rate and the chills intelligence. Thirty-seven pregnant women were randomly divided into a control group (women who did not read to their unborn child) and an experimental group (women who read to their unborn child every day).
At the end of a 10 year observing period the two groups of children were significantly different in their educational development rate. The group of children who were read to as unborn children had above normal reading ability then the control group.

A. INTRODUCTION
Educators tend to promote reading on the premise that reading is the fundamental stages of education and intelligence level of a person. It is believed that if you to your baby while they are still in the fetal stage enhances reading levels, educational development rate and self-confindence, when it comes to reading out loud. Empirical studies have substantained these beliefs in part. Jonhson (3) found that children that were read to as unborn and small children had achieved higher grades in the following subjects: reading, writing, spelling. and grammar. In a similar study Smith (5) showed that reading to an unborn child significantly improved the child intelligence rate. Patterson (4) and Burk (1) both found that the children who were read to had more self-confindence, and volutined and enjoyed read out loud. The childern who were read to enjoyed read. Whereas childern who were not read to were not as good reader and they were forced to read there for they did not enjoy read.
These studies suggest that by significantly increasing the amount a child is read to child will grow up to enjoy reading. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of reading to unborn children and toddlers.

B. METHOD
1. Subjects
¹ Ss were 37 pregnant women who were still in their first trimester, that live in Bangor Maine.
2. Measuring Instruments
a. Alaska Self Reading Comprehenton Scale. The Alaska Self reading Comprehension Scale was developed by Fritzs (2) and has a reliability of .92. Ss were giving reading material, and then asked to read it. Then the reading material was taken away, and the children were asked to take a test over the reading material.
b. True’s Five Minute Read. This is used to measure the Ss verbal reading and pronoun cation skills. The test requires Ss read aloud for five minutes. The Ss are recorded as they read the material aloud, and then a group of teachers will read over the material that had had been read by the Ss . The teachers will then listen to the tapes of the Ss and rate them on a scale from 1 to 10 on their speech and reading skills.
3. Procedure
Poster were place in local doctor’s offices asking for pregnant women to volunteer in an experiment involving read to your unborn child. Once 38 people had singed up meeting began and continued weekly. The women were spilt up into two groups of 19. The control group were asked to do nothing, and to go on with their pregnancy as they normally would (but were not told what the other group was doing and vise verse). The experimental group were ask to to read aloud to their unborn bobbies every night for 20 to 30 minutes. Ss in the experimental group were given seven children’s books each week, and were asked to reed the books aloud , so the unborn child could hear they stories. After all the childern were born, the meeting continued. The children of the mother in the experimental group were read to every night until the age of six. The children of the mothers in the control group were not read to on a regular bases. When all of the children had turned six years old, they were all given the Alaska Self reading Comphenton Test, and the True’s Five Minute Reading Test.
The experimental and control groups were compared on each of the two measures by means of a test to insure equality between the groups on the pretest. A test for paired data was used to determine whether or not there were significant within-group differences from pretest to post test over each measure.

C. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Following the program the experimental group experienced a higher reading level, and were more able to comprehend difficult reading material. There was also an increase in self-confidence among the experimental group when it came to reading and writing. However there was no significant difference from the pre- to post testing was found in the control group. This last finding indicted that the scours of the control group Ss on the post test measures were unaffected by any intervening experiences or by the fact that they had previously taken the measures during the pretest. Thus, it may be concluded that reading to an unborn child increased reading levels, reading abilities, and self confidence in reading.

REFERENCES
1. Bruk, N. F. The New Education. Newyork: Bantam Books, 19932.
2. Fritze, S. Alaska Self Comprehenton Scale. Nashvill, Tenn.: Counsel. Recording &
Test, 1984.
3. Jonhson, K.L. Mind Performance and Growth. Berkeley Unvi. California Press, 1990
4. Patterson, V.J. Brain development Of Unborn Children. Department of Education. Unvi. Maine Press, 1992
5. Simth, H. T. The Influence of Reading to Children. Unvi. NewYork Press 1995

¹ Experiment done By Kate Buck
2. Persons who preformed the experiment