Effects of the functional type of training on the reading adjustment

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of training five types of contact with the relations between objects and their linguistic elaborations on reading adjustment performance of University students. The participants were exposed to an evaluation of reading adjustment, consistent of questions of different functional complexity, they were later assigned to one of five experimental groups differentiated by the level of functional complexity of the training (Contextual, Supplementary, Selective, Referential Substitutive and Non-Referential Substitutive), a sixth group (Control) did not have any training. This training was done to establish relations between the object (projectiles in movement) and linguistic expressions, the complexity of these relations changed between groups. Later all groups were exposed to the second reading adjustment evaluation. Results show that as the functional complexity of the object-linguistic expression relations increased the average percentage of correct responses increased, specifically in the Substitutives groups. Results are discussed emphasizing the factors that determine the probability of the structuring of behavior in complex levels.